Lessiyan Tree-Dwellers

The massive trees of Lessiya have stood for thousands of years. With the perpetual mists and supernatural happenings of the ground level, it stands to reason that people would seek the relative safety of the canopy. These settlements span hundreds of years, if not more. They generally dislike the "Ground-Dwellers", a feeling that is mutual, despite their symbiotic relationship

Naming Traditions

Other names

Nicknames for children most often come from creatures living in the tree canopy, such as squirrels and birds.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Speak a dialect of Lessiyan known as "derash". Communication over long distances relies on a complex language of whistles called the "bird language"

Common Dress code

Both men and women wear pants, for safety. Clothes are loose-fitting to allow for movement but close enough to avoid being tangled in the vegetation. Arm protection is common, as are cleats and spiked boots. Hair is generally kept short; anything longer than chin-length is kept securely pinned up, sometimes in very elaborate braids and buns, by men and women alike.

Art & Architecture

The Tree-Dweller villages are the stuff of fairy tales. Houses are built into the trees, linked by wooden bridges and a pulley elevator system. Hunting and guard platforms dot the forest surrounding the borders. Villages are connected by a system of bridges and swings.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

From a young age, children learn how to walk the broad branches surrounding their homes. By the time they come of age the can sprint along branches no bigger than their wrists and leap and swing across gaps.

Funerary and Memorial customs

A death is one of the few reasons a Tree-Dweller will come to the ground. While being up in the treetops escapes many of the horrors below, the people cannot escape the shades that manifest after a person dies. On the ground, the body is given the traditional funeral rites and a death-mage guides the soul to the afterlife

Related Organizations

• Lessiya