Mud Tetra
The Mud Tetra (or 'Earth Tetra' among themselves) are the ethnic group of Tetra who chose to return to their traditional underground dwellings after their return to their lands 800 years ago. As most of their fellow kind chose not to, and now live beside mountains rather than inside them, the Mud Tetra became an outcast - and pitied - subculture within their species, eventually becoming a distinct ethnicity and culture.
History
Almost all the Tetra (along with most other sentient species) were driven eastwards by the Empty during the Breach of Heaven. They lost their traditional subterranean homes, and dwelt above the surface in large numbers for the first time. Though they made some attempt at building underground settlements in exile, these were rarely successful, and used too many resources which could have bolstered the war effort, and the fortifications. Thus, slowly, the Tetra grew acustomed to living above ground. Their agriculture developed, and their diet expanded from the mushrooms, root vegetables, fish, and lichen of a primarily underground existence into boar, and wheat, and fruit. This life continued through the reconquest, until the point at which Conrad I released his Allied Armies, encouraging them to reclaim their ancestral lands. Many Tetra did so, but the power of the old Mountain Lords had been vanquished. Instead of forming underground, cross-mountain, kingdoms as they had pre-Exile, the Tetra which entered each of the great valleys largely stayed in them, forming what are today the Kyzt Confederation and Kingdom of D'zol. Intially, Tetra in both of these areas largely carried on their above-ground lives, but there was always a fringe movement seeking to restore 'the old ways'. Principally, these groups lived out their dreams by working as miners, or the many architects and engineers needed to recover and restore lost Tetran history. However, unsuccessful war against the Bolmor states to the south, as well as the rediscovery of cut-off survivors in Tul'din and Bor'din (as well as, allegedly, Azodil) spurred on some sections of Tetra society to advocate a return to subterranean living and 'the old ways'. By 200 AC, Undercities at Tul'din, Bor'din, Mzindil, Tzokdil, and Gol'din had all been re-founded and settled by significant numbers. These breakaway groups - often wealthy from mining seams and with immediate access to much of Tetran history - quickly developed their own sub-cultures and reimagined traditions. As early as 318 AC, writers in the Kingdom of D'zol were talking of "Green Tetra" and "Brown Tetra". The derogatory term "Mud Tetra" was coined in the Kyzt Confederation in 548 AC, by a reformist technocrat who sought to "end the old supersitions, and use the mountains only for ore and not for eating in." Thereafter, the Kyzt Confederation removed many rights from 'Mud Tetra' and (with their subsequently secretive state) it is unclear how many, or in what conditions, Mud Tetra still live in the Confederation. In D'zol, meanwhile, Mud Tetra are not repressed and Undercities have distinct legal organisation - but social stigma remains. This is rarely hostile, but consists of Mud Tetra being considered backwards, impoverished, or pitiable. Several charitiable organisations exist to "help our brothers back to the surface." The more extreme of these - which sought to foster Mud Tetra children outside the Undercities - have been banned for inflaming social tensions, but the simpler charities offering food or supplies have been permitted to continue. D'zol Mud Tetra in turn treat these charity workers as simpletons, finding them a good way of more cheaply buying the above ground produce they already trade for, and boasting a higher success rate tempting them into lucrative mining roles than they have in tempted Mud Tetra to boring jobs growing onions on mountainsides.Culture
Shared customary codes and values
The return to the Undercities was accompanied by (and largely required) a return to older forms of government and social organisation. By and large, the Undercities have restored the 'Metal Guilds' which used to organise life in the Under-City. 5 organisations - initially based on the metal they worked and the jewels they guarded - once again came to fulfil the civic functions in the Under-Cities.
As before, Mud Tetra are born into a family associated with one or more of the 5 clans - choosing at 15 which clan to associate themselves with for the next 15 years of training and employment. Each clan is now sufficiently broad that there are many opportunities in each - they are no longer restricted to their traditional roles, and the vast underclass of 'clanless' which sustained pre-Exile Tetran Empires is now explicilty avoided. The Fourth Clan (Lead and Emerald) has as one of its roles the relief of the poor and indigent, effectively ensuring that only those who actively refuse to engage with the clans are outside their protection.
Parent ethnicities
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