Duthoa Empire
The Morrow Crafters
The Morrow Crafters
The Duthoa are steampunk cyborgs, obsessed with creating, inventions, and wild experiments. They are happiest when they are crafting something with their hands, making an idea tangible. They are inspired by Leonardo DaVinci, Dr. Emmitt Brown from Back to the Future, Tony Stark from Marvel, and Jace and Victor from Arcane. This means that many Duthoa dream of inventing something that will change history.
This culture is based on the ISFJ personality type: Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging. These are weaknesses as much as strengths, and while the dragons believe that every Duthoa is basically ISFJ, the truth is always far more complicated. No culture or even a single person can fit in a box bounded by just four letters.
Do This:
- Wear horns! All Yenyi, including Duthoa, have horns, antlers or some sort of spikes on their heads. Remember, there are no humans in Shadowright.
- Decide how involved they are in the Guilds. Duthoa Guilds control all political power and wealth,
- Create your PC's Values, building off of the Shared Codes and Values section below. Decide who and what they're loyal to, and who they harshly judge.
- Figure out your character's favorite way to be creative, especially if they feel they're not good at making things. Push what "creative" means and don't forget that Duthoa food is considered high art!
- Take deep pride in their Augmentee's grafts and create costume elements to show them off!
- Costume: You must represent your graft with your costume! mix steampunk mechanisms with medieval fashion. Top hats and corsets looked different in the medieval era! Your mechanisms should be inspired by your Augmentee graft. Use warm colored metals.
- Decide how your character feels about dragons, recognizing that all Yenyi fight the tyranny and control of the dragons.
- Be a helpful know-it all. Embrace your oblivious inner nerd who just wants to help (even if you have no idea what you're talking about).
- Be Grumpy about K'azni vampire greed. You probably know someone who died and have heard horror stories about the Spread (the K'azni expansion).
Do NOT Do This:
- Don't make a royal PC, a member of the ruling class, or create backstory ties with a ruler. Shadowright players cannot have a ruler PC in any Culture.
- Don't decide to be pro-Dragon just to be "unique." Think through a real reason why they would make such a drastic break from what everyone else believes and discuss it with your StoryMaster.
- Costume - Don't copy/paste appropriate real-world cultures, be inspired by them to create something new! Don't just glue gears on some goggles and call it a day. You can do better! Don't go "cyberpunk" with touchscreens or futuristic tech. Instead adapt tech to look like something DaVinci worked with Gandalf to create.
- Don't be cruel to K'azni players OOC. Make sure to check in if things get heated!
Culture
Shared customary codes and values
The Duthoa are widely respected across all worlds and even by their enemies for being supportive and reliable to their friends and allies. They are notoriously observant, to the point of being annoying about it. But they are generally enthusiastic about whatever task is before them and will passionately devote themselves to their current project. The Duthoa are a practical people to their core, so the majority of their creations emphasize usability over beauty. Yet even they will celebrate the glory of the accidental aesthetics of a well designed mechanism.
A byproduct of Duthoa’s observant nature is that they can be overly humble, downplaying their own craftsmanship because they know of another who does “better work.” Another downside of their creation-focused culture is that they can place their identity in their work and have a difficult time not taking things personally. It doesn’t help that they are known to repress their feelings and often don’t realize when they’re upset. Ironically, they can be reluctant to change even as they seek creative solutions in their work. The Duthoa have also been accused of being too altruistic. This can cause problems when the help isn’t wanted or asked for, or when their well-meaning “help” creates other problems that are sometimes worse than the original issue.
Average technological level
The Duthoa are one of the most technologically advanced civilizations of all the Shulte. They are the legendary inventors of the Ingetz lightning throwers, known more commonly just as blasters. But they also adapted Gik’i gliders into lighter than air blimps using a combination of arcane wards and hot air balloons. This technology of combining wards with vehicles was then adapted to Duthoa wagons and ships, making them one of the most mobile cultures. This technological superiority has given their empire great strength even against the greater military might of their K’azni enemies.
The average Duthoa uses the combination of wards and mechanisms on a daily basis for normal household chores and everyday tasks. Their plows stay sharper, their waterwheels can grind more grain. Even the poor manage to get their hands on items like everlasting shoes or even one of those strange new hydrophobic bumbershoots.
The Academist Makers take this to an extreme where they’ve become so accustomed to advanced technology that they don’t even realize how different their lives are from even a Duthoa merchant. There are too many innovations to list, from self-filling warmed baths to echo boxes that can record songs to even small wind up mechanisms that tracks the movement of the sun and moon. The most spectacular Duthoa luxury is the homing portal. This is a location locked portal which allows them to travel to their home instantly from any location in Yenent. While many Occultists can create a short-distance homing portal, it is wildly expensive and impossibly complicated to create a permanent and long distance one. But it allows the Duthoa elite to cut travel time in half, giving them a distinct advantage over other Yenent cultures for diplomacy, trade, and academic exchange. Like all Duthoa inventions, homing portals have been used for great good and horrible evil.
Common Etiquette rules
Given the general disinterest in fashion, it is often difficult to tell the social class merely by someone’s clothing or appearance. Sometimes the only clue is the quality of the person’s Augmentee implants, but even this can sometimes be misleading.
Due to this, Duthoa try to respect each other as much as possible, always assuming that the other person is of higher social standing until proving otherwise. This is considered wisdom, for it is better to discover that you were in a higher position than you expected than the other way around. This is called the Rule of Deference.
The exception to this rule is for those of the Great Houses. They are well aware that they are at the top of the social hierarchy in the vast majority of situations and behave accordingly. However, at formal events of state and scientific inquiries where many people of the Great Houses are present, the Rule of Deference quickly comes back into play until the hierarchy among the Houses is established.
Like most Yenyi, the Duthoa consider lowering their Crown of antlers or horns to be a sign of respect, with those of higher rank nodding upwards to acknowledge their lessers. However, the Duthoa will not bow below around 45 degrees at the waist, and will never bow on one knee. They view it as demeaning oneself and one’s family. It is unheard of to bow one’s head to the ground, and an incredible insult if someone expects them to do anything similar.
The only time a Duthoa will let their Crown touch the ground is in a Crown Tossing duel to the death. Other Yenyi have made a sport of this activity, but the Duthoa do not find it a matter of play.
Common Dress code
A practical people, the Duthoa are far more interested in the usability and comfort of clothing than it's aesthetics. Or at least, this is what they will tell you but in truth the Duthoa are just as interested in looking presentable as any other people. But their practicality will inform what they consider beautiful. Clothing that is overly fragile or awkwardly bulky is considered silly or foolish. It is rare for women to wear skirts, but this does still happen in some families for special occasions. However, both women and men appreciate the extra back support that a lightly boned corset gives, so they are commonly worn. The poor who cannot afford a true corset will often try to imitate one with a wide belt, or multiple belts worn together.
The poor wear simple and durable clothing, often also wearing a thick apron of wool or leather depending on their trade. One of the few prized possessions of a peasant is a pair of warded everlasting shoes or untearable trousers. These treasures are passed down the generations and lovingly cared for.
The privilege’s clothing largely reflects their trade as well, but the quality of the fabric increases dramatically. Durability is most highly valued, but also softness, texture, pattern, etc, for the Duthoa learned long ago that while they might not find beauty important in and of itself, most other cultures value it highly. So for the wealthy Duthoa, beautiful clothing is a tool for influencing the beliefs of others. With this realization that aesthetics can be weaponized, the Duthoa set about to make fashion that can kill. This idea is still a relatively new development, so many Duthoa view it as a waste of time and materials, while others create fantastic garments that are delightful failures to impress. But it is only a matter of time before the Duthoa master the technology of fashion as well.
Foods & Cuisine
Food is incredibly important to all Duthoa. The evening meal is believed to be sacred for it signals the ending of the workday and the union of family. Whoever cooks the evening meal is given the same respect as a priest, for they are creating an offering of thanksgiving for both work and relationships. Having a professional cook is considered a status symbol, and they are valued as an important part of the household. As much care is given to the selection of a cook as to a child’s tutor, for it is believed that while the tutor can shape the child’s mind, the cook will shape the child’s soul.
Duthoa cuisine itself is incredibly diverse, for they experiment with their food as much as everything else. They have invented endless uses for grain, be it bread and pastries, to noodles and strange puddings. The Duthoa also have explored more adventurous dishes involving insects, which terrifies other cultures due to superstitions about Dragonic Aspects. But they are famous for their pastries and saucy noodles. They are legendary temptations.
A Duthoa chef can melt the heart of a god with a bit of dough and the right sauces.
Coming of Age Rites
There is a lot of stigma from other cultures about the Duthoa rite of passage. Outsiders assume that it is a horribly and bloody affair that always involves severing multiple limbs and a lot of screaming. This is ignorant and offensive.
A Duthoa child dreams of their Rebus rite from the moment they first learn of it, both dreading and longing for it. Families spend years preparing for their child’s ceremony, and the family trade is typically what determines which implants the child will receive. However, the child is always given the ultimate decision. For this reason, Duthoa initiations often occur at a later date than other cultures, given the intense sacrifice that is required. Many young Duthoa have been enraged by surgeons or parents saying “you’re not ready yet” and postponing the rite another year.
When the adolescent and their community agree that the child is ready, they go into a period of intense testing and fasting. It is a trial of mind and body, as they complete the final purification before the rite itself. Each one knows that if they miss a question about their implant or show bodily weakness, they will need to wait another year. Typically, the most respected member of the community tests the child, and they have the final word about if the rite will occur or not.
If the child proves themselves worthy in body and mind, they are brought to the community’s Mender. They are expected to not speak or even make a sound until they are fully recovered. Often, but not always prayers are spoken by a Spiritist, invoking blessings and protection of the Powers. The Mender then works in tandem with an Occultist in what’s known as the White Room. It is a polished marble chamber with arcane circles for memory and skill inscribed on the floor. These are for the surgeon and alchemist, so they remember their work, but the child also remembers what it means to be Duthoa, their life and their dreams during the surgery. The Mender and Occultist work together to create an arcane union of mechanism and flesh, assuring that the child lives through the procedure. Sometimes, the Occultist provides draughts for pain but this is often refused by the child who wishes to prove their strength.
Typically, Duthoa will trade their non-dominate hand for something more “practical” that will help them with their trade. They almost never give up both hands, for that makes everyday life too difficult. Some implants don’t require giving up an entire limb, while others enhance senses like sight or hearing. Larger implants often have a detaching mechanism so they can be removed when they aren’t needed. Multi-tool style implants are generally believed to be a bad idea, for they don’t do anything well, just as it is considered foolish to implant untested technology.
The rich and brilliant will often swap out implants for newer models or the latest invention. Great Houses often encourage their children to get implants which allow for these upgrades, but these are often quite expensive. The poor however often will opt for something simple, inexpensive, and practical. Often the poorest rely on charities or patrons for their children’s initiations. Only the most desperate and remote families cannot afford a coming of age ceremony, for the over-altruistic Duthoa inventors will go out of their way to help a poor family’s child join their culture.
OOC Note on Ableism and Privilege
Players and Storytellers can use this imperfect culture to tell stories of advocacy, redemption, and triumph against unfair circumstances. Duthoa inventions really do help many people, but they also create massive problems of erasure and inequality for the differently-abled.
Rebus Type: Augmentee - Mechanisms
Government Type: Corporatocracy - The Rule of the Guilds
Major Faith: FleThols (Energy worship Tsho (The Power of Beginnings)
Artforms: culinary arts, kinetic sculpture
Exports: inventions, academic, metals
Imports: Mercenaries, food
Allies & Rivals
Yenyi Ally: Sonyyu Regime
Yenyi Rival: K'azni Dominion
Off World Ally: Tzudzehkt
Off World Rival: Chuzany Pods
Environment
World: Yenent
Continent: Mullend
Capitol: Mulderwort
Major Cities: Midwood, Spectraby
Notable Feature: Mines rich in metals
Emotional feel:
All lore is from an "in character" perspective.
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