Vizehkt Dynasty
Provenance of Paragons
Provenance of Paragons
The Vizehkt are the easiest species and culture to play in all of Shadowright, because they will feel the most familiar with how we imagine medieval humans. But this doesn't mean they're uninteresting! They are inspired by 10th-13th century Medieval European societies combined with elements of Japanese Feudalism. While on the surface they feel very feudal and honor focused, they are ruled by the wealthy instead of hereditary monarchies. This means that many Vizehkt paupers dream of earning a fortune to gain a seat at the Burgeon Council.
This culture is based on the ESTJ personality type: Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging. These are weaknesses as much as strengths, and while the dragons believe that every Vizehkt is basically ESTJ, 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 Vizehkt, have horns, antlers or some sort of spikes on their heads. Remember, there are no humans in Shadowright.
- Decide how wealthy or poor they are. Vizehkt social standing is based on 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.
- Pick your PC's favorite flower(s) and butterfly. Decide why they find this inspirational
- Write the story of how your PC completed their Quest (see the Coming of Age section below), and decide what they did with their Trophy with your StoryMaster.
- Figure out your character's favorite way to flex their power, especially if they are poor.
- Take deep pride in NOT being a Rebus and having an intact body.
- Costume: use real world inspiration combining Feudal Japan and 10th-13th century European fashions. Colors should be muted and natural to highlight small pops of bright accent colors. Flowers should be worn if possible, but don't overdo it! Excess is gaudy.
- Decide how your character feels about dragons, recognizing that all Yenyi and especially the Vizhekt fight the tyranny and control of the dragons.
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 write an impossible Quest where your PC defeats a Great Dragon or does some other impossible feat at 12 years old. Give your PC room to grow!
- Don't make up a flower or butterfly species. Use real world species or creatures mentioned on the Shadowright Wiki.
- Don't be a judgemental jerk for no reason. Vizehkt criticism comes from a place of trying to help, even if it doesn't feel like that to the recipient.
- Costume: Don't copy/paste appropriate real-world cultures, be inspired by them to create something new! Don't combine loud patterns or have large amounts of bright colors. Avoid gemstones and don't bother with much jewelry, except if it is to hold a flower!
- 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.
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
Like all Yenyi, the Vizehkt are forward thinking, but they hold a special fondness for history and seek to learn from the past. This respect for history has helped the Vizehkt grow philosophically and their brilliance is seen most readily in works of the quill over that of the anvil. Their philosophically enriched poetry, ballads, and prose delight readers across all the worlds for quick and complicated wordplay peppered with aggressive arguments and provocative claims.
The Vizehkt are also lovers of pageantry and spectacle. They have the greatest theaters and playwrights in all the four worlds and the lavish balls of the Vizehkt's ruling Burgeon Council continue to spark legends of opulence and social intrigue. It is said that even the poorest Vizehkt will find a way to drape themselves in finery, even if only flowers and feathers.
Flowers and butterflies hold special significance to the Vizehkt due to their beauty and fragility. The fragile beauty that is gone in a heartbeat is most precious because it is so rare, and they find that breathtaking. For this reason, living butterflies are more valued than the dead, and a rare delicate flower that fades quickly can be priceless. They value jewels and precious metals, certainly, but only as tools of finance. For how can an unchanging shiny rock hold the flash of life that is the beauty of an ultimate Truth?
The fleeting beauty of an orchid is more precious than cold, dead diamonds.
Shared customary codes and values
The Vizehkt value self sufficiency and strength over most other things. They are dedicated to whatever they set their minds to, and strong willed to a fault. Others have called them direct and honest at best and tactlessly blunt on a bad day, but they are notably loyal, patient and reliable. They find joy in creating order, making them natural organizers of their environment and of people.
However the Vizehkt are also notorious for being inflexible and resisting change. This has caused other Yenyi to accuse them of living in the past and stagnating as a culture. They are also prone to being highly judgmental of others and even more of themselves. They hold to rigid hierarchies and struggle to relax or navigate informal settings. Many other cultures, especially off-world cultures, find their facial expressions too subtle to read and therefore believe they are emotionless.
Average technological level
While the Vizehkt do not lead the Yenyi in innovation, they are comfortable with all forms of known technology and easily adapt to new inventions. They have quickly adopted and even improved on Duthoa inventions like the Ingetz, and were the original inventors of the airship, though airships were perfected by the Gik'i.
All Vizehkt are expected to learn to read, as a matter of cultural pride. Beyond that, there is a wide variety of technological knowledge and ability, based mostly on trade and/or class. The upper classes receive extensive training to be able to understand and manage any technology they come across, so as not to shame all Vizehkt by their ignorance.
Common Etiquette rules
The formal society of the Vizehkt has strict rules of etiquette based on social hierarchy. Class is based on material possessions, and the peasant and merchant classes are expected to defer to the ruling class in most things. Exceptions are given to those of the merchant class who are experts in their given trades. These high level tradesmen form an unrecognized intellectual elite class who are given great respect but hold no formal power.
All Yenyi take great pride in their crown of horns or antlers, a bow which lowers one's head is considered to be a great sign of respect. The Vizehkt follow this practice, giving the deepest bows to the wealthy. It is also customary to place an open palm on one's chest as a sign of awe and respect. The Vizehkt do not lower their eyes when they bow, to communicate that they are trustworthy but also to appreciate the display of wealth or beauty of their betters.
Typically the upper classes do not bow to the less fortunate, so a greeting is accepted by a subtle upward nod of the head. This is considered a kindness and a socially acceptable way to greet a peer or someone of a lower class.
Meal etiquette is also formalized, where everyone of a lower rank will wait to sit until the highest ranked person does so first. However, it is the lowest ranked person who is served food first and the host eats last, displaying the generosity and wealth of the host.
Common Dress code
Cleanliness and beauty is highly prioritized and bright colors are considered garish. They generally adopt a muted pallet with a strategic pop of brilliance. A poor peasant dressed in simple but clean rags with wildflowers woven through their crown of antlers would be considered more lovely than the overly bejeweled noble wearing obnoxiously colors and clashing patterns.
Lower classes opt for simple garb and do what they can to get a hold of the finest materials they can buy. Typically most will try to keep at least one potted plant so they can wear flowers or sell them for necessities. Others will go to great lengths to hunt rare flowers or butterflies, typically to sell but occasionally to give to loved ones as extravagant gifts. While life is hard for the poorest Vizehkt, even they will do everything they can to keep their garments looking fresh by washing every chance they can get. A clean shirt and a flower behind an ear is a point of pride for any Vizehkt of any class or gender.
The merchant classes are the most flexible in their clothing, adapting their garments to work or relaxation, for then can afford to have more than one set of clothing. Typically their clothing is little different from the poor in that it is simple and practical for a hard day's labor at their trade. However they often have a few items of higher quality that is saved for special occasions. These articles of clothing are often family heirlooms and passed down over the generations. Particular family treasures often include preserved rare flowers or butterflies. Others wear finely crafted imitations, aware they aren't as valuable as the real thing but celebrating the craftsmanship as a different artform.
The wealthy Vizehkt are renowned for their sophisticated sense of style and design, and they take pride in this reputation. They will go to great lengths to assure that they keep up with the latest designers and walk the tightrope of extravagance and restraint that defines true luxury. To have one ultra rare blossom set in a fascinator is chic, to have a dozen blossoms in a bouquet is provincial or, worse, gaudy. It is expected that the upper class Vizehkt will always wear the latest trends and bless those less fortunate with last year's wardrobe.
Both men and women engage in this pageantry, but the men also include finely manicuring their facial hair as a part of their cultural dress. Those who are able to grow and sculpt their beards are the envy of many, and many a bearded pauper has been the envy of patchy princes. In some regions, hair styling competitions are held with categories for all genders. Often the winners of these competitions are treated to the Burgeon Council's annual Oeuvre Ball to celebrate their creations.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Gift giving is a major aspect of Vizehkt culture, but each gift comes with an expectation or obligation for some manner of response. The phrase "there are no free gifts" rings true for the Vizehkt. The wealthy will throw incredibly extravagant balls where luxurious gifts are given to all, but the expectation is that the attendees are then obligated to support whoever threw the ball whenever the need arises. It is said that Vizehkt gift giving practices have their own economy and even a hidden language of meaning, debts and payments.
Outsiders are often trapped unaware in these intricate webs by a misunderstood gift, so beware and humbly seek to understand any strings that may be attached.
Coming of Age Rites
As a Contented Rebus culture, the Vizehkt do not have a surgical or alchemical coming of age ceremony. Instead, each Vizehkt is expected to prove they are ready for adulthood by setting out on a quest to find and slaughter a dragon. This is a truly ancient tradition from far before The Fell Calamity, and through it all Vizehkt prove their strength and intelligence to all other peoples and themselves.
Typically, this quest is undertaken soon after puberty and parents spend years training their children for this coming trial. The paupers and the weak generally target the smaller species of dragon or the wyrmlings, which are no more dangerous than a single wolf. Even this still can be deadly, though, but it is not an impossible task. The brave and the foolish seek more deadly targets, looking to prove their might through slaughtering a dragon who's name is known. If they are successful, they often take the dragon's name as their own.
When the youth triumphs, they are expected to remain with the body of the dragon overnight, protecting it from scavengers while they contemplate their power and helplessness in the face of death. With the dawn, they must cook and eat the dragon's heart. Then they may remove one tooth, scale, organ, horn or claw, and bring it back with them as proof of their quest. This item is often used to create a talisman or some other magical object, or incorporated in its "pure form" into jewerly or art. The Vizehkt will keep this item with them with them through life and are often even cremated with it.
It is considered bad form to brag about one's quest, even if a named dragon is taken. All Vizehkt know in their souls that they are dragon killers. Bragging casts doubt upon that truth and cheapens the glory. But whispers of great deeds travel faster than lightning. The youths know that they can let their actions speak for them.
Funerary and Memorial customs
For the vast majority of Vizhekt, funerals are intimate matters of close family and friends. Cremation and the scattering of ashes is the typical practice, then a feast filled with storytelling and song.
However, for the upper classes it becomes more complicated as questions of succession and hereditary come into play. Vizehkt law will honor the will of the deceased for the distribution of wealth, if a will exists. Typically the will designates the surviving spouse as the recipient of wealth, providing they are deemed capable of managing the funds by an expert not related to the family. If they are not capable, then a different family member is designated steward of the funds and assures that the spouse and any children are cared for. If there is no surviving spouse and no will exists, then the funds are distributed by merit among the children, assuming they are of age. Merit is determined by an external steward, based on how the heirs have proven themselves with their own assets and endeavors.
Many people have called this an unfair system, because it concentrates wealth in the hands of very few families, which is then passed down generationally. But the Vizehkt disagree and argue that the wealth was earned by hard work and excellence, and that poor stewardship is punished accordingly. This is important to them, for the wealthiest among them are viewed as the wisest, and given seats at the Burgeon Council in Upinstor.
Mourning, for the wealthy, is ongoing until the external steward is no longer needed. For some families, this can be years or even decades. For these reasons, funerary practices, hereditary wealth, and the balance of power are intertwined for the Vizehkt.
Write the contents of the spoiler here Show Spoiler OOC Note on ClassismPlayers and Storytellers can wrestle with the inherent injustice of this system, telling stories of revenge, revolution, and rage. More nuanced stories of how the rich can serve the poor can also be told (for better or worse), or how power can be wielded for good.
Capitalism in its current form shouldn't be a focus. Vizehkt wealth is largely hereditary, though they make a lot from exporting grain and other foods.
Rebus Type: Contented
Government Type: Plutocracy - The Rule of the Wealthy
Major Faith: Agency (belief in the self), ancestor veneration
Artforms: Stageplays, poetry, fine ceramics
Exports: food, raw materials, ceramics
Imports: Mechanical tools, academics, soldiers & mercenaries
Allies & Rivals
Yenyi Ally: K'azni Dominion
Yenyi Rival: Duthoa Empire
Off World Ally: S'lidid Clan of Fleyteyt
Off World Rival: Olkette of the Broken Chains
Environment
World: Yenent
Continent: Upin
Capitol: Upinstor
Major Cities: Bluburn, White Harbor, Tarohear (currently occupied by K'azni)
Notable Feature: Most fertile lands in all Yenent
Heraldic Colors: Mahogany primary, Slate Blue accent.
Emotional feel:
All lore is from an "in character" perspective.
Comments