Yunthal

The Yunthal region, while politically fragmented into half a hundred more or less independent polities, is more culturally similar than not. Though Yunths from different regions of the bay speak in different dialects, they are all mutually intelligible. And though they inhabit an area spanning two thousand kilometers north to south, they share in their native religion and customs. The average Yunth subsists off fishing or farming, but the relatively small states that rule most of them are generally preoccupied with mercantile matters. Though most of the population remains rural, the Yunthal regions are more urbanized than most parts of the world. Often, the rule by city elites is fairly nominal, and kings and princes are often content, and perhaps unable to do anything but, to let local chiefs manage their affairs in peace.
Further, there is a religious divide in Yunth society. The merchant and noble elites have largely adopted an eastern Voranthene faith in a progenitor mother goddess. However, the general population worships various nature spirits, particularly those relating to storms and the sea. The Yunthal magical tradition of the stormlords is derived from old shamanistic practices, though many Yunth magicians today belong to the elite and no longer keep the faith their traditions are derived from. Still, Yunth rulers do often pay at least lip service to local religious events, and in many cases have rescheduled and reinterpreted their own religious events to try to meld them into folk practices.
Most Yunths live in earthwork and thatch dwellings, and your average village is built with such materials, with perhaps one or two stone buildings. In contrast, the cities are usually mostly stone, with only outlying buildings built of thatch or earth.
The elite keep foreign things as status symbols. Imported jewelry, fabrics, foods, and so forth command prestige among the merchants and nobility (which are deeply intertwined). Having them proves a grasp of commerce and wealth of contacts to foreign lands. Family contacts to outside the bay are also considered desirable, and elites frequently seek out foreigners to marry, and many have foreign ancestors.
This outward-looking view of the Yunth states has also brought a great deal of foreign influence into Yunth politics. Outsiders are eager to cut favorable trade deals with the Yunths at the crossroads of the world, and the Yunths are in turn equally eager to capture trade contacts from their neighbors and use foreign militaries to fend off rivals. As trading states, Yunths fight with mercenaries more often than not.

Type

Bay