Lyrian

An ethnicity crafted intentionally by Lyra the Leprechaun during The Starshaper Era who also created many of the fae races now on Syrioc. The language of Lyrian was conceived almost entirely from Lyra's writings and songs and has become the common language of Syrioc's fair-folk.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Every ethnicity on Syrioc has its own language that usually shares the name. Lyrian is a very musical language and is preferred when composing operas, poems, and songs. The dialect spoken in the Feywild is very different than Mortal Lyrian, so fey who stay too long on the mortal plane can lose or forget the language of their home plane. Travelers who learn Lyrian on Syrioc can also be met with an unhappy language barrier when traveling to the Feywild. Because of this, learning the distinctions between Fey Lyrian and Mortal Lyrian is very important.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

The central holiday of Lyrian culture takes place on the day that the dragon, Naladuke, was defeated by Lyra the Leprechaun on the 35th day of the 8th month. Common celebrations include lively Lyrian song and dance as well as some more traditional operas. A feast is held at sunset, where the sky lights up a golden orange, the colors of their fair lady. The name of this celebration is The Feast of the Fair-Folk known commonly as Feast Day.

Coming of Age Rites

A Lyrian who has not visited the Feywild at least once is looked down in the traditional culture. Because most Lyrian families consist of only one parent, a solo pilgrimage to the Feywild is the primary coming-of-age rite for young Lyrians. Some choose to stay there, while some return to the plane of their birth. Children cannot be born or properly raised in the Feywild because they do not age.¹

Funerary and Memorial customs

Death is not a foreign concept to Lyrians, but their perspective of it is much more alien than any other cultures on Syrioc. With immortality so easily attainable in the Feywild, those who die either do so in battle or by choice, almost always on the mortal plane. The only funerary necessities of a fallen Fey are fulfilling one of two options: Returning the body to their place of birth and allowing it to become one with nature once again, or delivering it to the Feywild, where The Undertakers use it as a shell to host wayward souls.²

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

The most favorable in Lyrian beauty ideals comes from likeness to the Queen, Lyra the Leprechaun. Red hair and green eyes are the favorites, but looks can always be deceiving in the presence of fey magic, so beauty must always be observed with a fair amount of skepticism.

Courtship Ideals

The most commonly recognized courtship symbol in Lyrian culture is a gift of cream and honey to the prospective partner's parent. If they let it spoil, the parent does not approve, but if served in a meal to which the gifter is invited, the coupling is endorsed. This practice was much more common between the years 550-724 ME (1153-1327 CE) and now has become a tradition enforced by older Lyrians.

Relationship Ideals

Lyrian culture does not have marriages or any extended monogamous relationship and children usually grow up with single parents. However, many second-generation Syrioc inhabitants prefer to take on more traditional rules of marriage and matrimony if they are planning to stay on the mortal plane for an extended period of time.

Major organizations

Lyrian is considered an ethnoreligious identity, but its religion is not as politically powerful as others like Malelan. Most of Lyra's organized worship is based in the Feywild,

/*she has a lot of worshipers but there's no big church and she's usually grouped with other nature gods*/

Footnotes

1. Time is tricky in Lilliam's Feywild. Things are rarely constant, but one common rule known by natives is that fey do not age when inhabiting the plane. Because of this, many parents are often forced to raise their children on the mortal plane, so as not to disrupt the delicate balance of their physical and mental maturity. This is why immortality is not a foreign concept to elves and pixies, an endless life is within reach of anyone with the means to travel there. Because of this, life takes on a different meaning, fey who prefer the mortal plane are seen as much more daring than those who prefer a quiet place in the Feywild for all eternity. (This is why the image of Lyra the Leprechaun stays immortalized as the body of a 20-year-old halfling)
2. This means, of course, that a body delivered to the Undertakers can show up again on the mortal plane a soon as a few years after death. While not incredibly common, there have been accounts of old friends and family encountering the body of a dead loved-one inhabited by a completely different identity many years after death.