Hami
I'd say they're literally built different but I'm pretty sure I said that in an article on another group, maybe the Brijilds - The Fire Family or the Krysa - Crystal Magic Family, but they are literally built different.
Hami have light grey skin, grey or white hair and their eye colours can vary between light blue, light green and light orange. These traits are linked to their most noteworthy trait, their relationship with Hamikos, which they ride when hunting and fighting. Hamikos have light grey skin sometimes but rarely coated in light grey fur, light yellow, green or blue eyes.
Of course, exceptions exist like areas with Hamikos who have red or grey eyes and whose owners have eyes of the same colours, because mutations, but let's do our best to stuff this overarching culture with many, many subcultures in as small of a box as possible, ay?
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Naming Traditions
Feminine names
la is added onto the end to indicate sex. Otherwise there's no differentiation by sex for names.
Masculine names
lo is added onto the end to indicate sex. Otherwise there's no differentiation by sex for names.
Unisex names
la and lo are used to indicate sex on the end of first names when last names aren't used. However, it's considered rude to introduce someone who is present with these included as it's only ever done as an insult of "in case you couldn't tell that they're a man or a woman", and isn't used in in-person greetings. Exceptions may be made if a man and a woman have the same name, in which case lo and la will be used.
They're mostly named after their gods, who they believe not to have biological sexes as they're beyond the need for sex (although some are considered masculine or feminine not by a biological sex but by their behaviour and what they represent).
However, this has begun to change since the introduction of the branch people, as the branch people that moved in have mostly adopted the same gods as the Hami, sometimes worshipping them in addition to other sets of gods as Hami gods fit pretty easily as a second pantheon of gods ruling all beneath the Black Forest canopy.
Despite adopting the same gods, the Branch People mostly worship the gods as having a specific sex matching up to whether the Hami considered them masculine or feminine, and many of the Hami, even those that haven't simply ditched the ground dweller life and straight up joined the branch people, are adopting this mentality along with more sexually dimorphic ideals.
Family names
Some tribes just use the name of the parent of the same sex followed by jil, meaning "child", or just use the father's name in which case jila and jilo are added onto the end depending on whether they're male or female.
However, the first waves of the Branch People that came in have caused a lot of crossing between of ideas and some Hami tribes have taken up continuous family names. These names are generally based on impressive (often exaggerated) deeds by known ancestors, the more recent the better, meaning a lot of names meaning things like "Cassobar Slayer-with-knife" (they have a different word for killing someone with every tool by adding mosh on the end) and "Killer of 10 warriors with a bowl" (actual name used by a family that's gained great prominence, partially because of how much the deed is respected).
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
3 major subsets of their language different enough for the members of them to have extreme difficulty understanding each other... as in the differences are about as big as those between Spanish and French, literally different languages, but they still refer to them as subsets of the same language and would think of Spanish and French as subsets of a common language too.
Culture and cultural heritage
The culture of most tribes is shifting due to the Branch People. The feats of high chieftains who forced multiple tribes to act as one are no longer being spoken of as evil acts of oppression and instead great acts of unity. Tribes are becoming more interconnected.
At the same time, their culture really is becoming more like that of the Branch People and the Branch People more like the Hami, such as the Branch People mostly adopting the Hami pantheon. The likelihood is a hybrid culture split only by Hami being on the ground and Branch People in the branches.
Shared customary codes and values
Seniority is power. Competence is power.
Duels pog.
Average technological level
Most have similar technology to the Branch People, introduced by the Branch People.
Common Etiquette rules
If you aren't the head of a house/burrow then you eat what's placed on your plate and nothing else. If you want more you ask - not order - for it.
Common Dress code
There's no particular clothing requirements regarding the type of clothing one wears, but revealing too much skin in certain places is considered distasteful for both sexes.
Art & Architecture
Burrows go brrrr
But in all seriousness the burrows are often very impressive, especially when they link up to other burrows into burrow networks that can be thought of as super-burrows. These burrows contain rooms dedicated to religious purposes, making alcohol, storing food, preparing food, eating food, various forms of craftsmanship, mining (note: some tribes are literally still in the stone age, but most are now using steel they mine from the ground themselves for their weapons as well as to trade with the Branch People) and even homes for individual families with multiple rooms - bigger and more rooms indicating higher status, of course.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
A Hami child isn't truly thought of as being Hami until they've bonded with their Hamiko. This can happen within hours of the baby being born or may require a month for the Hamiko to be born. The baby is wrapped up and placed in a cradle in a room with the Hamiko fowl, both made sure to be well-fed, and left alone together. With a normal human child this would result in the Hamiko killing or injuring the baby but with Hami it results in them comforting each other and forming a bond that will strengthen over and last a literal lifetime.
Coming of Age Rites
Joining in on the hunting of a massive creature. There's no regulatory body for how massive massive is but there's an understanding that massive means about the size of or bigger than an elephant.
Funerary and Memorial customs
They disinfect and then cannibalise each other's dead bodies. They believe that by doing this by keep a piece of that person's spirit with them.
Common Taboos
Killing or attempting to kill another Hami without the approval of a shaman.
Declaring war on another tribe without the approval of a shaman.
Shamans will generally approve reasons based in vengeance, so long as it's like "She killed my dad, so gimme permission to kill her" and not "they took my bowl, so I'll take their lives."
Self defence is allowed.
Self defence includes getting to own the person who tried to hurt you or one of their children as a slave afterwards.
If you enslave a child, what you're actually doing is adopting that child. You're still expected to be at all their rituals and stuff.
Rape, adultery, theft, assault, lying, most of the reasonable stuff.
Killing a Hamiko without a shaman's approval except in self defence.
Breaking oaths under any circumstance.
Historical figures
Chieftain of Chieftains Hamilola:
Got over a hundred tribes to join them, either by showing what could be gained or by threatening them (kidnapping members of tribes and taking them as hostages until the tribe's elders swear an oath to join you go brrrr) in a great invasion into northern Lamara - a war against the Jioctal Lamarans - copying a design of boat made by the Sea Peoples.
This invasion was flipped upside down by the Jioctal King going "yo yo wait you can settle in Jioctal that's cool no need to burn shit but look you see that Krysa Empire that's attacking Jioctal they'll literally genocide or enslave you if they conquer Jioctal so how about you fight for me instead of against me eh?" and the Hami going for it. This allowed Jioctal to last 23 years longer than it would've otherwise against the Krysa Empire before finally being conquered.
The Hami were then subjected to the Kamush, in which laws apply to people but rights don't... this means it's legal to murder them but illegal for them to murder anyone or even defend themselves against murderers. Those that weren't slaughtered as a result either escaped back over the sea to the Black Forest or were enslaved.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Strength and skill is considered extremely important in both sexes... yeah they ride monstrous horse-like Hamikos hunting creatures that dwarf mammoths. Everyone over a certain age, except pregnant women or the disabled.
Light yellow eyes are generally considered more attractive than blue or green.
Scars are considered a plus, but if disability of any kind is a negative. Basically if that knife slashed at your eye just missed it and left a scar, that's getting Hamis thirsty but if your eye was taken out then unless you can prove that you're still extremely capable regardless you're basically unscrewable... although once you prove you're a badass anyway it goes the other way and you're more attractive again.
Gender Ideals
Very little dimorphism due to that hunter-gatherer lifestyle but here it is again the Branch People and their influences have led to more sexually dimorphic ideals.
Polygamy for either sex is present in some tribes, but monogamy is the norm enforced by most tribe elders as it's generally better for maintaining order within a tribe.
Courtship Ideals
"Yo me and this fuckboi/hoe wanna be married."
Shaman: "Sling slong bing bong here is the marriage song"
Relationship Ideals
Hunt together, screw, have 3-4 kids, get over the age of 50 and join the polyamorous ranks of the elders.
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