The Court of Cups

Called also the Water Court, the Archipelagos
Nowhere in the world can you find those more endeared to their families. In the Court of Cups, nothing is more important than who you are related to - your parents and siblings, your grandparents, the lineage of your people. In a land where storms batter even the largest villages into the sea, blood endures. The dwellers in this Court show homage to their people by etching lines of deeds and history into their skin - rough tattoos and scars crossing muscle and skin with the story of a brave cousin or wily aunt. Geographically, the Court of Cups is the smallest - hundreds of thousands of islands, some no more than a half mile across, dot this territory. Many of the west-most islands have come in conflict once or twice over their history with Coin or Sword ships that like to act as though they belong to one of the greater Courts, but these are always taught the truth of things when monsoon season comes. The islands belong to the Court of Cups, and always have. The inhabitants of the island tend away from organized religion, though there are shrines on all the bigger islands to the major arcana. They have, instead, shown a talent for untrained sorcery and the magic of the spirits. Among some of the further islands, necromancy is performed as a form of practical magic, for what use to the dead have for their bodies once they’re done with them? There are as many variations to Cups culture as there are islands, though they all value the “language of the soul” and are a musical, emotive people who show great care in any task they undertake. It is rare to see a citizen of the Court of Cups on the mainland, though every generation has a few young folks who come to see what life is like on dry land. No Court of Cups child ever goes to sleep without a thought, at least, of the great blue expanse upon which they were born.