Aevirian (ae-ver-e-an)

Overview

A poor and ravaged people that come from the Aevir region, meaning River region in proper Elven. They refer to themselves as the Riverfolk, though outsiders usually still call them by their Proper Elven name. Despite, or perhaps because of, the suffering they have endured, Aevirians tend to be an extremely friendly people. They work hard to restore their once plentiful lands, with their efforts largely paying in off in most of the region.
Aevirians are made up of mainly half-ghasts, humans, and half-elves but other races aren't an uncommon sight.

Location

The Aevir region where they hail from is to the west of the Dawn Seas in Acoria. True to their name sake, the area the region encompasses is filled with rivers and other bodies of water. Because of the amount of water, the region was filled with diverse fauna and flora before the last Calamity, but slowly life is coming back to the land and the people.

Language & Art

Aevirian is their primary language. It is a dialect of Proper Elven with influences from the original language the Aevirians spoke prior to being conquered by the empire.
Many Aevirians have learned a second language belonging to a neighboring region or to a region they trade with across the Dawn Seas. Few people still know the original language that their ancestors spoke before the empire came to their lands.
Traditional Aevirian art is made with materials from their natural environment, from leaves and bark to fox fur and reptilian scales. They decorate their homes and bodies with these items in patterns that have been passed down for generations or in new patterns that an individual has found meaning in. These pieces tend to depict darker scenes, such as cloudy storms or vicious predators.
Contrary to their physical art, their songs are almost always high tempo and upbeat, even among the songs with sorrowful meanings. People who hear their music often want to join in on the energy, with entire communities singing along to songs (sometimes multiple songs at once!).

Customs, Traditions, & Rites

It is tradition to share what you have within Aevirian culture, giving excess to a neighbor who needs it more. If someone asks for something, most Aevirians will jump at the chance to help. Denying a request without significant reason is taken as a personal slight, with a proper apology and gift being required to mend the relationship.
Keeping up with this tradition, a holiday or special occasion is treated with a city-wide feast where everyone brings what they can. These feasts are referred to as bear meals.
The birth of a child is celebrated heavily, with the parents being given plenty of food (particularly fish and other meat) and furs for the new child. Another common gift is fragrant extracts from flowers to mask the inevitable foul smells the baby will produce. Bear meals usually ensue unless the mother passed from the birth.
Similar to the event of a new person being brought into the world, someone leaving the world is a city-wide affair. People who knew the deceased will create a special trinket called a token of the river. These trinkets will be attached to the deceased, who is wrapped in the skin of an alligator, for when they are passed into the river and begin their journey to the the River's End. The entire town will be present for the passing to the river.

History

Under the Elven Empire they were forced to give up their land, harvests, and materials to support the Empire's growing population. This left little for the Aevirians, causing some of them to flee to other lands or to rebel. Those that rebelled were usually imprisoned but in some cases, they were killed.
When the Calamity of Blindness came, Aevir was hit with a terrible drought that dried up many of the rivers and starved many of the Aevirians who were left. By the time the drought lifted, the population of Aevir was a fraction of what it once was. The ones that remained had to sacrifice sleep just to keep up with the amount of work to survive. Slowly, with the help of the River's Vagrants and the help from nearby areas, the people were able to recover and return to a somewhat stable life. Trade was able to continue down the rivers and into the Dawn Sea.
Even with the returning strength of the region, many previous species of plants and animals were now extinct to the region. The absence of these species have made high points of the flood and the dry season chaotic. The adaptions the Aevirians had to make to survive during these wild seasons has widely affected their culture.