Eihlarian (/aɪ'lɑːriən/)

Eihlari is home to an insular society of clans. Their culture has developed in near-isolation since the middle of the Oceanic Era, when the tideriders first established outposts on the island. Even today, there is very little travel between Eihlari and the Cluster Islands, and no motivation on either end to change that. Eihlarians have no interest in the rest of the world, and do not leave their island unless circumstances require.

History

During the Oceanic Era, Eihlari was a tiderider hub. The island was large enough that most families could maintain private ports and settlements, and served also as a place to employ family members who proved unsuitable as sailors. The discovery of the Cluster Islands initiated a massive shift in the center of human civilization, as residents of the eroding ocean atolls moved to the more robust mountainous islands. As old trade routes were no longer followed, the Eihlari ports were no longer needed. The tideriders returned to claim their "groundpounder" kin, but many opted to stay on Eihlari, having spent their entire lives there and built up comfortable communities.
Even after the fleets stopped visiting, the Eihlarian clans continued to aggressively protect their family territory. Feuds were frequent, and until the early 10th century of the Volcanic Era, Eihlarians were more than twice as likely as any other island dweller to die by violence. Matters reached their worst in 935 Vol, when the Halsul Massacre took place: several clans joined together to exact vengeance on a single clan, forcing them to march into Eihlari's largest bay to drown. A contingent of the old Eddy Water Seekers arrived within several hours to put a stop to the deaths. Over the next 150 year period, known as the Intervention, there was a constant presence of Water Seekers on Eihlari. They imposed strictures meant to disrupt the cycle of vengeance, the most critical being a judicial system. By the end of the Intervention, the Eihlarian courts were judged by Eihlarians themselves, and the Seekers reduced their presence to an annual visit.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Each Eihlarian family has its own language, evolving farther from Old Shipspeak and away from each other with each successive generation. Members of different families speak Formal Eihlari with each other, regardless of their relative age or social standing. The Eddy, as part of its intervention in Eihlarian affairs, decreed the development of Common Eihlari, an expansion of the jargon already spoken by men. Common Eihlari is used by husbands with the clans they have married into, and between families of sept alliance.
Eihlari is also home to the only fully developed human sign language in the Ocean, called Handwave. Although there is no increased occurrence of deafness in the population, a higher percentage of Eihlarians are nonverbal for other reasons. As with Common and Formal Eihlari, Handwave is used between members of different families. While each family may have its own system of gestural communication, none is complete enough to qualify as a language.

Culture and cultural heritage

The Eihlarian clan system is directly descended from tiderider hierarchy. The Warden's role is the same as that of the Mother Captain, and the entire family lives in a single compound the way a boating family lived communally on the mother ship. Outbuildings function as did small utility boats, to perform such noisome tasks as disposing of waste, or simply for privacy.
The culture of post-Intervention Eihlari has a strong Zaiyevi flavor; understandably so, since more Water Seekers have come from Zaiyev than any other island. 

Education

The Eihlarian school system in its present form was established during the Intervention. Prior to that, children were educated entirely within their clans, exacerbating the cultural isolation that fueled the feuds. The new Eihlarian schools have no fewer than three teachers in a classroom, and all must be from different clans. Attendance is distributed so that there is no clan majority in any class of students. Children begin school at an average age of five. They receive a minimum of eight years of general education, then enter a two-year period of exposure to various subjects to determine where their strengths lie. At the conclusion of that time, they are expected to choose a field to specialize in, and spend the next two years in apprenticeship, finally proceeding to accreditation in the chosen field.

Shared customary codes and values

Eihlarians admire quirkiness. Physical tics, odd habits, personal catchphrases, distinctive hobbies--any idiosyncratic behaviors that distinguish individuals from each other are strongly encouraged.

Average technological level

Eihlari has, for the most part, kept pace with the Cluster Islands in terms of technological achievement.  They have their own mining and manufacturing industries, so that they rely very little on other islands for imports; their trade is mainly in intellectual property.  One advancement Eihlarians have made that the Cluster has been reluctant to adopt is the creation of perfect portraits.  The process is still somewhat cumbersome, involving chemically treated surfaces inside sealed boxes with small holes, but it remains an active field of research.  Methods are under investigation of combining series of images into three-dimensional portraits, to see if the Cluster Islanders find those to be less creepy.

Common Etiquette rules

As a population, Eihlarians have, on average, much lower water sensitivity than other humans.  As a result, they have a much reduced ability to "read" another person's state of mind.  To compensate, Eihlarians freely express their motivation and emotional state to the best of their ability, and remark upon their observations of the same in others.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Eihlarian clans each have their own traditions, holidays, and ceremonies. Across all clans, only two annual traditions are observed: the Day of Shame and the Day of Sorrow.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

Eihlarian births are private compared to most other human cultures in the Ocean, in that a woman is supposed to give birth only in the presence of her blood family.  However, a widespread superstition holds that the larger the gathering the luckier the child, so births are still well attended, and small families will often bend the rule to increase attendance.  After the birth, the parents and baby are taken to a separate room to rest while the rest of the family continues to celebrate. The mother's relatives enter this room one at a time to perform family-specific rituals of welcome to formally accept the new member of the clan.

Coming of Age Rites

Life stages are celebrated not by age but by accomplishment, and there is no set schedule by which those accomplishments are marked.  Any Eihlarian who has done something she feels proud of may call for her family to acknowledge it--and no matter how trivial it may seem, the family will do so gladly.

Historical figures

The most well-known Eihlarian in modern times is Nkeba Rruend, fifteen years a judge in Eihlarian courts and currently the Dancinglight of the New Eddy.

Ideals

Courtship Ideals

Most Eihlarian marriages have their roots in the classroom, where boys and girls from different clans interact with each other on a daily basis. By the time they are old enough to initiate courtship, most young women already have a good idea of their preferred catch. If the man agrees, the woman schedules through her clan's Warden a week or two in the family's ancestral home. This "honeymoon" is the last vestige of the pre-intervention male kidnappings that were commonplace during the old feuds. At the end of the vacation, the couple is considered married, and the man begins the process of joining his wife's clan.

Relationship Ideals

The familial relationship is considered most important in Eihlarian culture. While the Eddy's Intervention ended the practice of absolute kin loyalty, family members are still expected to support and stick up for one another.

Parent ethnicities

• Tideriders
• Zaiyeve

Related Locations

• Eihlari