Luceri

The Luceri are a group of weavers and dye-makers. In appearance they fall somewhere between snake and goat, with a snake-like lower body and tail, a goat-like head with a muzzle a bit broader than a goat's, but narrower than most snakes', and one to three pairs of goat-like horns. Their skin is thick, feeling to the touch most like the velvety, barely-furred part of a horse's muzzle. Among outsiders, there is a perception that they grow scales as they age, owing to the unique way that their skin forms keratinous scar tissue when damaged, in combination with scarification being an important part of their customs.
Luceri do not grow very visibly muscular, though are not particularly physically weak. They are mammalian, with relatively subtle sexual dimorphism developing as they reach adulthood - males' chests remain flat while females develop small mammaries similar in appearance to human pectoral muscles.

Culture

Common Dress code

Typical dress involves airy, thin fabric, fashioned into a hooded, sleeveless garment that is worn open at the front down to the transition point between torso and tail, where it is further secured with a woven belt, then forms something like a skirt wide enough to cover the tail when standing still or moving slowly. In rough weather, a circle poncho is worn over the base vest-robe, with more layers or extra fasteners added as needed. There are also tough lower-body leather garments that may be worn when traversing difficult terrain, constructed by bands of leather riveted together, though they're generally considered uncomfortable and as restricting natural movement. With the abundance of dye materials in their homelands, clothing is often brightly colored, and they don't seem to have a concept of such a thing as "clashing colors," however a single garment will generally be one color, possibly with a differently colored stitching - for those who wish to add more colors, more pieces will be added to the outfit.
One popular way of adding extra pieces to an outfit is a type of short shawl. These are fastened to the edge of the arm holes of the main garment so that they drape in a 'U' shape across the arm without impairing mobility. The fasteners used each consist of an oval ring and a detached pin, made of either brass or bone. The heads of the pins may be artfully carved, or a pair of pins may sometimes be connected with brass chain, though it's at least as common that they're just plain and utilitarian,

Art & Architecture

Much of Luceri art comes in the form of woven tapestry chronicles. These tapestries feature bright colors, heavy stylization, and will often use combinations of different fibers to add texture. Individuals are identifed by both color choice, where a given individual will always be woven with the same colors if they reoccur in multiple stories, and by a flat piece of horn or bone attached to the weave by being threaded onto the weft. The shape of these pieces are part of how an individual is identified, and hatch marks show how many marks of adventure they had when the events woven on the tapestry took place. A finished chronicle tapestry will be 15 inches wide and as long as the event being chronicled demands, with the account reading top to bottom in a zig-zag pattern. As new tapestries are finished, older ones will be stored away, while the new ones are hung in the community's central building.
Luceri villages may appear curious or impractical at first to a stranger. Most houses stand only between 1-1½ foot above ground, with a steep ditch in front of each home. The one exception is their central building, the Home of Stories, which stands several man-heights tall, towering over the village. Livestock is kept in pens with relatively simple shelters consisting of two pole walls, a lone pole in the opposite corner, and a woven wicker roof between the single pole and the walls. The mostly-buried dwellings take advantage of the surrounding ground for insulation and to give their homes more even temperatures.

Trade Goods

Luceri story tapestries are highly sought after collector's items. They are, however, cultural artifacts that Luceri villages would not willingly part with - all of the ones in circulation were originally stolen, and Luceri would be highly offended to see them displayed in a place they visited. In theory, it would be possible for an outsider to commission a Luceri weaver for a tapestry telling that outsider's own story, but in practice such a commission is rarely proposed, and even more rarely accepted - maybe a handful such tapestries are known to exist.
Their primary trade is instead the dyes they extract from plants, minerals, and insects in their homelands. Some of these dyes are also further refined by methods not shared with outsiders, and produce colors difficult or impossible to reliably obtain with alternative dyes. As a complement to this trade, they also purchase undyed fabrics from other merchants, which they dye and resell. The fabrics they traditionally produce for their own clothing is good for the purpose, but is woven with an eye towards utility and durability, not visual perfection, and as such would appear to be low quality to most outsiders.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Owing to their homelands once having been more hostile than they are now, Luceri culture limits how far a member of a village may go from the village, with carved and brightly painted markers being placed down around the village to mark these distances. It is the responsibility of those who have attained the right to go to a specific zone to attend that area, both for foraging and to eliminate threats. As each successive zone naturally will cover a larger area, the areas nearest the village will have a denser presence of hunters, and thus be kept safer than the outer zones.
The right to travel farther from the village is earned by in some way proving oneself ready for the increased danger. This might mean accruing hunting experience or achieving some remarkable feat, or it might mean accruing trading experience or similar, for those who have earned the right to leave traditional Luceri territory altogether to join trade caravans. Even for these people, the distance permitted to be traveled is incremental; less experienced Luceri will go on shorter trade expeditions, and only the most experienced will travel to the far end of trade routes with their village's wares.

Scarification

To mark that they have earned the right to travel farther away from their village, Luceri will undergo a ritual in which the skin is cut and the wound packed with pigmented clay to form hypertropic, keratinous scars, the pigment tinting the scar tissue to differentiate it from scars resulting from combat, medical treatment, or accident. There is no set tradition for what exact colors are used; the choice may vary depending on season, what pigments are abundant in the particular village's territories, or other factors, depending on the particular village's local tradition or the individual performing the ritual, usually a more extensively decorated member of the tribe, overseen by the tribe's healer, who will seal the wound with brook gum.
The scars are typically located on the chest and abdomen, where they will be visible when wearing traditional garb, and resemble reptilian scales when healed - a process that typically takes a few weeks to a month.
The scarification ritual also involves members of the village gathering around the central coal brazier in the Home of Stories to listen to the subject recount the experience they have earned since their last ritual, with the focus being on any particularly remarkable feats. Villagers may come and go to the celebration; there is no requirement that anyone but the subject themselves stay through the whole thing, though it would be considered rude to leave them completely to themselves.

Tapestry Hanging

The hanging of a new tapestry in the Home of Stories, along with the retirement of the oldest hanging tapestry to make room for it, is treated with some amount of reverence. The weaver will place their tapestry on the wall, using a ladder if necessary, with most of the village observing. The story being told in the tapestry is repeated, either by the subject of the story or the weaver, in a rhythmic free-verse recitation or chant accompanied by tapping and rubbing a herbivore jaw bone with a rib bone or a piece of horn approximating the shape. Select lines or clauses are repeated back by the listeners in a call-and-response-like fashion. There are no prescriptive rules for how these lines are chosen, but most Luceri seem to develop a sense for it by the time they start coming of age.

Coming of Age Rites

The most anticipated mark of maturity for young Luceri is no doubt receiving their first scar, or mark, which will allow them to venture beyond the immediate vicinity of the village. The ritual is largely the same as for the scarifications they will undergo later in life, with a few differences to turn it into more of a festive celebration. Colorful scarves are donned and fruit wine is drunk. There is dancing where everyone, particularly the more experienced members of the village, vy for their opportunity to dance with the young Luceri. As well as celebrating a milestone in the youngster's life, the celebration serves to soften the blow of the admittedly painful procedure which they have not previously experienced.

Common Taboos

Given the cultural significance of scars, purposedly inflicting scarring on oneself is highly frowned upon by Luceri, who tend to see it as deceptive even when practiced by other cultures. Children playing house might pretend to perform the scarring ritual on one another with dull instruments like sticks, but will be harshly punished if they actually were to break skin in doing so.

Ideals

Relationship Ideals

The most important interpersonal relationship in Luceri culture, bar none, is that with one's community. Children do often live with one or both parents, but are raised communally, and there is no inherent assumption that any given union will be permanent. Dwellings may be shared by romantic or sexual partners, but may just as often be shared between individuals whose crafts complement each other, or who keep similar hours. Jealousy and possessiveness of one's partner are both considered to be detrimental to one's relationship with the community, and there is an expectation that one works to overcome such impulses.