Herkshiran

Overview

General Description

Known more formally as the people of Herkshire, the Herkshirans are each part of a whole that lives as a nationwide farming community of many peoples. The most common include halflings, humans, and half-elves. Each of them lives in harmony, working together to tend the nearly 50 different crops that they've cultivated throughout the history of the Herkshire nation. And even though these are the most common, there have been, on rare occasions, the odd minotaur or half-orc that prowls around in the nation.

Ideals

The people of Herkshire believe in simple things, and their ideals reflect the same. As such, the ideas of natural beauty over enhanced is considered to be a commonly accepted belief. Because of this, the Herkshirans also believe that a normal progression of love, rather than forcing it through social soirees and the like, is much better. Two persons will certainly have no opposition to love one another, but those of a higher prestige might consider it necessary to have consent from the family's beforehand. However, it brings into question the idea of how a relationship should function within the group. Herkshirans uniformly agree that one must neither allow their lover to carry all the burden of the house nor carry all of it.

Culture

Values

One should always be willing to lend help to another, as that person will one day lend help back to you.
On the other hand, the biggest taboo is to commit the destruction of one's country by way of fire. To create fire for no other reason than to ruin other's land and livestock is unforgivable. Any person that desires this is immediately brought to a garrison of the town, and then relieved of their life. But it's not a public execution, being a rather sordid affair the Herkshirans prefer to keep the loss of life private so that it only afflicts those who were meant to suffer through it, rather than everyone.
Luckily, with their Protector, Pryllia, many of the people can stay strong through each day and survive through the harvest. As such, it is familiar to the point of absurdity to see how many of the Herkshirans worship Pryllia. It'd be considered odd to find someone who didn't worship the goddess.

Etiquette & Dress

Common etiquette, while strange, is that it is necessary to wipe one's feet before entering an establishment. This practice is, in part, since many of the people of the nation are halflings.
People typically wear linen clothes of simple make for everyday use as well as finer jackets for formal wear. Otherwise, a pair of shoes, maybe a separate more fancy set as well, but for halflings, no shoes are seen as better.

Common Rites

Common traditions include the Coming of Age ceremony. While this was originally solely for halflings, the tradition has grown and become something for every Herkshiran. The simple principle of it is that when one turns 16, a large feast will be held in their honor to commemorate the transition from child to adult. For the Coming of Age, people mostly hold a giant feast for their loved one to celebrate the transition as well as having three acts of performances to describe birth, maturity, and death. The first is a dance to commemorate the person's birth as well as their ability to survive into the new year. It is a dance full of greens and blues and golds. The next dance for maturity is significantly more solemn. It depicts the leaving of the family to create a new one nearby and the continuation of the process, but at the same time represents leaving people behind for the sake of one's progress. Finally is the dance of passing, which entails and outlines the future for when the person does pass. It shows a brilliant display to commemorate the person as they were in life, and will often have enactments if future Hope's to be recorded as successes.
Before that, however, there are the baptismal rites that occur for nearly every family that worships Pryllia. As of today, there appears to be only one type of ritual for newborns, which entails having the newborn be nurtured for at least one month inside of a cornucopia to give it the strength it needs to survive through life.
And finally, there is the funeral rite. The funeral, much like the final presentation of the coming of age ceremony, is very much explosive and joyous. Rather than dwelling on the sadness of the entire affair, the person is remembered by the greatness they were able to exhibit through life, no matter how small.

Technology

The form of advancements in technology that has been attained by Herkshirans are few and far between. Due to a reliance on farming rather than anything else, any scientific successes are mainly by way of discovering better ways to receive a more bountiful harvest. Because of this, most of their automation comes from magic, and even that is few and far between itself.
And further on the subject is their improvements in architecture. Due to a desire for having as much space as possible, many of the dwellings are large mounds of earth that have been carved out in the interior. The interior itself has been reinforced with stone pillars and stylized with wooden floors and walls to create secure huts. Furthermore, a style of window that has recently been gaining traction is those with lead-lining on the panes to keep them more properly rooted during storms.

Related Organizations

• Herkshire Knight Order

Related Items

• The Holy Avenger

Related Locations

• Land of the Alps
• Oakenfort

Historical Figures

Clover Herk, Conrad Davenshire, Gadriel Swiftblade

Common Languages

Korvent, Shiran

Myths

Among the Herkshirans, there are but a few myths, each containing the idea of a majestic warrior sacrificing some great boon, whether it be godhood or ancient power to grant upon the mortal realm bountiful nature to thrive and survive.

The Legend of Clover

For instance, the legend of the hero Clover Herk, also the founder of the Herkshire nation. In the legend, Clover is seen as fighting against an insurmountable foe who is several times the size of him. After sacrificing much, and losing many of his men in the battle for the land of modern-day Herkshire, Clover is left with but a few left-tenants who were each very distraught over the loss of all the life.
They wanted repentance but did not know how to seek it. Clover, seeing that his troops needed guidance, beseeched the Protector, Pryllia, for guidance. What he received from her, however, was the embodiment of sorrow. So much blood had been spilled over the land, and many people were gone, and there was almost little left. But Clover, her champion, deserved something. But what could she give him? What was left to give him when everything had been soaked in the remnants of his allies, their bodies each falling one by one around him till only a few remained. Clover decided if his land was to be without people, it was not his land to lead. Unsheathing his mighty weapon, gifted to him by the Lady Protector above, he gave it to his most trusted knight, Conrad Davenshire. "Conrad, keep this blade safe. Use it as a mighty weapon to protect our people, especially the ones who shall return. They will need a leader."
And Clover Herk stepped upon a field, he himself exhausted nearly to death. When he reached the center of the field, where many civilians were lost from countless atrocities, Clover offered himself as a sacrifice. His blood, enhanced by Pryllia's divine blessings, flowed upon the field, and every grave it touched, the dirt began to shift as people rose from the earth, completely unharmed, if a little dirty. And the people rejoiced, for their souls, which had once risked damnation, were now returned to the Material Plane, where they could seek redemption. But, it came with a price, and as Clover lay down, his last moments of life upon himself, smiled, for he had returned his people to the land that they deserved.
Many days later, when the remnants of Clover's last troops had come together to establish the nation, they decided to make Conrad Davenshire their king and offered to name the kingdom "Shire". However, Conrad felt that his sacrifice was less so in comparison to his commander, Clover, and elected to instead let it be known as "Herkshire" so that all might know that even if Conrad was their first king, Clover Herk was the first man to recognize the nation as theirs.

The Legend of the Moon-Walkers

Many of the people in Herkshire have heard the tales of the moon-walkers. Vengeful, terrifying monsters that lurk under full moonlight to claw and eat at people as they desire. Among the Herkshirans, it is commonly told as a bedtime story to stop children from being troublemakers. Unfortunately, there is a bit of truth to the matter.
Back near the beginning of the founding of Herkshire, Clover Herk made one small misstep. When he sacrificed himself to resurrect many of his fallen people, he also incidentally resurrected a few of the enemy, all of whom could change into beasts through the use of lycanthropy. As such, the groups of these people, all of whom feel a personal vendetta against the Herkshirans for claiming land that was originally theirs. And thus, over the years there's supposedly a private division of the Knight Order who works to fight and combat the Moon-Walkers to keep the peace within the nation. Hopefully, as time continues to pass, the peace will be assured, and the last of the cursed bloodline will be eradicated.

Family Names

For family names, conventions and patterns begin to get a little bit more on the odd side. Generally speaking, all family names began as nicknames for someone in the family and stuck well enough that it became the surname of the family. However, the acquirement of these nicknames is represented in a specific fashion, at least for new family names. As for how it works, it is generally either a noun followed by a verb, or an adjective followed by a noun.
Examples Include: Soiltender, Planthealer, Lifegiver, Stonebuilder, Amberale, Quickbrother, Goatwarmer, Skyshooter, Bonemine, Mooncaller, Plumpbottom, Rigidskin, Goodgrass, Wildcloak