The Isjeinr
The Isjeinr are a hardy people from the most northern, ice-locked regions of Veturoth. Though most of the people of Veturoth see them as primitives and nostalgic traditionalists, the Isjeinr are master sailors and have a rich artistic culture centered around scrimshaw, craftsmanship and oral storytelling, and their cultural traditions and knowledge have allowed them to thrive in a region that proves deadly to most others. They survive almost exclusively by whaling, fishing, and hunting mammals that stray too far north. Though they mostly keep to themselves, they regularly travel to the city of Farpoint, where they trade scrimshaw, fish, whale bones, leather goods, and blubber for wood, iron, and other materials that cannot be found in the icy north.
Naming Traditions
Family names
Family names have a limit of 4 generations in honor of the 4 seasons. Once 4 generations have born a name, the next generation will take the title of the last person to bear the previous name. If they lack a title, either a shaman or the oldest member of the community will assign a name. Any title a person may earn during their life is given preference when addressing them, except when matters of family ties are important, such as a marriage or funeral.
Family names, being based off titles, vary wildly in style.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Being a people with rather a low, concentrated population, the Isjeinr all tend to speak a very similar form of Isjeisk. Their usage of Vetr is much more diverse depending on which traders frequent which villages, though most speak the dialect of Farpoint
Isjeisk is surprisingly close to Vetr and seems to be a mutated form of Old Vetr mixed with a long forgotten language native to the ice fields. In general, Isjeisk is more complicated than Vetr, with more sounds and extremely inconsistent grammatical rules. It also lacks words for many Vetr concepts, while Vetr is rather lacking in terms pertaining to matters of the Isjeinr's daily life. In terms of sound, Vetr is harsher than Isjeisk, which has more vowels, and has significantly longer words and sentences, the Isjeinr tending to be a rather brusque and laconic people. Most notably, Isjeisk makes no grammatical distinction between formal and informal contexts, and respect is shown entirely through content of speech.
Average technological level
The Isjeinr's technological progress has been inherently limited by their environment and the resources available within it. Nevertheless, while limited to constructing things from animal remains and what sparse wood they can harvest during the summer and trade for, all of their tool technology and craftsmanship is highly refined, and they have learned how to make their structurally weak building materials last as long as possible. Their harpoons in particular are famed for their incredible durability, and it is said an Isjeinr harpoon will haul in a hundred whales before it breaks.
Common Dress code
Due to the particularly harsh clime and limited resources of their homeland, the Isjeinr tend towards a simple and pragmatic manner of dress. Most Isjeinr clothing is composed of an insulated inner layer knit from wolf or bear yarn and a durable, water-resistant outer layer of greased hides and pelts. Though lacking embroidery and generally of a very simple cut, Isjeinr clothing is often adorned with small pieces of scrimshaw, polished stones and more rarely, pieces of animal skulls.
Funerary and Memorial customs
It is from their funeral rites that the Isjeinr derive their name (translating literally to "ice bones"). First, a deceased person will be stripped of their flesh (which is saved and set aside), then their bones are polished with ash and shark's skin. Once the skeleton has been prepared, it will be taken to the Glacier of the Ancients, where each bone will be carefully set. A hollow is first chiseled out to accommodate the bones, then fresh water, kept just above freezing, is poured over the bones. It promptly freezes in the frigid climate, and seals the bones in forever. This process is repeated until the shaman gets to the skull, which is partially sealed before the deceased's next of kin is called forward. The next of kin cuts the ritual symbol of protection and goodwill into their palm and presses it against the exposed forehead. They then remove their hand, and the skull is fully sealed, locking in blood and bone alike.
Following the burial, those who knew the deceased and especially those who relied on them will be treated to a feast of the stripped flesh. In the case of murder, they will also be given the flesh of the murderer, whose bones will have been cast into the sea to be forgotten.
Common Taboos
Perhaps the greatest taboo among the Isjeinr is "people hunting," which covers murder, and especially murder with the intent to eat the victim (the Isjeinr have no taboo against cannibalism in general, but have many traditions covering how it must be engaged in, and what must be done to honor the person being eaten).
Ideals
Gender Ideals
The Isjeinr are something of an anomaly in Veturoth due to shared roles of men and women. The unforgiving climate and constant threat of starvation has promoted a culture where both sexes take part in hunting and sailing. Until a woman is with child, she is expected to provide for the village, and mothers often return to their roles as hunters and sailors once their children are grown. Craftsmanship is similarly shared, with building and shipbuilding alone being primarily reserved for men, and fletching and line-making being reserved for women, the former for their superior strength and the latter for their smaller, more dexterous fingers. Three roles alone are determined entirely by sex: the role of shaman, helmswoman, and anchorman. Shamans are always women, as they are believed to be closer kin to the Mother, Helmswomen (or Rorskvin in Isjeisk) are always female, as it is believed to be bad luck to let a man steer a ship, and anchormen are always male, as their station mimicks that of the mythic hero Eiríkr, who first fastened a ship to the Mountain of the World and brought the Isjeinr to the Unmelting Lands.
Related Organizations
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments