Rootfolk

The Rootfolk are a people residing on the Isle of Sylgadrig. They were the original inhabitants of the Veyetræll valley, before the Trællites came in.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Rootfolk share a language with the Trællites, Veyetran. However, most still speak their native tongue, Arlevon.

Common Dress code

Before, the custom was for the common folk to dress with plain attire. The flowy tunics were reserved for the Root Priests, which was a clear denominator of the capacity to obtain magic power from the Gods. After the Invasion and during the Thousand-Year Truce, as the Rootfolk were bound to their small island, the elite began to dress as the Root Priests did, and the whole civilization followed suit. Now, a clear indicator of a Traellite is one who dresses in plain clothes, and the reverse is true for the Rootfolk and their long tunics.

Art & Architecture

Rootfolk art is very nature-like, as they hold nature to the greatest of ideals. For them, there is nothing better than the untamed wilderness, so anytime they have the chance to do great works of art they mimic the fluxes and shapes of nature.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

It is customary for the Rootfolk to make a small cut to their skin every time they cut a tree. It is justified by the fact that the tree is full of life, but cannot harm them so the damage has to be reciprocal. They start with their arms, but they eventually branch out to other areas of their bodies. The cuts would be bigger with the size of the tree. There exists no lumberjacks, as clearing wood for profit is seen as a sin, but the Pre-Invasion land clearers had thousands of cuts on them. They would ask their local scartist to make them patterns.
In Rootfolk settlements, it was customary to make a tree grove with the tiny saplings that would fall from existing trees. These nurseries eventually grew out and became the "temples". There were no buildings in these groves, until the Trællites came to build their own temples in the center.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The corpses are used as the base of the trees planted in Rootfolk settlements. That is why these forests are sacred.

Common Taboos

Cutting a tree without scarring is seen as unholy. One must especially not harm Sylgadrig in anyway, which leaves the Celestial sap unattainable apart from the Taproot where sap flows.

Parent ethnicities