Tualian

Watchers of the Night Sky

"The Tualians have contributed much to the current cultures across Wulsten. From the Tualian Calendar, to our current understanding of Arcane theory, their strides in both magic and mundane have made waves throughout the continent. However, possibly their most widely felt effect was the hole they left when they dissappeared."

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-Luhhan "Oathkeeper" Kathkoran, Dwarven mage of the Tower of Crescents and scholar of Tualian history

The Tualian people were a culture of people who lived in the now abandoned nation of Tualey. They were a people for whom magic was a common skill, a skill that was embedded in every aspect of everyday life. It is commonly said that every single person in Tualey could cast at least one spell. While this statement is widely considered hyperbole by scholars, there is some shred of truth to it. Even among Tualians with mundane professions, such as masons or farmers, it would not have been uncommon for them to have some basic arcane training, and even the ability to cast a few minor spells or cantrips.

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The Tualian culture began and ended with the rise and respective fall of the Arcane Age. The nation was created in the first years of the age, and the conglomerate culture then formed, and in the closing years of the Arcane Age, the vast majority of Tualian people vanished in the Dissappearance. However, those Tualian people who were currently outside of the nation during the Dissappearance did manage to survive. They were very few though, and as the generations have gone on, most have assimilated into the cultures of wherever they chose to live after the Dissappearance.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

The ten most common feminine names in Tualey before the dissappearance were:

1. Katherine
2. Lunéciel
3. Étoile
4. Adèle
5. Renée
6. Inès
7. Belle
8. Céleste
9. Margot
10. Sylvie

Masculine names

The ten most common Masculine names in Tualey before the dissappearance were:

1. Marc
2. Bertrand
3. Astin
4. Guillaume
5. René
6. Mèrlen
7. Harrier
8. Toreau
9. Lunéciel
10. Alexandre

Family names

Family names in Tualey were widely varied, as they had many cultures they were potentially pulled from originally. However, over time, many surnames took on qualities that were frequently present in the Tualian language at large, especially surnames of shorter lived races. Typically, this manifested as names changing to end with "mont", "eau", "ois", or "ier", and sometimes involved minor changes in the exact letters used to produce the sounds of the start of the name. For example, a Draenean name like "Driakos" may have evolved over time into the Tualian "Drageau".

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Upon founding Tualey, the League of Moons constructed their own conlang, known simply as Tualian. Initially, the language was supposed to only be the language of wizards and mages, as it was created to be easy to adapt into verbal components for spells, as well as to translate easily for use in spellbooks and scrolls. However, the prevalence of magic within Tualian society meant that the language filtered down to non-mages quite quickly, and became the national language of Tualey within a few decades of the nation being founded.

Also common within Tualey were the languages of Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, and Imperial Common.

Culture and cultural heritage

Tualian culture was an amalgamation of various different cultures, since the bulk of Tualians descended from people who imigrated to the nation shortly after its founding. Dwarven culture heavily influenced Tualey, due to the geographical proximity, but Elven also had a large effect, despite being comparatively removed geographically. This was due to the amount of cultural influence elven culture had already had on Arcane tradition. Among commoners and non-mages, many Capalli and Lake traditions had been adapted to their new environment. For example, Capalli spirit worship quickly adapted into a form of arcane reverence, or worship of magical energies. This belief in particular was common in rural communities, that often had a large population of people descended from Capalli people.

Art & Architecture

Artistry was highly valued in Tualey, and since the nation had the wealth and manpower available, much of the architecture in Tualey reflects this value. Masons commonly included motifs of moons, creatures, and elaborate flowing patterns into their work, even on such projects as roads or basic retaining walls. Woodwork was usually detailed and beautiful, even in the cellars of taverns and the backrooms of warehouses. The Tualians often had more laborious tasks replaced with magic, giving the laborers time to hone their crafts and become true artisans.

Foods & Cuisine

Tualian cuisine included ingredients from all over Wulsten and even beyond, considering much (though not all) of the food was actually conjured rather than grown. This meant that even foods that couldn't be grown in the mountain temperate climate found in Tualey could be easily used. Much of the common cuisines in Tualey notably combined ingredients that would not have been practical to try to use together, pulling from far reaching climates and ecosystems, sometimes even using exotic foods that do not originate in the Material Plane.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

The Tualian Calendar, now known as the Common Calendar, introduced the concept of intermonths. Intermonths were individual weeks that fell outside of any month or season, instead existing between seasons. These intermonths were designated as periods of celebration, worship, and relaxation. Most important in Tualian culture was The Week of Stars, which was the intermonth between Winter and Spring. It was a common time for shooting stars and meteor showers, and was designated as a period of celebration for magic.

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In general, Tualian culture focused greatly on astral bodies, such as the moon and stars, but it also was invested in things like the schools of magic (which were first codified in Tualey), and leylines. While mages in Tualey studied these principles heavily, even the commonfolk had passing knowledge of them, and would align certain tasks or activities to match with lunar cycles, take place at leylines, or even include herbs that are associated with certain schools of magic. For instance, a family might elect to have a celebration for their child's birthday at the home of whichever relative lived closest to a leyline of abjuration magic, in the hopes it would protect the child as they grew.

Common Taboos

The destruction of knowledge, or even the hiding of it, was considered very taboo in Tualian culture. Since the nation was so focused on scholarly and magical study, it was considered anathema to the culture to destroy information or knowledge, even if that knowledge was potentially dangerous.

Related Locations

• Tualey