A Traveler's Guide to Calradia

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

Note: I had procured a fine map of Calradia from an excellent cartographer in Suno, but since I am no artist I was forced to make these horrendous scribbles all over this atlas in order to more clearly define the seven major regions of Calradia:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh314/13cbs/MountBlade_world_map.jpg


I.Preface:

The history of Calradia is a long and violent one. Situated in the northernmost regions of the Sudenium, the southern continent, Calradians have long fought one another over the lush resources of the land. Thus, much of their cultures are rather militaristic or are otherwise geared towards combat. I had visited the lands of the four nations a few months ago, and after the first dozen or so bloody skirmishes that nearly took my life, I had stopped counting. It is an unpleasant place, but for the sake of the readers I have gathered as much information and historical lore as I could. I must again caution you, dear reader, of the danger that lies in Calradia. It is an exciting and adventurous place to travel and to live in, but it is also a deathtrap for the weak, the stupid, and the unwary.

II.Geographical Overview:

Calradia as a whole possesses a highly varied selection of temperatures and terrains. Let us examine each major geographical region in turn.

1.The Calradian Heartlands

The Calradian heartland is split into the Dhirimus, Pravenus and Sunus Plains, with each region having a respective city named after it, Dhirim, Praven and Suno. The heartlands are bordered by the Uxkhos mountain ranges and the Great Steppes to the south, the remnants of the Grifig Forests to the north, the southern parts of the Rhodos Valley to the west, and Ichamura mountain range and Vaega tundras to the east.  The air is quite hot in the summers and cold in the winters, except on  the  Richkevet mountain range, which bisects Pravenus and Sunus, and near Mt. Vaegir, which lies on the eastern border between the nations of Swadia and Vaegir. The three regions are well known in Calradia for their long growing seasons, and the grain that comes from these areas alone have kept the entire Swadian Empire well fed. Sunus and Dhirimus have the benefit of the nearby Zendar River, which provides plentiful irrigation to local crops, while Pravenus is fortunate to have comfortable amounts of rainfall per year as to avoid going arid. Save for a few disastrous famines throughout history, Swadian citizens have rarely known starvation thanks to the farmers of these plains. The three plains are also excellent for raising the famous Calradian stallions, as the plentiful grasslands and open ranges allow horse breeders to raise strong, tall horses.
By our standards, the mountains of Richkevet  are utterly unforgiving, with snow capping the peaks throughout the year. Many an army has been lost on the Richkevet ranges while trying to cross them. The tallest peak, Mt. Kevi, which is located directly south of Suno and directly north of the tiny Yaragar village, is Calradia's second highest mountain. The mountains are fairly rich in iron ore, and the resulting metal is of good quality, according to local blacksmiths. The area also possesses much gold. The plentiful wealth of the mountains is the key reason why Swadia, the nation that owns Rickevet range and the surrounding heartlands, is able to field and equip such large armored cavalry. It is worth noting that the source of the Zendar River is located in the eastern peaks of the Richkevet range.
The only safe pass connecting the heartlands is the Senuzgda pass. The southern entrance is well defended by Senuzgda Castle, while the northern entrance is guarded by Ryibelet Castle. The pass is so low and mild as to be a valley, and due to this comfortable climate, Senuzgda boasts some of the largest temperate forests in Calradia. Indeed, most of Swadia's lumber comes from here. Unlike the neighboring Nords, Swadia has been less enthusiastic about pillaging its lumber resources, and thus the forests of Senuzgda pass are still quite lush despite centuries of lumbering. The citizens of Senuzgda pass, especially the villagers of Elberl and Ehlerdah, rely on local game and food imports from Sunus and Pravenus for substinence.

2. The Great Steppes

In contrast to the lush plains of the Heartlands, the vast Great Steppes are arid wastes, full of nothing but endless stretches of dry grassland. The Steppes are bordered by the Heartlands and Ichamura and Uxkhos mountain ranges to the north, the southern parts of the Rhodos Valley to the west, and the gargantuan Ulanbakuk mountains to the south and east. The Steppes contain few natural resources except for, perhaps, the nigh uncountable horses that live both in the wild and domestically in the region. The area is best known for its steppe horses, a relatively small and rather ugly breed of nonetheless hardy and strong steeds. There is a small forest in the Sungetche pass, located in the middle of the Ichamura mountains, and a few groves found here and there, but for the most part the residents of the Steppes have learned to do without much wood. The land is also lacking in large bodies of any water, and as a result of both few forests and easily habitable land, most, if not all, of the residents of the Khergit Khanate (which owns the region) are nomads or are semi-nomadic.
The weather is some of the harshest in the entirety of Calradia. The summers are burning hot, as there is little to no natural shade. The winters are deathly cold, and the winter wind storms are especially deadly. Several military commanders in Calradian history have forgotten this little aspect of the Steppes, and as such many would-be conquerers of the steppe nomads found themselves losing more soldiers to severe weather than nomadic arrows.
Because of the inherently harsh lifestyle of the steppes, the people and animals from the region are abnormally hardy. Cattle raised on the steppes are well known for their tough but juicy and flavorful meat, and steppe horses are amazingly strong for horses their size, and can subsist on little grazing.

3. The Rhodos Valley

The Rhodos Valley is a long stretch of land in the westernmost parts of Calradia. It is bordered by the Ulanbakuk mountains to the south and southwest, the Yalenos mountains to the northwest, the Nedis mountains to the north, and the Heartlands to the east.  They are rich and abundant with life, but much of the land has not been farmed due to the rocky nature of the soil. This region is famous for its cool weather and excellent cattle. Indeed, the Rhodok tribes who live in the Valley produce some of the finest beef I have ever tasted.
The southern half of the Valley is called the Maras River Valley. The Maras gets its name from the Maras River, which is a short river flowing down from an extension of the great Ulanbakuk mountain range. The river itself is fed by the even shorter Pagundur River. The rivers are fast flowing, however, due to the steep incline of the nearby mountain, and combined with the rocky nature of the upper parts of the Maras River, the small river delta that contains Maras Castle and the surrounding regions are poor for farming. They are, however, quite rich in timber and game, which is especially useful for the relatively loosely organized Rhodok tribes that settle the area. The river ends as a lake, the Skutatoi Lake (the only lake in Calradia). I would recommend my more wealthy readers to tour Skutatoi Lake should they have a taste for excitement and adventure.  The fish are plentiful and the climate is quite nice year round, though visitors may encounter hostile bandits along the way. The land around the river and lake is hilly and rocky, and much of the area's wealth seems to come from cattle raising rather than farming or trading. Most of civilized Rhodok resides in the Maras River Valley.
Between the southern half and the northern half of the Valley is the Ibdeles region, a piece of land placed neatly between the western Yalenos mountains and the eastern Richvetek mountains. Aside from providing a relatively easily defensible passage between the two halves of the Valley, there is nothing more of note about the Ibdeles region geographically.
The northern half of the Valley, the Yalenos Valley, is where most of Rhodok grain originates. The weather is slightly colder than the weather in the Heartlands, and the soil is a bit rockier, but the land is suitable for farming nonetheless, perhaps because of the fact that the northern parts of the Heartlands are nearby. The Yalenos mountains provides some iron ore for metalworks, though there seems to be little gold to be found. The small Nedis mountains provide little of use. The Yalenos and Nedis mountains do, however, contain one important resource for the Rhodoks: soldiers. Many of Rhodok's toughest recruits come from the Nedis and the Yalenos.
Overall, because much of the terrain is hilly or mountainous, and since much of the grazing areas are taken up by cattle, horses are a rarity in the Rhodos Valley.

4. The Reyvas

The Reyvas is a large grassy field in the northeastern parts of Calradia. It is bordered by the Vaega Tundras to the east, the Zendar River to the west, the heartlands to the south, and the Sea of Storms to the north. The area consists mostly of gently rolling grassy hills, and because of the lush and pleasant surroundings, it is a popular spot for merchants who do not wish to brave the cold Tundras or the harsh Steppes, or have found little of value in the Heartlands and the Valley. Thus, the Reyvas is a region devoted to mostly trade. Before the current political situation, it used to be a place of lively trade between the Vaegirs, the Nords, and the Swadians. Now, it is a place of lively trade between the Vaegirs and the Nords. Because the region is officially owned by Vaegirs but is in practice shared by the Nords and the Vaegirs, almost all goods from across Calradia make their way to the two trade cities in the region, Reyvadin and Wercheg. Reyvadin in particular is where most of the finest Vaegir furs are sold, while exquisite smoked fish from Sargoth is easily shipped to Wercheg. The region is easily accessible, either by sea or by land, which is unfortunate nowadays since Swadians are liable to raid the region's smaller towns and villages to disrupt Vaegir commerce. Aside from trade, the Reyvas is also famous for its soft wool, which in northern Calradia only Dhirim wool can compete with. My dear readers might find the Reyvas the most suitable place for possible futures in Calradia, if one can quickly grow used to the constant sieges and raids.

5. The Vaega Tundras

The Vaega Tundras lies in the westernmost parts of Calradia. It is something of an anti-Rhodos Valley. Imagine, if you will, if you took the entirety of Rhodos Valley, removed the Maras River and Skutatoi Lake, and covered the entire place with snow. That is the Vaega Tundras. It is bordered by the Reyvas to the west, the Ikarmura mountains to the south, the Sea of Storms to the north, and by the Frozen Wastes to the east.
The winters of our lands are nothing compared to the snowstorms of the Tundras. There is a reason why the stereotypical Vaegir looks like a human bear, and that is because no sane man or woman would go about the area without putting on as many warm clothing as humanly possible. Luckily, fur is plentiful in the region, and the abundance of furs in the area, combined with the proximity of the Reyvas trading region, means that the otherwise resource-poor Vaega receives a steady supply of foodstuffs and tools through trade. Khudan is the primary fur city in the Tundras, while Curaw supplements its economy with some nearby timber. Although horses are not native to the region, the Vaegirs have learned to breed horses that can withstand the fierce cold of the tundras (though even then the horses are bred mostly in the warmer western regions), and thus the Vaegir kingdom is able to maintain a healthy cavalry force.
Between the Reyvas and the Tundras are two rivers that merge near the sea, the Kosovik and the Krivachek. The Kosvik is the river to the west and the Krivachek is the river to the east. Due to its fast flowing waters, it is rarely frozen even in winter, and thus animals often go to its banks to drink. This is why fur trappers on the Tundra prefer to hunt near the two rivers, though lately the number of animals have been low. There is a smaller river, called the Shapeshte by the locals, which conveniently flows through a large forest that the Vaegirs have used for lumber.
One more thing of note in the Tundras is Mt. Viig, which is located where the Heartlands, the Reyvas, and the Vaega meet. It is an old, snow-peaked volcano, and in terms of resources it is quite useless. Nonetheless, Vaegir tradition states that their ancestors descended from heaven down to earth and touched Mt. Viig (from which the Vaegir supposedly get their name) as they landed.

6. The (former) Grifis Forest

The former Grifis Forest is now a hilly and rocky grassland situated in the northernmost part of Calradia. It is bordered by the Heartlands to the south, the Sea of Storms to the north, the Zendar River and the Reyvas to the east, and the Ashkolon River Valley to the west.
Before the arrival of the Nords, the Grifis Forest was said to have been a woodland of truly gigantic proportions. I have found several records in Swadian archives containing the memoirs of past Swadian mountaineers, and many of them have expressed marvel at the endless green forests that one could see from the peaks of the Nedis mountains. Nowadays, one can see countless dead stumps from trees of old, and I am not lying when I say that I could build a comfortably sized house upon one of the stumps with room to spare. After the Nords came, however, the old forests were cut down and turned into a countless number of ships for the infamous Nord armadas, and today the land is not very different from the Rhodos Valley.
Most of the land is untouched. Since the Nords' food supply comes from the Ashkolon Valley, the rest of the nation is devoted to either trade or turning raw materials into manufactured goods. The Nords are not known for their mining, but are quite famous for their high quality weapons. They are not known to be great cattle herders, but they are experts at drying and salting various meats from across Calradia. They no longer have much timber to work with, but are famous for their bowyering and fletching skills. And, of course, the Nords are peer at constructing and sailing ships. All of this happens in the relatively pleasant Grifis Forest. The local Nords have made good use of old Swadian roads, thus facilitating trade between settlements.
Why the Calradians insist on calling this area the Grifis Forest instead of the Grifis Fields or somesuch is unknown to me. Perhaps all the bloodletting has addled their heads.

7. The Ashkolon River Valley

Another river valley of Calradia, the Ashkolon is what provides the Nords with their food. Considering the fact that the Nords are a numerous people, and the fact that Ashkolon is the smallest of the seven major Calradian regions, it is of no surprise that Ashkolon is an incredibly rich farming area. It is bordered by the Nedis mountains to the south, the Grifis Forests to the east, the Sea of Storms to the north, and the nearly unpopulated outskirts of the Skandin plains to the east. Although the Heartlands ultimately outproduce Ashkolon, Ashkolon boasts more crops per acre than the richest of the Heartlands areas. The Nords who live in the region are culturally more similar to Swadians than Nords, however, and my colleagues and other scholars have hypothesized that the region is mostly populated by descendants of Swadians taken as slaves by Nords.
The region has not one, but two rivers to irrigate from, the Ephisius River bordering the region in the west and the Bolga River bordering the region in the east. Because the region is so small and surrounded by many natural borders, the locals have all but developed a culture of their own. The area is also relatively untouched by the current wars that are ravaging the land. I would recommend Ashkolon as an excellent place for my wealthier readers of the rural persuasion to retire.

Next: Part III, an examination of Calradian customs and cultures.

 

[OL 512]

you surely have LOT of time....
good guide btw. Gives more depth to the game

 

[Incaa]

Very nice. Very nice indeed.

 

[Trooper5445]

I love it.

 

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

Part III: An examination of Calradian culture and customs

When many modern readers think of Calradia, their thoughts immediately jump to the four warring factions; the Khergit Khanate, the Kingdom of Swadia, the Kingdom of Rhodoks, the Kingdom of Vaegirs, and the Kingdom of Nords. It would be unfair, however, to simply lump all Calradians into these four political categories and leave it at that, for there are a multitude of various cultures, sub-cultures, and ethnicities within each kingdom. Many are quite similar to one another, and over the years some have assimilated others, occasionally even merging.

1.The Tribes of Rhodos Valley

The typical Rhodok is fairly tall and muscular. Most Rhodok men sport goatees or beards and have curly brown hair, while most women either wear their hair in cornrows, in braids, or simply loose. The more militaristic among the Rhodok might have their women wear their hear in simple buns or ponytails. Most Rhodok are slightly tan and look a bit rugged, except for a handful of exceptions.
Although Rhodok is called a Kingdom, and is indeed ruled by a king, the political term is all but a mere title. Modern Rhodok is mostly a confederation of various tribes, most of them based in the major settlements in the kingdom. The current position of “king” in the kingdom is not a hereditary monarchy like the governing system that rules Swadia. Instead, the “king” is a powerful political and military leader chosen by the council of elders from each of the three major Rhodok cities: Veluca, Jelkala, and Yalen. These elders are, in turn, voted into power by elected peoples' representatives from both the three major cities and the many outlying smaller towns and villages.
So what was this little lesson in Rhodok politics about? To understand the many Rhodok cultures, one must always remember that the Rhodok peoples only fairly recently united under one flag (this happened in the winter of 1062, with the Treaty of Jelkala). Until then, the Rhodoks had been a number of independent towns and city states, each managing its own affairs with its own council of elders. Even today most citizens of Rhodok will identify themselves as, “Citizen X of Town Y”, not “Citizen X of Rhodok”. The most important principles beneath general Rhodok culture are, therefore, independence and family. To a Rhodok, “family” is simply a collection of people he loves, be they blood related family members or close companions. To insult a Rhodok is to invite death, for that Rhodok inevitably is a “family member” to another Rhodok, quite possibly one who is well trained in the art of spearmanship. It is also a grave insult to imply or state that a Rhodok cannot do something by himself. Offering help to a Rhodok must be done with great caution and tact if one does not wish to anger him. Many outsiders find the two ideas paradoxical. It is shameful get even the smallest bit of assistance from a stranger, but it is honorable to give one's all for a loved one?
It is of no surprise, then, that much of Rhodok customs and traditions revolve around these ideas of family and independence. The beginning of every year is celebrated with a great feast within blood families, followed by a another smaller, but still extravagant feast celebrated with close friends. The first is called the Day of New Beginnings, while the latter is called the Day of Reforging Bonds, or simply Forging Day. Many visiting outsiders, particularly the Nords, are confused by the Forging Day's misleading name when they arrive at Jelkala expecting the rining of hammers on anvils but instead find scenes of feasting and, in some cases, utter debauchery. Other celebrations include the Drikomos Exultoi Telekomos Omnipius, literally, “The Day When All Became One Family”. This holiday celebrates the 1062 Treay of Jelkala, when all Rhodok tribes “became one family”, so to speak. This day is often spent on watching elaborate parades made by the Rhodok armies and community construction projects. 
Rhodoks also celebrate rituals of manhood, for that is when a boy becomes a man and thus becomes independent. At the age of eighteen, a boy is taken outside the city or settlement and is given a private test by his father, which may vary between anything from a test of combat to seeing how well the boy had learned his trade skills. Should the boy pass the test and his father consider his son self-sufficient, the new young man is followed back into the settlement by his father and is expected to shout and boast his own praises. Should the boy fail his test, his father will drag him back to the settlement (though field executions of sons by humiliated fathers are not unheard of, and in some parts of Rhodok, are not illegal or even encouraged!) and will speak self-deprecating remarks on behalf of his unworthy son. From that day on, the boy, who in the eyes of his community will always remain a boy, will be considered a social pariah. Should the boy do something redeeming in the eyes of the community later on, he may be dubbed a man, though this is rare. If the boy had made good friends before his humiliation, those “family members” are still allowed to talk to him and interact with him, and some samples of Rhodok poetry and literature praise friends to stay loyal to comrades even though that friend would always remain a boy. The great Rhodok epic, Oryseus, has the titular hero subtly encourage and push his humiliated friend to do great deeds that would earn him the right of manhood. Note that under Rhodok law, only men may legally marry and have children, boys are strictly forbidden from doing so. Also note that there are trials of womanhood as well, and girls are also forbidden from marrying until they are considered to be women. Uniquely, Rhodok women are allowed to own property and gain inheritance from parents.
As mentioned above, there are several tribes of Rhodoks. All of them settled down as city-states, then later became part of the Kingdom of Rhodoks. The tribes are the following:

Major Tribes:
Jelkalik
Yalen
Veluca

Minor Tribes:
Epeshe
Chelez
Istiniar
Dumar
Glunmar
Reveran
Ibdele
Veidar
Buvran
Dirigsene
Sarimish
Serindi
Ilvi
Chaez
Fedner
Ruldi
Emer
Jamiche
Saren
Pagundur

Students of Rhodok society may notice that each village and city is the home of an individual tribe.

Although the tribes consider themselves vastly different from one another and completely unique, they may be divided into larger sub-groups based on language, location, and general customs.

The Velucik group: Veluca, Emer, Jamiche, Fedner and Ruldi tribes.

The Velucik group refers to the cluster of villages around the city Veluca. These tribes have lived right on the dividing line between the Rhodos Valley and the Great Steppes. As such, they are especially hardy and are more familiar with horses than most other Rhodoks. Their traditional clothing  is heavily influenced by nearby steppe nomad dress, and thus involves long sleeves made of soft, light, but sturdy cloth designed to keep out dust and the sun. The Velucik tribes speak a dialect of Rhodok that is essentially a mix of Rhodok and Steppe languages.  Rhodok diplomats to the Khanate often have Velucik roots. The Velucik tribes are known to be serious, grim, hardworking, and quite physically hardy, though many are lacking in formal education.

The Maras group: Ilvi, Chaeza, and Pagundur tribes.

The Maras group consists of tribes who have settled around the Maras River Valley. Among the Rhodoks, they are considered to be hunters and trackers without peer, and it is considered a sign of manhood to bring down a swift game animal with a spear or similar. They are, in general, more athletic and fleet of foot than most other Rhodok, and are experts with crossbows, the traditional Rhodok weapon of war aside from the spear. Clothing mostly consists of garbs that are easy to move, run, and leap around in, and are simple to maintain. The Maras tribesmen speak “standard” Rhodok, mixed in with enough jargon and slang to almost be considered a dialect. Maras tribesmen are favored as scouts and marksmen in the Rhodok army and are known to think fast on their feet and be reserved and introspective. Lately, other Rhodoks have come to stereotype Maras Rhodoks as quietly bloodthirsty and savage, due to a recent string of serial murders committed by a mentally disturbed Maras.

The Jelk group: Jelkalik, Buvran, Dirigsene, and Serindi tribes.

The Jelk group consists of tribes who have settled around Skutatoi Lake. The Jelks had settled around one of the most peaceful and tranquil areas of Calradia, and as such have become a group of philosophers and thinkers. They are stereotyped by their fellow Rhodoks as being snobbish and haughty, and this is not without a grain of truth. Regardless, however, among the Rhodoks the Jelks traditionally are the best formally educated, and many become great statesmen. Most Jelks try to clothe themselves to give impressions of others, often their current emotional state of being. This has come to the point where, in the Jelk dialect, the phrase, “konstropos tu vulome tristos” is used as, “are you feeling well”, but literally means, “your robes look as if they are weeping”. The Jelk dialect is relatively flowing and easily rolls off the tongue, but has a flexible system of grammar that both requires a degree of formal training to understand and is also highly expressive, which is important for would-be orators. Jelks often take government, diplomatic, or otherwise authoritative positions, for having a silver tongue among Rhodoks is to have power over them.

The Saren group: Saren tribe.

The Saren are a small, isolated tribe away from both the Jelk and Maras groups. They are on the border between Rhodok and Swadia, and the village of Saren is used as a trading post between Rhodok and Swadia. Thus, Sarens have, over the years, developed great acumen in business matters. They are especially adept at dealing with large quantities of goods, such as grain, since Rhodok imports much of its grain from neighboring Swadia. Most Saren children inherit family businesses, and it is not uncommon for siblings to share or even employ one another if the business is large enough. Other Rhodoks view them, at best, as a wealthy tribe deserving of its riches, or at worst, as a tribe full of materialistic money grubbers. Saren society has developed a complex social system that involves showing off enough, but not too much, personal wealth. In Saren society, one must find the perfect balance between not showing off enough rich clothing and jewelery (or, if of the lower class, as looking as clean and tidy as possible), but also not showing off too much rich clothing and jewelry. Saren speak the standard Rhodok language, but tend to speak it at a clipped and rapid pace, often incorporating Swadian business terms. Some Saren are mistaken as Swadian immigrants if their accents resemble Swadian enough. Not surprisingly, saren are favored by Rhodoks as businessmen, and many a Rhodok army was saved from financial troubles by a brave and skilled Saren who payed off all of the army's debts.

The Veidar group: Veidar tribe.

Another isolated tribe, not much is known about the Veidar except that they are seen as deeply religious (or, derisively, needlessly superstitious), even by other Rhodoks. Their village guards the entrance to the Veidic Forest, which the Veidar considers to be highly sacred. Few are allowed into the village, and fewer still but the strangely painted and decorated shamans are allowed into the forest. What they do there, no one the shamans know. Entering the forest is essentially a capital crime, for the Veidar have a law saying, “A bone Broken for every Twig snapped Underfoot”. Somehow, the Veidar always know that a man had entered their sacred forest, and somehow they always catch the intruders. Veidar tribesmen wear very simple clothing, sometimes made of gathered plant material or even just leaves. Some even wear forest-hued paint on both their faces and the rest of their bodies. The Veidar interact little with other Rhodoks, though they do vote some of their shamans onto the elder council at Jelkala when they can. The Veidar speak a language similar to the Jelk dialect, but is less eloquent and wordy. When spoken by the shamans, the Veidar dialect sounds almost like constant prayer.

The Yalenos group: Yalen, Ibdeles, Glunmar, Reveran, and Dumar tribes.

The Yalenos group are warriors among the hardy Rhodoks. Settled in the Ibdeles region that separates Yalenos Valley from the Maras River Valley, the Yalenos provide most of Rhodok's frontline infantry, for many go into the harsh mountains to train. A boy in a Yalenos tribe is considered to be a man when he can hold is own against his father, and young lads dying due to their injuries during manhood trials is not unheard of. Yalenos are surprisingly soft-spoken, for it is considered to be a major insubordination to speak out against one's superior at any time. They are also stoic and have a reputation for bravery. Clothing in Yalenos society consists mostly of very simple but durable outdoors wear. Most Yalenos women keep their hair short or firmly tied, stemming from a tradition when the women had to defend the city-states while the men were out fighting, and any extraneous hair could have gotten in the way of fighting. The spear, as the other weapon of war to the Rhodoks, is also an important cultural symbol in Yalenos society. A Yalenos matriarch was once famously quoted to say, “Come back with your spears, or on them.” This was spoken in a time when a warrior's fallen body was carried back home on a stretcher made from his (hopefully) undamaged spears. The Yalenos language is considered to be the “standard” Rhodok language, though most foreigners will hear Jelk due to the prevalence of Jelk diplomats in foreign countries.

The Istinis group: Istiniar and Chelez tribes.

If you, dear reader, are ever in Calradia and happen upon a delicious piece of steak, that steak likely came from Rhodok cattle, and almost certainly from an Istinis's pasture. The Istinis care for Rhodok's most famous export: beef. They are herdsmen without equal in Rhodok, and some say in all of Calradia. Though some Rhodoks consider them to be country bumpkins, most of are loathe to insult the people who bring them such delicious beef. The typical Instinis is gruff, unhygienic, and perhaps a little too attached to the wine skin, but is good natured and cheerful. Although the Yalenos are the warriors among the Rhodoks, the Istinis are physically more imposing, as their occupations of handling huge, strong, and rowdy cattle have given them great size and muscles. Appropriately, strength is considered to be of great cultural importance, for during fall festivals many Istinis celebrations include contests of strength. The typical Istinis ritual of manhood involves a boy manhandling as many cattle as he can into a pen, all the while showing signs of great strength and cattle herding skill. Istinis clothing consist of simple tunics and trousers that are easy to put on and, more importantly, easy to clean, and most Istinis, regardless of gender, wear traveling cloaks and bring walking staffs wherever they go. The Istinis language is similar to Yalenos, but tends to have different slang words and a noticeable accent.

The Epeshe group: Epeshe tribe.

The Epeshe are the river people. They are a small and rather unimportant tribe, though they take great pride in once heroically beating off an entire Nording army marching up the Ephisius River, all by themselves. Among Rhodoks, the Epeshe are known to be sly and crafty, a skill that they apparently had developed while navigating the often treacherous Ephisius. Compared to other Rhodoks, they are of relatively slight build. They wear relatively simple clothing, often protected with a layer of wax or grease as to be as water proof as possible. The Epeshe language sounds musical and frequently varies in pitch. The Epeshe themselves claim that this due to their form of communication between river rafts, an art that they call keeterhaller. I must express my humble opinion that keeterhaller sounds as though someone were murdering a cat with a rusty knife.



Group specific celebrations include the following:

Kandelphoros: Celebrated during the winter by the Yalenos, Istinis, and Epeshe groups, this is a celebration of the winter solstice. Celebrations include wild dances around a pine tree (or, in the case of the Yalenos groups, a march accompanied by war chants), drinking, and prayers offered to the gods of fertility and protection.

Hippokyrie: Celebrated by the Velucik group during the mating season for horses, these Rhodoks hold feasts in honor of the Horse Lord (a local deity adapted from Steppe nomad pantheons) so that this year's mares may have many strong colts.

Graduation day: Celebrated by the Jelk group during the end of the school year in Jelk universities. As the Jelk put great value on education, the graduation of their children into the next level of education is of great importance. Jelkalan citizens often consider boys and girls to be men and women when they graduate from Secondary schooling (about the age of eighteen). How the people celebrate is left up to families. Some hold extravagant dinners in honor of their children, while others simply relax for the day and move on with life.

Gastrophoros: Celebrated in the fall by the Maras group. Unlike other holidays for other groups, the Maras celebrate Gastrophoros with an entire day devoted to rest and prayer in order for success in the next hunt.

The Veidar appear to hold many religious celebrations throughout the year, but most are solemn and are performed with little noise or excitement.


As with any other nation, the Rhodoks have their own system of religious beliefs. Unlike the monotheistic Nords, the atheistic Swadians, the shamanic Khergits or the Vaegirs who believe that there are gods in all aspects of nature, the Rhodoks believe in a large pantheon of gods. There are not an infinite number of them, but there are many. Different groups worship different gods in different ways, but for the most part worship is conducted in elaborate temples where worshipers offer silent prayers to the gods while kneeling on cushions. Each god has its own sacred day once a year, but many groups often ignore the days while other groups celebrate them as fervently as Forging Day.
Although the Rhodoks are a religious people as a whole, they rarely export their religion outside of their nation, and are, in fact, more likely to assimilate gods from other cultures into their own pantheon, suchas the above mentioned Horse Lord. There have been times in the past, however, where bloody wars have been fought over the city-states of rival gods.
The following are some of the major gods of the pantheon:

Joveus Molai, God of Creation: The all-father of the gods who created the gods, and later humanity, Joveus Molai is seen as a firm but ultimately loving god. He is described as a tall, muscular man with a lizard's head and the horns of a great bull, standing tall and holding a lump of mud in his right hand. According to the creation myths, Joveus Molai created the Gods out of dust from the stars and man from the mud of the earth. His sacred day is the spring equinox, when Spring begins and life starts anew.

Skutos, God of Air and Weather: The younger brother of Joveus, Skutos is seen as a fickle god, easily provoked into anger but also possessing a gentle side. Rhodoks frequently beseech him to send them plentiful rain while keeping away the storm demons. He appears as a laughing young man clad in a traveling cloak and walking stick, and is favored by the Instinis group tribesmen (in fact, they often emulate his dress). His sacred day is the third day of Second Monath (the second month of the year).

Vulkus Stromos, God of Fire and Destruction: The antithesis to Joveus Molai, though he is not seen as evil, only perpetually angry. Rhodoks have long noted the destructive properties of fire, but also its beneficial qualities such as providing warmth and cooking food. Sacrifices to Vulkus typically involve setting things on fire, and thus his holy day, the fourth day of Fifth Monath, is especially popular among youngsters. He typically appears as a frowning man with the body of a goat, with the tail replaced with the head of a child. The child's screeching is said to bring about the eruption of volcanos.

Inaria Illyasvia Stramolai, Goddess of Animals, Nature, and the Hunt: Joveus Molai's cold but ultimately fair sister, the Maras group revere her more than they do the all-father. Gastrophoros is named after one of her favored man servants, Gastrophos, who once brought down an impossibly large boar for the sake of his master and was granted the goddess's favor as her consort. She appears as a stunningly beautiful woman with an ice-cold face, holding a great bow in her hands (modern depictions  now depict her as using a crossbow too powerful for any mortal to wield). Interestingly, she and her brother are at odds with one another, for while one creates life the other guards and ultimately destroys it. Her sacred day is on the seventeenth day of Ninth Monath, which is also when Gastrophoros is held.

Andara Mantrophida, Goddess of the Will and Self: Andara is the deified aspect of Rhodok culture, that of independence and self-reliance. Her priests encourage their fellow Rhodoks to be self-sufficient and to do things by themselves if possible. Andara appears as a muscular woman standing tall and proud on a large rock. Her sacred day is the eighteenth day of the First Monath.

Indikulous Phobos, God of Family and Relationships: In contrast to his sister Andara, Indikulous encourages his followers to accept the help of others if necessary, and to in turn offer modicums of help to loved ones. The opposing beliefs of Indikulous and Andara represent the inherent paradoxical conflict between the two major aspects of Rhodok culture, and most of the relatively few religious wars in Rhodos Valley were fought between followers of Andara and Indikulous. The two priesthoods have since come to terms, though few priests of Indikulous offer prayers to Andara and vice versa. Indikulous appears as a very gentle looking man wearing a simple robe, offering an outstretched hand to a man lying stricken on the ground. His sacred day is the third day of the First Monath, and is the day when Forging Day is celebrated.

Grunwalder Tymodeus, God of Battle and Peace: The Rhodoks, while militaristic in one sense, are not very warlike. Unlike the Nords and Swadians, the Rhodoks are not very expansionist (though ironically, it is the Rhodoks who commit the most war atrocities in any given war), and rarely go about seeking fights to the death, either with other nations or themselves. When in 685 the warrior Grunwalder Tymodeus of the Yalen tribe temporarily united the tribes and drove off the invading Swadian armies, he did pursue the broken Swadian troops and slaughtered them to the last man, but then fell to his knees after the battle, weeping for the lives he had taken. After his many great deeds that forever secured Rhodos Valley in the hands of the Rhodoks, he was deified upon death as a demigod of Battle and Peace. The Rhodoks have come to recognize war and peace as two things that come right after another, and honor this through worship of Grunwalder Tymodeus. In modern times, Grunwalder appears as an extremely tall Rhodok wearing only a helmet, a tunic, and a cloak while clutching a broken spear and wearing a regretful look on his face. His sacred day is the seventh day of Eigth Monath.

Many other gods exist in the pantheon, but they are of little note and mostly worshiped by small cults or by individual blood families. It is still unknown precisely what the Vaedir worship. 

Next: foods, entertainment, and literature.

 

[Boeing]

Noice!

 

[Moss]

That's really, really good, as far as I'm concerned this stuff is officially cannon to me. Very well written too.

 

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

Rhodok food and drink       


        Rhodos Valley is most famous for its excellent beef, raised in the Yalenos valley in the form of the rowdy and dangerous Istin breed of cattle. The flesh perfectly marbled and tender, does not spoil as easily as other beefs, has a soft yet pleasantly rough texture that tickles the tongue, and goes well with almost any sauce imaginable. A beef connoisseur may find a trip to the Valley well worth the expenses.
The rural folks in the area, especially the Istinis group cattleherders, have learned to consume as much of a single cattle as possible, mostly because overconsumption of their chief export is unprofitable. As such, beef delicacies in the Istiniar and Chelez regions include less...orthodox parts of the animal. A popular local dish is agalada, or pickled bull testicles served with sauce made from the bull's blood and bile. As horrendous as it sounds, I have tried the dish (after much cajoling by my Rhodok hosts) and it is surprisingly delicious. Other delicacies include glossai, a spicy soup where the main ingredient is ox tongue. Again, surprisingly delicious.
Of course, Rhodoks also enjoy more orthodox beef dishes, though they are served differently from the way meat is served in the other nations. Unlike Swadia and Nord, where seervants slice roasted meat into large slabs and bring them to diners as ordered, Rhodok servants  roast animals whole and place them on feasting tables where each individual diner serves himself. Also unlike Swadia and Nord, the meat is always spiced with sauces made from animal products (the above mentioned beef blood sauce, called aima, is quite popular) or local plant life. It is considered a sign of barbarism for someone to eat his eat meat unspiced. Dining tools are always a pair of feasting knives, one short and pointed but lacking  cutting edge and the other long and blunt but armed with a razor sharp edge. The latter is used to cut the meat into bite-sized chunks and the former is used to hold the meat in place and transfer the smaller  pieces of meat to the mouth. A recent fad has sprung up among the sophisticated Sarens, where the short piercing knife is forked at the tip in order to hold the meat in place more firmly.  Most other Rhodoks consider this new tool as a sign of excess wealth and frivolity.
Due to the prevalence of beef in Rhodos Valley, many people forget that the Valley is also known for its wines and cheeses. Cheese is a by-product of the many cows raised in the Yalenos Valley, and every year great wheels of cheese are shipped from Istiniar and Chelez to Yalen. The Maras River Valley, meanwhile, is famous for its vineyards. Jelkala and Veluca have long had a tradition of rivalry, as both cities feature high quality but distinctly different wines. Jelkala wine, known as glycolos, is sweet and contains less alcohol, and is suitable for long feasts and merrymaking. Veluca wine, known as dynatolos, is much stronger, and is suitable for relaxing after a hard day's work. Dynatolos is popular among the rural classes, while glycolos is favored by urban citizens, particularly by the upper class. Despite the good quality of Rhodok wines and cheeses, however, they are rarely exported outside of Rhodok, due to steep competition from Swadian wines and Ashkolon cheese.
Interestingly, although Rhodoks eat bread as a staple like the citizens of other nations (excepting the Khanate), they prefer their bread flat, not in round loafs. Recent youth favor the “exotic” qualities of Ashkolon and Heartland breads, but more conservative Rhodoks prefer the traditional flat bread, known as pita. Although it is good, pita is otherwise unremarkable  and is rarely found outside of the Rhodos Valley.


Next: Literature and language

 

[Havoc134]

absolutley exceptional

 

[Boeing]

MOAR!

 

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

Literature

The general Rhodok language, called Rhodic, features an alphabet made up of eighteen distinct letters. Linguistic scholars may notice that the modern Swadic alphabet is quite similar to the Rhodic alphabet. This is because early Swadians merged their old runic alphabet with the ancient Rhodic one. The alphabet completely different from ours, in that each individual letter is used to form words, and these clusters of words are used to create larger sentences. Thus, Rhodic writing is relatively easy to learn. The Jelk groups, in particular, boasts a near 100% literacy rate, even among the lower classes. However, the grammar and rhetorical structure of Rhodic texts are almost byzantine, and it is a mark of intellect and wisdom in Rhodok society to have mastered writing.
Rhodoks place great value on their old epics, which are extremely long poems that tell a fictional and pseudo-historical, sometimes even mythological, story about an individual. For example, the Oryseus is about the man Orys and how he overcame his initial struggles of failing to achieve manhood, and then how he went on a great campaign of conquest to subdue the Rhodok peoples' enemies to the east (which, at the time, were not Swadians). The entire poem is staggeringly huge (Zugeius Shen's esteemed translation of Oryseus into our language was about one-thousand pages long) and takes hours to read. Such epics are usually devoted to portraying a hero who displays qualities that the typical Rhodok values. Again with Orys, note how he redeems himself in the eyes of his peers by achieves manhood through self-reliance and individual strength, and how he devotes himself to his dear friend by subtly encouraging him to achieve manhood as Orys himself did. Other tales include the epic of Grunwaldeus, a great poem telling the story of General Grunwalder Tymodeus during his life as a mortal, and Genesis, the creation myth of the Rhodok tribes.  Some Jelk scholars have told me that in the days of old, such epics were devoted to memory and told by traveling minstrels and sages. I would declare these claims to be preposterous and mere prideful boasting, but judging by how the epics appear to be structured so that they are easy to commit to memory, perhaps those claims are not as outrageous.
The typical epic follows this rhyme scheme:
A
A
B
B
A
A
B
B
C
C
B
B

And so forth. Combined with the iambic tetrameter rhythm (that is, four accented syllables per line, with every other syllable accented, totaling in eight syllables per line), the epics are made a bit easier to remember. Here is a passage from the Oryseus (Book 1, Verse 1-12):

Kolos! Meh glys rostoiphoto
Skutai adio kalosto.
Venis? Androdite itas,
Itas meh stophokiphitas
Do tri destoidephobo bo
Postigo phe de Orys ko.
Orys, ka trophen pa hitas,
Phobos to rex bo hephitas
Tri degos, meh quonos tophi
De ghebma. Tos do trios qi
Karekla os so philos tas,
De tas! Tas tristiophonas...

Again, note the iambic tetrameter and the classical AABBAABBCCBB rhyme scheme.
Of course, not all Rhodok literature is made up of epics. The Jelk group in particular is fond of using texts as instructional tools. And outside of Rhodok, the recent collection of Rhodok folklore, Diigimas, has proved to be popular with the nobles of Swadia and Nord. However, due to the lack of any kind of printing equipment in Calradia, books are very expensive and rare. A copy of Diigimas, for example, could cost a Swadian noble a fine suit of armor's worth of gold. Thus, aside from using parchment to record history, laws, business records, or to write down instructional information, Rhodoks do not write down much else. Reading for pleasure is a very rare luxury among the Rhodok, and little other fiction is read or even recorded aside from the great epics. As the Jelks value the few texts they have, however, they do what they can to produce as many copies of important and valued texts as possible, most of which are stored in the Bibliothikos Library in Jelkala. 
Rhodic writing is done not on paper made of plant materials, but parchment made from the stretched hides of young calves. Thus, writing material is something of a luxury, even to the literate Jelks. On parchment, ink made from a mixture of ash, water, and other products is put down by pens made from sharpened and polished sticks. Each stick contains a hollow that stores a measure of ink, and when the pen is pressed down on parchment, the ink is released in controlled amounts. When  a  text contains a number of a pages of parchment and must be bound together, a sharp, cylindrical metal object is used to punch holes on the edges of the parchment, then a thong of leather is strung through those holes to keep the pages together. Brushes are all but unknown to the Rhodoks, unless a Rhodok seeks to splash paint on a large surface, during which he will use a makeshift brush made from collected grasses. With this lack of cheap writing surfaces, most commoners' writing is done on sturdy clay tablets, as clay is plentiful in the Ulanbakuk, Nedis, and Yalenos mountains. For such instances, the writing simply scratches out words with a sharp object on the clay surface and carefully wraps the tablet if the tablet needs transportation, or otherwise lets the tablet dry out for easy storage. Due to the nature of the writing surface, the letters appear to be more angular than Rhodic on parchment, and there are minor rules involving punctuation and letter formation designed to make clay tablet writing more clear. Velucik tribesmen tend to make do with even less writing, and commit most information to memory.

Language

Rhodic words, as mentioned before, are easy to write but very difficult to speak and to use in the construction of complex sentence structures.  This is because word order, stresses, and even a word's neighboring words can convey different meanings. For example, take the following sentence:

Kyrie do aeis triphoroticos

Meaning, “I stand between the sky and the earth”, kyrie meaning “sky”, do being the personal pronoun “I”, aeis meaning “to stand” or “to remain upright”, and triphoroticos referring to the earth, with implications of rich, soft, and fertile farming soil or a meadow depending on context. There is no descriptive word specifying where the subject stands in relation to the sky and the earth, but the fact that the pronoun is placed in between the words for sky and earth conveys the location in which the subject is standing. Now, take the same sentence again, but add an emphasis:

KYrie do aeis triphoroticos

Meaning, “I stand between the light of the heavens and the earth”. Notice that the first syllable of the first word, kyrie, is given a strong emphasis. In Rhodic, adding an emphasis takes the original meaning of the word and puts in on a grander scale, or “promotes” it, so to speak. Thus, “sky” is “upgraded” to “the expanse of the heavens”, which now gives a divine  implication to the sentence. Now let us examine the same sentence again, this time accenting a different syllab;e:

KyRIE do aeis triphoroticos

Meaning, “I stand between the realm of stars and the earth”. Now the sentence has astronomic and secular implications. And this time:

KYRIE do aeis triphoroticos

Meaning, “I stand between the great expansive of the universe and this earth”.
Trailing off words and pronouncing them more softly can “demote” a word as well:

Kyrie do aeis triphoroticos...

Meaning, “I stand between the sky and this lowly patch of mud”. Notice that the last word, triphoroticos, is pronounced softly and with the end of the word trailing off, as though it were not important.
Again, all of this is very complex, and even many modern Rhodoks are confused by the more complicated nuances of their language. Some of the less educated Rhodok even unintentionally insult one another by misplacing a word here, or stressing the wrong syllable there, and  so forth. As a whole, Rhodoks are quite thick-skinned about verbal abuse because of the ambigous nature of their language. Jelk students are, however, expected to have a degree of mastery over such nuances by the time they graduate into adulthood. Despite its complexity, Rhodic is quite the language to listen to, and a true master is a wonder to behold, both in literature and in oral performance.
Curiously, Rhodic, like Vaegish, is an entire family of languages of its own. Aside from relatively recent mixing of languages between Rhodoks, Swadians, Khergits, and Nords, Rhodic is not related to any other language in Calradia.


Next: Music, sports, and entertainment

 

[Trooper5445]

I propose this all be made Cannon. Makes me glad to be a Rhodok and gets my RP blood flowing.

 

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

Music

Unlike many other cultures, the Rhodoks do not boast a great variety of traditional musical instruments, though those few are widely played throughout the Valley. Most of these instruments are wind based, meaning that the player must blow wind through them in order for the instruments to sound. One such instrument is the sakuola solinas, colloquially known as the bagpipes. The sakuola solinas, or more commonly the sakinas, is a set of long pipes poking out of a leather bag. It is a strange instrument, with the musician blowing air through one set of pipes into the bag, while the bag itself is squeezed to let air out through another set of pipes riddled with holes. These holes are covered up by the musician in a certain order to produce low to high notes. I personally found the sound to be loud, coarse, and obnoxious. It is regrettable that the sakinas are so prevalent among the Rhodoks, particularly among the tribes who live in the Yalenos Valley. Other instruments include the recorder, called in Rhodic the kapnismatos, and the more orthodox, horizontally played flute called the flogera. More skilled players may play the dyo kapnismatos, which, as the name obviously suggests, is a set of two kapnismatos recorders played at once. This requires a high degree of ambidexterity and coordination to play. The Velucik group tribesmen, being heavily influenced by neighboring Steppe nomads, also play a derivative of the nomadic recorder eschiglen, which the Rhodoks call the katachorifis. The sound produced from the katachorifis is noticeably different from the sound produced by a kapnismatos, and is rich, deep, and full. Most of these instruments are carved out of wood, bone, or even horn, the latter two materials being supplied by the many cattle in Yalenos Valley.
Music is an important factor to religious worship. Each god has his or her sacred tune (not songs, as the Rhodoks rarely sing)--for example, Joveus Molai requires a sakinas playing a complex melody with two flogeras providing the harmony. The larger temples, which hold services for each god during certain times of the day throughout the week, play the sacred pieces while the supplicants worship. Smaller temples, which are usually dedicated to one or, at most, a handful of gods do not do this. In earlier times, musicians who noticeably erred during their religious performances were often stoned to death by offended priests and even worshipers, such was the importance of music to the gods.

Here is a list of sacred pieces of the previously listed gods, and a brief description of each piece:

Joveus Molai: Deos Di Primavo, “Our God of Creation”. An uplifting tune requiring a sakinas and two flogeras.

Skutos: Aeras Kapritso, “The Capricious Air”. A playful tune that occasionally slips into thunderous melodes. Requires at least three dyo kapnismatos and a large drum.

Vulkos Stromos: Manios Fotios, “Fury of Fire”. A raging piece that sounds more like a cacophonous banging of drums and wailing of flutes than an actual piece. Requires two large drums, five small drums, and three flogeras.

Inaria Illyasvia Stramolai: Kynigis, “The Hunt”. The contours of the notes illustrate the typical Rhodok hunt, starting off slow and quiet, and ending with a fast paced and blood-pumping melody. Requires two flogeras, one to represent the hunter and another to represent the prey.

Andara Mantrophida: Egos, “Will”. For a sacred tune, this piece is rather dull, though for some it may stir up feelings of pride. Requires one sakinas to represent the goddess's solitary nature.

Indikulous Phobos: Oikogeneias, “Family”. A more interesting piece, this heartwarming sacred tune brings joy to the heart. Requires four flogera to represent the ideal Rhodok family, two parents and two children.

Grunwalder Tymodeus: Ichos Machimeus do Penthogoras, “The Sounds of Battle and Mourning”. The piece starts off as a battle march, then progresses to a chaotic tune representing the sounds of battle. It then finishes with a funeral march, all to represent Grunwalder's conflicting prowess in battle and grieving heart. Requires ten kapnismatos, three small drums, and a sakinas.

Cattleherders among the Istinis group are known to play kapnismatos as they watch over their herd, as they believe that the music soothes the cows and encourages them to make more milk or keep their flesh soft and tender. Hunters among the Maras group are also known to hum Kynigis while hunting, hoping to gain their goddess's favor. Otherwise, instruments are frequently used at parties and major festivals. Drikomos Exultoi Telekomos Omnipius, for example, involves entire orchestras of musicians. Funerals require instruments as well, though the dyo kapnismatos are usually kept out.
Recently, Swadian and Steppe musics have made their way into Rhodok youth. Adults have found Swadian street musicians to be very annoying, but rebellious children enjoy belting out Swadian tunes on their own kapnismatos.

Sports and entertainment

Chiptochros

The most favored “national” sport in the Rhodos Valley is chiptochros. The sport is best played on the rolling hills of the Valley, and involves two teams armed with long staffs, each staff the height of a grown man. The teams must strike with their staffs an inflated cow's stomach weighed with stones, and must maneuver the stomach (the chros) into a ring guarded by a man with an especially stout stick. Unless the chros is in the air, it must be struck by the ends of the staffs. Intentional striking of the opposing team members is forbidden, but ultimately inevitable. National teams are equipped with armor design to soften the hard blows of the staffs, but local teams have none of this protection. Amazingly, there have been almost no reports of deaths during this rather violent and bloody game though there are plenty of bloody faces and missing teeth.  Once the stomach is within the ring, the team must detonate the stomach by striking the chros especially hard. The usual game limit is either one hour or the first to five chros detonated, whichever comes first.
The game seems to have its origins in old war games, designed as a bloody but less deadly alternative to open warfare between the tribes. The staffs, in particular, seem to be analogues of tribal spears. Many professional chitpocros players are often soldiers, and many soldiers find chiptochros as a decent simulation of a real battle. At the moment, Yalen is the favored champion to win this year's national chiptochros tournament, with Veluca and Chelez as the strongest contenders. Jelkala is regarded as the national laughingstock of chiptochros, but the scholarly Jelkalans could care less. All the teams, each of which represent a tribe, have their own team tunes that are played every time they score a point.

Kaoberos

A less violent sport is kaoberos, a sport that involves tossing a large, pillar-like log of wood as far as possible. Readers who consider this sport as odd should investigate the Nordic sport of pig tossing, schvinehurl.
In this game, the contestant must hoist a ten-foot long, two-foot wide log on their shoulders, run up to a line drawn in the ground, and hurl the log as far as they can. Any method may be used to hurl the log as long as the contestant does not cross the line, though many techniques have been developed over time to suit players of differing heights and builds. This sport is more popular in the Yalons Valley, and is much less popular elsewhere. As the men who specialize in this sport are extremely muscular and gruff-looking, foreigners (particularly foreign beef merchants who come to Yalenos) who do not understand the game regard these people, and sometimes the Rhodoks in general, as barbarians. The anti-Rhodok racial slur, “tossers”, has its roots in kaoberos.

Gastrophetos

This is simply a marksmanship game played by Maras group tribesmen. There are no official tournaments, but youngsters regularly dare one another on hitting difficult targets. As hunting crossbows are regularly available in the Maras River Valley, the sport is quite popular, and several tribes have long petitioned to make official tournaments for the game.

Strategoi

A much less physical game is strategoi, which is the Rhodok version of chess. The pieces and rules are very similar to Swadian chess, where the game was most likely derived from, but has a few different pieces (for example, there is no “knight”, which is replaced with a “sharpshooter”) with new requisite rules for each piece. Yalenos group tribesmen regularly play this game to sharpen their wits, while Jelk group tribesmen often play this for entertainment. Jelkala hosts an annual strategoi tournament.

Edafotrogo

Literally meaning “land eat”, edafotrogo is a children's game played on any relatively flat dirt surface. The game requires at least two players but can theoretically involve an infinite number of players. The players draw a large rectangle on the dirt, and pick a spot anywhere on the perimeter of the rectangle. This is their starting position. The players then draw on the perimeter a semicircle pointing inwards towards the middle of the rectangle, choose irregularly shaped pebbles, place their pebbles in the middle of the semicircle, then take turns flicking the pebble three times in succession. Every time the pebble is flicked, a line is drawn from the pebble's place of origin and the pebble's resting place, and by the end of the three flicks the pebble must return to the starting point, or the player's efforts will be for naught. If the return to the semicircle is successful, the lines drawn are rendered permanent; this becomes the player's new “territory”. On the player's next turn, he must again flick the pebble three times and this time return the pebble to his territory, not necessarily the starting point. Again, if he misses, all his efforts will be for naught. The game becomes more difficult as it progresses as pebbles may not enter territories of opposing players. The winner is whoever ends up with the largest amount of territory. Rhodok children regularly squabble over this game, and the younger children often form social pecking orders on who can play edafotrogo the best.

Dances

Aside from games, Rhodoks are also fond of dancing. Dances are almost never formal, unlike Swadians who often hold formal balls for social gatherings of nobles. There are several different kinds of traditional dances among the Rhodoks.

Kykylos: a circular dance around a bonfire, participated by both adults and children of all sexes. Participants hold hands and face the bonfire, all the while leaping from side to side to the music. Depending on how the music is currently being played, the entire circle may spin one direction or the other, or even not spin at all.


Exisono: a squarish dance held indoors during feasts, four lines of dancers (who are usually adults, as children have difficulty remembering the complex patterns) form a square and proceed to weave through one another to the step of the music. It is very complex and only the best dancers seem to know exactly what to do. The audience is usually the most entertained from this dance, as they delight in watching the less skilled dancers humiliate themselves on the dance floor.

Chorosdelada: another circle dance, this time it is performed around a large tethered bull. The participants, who are always adult males, must wear cowhide and a cow skull, and when not leaping back and forth while in the circle must vault over the tethered bull in the center. Successful attempts are answered with a cry of, “Choros!” (“Bull!”) by audience and the rest of the participants. There have been injuries during this rather dangerous dance, and not a few dancers have had their groins gored by particularly angry bulls while vaulting over the bovines. This dance is normally performed by the Istinis group tribesmen.

Kynigisdelada: performed by Maras hunters after an especially successful hunt, captured game are hoisted onto a large carrying spear and carried in circles around a nearby fully grown tree. The more religious among the hunters may also offer small gifts of thanks to Inaria Illyasvia Stramolai.


Next: other Rhodok arts

 

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

Due to upcoming midterms, A Traveler's Guide to Calradia will be put on hold for a few days.

 

[Turkish_Bandit]

its amazing and very good  prepare job
(sory I'm not english this eulogy for map)

 

[Pii100]

I wish M&B had oblivion-style big badass lore sinked under it's cover...
Like in oblivion you can get lots of things to know if you do some digging.. In m&b you just get some night-time stories from your companions...

 

[Saintmothra]

love it, I get off on backstories and ethnographic information (Cultural eating habits and customs during the growing season...oh... oh... oh god*Flap Flap Flap)

If you want, I could give this alittle flare, turn it into a PDF, make it all nice and attractive with sexy illustrations of King Harlaus fellating Sanjur Khan anything you want...

 

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

If you want, I could give this alittle flare, turn it into a PDF, make it all nice and attractive with sexy illustrations of King Harlaus fellating Sanjur Khan anything you want...

That would be awesome. Both the PDF and the wild king-on-king sex. Could actually be used as anti-Calradian propaganda.

 

[Velead]

Well, this is now official canon to me, and I'm going to use it as evidence that Rhodoks aren't Italian.

It's a good thing I'm accustomed to losing arguments.

 

[Saintmothra]

This is the cover and title page for now, it still needs some work, could use some advice for people who're good with photoshop, what'ya think?