So ... on the gaming forum I frequent these days, there's been a recent debate on exotic settings -- what elements are desirable, how to do it, what not to do. And I mentioned the recent work I'd done in putting the culture of this region on my gameworld together, and promised to post some sections for people's review. This will not be for everyone, and the section I'm posting here is particularly long: no skin off of my nose if you pass it up!
A caveat: much of this is not original. The concept of Loh comes from Kenneth Bulmer's Dray Prescot/ Scorpio series, and three of his later books in the series were set there. It's a teensy bit generically Oriental, but far from excessively so. A good bit more comes from M.A.R. Barker's seminal RPG Empire of the Petal Throne, and its setting, the empire of Tsolyanu on the world of Tekumel. A large reason EPT never really took off, despite being the second RPG in print after D&D, is that its Malay/Mayan fusion of a setting is weird to Westerners: too exotic, too non-European, too violent, too sexualized, not in keeping with Ren Faire/Merrie Olde standards of chivalry. I've always felt I was more adaptive than creative, and it saves a great deal of time to take what smart people have written and twist it to my own ends. (Therefore, no nonsense about plagiarizing in these setting posts; I cheerfully admit that much of this is not my original work.)
So ... here 'tis. Lohvian culture practices and miscellany. Loh = the region; Serioli = the language and ethnic group.
* * * * * * * * *
Politics: Nominally, the Empire of Walfarg (currently styled the “Empire of Taira”) still exists, and the Seal Emperor rules from the Jasmine Throne in Tsungfaril, with the High Lords of the Twice Thirteen Dominions as His loyal servants and lieutenants, in a vast realm ranging down the great Valley from the Wizards’ Realm almost to the sea.
The facts on the ground are far different. In fact, the Emperor reigns, not rules, and the sway of Tsungfaril does not stretch much beyond the core dominions: Mindroling, Jenderak, Chai Yarchen, Hul Cheka – and in weaker reigns, not always that far. In an Ottoman-like system, the various High Lords jockey for position and influence, in ever-shifting coalitions and cabals ... formally paying lip service to the Jasmine Throne, effectively as independent warlords.
The three dominions that now comprise the nation of Mirdain are formally an independent kingdom, defying the Emperor’s writ. So, too, it has been many years since Tsungfaril’s writ ran as far as controlling Vankaris, Lohrhiang, Simbiling or Chai Seletari, and the Dominions further downriver are only nominally are part of the Empire: words on paper and empty titles proclaimed before the Jasmine Throne. The Dominion of Ternantung is not even that much, and it is carefully left unsaid in Tsungfaril that there used to be two more Dominions: Vinkleden and Panjang, now part of the New Moon Confederacy and the westernmost reach of the ancient imperial lands.
The Clan: The fundamental unit of Serioli life is the clan. Most Lohvians live with others of their clan in a common dwelling, or “clan house.” A small clanhouse might have only the extended generations of a single family, while those in great cities might house over a thousand clan members, servants and slaves.
Serioli children know who their mothers are (see Marriage Customs, below), but paternity is often casually tracked, and the identity of biological fathers is not usually considered terribly important. Adult males are “clan-fathers” or “clan-uncles” to a child, while adult females are “clan-mothers” or “clan-aunts.” Children are commonly given “school names” when they survive to nine months old, and do not receive their adult names until their 14th year, upon which they earn their majority. Lifestyles are polyamorous, and many formal marriages are triads or groups.
Clanhouses may be as simple as rural dwellings of thatch or sod, to walled estates or multistoried complexes. Middle-class clan houses include a walled front courtyard where transactions and deliveries take place; an entrance hall, with sitting-rooms off to the side; a refectory which doubles as a celebration hall; slaves’ quarters and animal pens around the rear; warehouses for mercantile clans; sundry kitchens, restrooms, closets, etc. Private family apartments are the norm among higher clans, with those of a higher lineage within a clan having preference. Separate dormitories are common for children, young men and young women (although fraternization is not frowned upon). Some clans also have large baths tended by specially-trained slaves, massage rooms, workshops (for the crafting clans), or other facilities.
Most clans have traditional occupations, so in addition to being the centers of family life, clanhouses are where the bulk of the trade and commerce of Loh takes place. Those (say) born into a stoneworking clan are trained in masonry as they grow. If the clan’s occupation is not to one’s liking, a young adult – at age 14 – is free to engage in a number of occupations, such as the military, the priesthood, the civil bureaucracy or sorcery. It is difficult, however, to take up a different trade under the control of a different clan.
Marriage Customs: Everyone gets married: to be an adult bachelor/ette is considered weird, and people just don’t take conspicuously unmarried types other than uhus seriously. Group marriages are common, and many patterns are possible. The outright social rules are:
(1) marrying someone from a higher status clan is laudable, but a “marriage price” needs to be paid upward as compensation;
(2) you can’t marry within your lineage, but there is no incest taboo otherwise – for instance, if your father is from a lower lineage, he would take his wife’s clan name upon marriage, and it would be quite legal and proper to marry a half-sibling from the father’s first marriage;
(3) by contrast, it’s also weird to be a virgin upon marriage, and sexual experimentation as a youth is expected ... but only within your lineage and generation. Experimenting with one’s (teen, full) sibling is expected; doing so with your best friend’s parent/child is taboo. (Further, while premarital sex under these circumstances is the norm, premarital pregnancy as a result is shocking and not to be tolerated.)
(4) blatant cross-generational marriage is frowned upon, but this is determined upon lineage lines, with considerable fudging and jostling. Even so, a much older person will almost never marry a much younger person, fudging notwithstanding ... if children are necessary, concubinage is one way out. (Children born of slaves, however, are always, always held illegitimate.)
(5) Societal pressure to be married is so strong that widowers will often marry wives’ younger sisters, and widows their husbands’ younger brothers. Such a marriage will keep the link between the families and maintain the existing household structure intact. However ...
(6) ... a person may also be wed to a dead person. In the ceremony (and often in the nuptial bed) the role of the deceased is acted out by a stand-in, more often than not a lineage relative of the deceased. Any children born of the union are attributed to the dead spouse, and are recognized as his/her descendants; it is a cultural imperative that no one question the parentage. A ghost can thus become the culturally and legally recognized parent of a newborn child.
Society: An important element is the concept of khomoyi, or “place.” Everyone has a role, and is expected to fulfill it. Striving to achieve unseemly heights, ambition beyond one’s station, is considered somewhat blasphemous. Likewise, failing to maintain one’s station is considered a threat to society.
This is tied to the dual ethic of lan (noble) and bussan (ignoble) actions. To act within one’s station is lan. It is noble, for instance, for someone born into a mat-weaving clan to participate in the clan business of weaving mats. That person can also nobly seek to be a simple soldier in the ranks, or a low-ranking acolyte in a temple. Acts of presumption, in contrast, are bussan. Should (say) the mat weaver join a temple and ambitiously begin to scheme to be the High Priest, he would be looked upon as behaving in an unseemly and ignoble fashion. Similarly, should someone from a high ranking clan take up the work of a simple laborer, society would be shocked at such ignoble behavior. Failure to behave “nobly” reflects badly upon the clan as well as the individual, and clan members will be quick to react to such behavior.
These values are situationally subjective. Is not a woman lan when she performs acts of charity and kindness? Is she not bussan when she acts in a violent fashion? In both cases, these are dependent on whether the recipients are worthy of the behavior. To show kindness to a sworn enemy of one’s clan may be lan to his clanmembers; it is certainly bussan to one’s own. The Lohvian understands, as few outsiders do, that morality is malleable and situational, and the only sound path is to cleave to one’s clan and faith.
Should a person continue ignoble behavior, the clan will seek to correct it, first with advice, then with sanctions. Ultimately, a persistently ignoble member will be ejected from their clan. To be made “nakomé” – clanless – is considered a horrifying fate (using the term to someone, as it happens, is a deadly insult). Such people will find themselves without lodging or employment, dependent upon handouts, unprotected, and only acts of startling nobility and character would induce a clan to invite a nakomé to join.
Attire: The well-dressed Lohvian wears a poncho-like tunic called a firya, overlapping four or five inches down from the shoulder, open down the sides but secured with loose, often-decorative lacing. A double sash (slightly offset to form a flattened “X”) belts the firya, often plaited with the clan’s colors. Loose, baggy trousers are also worn by both sexes, though kilt-like garments are also in fashion. Headgear is diverse: turbans (among the upper classes), basketcaps and headcloths all common. Full robes are also worn by the upper classes.
More uncommon garments include the so-called “mage’s mantle,” a sleeveless knee-length mantle almost exclusively worn by sorcerers, generally patterned, embroidered or colored in styles particular to the order. Priests often don gi-like open heavy shirts, but almost invariably wear braids at the shoulder (very like European-style military fourragères) that denote faith, status and rank; a Heraldry (Serioli clerical) roll will determine the exact status. Finally, it is a custom that wearing a grey silk scarf is a privilege reserved for warriors who have slain an enemy in combat.
Gestures:
Arm held outward, palm down, two fingers extended: interruption will NOT be tolerated.
Both hands, palm down, fingers spread widely: apologies.
Clapping the hands together: summoning a slave. Rather a deadly insult if obviously NOT doing so.
Clapping a hand to the throat, taking it away, and raising the chin: “I bare the throat” – the ritual resignation of Jikaida, and generally meaning “You win” and/or “I give up.”
Clasping the right upper arm of another with your right hand: Fervent greeting of close comrades.
Fingersnapping: applause.
General interjections, hesitation markers or response particles: Ai, Cha, Hai, Khe, Ohe, Tla.
Hand out, palm up, rocking side to side: Asking for help.
Holding the left hand breast-high, folding the fingers inward, and shaking it slightly back and forth: disapproval. “I don’t agree.”
Making a circle of one’s thumb and forefinger, and making an emphatic jerk of the hand: insinuating the other person is clanless, a strong insult.
Palm held upwards: general approval
Slapping the fingertips into the palm of the same hand: Between lovers, denotes affection and sexual desire. Between others, an obscene gesture.
Slapping the chest with an open right hand: Llahal!
Tapping the middle three fingers to one’s opposing upper arm: A faith greeting within Upuaut circles; an insult – “Burn you!” – to someone known not to be of the faith.
Two fingers touching closed lips: agreement, acknowledgment; very much so, if the fingers are tapping.
Holidays: Above and beyond normal Celduin holidays, Lohvians celebrate these:
Hasanpór (Kelusse 1): a day of feasts, gift-giving, pageants and parades.
Rites of Kaopan (Planting season): ensuring the fertility of the fields through the placement of blue and yellow paper hexagons, incense, and sacrifice (the most highly prized which involve slaves).
Drénggar (Hisivan 10): The Unveiling of Beauty, commemorated with spectacular rituals and debauched orgies.
Menggano (Hisivan 17): The Enhancement of the Emerald Radiance. Following close on the heels of the Unveiling of Beauty, with a whole week to recover in between, Lohvians throw themselves into this festival with a will, honoring it with elaborate feasts, more ritual, and more orgies.
Lésdrim (Celebros 10): The Birthday of the Seal Emperor. Commemorated with military parades and drills throughout the bounds of the old Empire – even in far-off dominions in which Tsungfaril’s writ runs very thinly indeed. Held on this day no matter the actual birthdate of the reigning Emperor.
Vraháma (Oranor 10): Celebration of Splendid Victories, commemorated with military pageants at local military barracks and at temples of Upuaut. Battles prominently attributed to localities are highlighted.
Ngaqómi (Alatur 12): Feast of the Many-Colored Lanterns, where rice lanterns are sent skyward, followed by block parties, feasts ... and the occasional orgy.
Chitlásha (Harvest time): Masque of the Old and the New, celebrated with public carnivals.
Proverbs and Idioms
A habit once formed is a rod of laen.
Give an enemy no time even to say farewell to his last breath.
Bad blood never dries.
It is not seemly for a mortal to overmaster the Gods: saying of the epic hero Hrugga, who won the world, two moons, and half as much again from the Goddess Vasha – yet graciously continued to stake everything he had on each play until he had lost it all back again.
Brave times demand brave men.
Do not worry about being there for the launching, just be there for the laying of the keel: mariners’ saying relating to having children.
What lasts longer, the mountains or the River?
He has never strayed from his color: the highest praise one can offer; the literal meaning is obscure, but is thought by some to refer to the White Lotus’ lodges.
Like groping for a sovereign in a barrel of snakes.
Men act not because of honor or duty but for a slight to their great-grandfather's chamberpot.
Naivete is the clay from which heroes are molded.
Nothing truly glorious is attained through moderation.
Let us nobly end what treacherously began!: statement by a Seal Empress (whose forebear was a usurper) to her executioners.
... since the gods were children.
Webs spun over webs make for tangles.
The head of an enemy is a joy for one's descendants.
To bargain with a Warwiker (Menaheem, Confederate, elf ...) is to throw away one's purse.
Trust was ever the death of heroes.
We are the People, and our lands are the World. All else is the concern of barbarian gods.
What greedy eyes cannot see, clever hands cannot steal.
Where power exists, there are deeds.
Miscellany:
* Gamelan: The national musical style, performed in ensembles with metallophones, gongs, drums and bamboo flutes.
* Pastimes: Loh is pleasure-oriented and lax. Bribery and trafficking in favors are a way of life. In Loh, you can buy anybody or anything. The more decadent go in a big way for music, dance, mime, jugglers, alcohol, drugs, illicit sex and street parties. This relaxation has also created a renaissance of literature and the arts. Filled with schools, with poetry symposia, with aspiring artists and writers, Loh believes itself unequaled as a home for the intellectual elite. The average Serioli knows more of poetry and literature than upper-class citizens of more work-oriented lands. (That all this flies in the face of cultural precepts of moderation, frugality and modesty is a well-known paradox, and gives the clergy, busybodies and philosophers much upon which to chew.)
* Sport: The popular sport in Loh – aside from gladiatorial matches, archery and hunting – is marotlàn, a soccer-like game played by four simultaneously competing teams of five or six a side, using a leather or canvas ball about the size of a volleyball and played on a hexagonal field. Competitive kite flying is also popular, with the strings bearing glued-in shards of glass or pottery so as to cut the foes’ kites free.
Qadàrni is the curious custom of having a full-scale battle to settle a score, satisfy a point of honor, or adjudicate an intractable dispute or legal case. The competitors can be any entity – private individuals, clans, temples, societies, and even political polities up to Dominions. Qadàrni battles (in stark contrast to so-called “low” wars, Qadardááli, where no holds are barred) are governed by strict rules of honor.
First off, the forces involved can be as large as the competitors can afford, although honor demands that the sides start (nominally) even, and it gains little honor if one’s forces are known to be a great deal more capable than their numerically even foes. Indeed, to choose to fight a foe that is significantly more numerous is considered dishonorable, as the commander is seen to be putting his personal glory over all other considerations. Secondly, to cheat, employ treachery or otherwise act dishonorably is not allowed.
Such a battle begins at dawn and takes one hour, or when one side is either disabled – or slain – to a man or concedes; prisoners, however, may be taken. If neither side concedes, a panel of judges determines the victor; each side nominates a judge of proven worth and honor, and those two pick a third. The result of a qadàrni battle is considered binding and final on all. (It is also a major spectator sport, and an occasion for a great deal of gambling.)
* Funerals: Regardless of standard religious rites, a Serioli funeral has certain traits. Cremation is the universal practice, and the fabric with which body is wound, and the amount and quality of the wood chosen, is heavily rank-dependent. The ashes of infants who have not yet received their school names are always interred within their clanhouses, because their spirits are considered too young and dependent to know where else to go. While cremations take place the day after death, if a soul is not passed on through the repositor/dikaster system, the clan holds a feast a month thereafter, to celebrate the soul’s arrival at the sunny uplands beyond the Ice Floes. This trip is considered in Loh to take a month (and it is not considered that a soul would fail in this). A particularly honored clan member is memorialized – if space allows – by a stone or metal plaque set in the inner wall of the clanhouse’s courtyard.
The souls of those who die during Alyena are believed to sometimes return to their clanhouses in the form of a spirit-bird. These revenants are always malicious and evil, no matter the character of the dead. Further, while suicide has no particular stigma in Loh, killing oneself by drowning is considered highly shameful. Those who do it are posthumously cast out of their clans and lineages (and the bodies tossed into garbage piles or middens), but the shame and disfavor linger like a miasma over their relatives.
Advantages (for characters born in Loh):
Harmony [+10]: You are receptive to the flow of the elements around and through you. You can learn the Esoteric Skills Autohypnosis, Body Control, Breath Control, Mental Strength and Pressure Secrets, as well as cinematic versions of Erotic Art, Physician, Architecture and Natural Philosophy, and detect and identify spiritual disturbances. Those who seek or practice the harmonious life (or Varuna worshipers, since this is a variant of Blessed) sense your inner harmony, and react to you at +1.
Uhu [+9]: Serioli custom is for a third gender: the uhu, who are without primary or secondary sexual characteristics. Uhus shave themselves bald, and their voices have a noticeable odd tang to them. They cannot bear or engender children, and are immune to seduction (though not necessarily to Sex Appeal rolls, however much at penalties). It is considered meritorious to be an uhu, in that one can live one’s life dispassionately and with calm. They have preference as teachers, advisors, bureaucrats, priests and judges, the more so in that an uhu cannot rule in its own name, lead a clan or business enterprise, or have heirs-at-law (their possessions go at death to the lineage or lord). It is considered declassé and shocking to make someone an uhu surgically; far more often, they are made so by White Lotus mages, who are paid very handsomely for the privilege. The point cost includes the Social Regard: Respected and the Longevity advantages, as well as an offsetting Reputation between those who respect the uhu’s clear head and those who find the state unnatural and creepy.
Disadvantages (for characters born in Loh):
Code of Honor (Serioli) [-10]: Show humanity to others, especially those set under you or who owe you duty; good will is more important than following exact rules. Influence others by example rather than by force. Respect Serioli society, its customs and traditions. Understand the distinction between khomoyi, lan and bussan, and live by them. Perform your duties properly and with honor to the Emperor, your overlord, your parents, your spouse, your teachers, your older siblings and your friends ... living or dead.
Compulsive Behavior (Ladravaya) [-5]: The Vengali Table of Correspondences is taken to extremes. A fireplace must face to the north. A woodbin must be painted green. Savory foods really should only be eaten during the night time. Pressing a sheet of lead against your chest is a good remedy for coughing fits. And so on. This can also be expressed as an Odious Personal Habit, depending on how obnoxious you make yourself over this.
Delusion (Serioli chauvinist) [-5]: Everything Lohvian is just better. Serioli is a finer, purer language than the monkey speech belched by the rabble outside the Valley. Serioli ways are just superior. Serioli blood is better than the thinner stuff flowing through barbarian veins. Outside ways are not treated with contempt – it is not their fault that they were born foolish barbarians – as much as with indifference.
Disciplines of Faith (Contemplation) [-5]: You engage in regular meditation through stillness, attention, breathing exercises and calisthenics, at least once daily. At all times, you maintain habits of moderation in diet, possessions and enjoyments. Other people who spend time with you, if not themselves students or fellow contemplatives, regard you as unworldly and react at -1.
Social Stigma: unmarried [-5]: Adults in Lohvian society are expected to be married (see below), and widow/ers are expected to remarry, without unseemly delay. Only clergy or those under strong vows of service avoid the stigma.
Vow (The Three Treasures) [-5]: As a model for living, strive to: (1) practice mercy or nonaggression; (2) be frugal and economical; (3) be humble, and do not dare to put yourself first.
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