Post by Dread Gnat on May 1, 2017 0:56:40 GMT -5
Basics
Many of the conquered-and-relocated people of the Amalgamation can be found in the poorer sections and bazaars, trying to hold together what small pieces of their culture they have managed to retain. Those known as the 'Trahazi' have been, arguably, the most successful at this. Taken from the lands they once occupied and stripped of the gods they once worshiped, the Trahazi have managed to preserve what is left of their culture by taking up the mantle of traveling mummers, musicians, picadors, and harlequins. A troupe of Trahazi wagons -brightly painted with festive murals- is often a welcome site in many Amalgamation villages, as the festive performers bring cheer and wonder to the 'small folk'. It is crucial that the troupe doesn’t outstay their welcome, forget their “place”, or find themselves on the wrong side of the local constabulary -- or any fluke natural occurrences -- however, as superstitious peasants can and will readily turn on the widely maligned Trahazi. Some famous troopers and bards are even able to earn the patronage of wealthy lords willing to overlook the obvious heresy presented in the puppet plays, mostly because happy commoners are far less likely to rebel. That attitude might change,however, if they were to realize just how much of the Trahazi's culture was preserved through their stories and songs.
Most Trahazi don’t even know exactly what region of the Amalgamation they were once from, and they are so varied that you can justify virtually any walk of life and trade, but they are bound together by a shared experience: the stigma of not being wanted endures, the longing for a home endures, and their poverty defines them more than anything. A Trahazi is more likely to relate to someone who is poor and persecuted than to a cultist, even a cultist who shares similar dark skills. Since they're a people with no home, but live all over, the Trahazi also tend to have extensive ties to underworld activity, rumors, plots, and so forth, and many families have spread across the Expanse into nations such as Cole.
The Trahazi tend to operate in extensive familial clans or tribes; most Trahazi refer to members of their same sex as “brother” or “sister,” and members of a different sex as “cousin.” Rather than stratified social classes ruled by nobles, the families are led by elders who make decisions for the clan as a whole. The annual Council of Elders brings all of these groups together to discuss issues of import that could affect the Trahazi as a whole, but clans are not bound by decisions made by other clans’ elders. Alongside the elders are the strigoi, the magical leaders of each clan. Though a striga holds no political power or ability to make binding decisions for a clan, they are considered responsible for the safety and well-being of their families. In days past, when clans would declare a feud, the challenge typically was issued ritualistically by the offended clan’s striga; those days are mostly passed, now, as the Amalgamation response to Trahazi feuds has always been merciless and unyielding.
For the Trahazi, sex and relationships are not the overly complex and socially fraught issues they often are elsewhere. Because Trahazi clans operate as extended families, it is generally not an issue of high importance to know a child’s exact parentage. This has allowed for a more open and unattached approach to physical relationships, which the Amalgamation points to as just more proof of the Trahazi's wicked ways. Marriage is a rare thing among the Trahazi because of this, and is usually more symbolic as a way to formally create alliances between different clans. Two members of allying clans are wed to symbolize the new connection between the families, but “traditional” concepts of marriage such as monogamy are often disregarded. Gender also plays a unique role in Trahazi culture, inso much that it is common for a Trahazi to go by any gender of their choosing, recognising that the physical form is no more of a constant than the moon.
Many of the conquered-and-relocated people of the Amalgamation can be found in the poorer sections and bazaars, trying to hold together what small pieces of their culture they have managed to retain. Those known as the 'Trahazi' have been, arguably, the most successful at this. Taken from the lands they once occupied and stripped of the gods they once worshiped, the Trahazi have managed to preserve what is left of their culture by taking up the mantle of traveling mummers, musicians, picadors, and harlequins. A troupe of Trahazi wagons -brightly painted with festive murals- is often a welcome site in many Amalgamation villages, as the festive performers bring cheer and wonder to the 'small folk'. It is crucial that the troupe doesn’t outstay their welcome, forget their “place”, or find themselves on the wrong side of the local constabulary -- or any fluke natural occurrences -- however, as superstitious peasants can and will readily turn on the widely maligned Trahazi. Some famous troopers and bards are even able to earn the patronage of wealthy lords willing to overlook the obvious heresy presented in the puppet plays, mostly because happy commoners are far less likely to rebel. That attitude might change,however, if they were to realize just how much of the Trahazi's culture was preserved through their stories and songs.
Most Trahazi don’t even know exactly what region of the Amalgamation they were once from, and they are so varied that you can justify virtually any walk of life and trade, but they are bound together by a shared experience: the stigma of not being wanted endures, the longing for a home endures, and their poverty defines them more than anything. A Trahazi is more likely to relate to someone who is poor and persecuted than to a cultist, even a cultist who shares similar dark skills. Since they're a people with no home, but live all over, the Trahazi also tend to have extensive ties to underworld activity, rumors, plots, and so forth, and many families have spread across the Expanse into nations such as Cole.
The Trahazi tend to operate in extensive familial clans or tribes; most Trahazi refer to members of their same sex as “brother” or “sister,” and members of a different sex as “cousin.” Rather than stratified social classes ruled by nobles, the families are led by elders who make decisions for the clan as a whole. The annual Council of Elders brings all of these groups together to discuss issues of import that could affect the Trahazi as a whole, but clans are not bound by decisions made by other clans’ elders. Alongside the elders are the strigoi, the magical leaders of each clan. Though a striga holds no political power or ability to make binding decisions for a clan, they are considered responsible for the safety and well-being of their families. In days past, when clans would declare a feud, the challenge typically was issued ritualistically by the offended clan’s striga; those days are mostly passed, now, as the Amalgamation response to Trahazi feuds has always been merciless and unyielding.
For the Trahazi, sex and relationships are not the overly complex and socially fraught issues they often are elsewhere. Because Trahazi clans operate as extended families, it is generally not an issue of high importance to know a child’s exact parentage. This has allowed for a more open and unattached approach to physical relationships, which the Amalgamation points to as just more proof of the Trahazi's wicked ways. Marriage is a rare thing among the Trahazi because of this, and is usually more symbolic as a way to formally create alliances between different clans. Two members of allying clans are wed to symbolize the new connection between the families, but “traditional” concepts of marriage such as monogamy are often disregarded. Gender also plays a unique role in Trahazi culture, inso much that it is common for a Trahazi to go by any gender of their choosing, recognising that the physical form is no more of a constant than the moon.