Selchi
The Selchi are a large, family-based society of hardy warriors. They are renowned for their large and bustling cities, their seafaring skill (shallow seas only), their trade and craftsmanship, and their constant warfare with one another.
Contents
Appearance
Selchi are tall, with women being around 5' 8 and men around 5' 10, and always quite thin. They are almost universally blonde, though eye color varies. Hair is worn short on men and married women - unmarried women wear long braids. They dress in stiff, hardy clothing of ornate design. Families wear their colors, the lower class wears browns and other base tones - their clothes are never dyed.
Society / Government
The society of the Selchi is dominated by the 19 families - 17 landed and two landless (see below for details). These families are really more like clans, as they include many many people in an extended line, and intermarriage is common due to the large pool.
Only members of the 17 families are permitted to own land, and only those who are members of the 19 have a last name. Everyone else is either a merchant, a craftsman, or a farmer - all of them live on land owned by the families. This is especially important to farmers, as they are working the land of their lords, and the lord has final rights.
At the top of the social ladder is the Lord, or Principe, of each family. He technically owns all of the land owned by members of his family. He has absolute control over all family matters, over everyone in the family. He will often arrange marriages, start wars, decide policy - He is essentially the king. Internal squabbles are common, so he will often have members of his own family killed or exiled for various reasons. Exile for a set number of years is common, but a very harsh punishment is the removal of one's name, casting you out of the family and into the lower class.
Directly below the Principe are his heirs. He usually has more than one named (often five or more, sometimes into the twenties), so that he does not have to worry so much about being killed by one of his sons. He keeps his actual choice secret in a prearranged, guarded spot, to be revealed upon his death. For this reason, his heirs must all try to curry favor, whereas if there was only one they might just kill him to assume the throne.
Below the heirs are the Favori, a selection of a few hundred special retainers to the Prince. All heirs are automatically Favori as well. Favori have a number of special rights, including the right to use and carry spears (and by extension other polearms), and marry multiple women. They also have dispensation to kill anyone not in the family unless they are specifically ordered not to. The Favori are usually easily identified, by some special mark or other sign, depending on family. They also are the only ones who own spears
The next class down are the rest of the family. They are generally aristocrats, artists, skilled craftsmen, professionals, and sometimes merchants. They rule the city and compose the main force of the army. They are allowed to use, own, and carry any weapons except for the spear and other polearms, which are banned to all but the Favori.
The lower class, or the Nameless (because they have no last name), are all others in the society. They are technically all free men and women, but trespassing is theoretically punishable by death, and so they are strictly regulated. They are in general peasants, fishermen, laborers, craftsmen, and merchants. They are not allowed to own weapons - when they go to war they are usually issued daggers or short swords and a shield.
Children and Immediate Family
Role of Women
Blah blah blah.
When a woman's husband dies, however, there is actually a legal and religious process, called Oltus Muti, that allows her to officially become her dead husband, though it is very seldom performed. After a complex ceremony, she ritually disfigures herself in the manner her husband died (if beheaded, she will scar around her neck - if shot with arrows, she will scar the location of the wounds). She takes on his appearance - this includes adding identifying marks, such as scars or birthmarks, adding false facial hair, and dressing in his clothes. She legally takes his name and control of his estate. If he had any other wives, she is now married to them. In the eyes of the state, the people, and the entire society, she is now her dead husband.
There are some cases of a daughter performing the Oltus Muti, but this is very rare.
Warfare
Religion
Economy / Money
Skills
Craft
Societies differ in what technologies they have developed. Here is listed the normal maximum for skilled craftsmen in this society - a character coming form such a society would have no higher a modifier than this.
Items whose craft DC is more than the given number +20 will be rare, and those whose DC is the given number +25 or higher cannot be attained. This rule may be broken in trading hubs, where items have been shipped in that are not domestically produced.
A zero here means that this society has not knowledge of this type of craft.
| Division | Societal Maximum |
|---|---|
| Alchemy | 4 |
| Bowmaking | 4 |
| Calligraphy | 15 |
| Carpentry | 30 |
| Casting | 12 |
| Composition | 20 |
| Fletching | 3 |
| Forgery | 22 |
| Gemcutting | 6 |
| Glassworking | 28 |
| Leatherworking | 28 |
| Machining | 0 |
| Pottery | 8 |
| Sailmaking | 18 |
| Smithing | 12 |
| Stonework | 3 |
| Tailoring | 16 |
| Trapmaking | 12 |
| Weaving | 10 |
| Woodworking | 26 |
Heal
Profession
Common divisions of Profession are:
Knowledge
Common divisions of Knowledge are:
Perform
Common divisions of Perform are:
Other
The Selchi are primarily seafaring people - they have few animals and are actually afraid of horses. Thus Handle Animal is a very rare skill for them, and ride even rarer.
On the other hand, they are all good swimmers - all but the most indolent will have several ranks in Athletics (Swim).
19 Families
Family Relations
With a few exceptions, all of the landed families are at war with each other all the time. Certain families are allies, but this is the vast exception.
The families do, however, band together against external threats. Whenever they are invaded they gleefully put aside their differences to crush the foreigners - their numbers make it rather easy. Once the threat is gone, however, it's back to business as usual.
Landed
Bianki Selchi
The Bianki, or "Whites", are one of the most prominent of the 17 families. Though they are a small family of only around 1500 people, they control the second most land of all of the families, making them very influential. Their color, unsurprisingly, is white, and their emblem is a white circle, usually on a very dark blue background, which is said to represent the sea.
Despite their small numbers, the Bianki manage to be so powerful due to the large population of Nameless they rule, the large Nameless army they keep standing (and happy), and their powerful navy, which protects their ports and makes them a considerable trading power.
Their sworn enemy is the Rossi family, problematic because they share several cities.
Rossi Selchi
The Rossi, or the "Reds" are a major family that shares several cities with the Bianki, their enemies. While the two have been known to work together, they more often prefer constant, low-level warfare.
Colombi Selchi
T
Capaci Selchi
T
Vita Selchi
T
Inzero Selchi
T
Landless
Early in Selchi history, two of the nineteen families lost their land holdings, and were forbidden to own any land. Because the remained families, however, they adapted and now fill important roles in the society.
Spada Selchi
Mercenaries
Ponti Selchi
Bridgebuilders
