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.

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.

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.

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 no 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

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 15,000 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.

They are one of the poorer families, but are powerful because of their land holdings and extensive family of around 80,000 people. Their color is red and their emblem is a red stripe. Red bands or ribbons are often worn tied to the clothing or in the hair of family members. The Favori wear red scarves around their necks and red pennants on their spears. The family also favors wearing black and dark brown, but this is not an official family color.

Colombi Selchi

T

Capaci Selchi

T

Vita Selchi

T

Inzerro Selchi

T

Aranci Selchi

Their color is orange and their emblem is an orange spider.

Aranella Selchi

T

Denaro Selchi

The Denaro are a family of bankers. They tend to avoid warfare but are not entirely unproficient. They have small land holdings, acquiring most of their power via their money and resulting influence. Breaking the normal rules, they are rarely at war, and all other families let them pass freely, as they use and usually require their banking services. Their colors are brown and gold, and their emblem is a safe chest covered in gold vines.

Muxari Selchi

T

Lucca Selchi

T

Notta Selchi

T

Favara Selchi

T

Ciana Selchi

T

Naro Selchi

T

Fadali Selchi

T

Montevago Selchi

The Montevago are a rich and prosperous family. They are among the least warlike of the Selchi, preferring to pursue and support the arts, especially music. Their cities are known for being sprawling and surrounded by high walls for protection. Their colors are black and white, usually together in thin vertical stripes, and their emblem is a black-and-white lute.

Landless

Early in Selchi history, two of the nineteen families lost their holdings, and were forbidden forevermore to own any land. Because they remained families, however, they adapted and now fill important roles in the society.

Spada Selchi

The Spada are a mercenary family, divided up into many bands and devoted to combat. It is the only family not to have a Principe. Each band has a number of Favori, who run their own business, so that often Spada will end up fighting each other. Despite this, all Spada regard each other as brothers and work closely together even between bands. Their colors are green and bronze. Their symbol is a bronze sword on a green background.

Unlike the other families, the Spada are more renowned for their swordsmanship than for their spearwork.

They are nomadic by nature, but are allowed by all the landed families to pass freely - all the other families hire them, and so it is best to stay in their good favors. Because they are not tied down, they wander even all over the world, fighting in strange, faraway lands for foreign princes.

Ponti Selchi

Bridgebuilders

Societal Tracks

Spada Swordsman

Spada Spearman

Spada Capitan