Solideti

The Solideti people are a culture group spanning the eastern islands of Kylorne and northern coast of Bazwebwe. They are refugees from an unknown area, fleeing due to cataclysmic tsunamis and storms. They mostly inhabit temperate and warm mediterranean climates, with some subgroups inhabiting deserts.

The culture of Solideti is foundationally linked to the Solideti Pantheon. This is why there is no differentiation between culture and faith in the solideti language. Many practices and traditions draw their meaning from the Solideti Pantheon.

Aeternum
The Solideti form of baptism [Solideti: Aeтerηum] is a process in which newborn children or converters are inducted into the Solideti Pantheon. It must be done in water the flows east, when the sun is rising. If no river flows roughly east, it may be done in a special fountain oriented east. If that is not available, water is poured east.

To begin the process of Aeternum, Soclesios (guardian of the aether) is called upon to begin the ritual. The participant then walks, or is lowered, waist deep in the water. If water is not available, water is poured on the waist line. Then, spice is placed on the forehead in the name of Helia. (sun goddess) A short prayer is said in honor, then the head is submerged in water, the spice washed off.

Omens
All deviations from the normal can be considered an omen [Solideti: Ōmiηā], an ox breaking free from its cage, a river diverting its course, ect. It is up to one's mind, or the mind of a priest, if this is godly intervention or just chance.

Oaths
An oath [Solideti: Ōṿā] is a solemn promise, always invoking a divine witness, regarding one's future action or behavior. Oaths are sworn in a temple in the presence of a Deity, disobeying and Oath evokes the Deity's wrath. The penalty for breaking an Oath is often a ban from religious temples as to not taint their purity, and a ban from government offices as to not taint the honesty of the government.

Standard Rite
Rituals (Solideti: Raeтūs) can be performed to either

A. Win or regain the favor of a god

B. Honor the god/retain the favor of a god

There are two types of sacrifice. Bloodless, and with blood. The bloodless may be a libation of wine, honey, or milk. It may also be an incense of wood, usually of cherry, fig, and holly, which would be burned upon the altar. Offerings of fruit may be made, usually to protect the harvest.

A sacrifice with blood is to be strictly animals, as human sacrifice is seen as taboo. The most common animals are sheep/lambs, pigs, and cows.

In some rituals, hemp is refined and smoked to bring the human mind closer to the mind of an immortal. Overuse is seen as selfish.

Prayer
Prayers [Solideti: Wōtum] are an integral part of Solideti daily life. They are integral in keeping life running smoothly and favorably. Good prayers are told to include:


 * 1) Correct identification of the God you wish to honour (the name of the Deity and a description of their domain)
 * 2) A clear statement of what you are praying for
 * 3) A clear description of what offerings you are making or will make should your prayer be answered.
 * 4) Palms stretched outwards to the sky
 * 5) Facing the sun, if night, facing the moon
 * 6) Call upon Soclesios to initiate contact with the gods
 * 7) If the prayer involves ritual fire, call upon Xiphus

Food
For Dinner, whether it be fish from the sea or garum [Solideti: Garum], fish will most likely be found in every meal. Common also were other seafood like shrimp and lobster as well as meats like chicken, duck, snails, and less commonly pork. For the upper class you might expect exotic meats like peacock, flamingo, and giraffe, or honied meats. Most likely every meal would be accompanied with pasta or bread. Spices like cumin, pepper, asafoetida, cinnamon, ginger, poppy seeds, thyme, coriander, and mint would be common. For drink you could expect watered down wine, though wine may commonly be mixed with honey, vinegar, or spices, known as “conditon” [Solideti: Coηδīтōη] Garum may also be mixed in wine.

For lunch you may expect fruits like grapes, strawberries, figs, and dates as well as a salad. Meat was usually constrained to dinner, and fruits to lunch or breakfast. However, it is common for grapes or dates to appear at dinner.

The lower class and middle class would likely travel to a thermopolium [Solideti: Ṿermōpolium] These would be places where you could order food and eat it not much time after ordering. Some would be what you may call a tavern, or some more like a wine bar. Most would be laid out on a counter, using dolia [Solideti: Δolia], which are terracotta pots slipped into the counter and heated from below. For the adulterous, you may eat at a brothel. For the more well off of the middle class, they may have a place to cook in their home, and for the upper class, a cook to cook for them.

Dinner Parties
Dinner parties are one of the most important occasions in daily life. Usually, it is a formal occasion used to offer friendship or an alliance to a colleague. In informal ways, like inviting close friends over or family, it may simply be a way to catch up. In informal dinners, the gift giving process is skipped.

The formal type of dinner party is much more interesting. To start off, guests give a gift to the host(s) in return for the hospitality and food. The most common gifts are ones that are for the host(s) trade, i.e. a set of chisels for a woodworker, measuring tools for an engineer, a new sword for a soldier. They may also be religious objects or food. It is a very strict process that must be followed to avoid social or diplomatic blunders.

To begin, it starts with the gift giver presenting the gift. The host cannot deny the gift. As soon as it is clear the host is receiving a gift, the host and gift giver make eye contact, and the host takes the gift from the gift giver. The host then thanks the gift giver and then asks if they can indulge in said gift. If the gift giver has anything to say about the gift, they do it at this point. If it is food, the host tries it, if it's chisels, the host will carve something, if it's a sword, the host will cut something with it, if it’s a religious object, you place it at the household shrine. The list goes on. If the gift giving process is messed up by the host, you restart from the beginning. If the gift giver messes up, they are ejected from the house.

Once the gift giving is done, the host welcomes them into the house for wine. At this time chat is restrained to informal topics. After ~30 minutes to 1 hour the feast begins, in which political matters may be discussed. It usually involves food stated in the previous section. Once dinner is done, the guests leave and thank the host for inviting them.

It is considered the highest of all sins, only second to insulting gods, to kill at a dinner party. Doing such would invoke not only divine wrath, but the wrath of the legions. It is high sacrilege to murder those who you invite into your house, and high sacrilege to murder those who let you into their home.

Bathing and Hygiene
Bathhouses are the most common place to bathe. The low class might bathe a few days in the week. Middle class and above would likely bathe every other day or daily depending on personal standards. For the upper class they would likely bathe in their own bathroom. For them it was seen as taboo to have a slave/servant wash you, so you would wash yourself in your own bath.

Bathhouses have “separations,” of which are separated by 1 hour to clean. These separations switch depending on gender, 2 hours male, 1 hour cleaning, 2 hours female, 1 hour cleaning, repeat.

Family Unit
Family is a very important part of Solideti life and is the most ancient aspect about it. Solideti families are led by a house patriarch or matriarch which controls the family’s wealth and estates.

A key factor of the Solideti family unit is that a family is bound to land, meaning those who do not have land do not get to have a family name. To lack a family name means to be at the lowest rung of the citizen class. This also means that leaving the family estate is to leave the family. Those who leave their families and acquire their own lands tend to create cadet branches of their old families.

When the Patriarch/Matriarch dies their title and all their possessions are passed down on to whichever family member they designated as the family heir, which is done over an expensive dinner party. If for some reason no heir is selected before the Patriarchs/Matriarchs death the title will be defaulted to the eldest child by the law of primogeniture. If the Matriarch/Patriarch has no children, the title will be passed down by the law of seniority going to the oldest member of the family. Those who marry into the family cannot join the line of succession and must be born of a legal marriage.

Killing a member of your family is one of the highest sins one can commit, being as taboo as insulting the gods and killing at a dinner party. Being of the same blood is the strongest type of bond, and to break it is seen as the ultimate betrayal. Committing this crime will not only incur the wrath of the gods, but will also bring about the most severe punishments there are.

Marriage
Families marriage is often controlled by the Patriarchs/Matriarchs. This means that individual family members do not have the authority to take husbands and wives but must rather seek the approval of their Patriarch or Matriarch. If the marriage is between two families, both heads of the house must give their blessing for the marriage to proceed. Those who marry without the approval of their family heads get banished from their families. Divorce is also uncommon and can only be approved by the Arcierius. The marriage ceremony itself is conducted by any religious authority and is followed by a dinner party hosted by the family taking in the new spouse.

Marrying into a Family
Soldideti marriage functions as a way of joining a family or leaving a family. When you marry into another family, you leave your family and adopt the name of your spouse, though you do not lose all connection to your family and may still ask for favors and help from them, this is how alliances between families form. When marrying into another family you also lose your ability to have any more spouses.

Polyamory and Harems in Families
Loose marriage structures are an established custom in solideti, with the solideti phrase "Wovīr ūηum āmoralium, wovīr ūηum fāmilialum," meaning "One Marriage for Love, One Marriage for the Family." Monogamous couples and loose ones remain in equal balance in Solideti Society.

"Marriage Groups" only have one rule, that there can only be one child bearing couple. This can be the case if one man has many wives, or if he has several husbands and wives in relations with eachother. Only the main couple [Solideti: Praewovī] may produce legitimate children. The main couple is usually established as the first marriage to exist, or marked by the most prestige.

It is seen as custom to only marry for politics once, and taboo to have over 5 spouses.