Valroni culture

Valroni culture refers to the culture of the Queendom of Valron, which is primarily a mix of Rasennans and Viodoxan influences, stemming mainly from the local Valroni-Rasennans roots and later Viodoxan immigrants escaping from the Ferrymen War. Complementary Valron has also absorbed some Aurlunoren and Ryzani influences as people immigrated to the area. As the local Rasennans and other foreign immigrants intermingle, Valron has developed an unique indentity.

Many languages are spoken in Valron, reflecting on the country's diversity. However, many second generation Valronis began to speak Cuvonese, which is a mix of Hanziezh and Rasennan. As a result, many Valronis are bilingual, speaking the language of their parents and Cuvonese.

Spoken languages
Valron has 5 official languages; Cuvonese, Rasennan, Hanzeizh, Aurlunoren and Ryzani. During the Rasennan Kingdom, the only official language was Rasennan but as immigrants arrived to the area and the Kingdom of Valron is formed Cuvonese, Hanzeizh and Ryzani are all recognized as the official language of the Kingdom as well; Aurlunoren would also be recognized as another official language as many expatriates returned from Aurlunor Velande after the Third Viodoxan Civil War. As a result of decades of intermingling, many Valronis are bilingual, most speak Cuvonese and other language, most commonly Rasennan and Hanzeizh.

Local languages
Other than the 5 official languages of Valron, there are also 2 main local languages spoken in Valron. Yurian is the local language of the former Shogunate of Yuria, as it intergrated into Valron during the Valron-Yuria Diarchy.

Abhbraíog is the other local language of Valron. It is mainly spoken in AweBriiss by Kian settlers (part of the Aetherian culture group).

Cultural identity
Over the 240 years of intermingling, as well as political separation during the First and Third Viodoxan Civil War from the rest of Cymru have resulted in an unique local identity. Elements of local Rasennan culture combined with Viodoxan influences have shaped Valron in many aspect of their society. It is for this reason that many Valroni are proud of their own culture and would generally refer to themselves as Valroni. This only increased as Cymru had witnessed multiple change in government for the past centuries.

Multi-ethnic harmony
Even though Valron is made up of many ethnic groups, they all generally lived in harmony. As majority of them took refuge in the Kingdom and saw the Rasennans/Valronis who opened the door for them as saviors; though it might be true that Rasennans have initially fought off all attempts of settlements by a foreign power, they soon realized that unlike the Valdreachers they came in peace and wish to live together in harmony. Though initially there are many resistance against the influx of immigrants, but through government education and intermingling, those sentiments have faded away in a few generations. As a celebration of this multi-ethnic harmony, people started to celebrate the Arrival of the Rasennans each year by hosting communal feasts featuring dishes from different culture, wearing each other's traditional clothing and would often act plays of important events in Valroni history.

Society
In Valron, anyone within your immediate community are considered family. Children are taught to be respectful of their elders, no matter of their social status and their relation with you. Other than respecting their elders, values such as "thinking of others", "family solidarity" and "loyalty to friends" carry major weight in the minds of your average Valroni. As such, downtown Krigor might feel more like a big family, where they would often keep their doors unlocked and invite people in to have a cup of tea whilst chatting away their troubles.

Architecture
Due to the fact that many Rasennan cities were destroyed during and after the Valdreacher invasion, all of the cities of Valron nowadays have different and unique architecture. Most of them are influenced by what materials were readily availiable, whilst others were influenced by the mayor's origins and decisions. For example Kalai Bali's architecture are mainly influenced by the same architecture found in Ryoujing which both have ties to the Bakura family.

Clothing
Valroni people only having summer only has clothes for summer, though some people where many layers. Summer clothing is usually made of silk as it is a light fabric designed to cool the body. Clothing usually a mix of blue, white and gold. pants and dresses usually brown or grey. Women usually have blue diamond embroidery sown at the end of their sleeves with golden tips with a belt made of a mix of leather and iron. In Summer, males usually wear pants and boots if they are going out. Though fashion for male labourers is much different, as they wear a tank top and some trousers, usually made of hemp and paired with a bamboo hat. Valroni clothing has to be cooling as the lowlands of Valron (Valron City, Krigor and Kalai Bali) are usually scorching hot (even going up to 57 degrees celsius) for this silk is used to keep a person cool. In the highlands however they have to be warm as the highlands are known for being very cold.

Clothes that are commonly worn aren't generally traditional among males. Most males generally wear a short sleeved white button up shirt with a hard collar and sometimes with a black or red tie along with a beige or black short trousers. Shirts are generally made of a mix of cotton and silk for the shirt to be comfortable and cooling. A bamboo or hemp hat is sometimes worn. When outside generally leather boots are worn but clogs are usually worn inside. Women generally wear a floral cheongsam made of damask and generally plait their hair or they style their hair with victory curls.

Cuisine
As meals hold a significant place in Valroni culture for family to gather and have a good time, the cuisine must be of great taste.

Artisanal Teapot making
Valroni artisans are extremely skilled at making teapots using a clay that contains a iron oxide, kaolin, quartz and mica. They are mixed and kneaded to create small oxygen bubbles that intensify the flavour of the tea. The resulting clay is called Valroni teapot clay. When tea is poured out of the teapot it creates no splashes and goes out of the spout quick and straight. It also keeps the tea hot in the pot. The teapot also preserves the flavour of the tea, with the tea flavour more intensified. Tea cups called gaiwan are made of normal clay and glazed with a mix of glaze, kaolin, quartz and mica with some colourings and an extra layer of transparent quartz added to further preserve the tea flavour, the gaiwan is sometimes unglazed. Gaiwan is a small bell shaped cup with a saucer the same size as the gaiwan's base that has a small ring to help it stand under it, it has a small lid that helps strain the tea water from the tea leaves, it also fits perfectly on it and touches the side of the cup.

Artisanal Soy Sauce and Miso making
Soy sauce is made by mixing soy (yellow soy or black soy is ok) and wheat flour to ferment using qu, red yeast rice or koji. It then becomes moromi when a salt brine is added and left to ferment for months to years, it has to be mixed using a paddle for most of the time, to filter the sauce from the paste, artisans use cloths to extract the sauce weighed down using a stone and left to drip into a pitcher for a few days. What is left is aged moromi waste, which is used in Valroni cooking to make a savoury tasting flavour that is like a dry form of soy sauce but less salty. Double fermented soy sauce has soybeans and wheat readded and fermented for another few months to yeyars. Soy sauce made by artisans have a slightly sweet flavour from fermentation and can not be achieved using machinery.

Miso is made with the same components as soy sauce without the wheat and also fermented. Tamari, a salty liquid that is a product of double fermentation of soy sauce by adding more soy and flour; moromi, byproduct that is an umami solid made from extracting tamari, soy sauce or soy sauce that has been fermented mutiple times. Soy sauce is extracted out using a muslin cloth and put on the edge of a table with wood boards (about 2cm by 60 cm / an inch by two feet) on all sides, with the board on the edge with a small opening for the soy sauce to drip through into bucket made of pine, after two days, the cloth has to be pressed using a board, preferrably made using palm wood that is about (2 ft by 2ft / 60cm by 60cm) and pressed using a steam powered hydraulic press.

Painting
Painting is a small facet of Valroni art. Many painters create their own paints, which are sometimes natural, and sometimes artificial.

Paint-making
Paint-making is an artisan job that involves creating paints. Natural paints would include turmeric, annato and gac. Artificial chemicals used in Valroni painting would include copper sulfate, lead nitrate and copper carbonate. Most paints are either alcohol based or oil based. Artists would grind pigments and mix it with oils. This trade is complex as some pigments if milled too fine or course will make a different colour and mixing the oil, water, vinegar or other chemicals with the milled pigments and emulsifiers are also extremely hard. Artisan made paint is still popular as machinery couldn't mix the paint properly.

Pottery
Pottery in Valron is an important job as it is a complex trade. Clay has to be fine, but not too fine, and a litte course and clay usually contains compounds like iron oxide and others. Valroni potters would make heavily intricate patterns on their unglazed works and glaze heavily intricate patterns if glazed too. Unglazed earthenware has to smooth which is hard to achieve with a slightly course clay.

Earthenware
Earthenware jars and made of a Valroni clay that should be not to fine and a little course. It should be really big, and hold about 60 litres of liquid or 60kg of objects. They can vary in size, but the ones used for fermentation should hold 60 L, with some only holding 500mL, Earthenware can also create other things like pots and cups. This is used over glass as it is cheaper to heat clay.

Barrel-making
Barrel making is an integral craft for the soy sauce and drink industries. They are created with wood. Barrels are not usually made of metal as it doesn't contribute to flavours and aromas made during the fermentation and aging process.

Soy sauce barrels
Soy sauce barrels are usually made of pine or oak. They are put together by weaving strips of bamboo and wrap around the barrel. Bamboo is used as it doesn't corrode when it contacts with sodium or salt. A good barrel should be round and should not make any leaks and should not corrode

Alcohol barrels
Alcohol barrels can be made with a variety of woods and usually have copper wires and the base is made of copper as it gathers heat to boil the brew faster

Umbrella making
Umbrellas are a vital object for Valronis as it rains a lot in Valron. Umbrellas are made from wax paper and bamboo. The frame and handle is made of bamboo with a apparatus to open the umbrella made from bamboo that pushs the frame the wax paper rests on up. The apparatus has sticks of bamboo that hold the frame. The canopy is made of wax paper that is sometimes has something painted on it. It is very heavy, weighing around 2.5kg/5 lbs. The frame has hinges that open the umbrella with supports that are pushed up with the apparatus that hold the frame.

Entertainment
Though most people in Valron are serious workaholics, entertainment is popular during Sundays. This is because the Valron work day starts on 6 am in the morning and ends at 11 pm at night and it is from Monday to Saturday, usually with a 40 minute break in the middle for both adults and children. Valronis generally like theatre, music, board games and drawing. At home, families generally play board games like chess or weigoqi. Popular activities at home are sewing, knitting, scrimshaw, woodcarving, drawing, woodworking, needlework, embroidery, fishing (only possible in the lowlands), falconry (only possible in the highlands), fabric work and playing music is also popular. Most Valroni children do not play sport outside of school as they are forced to do militaristic style sport. Some Valronis like to watch wayang opera perfomances.

Games
Valroni children play a variety of games in their free time like chapteh (which was a game imported from Kumaur), which is kicking a ball of feathers as much times as possible only using the feet and kness; kaucheok, which involves nine small stones which the player needs to throw a stone up and pick up another stone and catch the stone and throw the two and pick the next and throw and you get the point; badminton is a popular sport in Valron with many kids playing it. Most Valroni students decide to partake in scouts, extracurricular activities or clubs. Games like hide and seek is generally discouraged because of the dangerous streets, with kidnappings and murders relatively common and children disappearing with hundreds of cold cases. Some Valroni children also like to gamble on cockfights or even play poker and underground gambling activities. Some teenage children also enjoy poisoning their enemies

Music
An integral part of Valroni music is strings and the piano. Stringed instruments are generally made of darkwood and well rosined with strings generally made of linen, with the bow made of horse hair. The piano is generally made of the best quality woods, with the keys either made of ivory if white and ebony if black. Music generally resembles ragtime music and classical music. Famous musicians include, Lee Huang Yik and Teo Ngih Hai, among others.

Wayang Performances
Wayang performances generally show local folklore in the form of opera. Though another variety of wayang perfomance, called wayang kulit is generally done with traditional puppets made from thin paper played behind a transluscent cloth. The Wayang performances are generally done by women, dressing in traditional clothes singing opera-style singing about the local folklore of Valron

Wayang kulit
Wayang kulit is a puppetry performance done with flat puppets behind a piece of transluscent cloth and generally show many tribal folklores. If people watching are on the front, they'd be able to see the colours of the elaborately crafted puppets but if the watcher is in the back they'd see shadows. It is generally played with an orchestra of musicians playing local instruments.

Steam powered machines
Steam is the main source of power in Valroni machines. Most machines having turbines. These are mainly used to move things like a wheel or mix things like liquids and dough. These still can not be used in paint making as they are not good enough to mix paints as they are usually too fast or too slow and don't mix the paint properly.

Life
Valronis generally wake up at 5am in the morning and eat breakfast or it is eaten at school. They then clean themselves and dress up for school or work and usually walk or cycle there. Only 14% of Valronis own autowagens because of their exhorbitant price. They then attend classes or work and usually after about 6 hours and 40 minutes have a nutrient rich lunch. They work for another 6 hours and 40 minutes and walk back home, have dinner, though schools usually provide dinner. Students would do whatever assignments and homework they need to do in a two and a half hour session after school, which is mandatory and then walk or commute back home.

Media
Media in Valron is generally free, in form of newspaper, radio, filmreel or television. Though television is in it's early phase, with most people having a large white cloth and a projector for film reels. In Valron, films are generally called motion pictures, and some require a phonograph cylinders to play sound. Though in more recent years, televisions made from wood and several mechanisms have been made.

Subcultures

 * Tihami culture
 * Krigori culture
 * Kalai Balian Culture
 * Chrimatsican culture