Seraan

The Seraan are both a race and a cultural group that inhabited portions of Syltör before the Elven expansions. Although it largely overlaps, not all members of the Seraan culture were Seraan, and not all Seraan partook in the Seraan culture. As such, different terminology was used for each of them, with "Seraanmai" ("Kind of Seraan") denoting the members of the race and "Seraansara" ("People of Seraan") denoting all members of the culture. The Seraanmai population has been stable in the past few years, although farther back it suffered from a sharp diminution due to persecution, settlement pressure and a series of minor famines in Syltör.

Despite the Seraan world population nearing the 4 million, only about 250,000 Seraan still live in Syltör, in a mix of wandering clans, small settled villages and in usually poorer districts of sizeable cities, capitals and the like. Many Seraani in the Aurlûnor Velande still remain in Aballia, which was home to their former capital of Kaliné, although some live in Seongji in one of their former city-states of Necua Hopolos. The Seraani are reported to be discriminated by the Kumiho and Avalitian population and are confined to their quarters. Despite this, they are considered citizens of the Velande, with some Seraanmai gaining notable positions in the Imperial Court such as the former Minister of Education Aldara Ellan. There are even a few that manage to find their way into Sareariel Lelya-Earcala's Dragon Harem, and thus, a few Seraanmai imperials exist as apart of the Lelya-Earcala Dynasty.

In Lirgal, currently ruled by Aldara Ellan, many Seraanmai consider this as a sort of a restart to their ancient kingdom, and carry on old traditions in the nation.

The wandering clans have a fairly important role when it comes to the minor aspects of economy, as they are often groups of travelling traders that sell information and rare items from across the world.

Seraanmai Anatomy
The members of the Seraan race are described by some sources as "elf-like creatures", that mainly due to their unusually pointed ears and high nose bridges. Their general appearance, though, most closely resembled that of the humans, with even their ears being more rounded than the elvish ones. What mainly separated the Seraan from other racial definitions was the fact that they once used to grow dragonfly-like wings that, due to the weight of their bodies, were used mainly for gliding and to balance.

Over the years, the population of winged Seraanmai dropped drastically, due to practices by nobles and hunters that used to seek winged Seraanmai and cut their wings in order to make Elytrae. Because of that, only those Seraanmai which were not winged had reproductive advantage, and soon enough the winged Seraanmai were phased out. Though certain winged clans exist, they are almost exclusively fighter clans, as they constitute tight-knit communities of warriors that seek to protect themselves and their wings.

Seraanmai have a wide variety of skin colours - though a great part of the population has a bronze-like shade to their skin, both light-skinned and dark-skinned Seraan exist. Eye colour is also varying, with amber eyes and blue eyes being common through most of the population, and dark-amber or black eyes being uncommon.

There are legends about Seraanmai being able to develop the ability of Eremeno, which is described in ancient books as a technique which allows minimal shapeshifting into different humanoid forms, including lenghtening or shortening one's ears, altering facial features, and using different voices. Certain texts even imply that Seraansara which have immersed themselves enough in Seraan culture could reach some mastery of Eremeno. This technique has though been lost to time, and is often dismissed by scholarly groups as a legend.

Seraansara Culture
Prior to Almadorian conquest of the Kingdom of Olarã, Seraan civilization was known for its highly educated population and extreme focus on the arts, philosophy, and certain sciences. Even though many cultural groups exist under the term of Seraansara, overarching themes of interest and practices are still identifiable. Further, due to the special connection with nature that many Seraan had, several natural symbols are associated with the Seraan people, especially Opal Orchids (Vanilla independens) and the symbol used by certain monarchs of Olarã, the Azure Phoenix.

Art and Music
Art was an integral part of Seraansara identity, and still stands as such, even though most of the Seraan groups are dispersed around the world. While certain groups preferred to hierarchize art immensely, a majority of the Seraan appreciated all art in a same way, only sometimes separating different works between the Mundane and the Religious. One crucial point to Seraan art, especially paintings and the such, is the presence of meaning; a clear meaning must be put behind a certain painting or composition. If something represents the concept of fear itself, elements must be present that call to that interpretation. Though free art is still appreciated, it was valued lower in Seraan society, and the same is true for the current Seraan clans.

Music is, to this day, highly valued in Seraan society. For instance, one of the Seraani words for song or chant, mador, is also often used to mean a work of visual art, a piece of literature, or even a language, as the Seraan call their own language Seraano madora. The use of vocals is pervasive in Seraan music, and so are wind instruments, pipes, and strings. Percussion is less common, though it is present in some cultures. Furthermore, as chants occupy a crucial place in Asitir theology, and Lunar Magic bases itself on songs, there is an almost divine aspect attributed by the Seraan to music.

Another important part of Seraan artistic culture is theatre. The Seraan would often organize theatre plays, usually based on religious tales and folklore, but also those written by great writers in Seraani. They would also often import theatre plays from other countries, in order to depict the culture of the realms outside of Olarã, to show the Seraan what expected them outside their realm. This culture of openness caused writers from other great realms to visit and make plays based on their impressions of the Seraan cities and culture.

Gender Roles
There is no established system for what are thought to be "biological genders" in Seraan culture. Though there are grammatical genders in the Seraani language and most translations of Seraani texts will associate the traditional gender systems with biological gender systems foreign to Seraan culture, the extant "masculine", "feminine", and "neutral" divide is more complex. The three genders are Marasi, Néeli, and Liri. The assigning of a gender does not happen at birth, with rather every child being considered to be in an "embryonic" form of their social existence, which in certain Seraan groups is classed as the Liri. Rather, gender is assigned by the "becoming" of an individual. Upon a certain arbitrary age defined in certain communities as the age of maturity, a Seraan adolescent chooses their path in life, whether they will dedicate their beings to paths of the Earth (Marasi), of the Water (Néeli), or of the Sky (Liri). What each of those represents depends on regional variations, or, modernly, clan variations.

The Marasi gender can be represented as dealing with matters of what is fixed, of subsistence, or of creating a basis upon which the rest of society can build itself. This would, in some Seraan societies, be represented as matters of manual labour, trading, or economy. In modern clan culture, the Marasi gender is often taken by traders, hunters, and foragers.

The Néeli gender can be represented as dealing with matters of what is fluid, what is changing, what is flexible. Bureaucracy, intellectual matters, and architecture were mostly done by those of the Néeli group. Though one might imagine that artisanship and handicraft would be linked to the Marasiva, in most Seraan communities they would be linked to the Néeliva, due to the necessity of fine manipulation and craftsmanship. In modern clan culture, the Néeli gender is often taken by history-keepers, diplomats, and leaders.

The Liri gender can be represented as dealing with matters of the Cosmic, the Mundane, and the Unknown. In almost all Seraani societies, it was largely dominated by the clergy and theologians, though it also is where magick-users, healers, and alchemists would orient themselves. Non-clergy Liriva were also seen as tending towards something - though they conserved something of a "purity", continuing in the path they've been put on by birth, they'd either tend towards the Néeliva or the Marasiva in the eyes of Seraan society; for example, a maker of magical artefacts would be seen as "tending" towards the Néeli, due to the relationship with artisanship. Only the clergy were considered to be "purely" Liriva. In modern clan culture, however, this role has almost entirely been taken over by healers and magical trinket-makers, with few theologians and religious people existing.

Due to interaction with other cultures, many clans slowly started integrating the conception of gender existent in other cultures, seeing a Male/Female/Neutral divide that is based on biological factors or, in certain cultures, personal self-identification.

Death Rites
Death rites were varied between Seraan groups, but often followed two great archetypes: "Primeval" and "Solemn". Primeval rites focused on the returning of the body to nature and of the soul to the Universal body, as well as the celebration of the path towards the purported "Moonvale". It is the most practiced rite in clan cultures, as it involves simple rites. First, one's heart is carved out of their body with care, and is planted with seeds of trees in dense forests. Then, the corpse is dressed in the clothes of the deceased, and surrounded by objects of their infancy, adolescence, and adulthood, if those are available. Commonly bouquets of flowers, copper and tin coins, and ceremonial gifts of sentimental value are placed near or at the corpse. Then, the corpse is burned in blue fire in a Liralua at night.

Solemn rites focus on the grandeur of the deceased during their lives. It is a matter of celebration, drinking, eating, and making truces or rekindling relations with old rivals to commemorate the existence of someone great. Similarly, their bodies are decorated, but instead of being burned under a Liralua, it is a custom that many people carry it in a wooden box towards the nearest body of water, carefully place it on the surface, and let the body be carried by the currents.

Both Primeval and Solemn rites have their variations, with Solemn ones sometimes simply involving a great gathering of people, and Primeval being a gathering of close family and friends.

One thing that is almost universal in Seraan rites, however, is the presence of Silence. In general, eulogies are not made - except for opening presentations and speeches from those closest to the person narrating their life and death, there are no great discourses, no manner of attracting attention to oneself, to one's own grief, to one's own commemoration of dead one's passage into another form of existence. When the body is burned, buried, or sent to the waters, no one must talk. Any messages, commemorations, poems, or epitaphs need to be written down and stored with the person's belongings, which will become history. Some Seraani cultures developed catacombs and mausoleums - in there, messages written about the dead would be displayed. In very extreme cases, should someone break the Silence, they could even be imprisoned.

History
The Seraan are a pre-Elven race and culture from Syltör. Even being a very widespread population, they did not have strict ethnoracial continuity, meaning that their settlements, cities and states were known for racial and cultural diversity, with many non-Seraanmai still partaking in the cultural practices of the Seraan and their religion.

Early tribes
The early Seraan tribes were mountain and plain dwelling communities that mainly survived through foraging and hunting. At this period, societal complexity was very low, with little to no hierarchization in most tribes and but a technical division of labor. The development of a written language was fairly early, and it quickly became widespread as the different tribes interacted, but it did not lead to the formation of stratified societies until much later in history.

The early tribes formed into confederations, and three of the confederations allied themselves in a poorly documented event called the Varosse Pact, named after a mountain on which the pact was signed by the representatives of each confederation.

State-building
As interactions between different tribes and confederations was normalized in the Seraan region, state-building became increasingly more common. The first actual State was the city-state of Kaliné, that became later the Edaiship of Kaliné. Although wars were uncommon among the Seraan, when they did happen they were protracted, resource-exhausting and bloody. Due to that, in not much time the States of the region consolidated into different realms, with the biggest of them being the High Edaiship of Kaliné. As they started conceiving the idea of urban planning and city settling, their zones of influence expanded and border tensions heightened. It all culminated in the Great Seraan War, whose victor was the High Edaiship of Kaliné, that extended its zone of influence far from its central holdings and declared founded the Kingdom of Olarã.

Kingdom of Olarã
The most important Seraan historical State was the Kingdom of Olarã, that at the time was known for its size, wealth, and cultural diversity. They started several projects of city-building and even attempted some failed projects of faraway colonization. The Kingdom of Olarã was an important power in Southern Syltör from its beginning, and the place to which many of the surrounding peoples emigrated to in hopes of finding new lives in their ways.

The Kingdom of Olarã saw its end when the Kingdom of Almador expanded their borders to the South. Although the Olarane had riches and culture, the lack of a lot of powerful regional enemies meant a weaker army and less important military, that was crushed in a short but bloody conflict with the Almadorians. The remnants of the army tried to protect the capital of Kaliné, but in a bloody siege that lasted three months they finally ran out of resources and their invaders penetrated the defenses of the Capital.

The collapse of the Olarã made many people migrate from the region, as the cities were either sacked and looted or occupied by Celestial Elves. When the fall of the Almador came, the remnants of the Olarã nobility tried to establish the High Republic of Olarã, a short-lived noble republic that was destroyed by a warlord state.

Wandering Seraan
Modern Seraan now either live in settled towns and cities, or as Travellers. The Seraan population in cities and towns often practices the dominant religion and adheres to the local culture, but the Seraan Travellers have their own cultural and religious practices that resemble those that existed during the Olarã period. Seraan language is mostly only spoken by the Travellers, with city Seraan often having little to no knowledge of it, except for some insults and expressions.

The wandering clans often establish temporary settlements near or at cities and offer their services to the inhabitants, mainly being farmhands, mystics, healers, seers and the like. Some of them work as mercenary bands, or builders and city planners. A clan member often abandons their clan once they find a permanent job opportunity with a steady and large source of income, such as working as the head physician to a noble house or an advisor to a monarch or bureaucrat.