Daelyrian (Cultural Group)

The Daelyrian culture is a culture with a long history, today most dominant on the subcontinent Helmia, with smaller branches and minority populations in western Sorligste, Syltör, and eastern Haven. It's place of origin is unknown, though it is theorized to have originated around the southern seas of Haven and Sorligste.

Origins
The origins of the Daelyrian culture(s) is a disputed subject. Most people agree that it probably originates in the Great Southern Ocean. This is supported by the fact that the founders of the primary Daelyrian nation in recent history, Daelyria, a predecessor states to the Kingdom of Mithra and today the High Kingdom of Daelyria travelled there all the way from Kush. Another fact supporting this is that the city of Braavos, a city with Daelyrian culture, is located in this geographical area. This location may also explain the Daelyrians reverence for fire, as it may have been an essential part of surviving on the frozen icebergs which can be found in this region. The Daelyrian culture was spread far across Rathnir, however, as the Daelyrians were a mercantile and adventorous people who navigated the many seas of Rathnir.

Defining Characteristics and cultural Traditions
The Daelyrian culture is defined by a few major things: fire, blood, and reason. The main Daelyrian religion, Draconism, which has been a defining cultural force ever since the early days, and is itself a more organized version of folk beliefs and ideas held by the Daelyrian people and culture, shows these things very well. Fire can be, as previously stated, be attributed to the importance of fire and heat in the frozen southern seas, but also due to their role in one of the main magic systems used by the Daelyrian, that being a sort of pyrochenisis known as Gaelidism, detailed further in this article. Fire is also the way they deal with the dead, and this may have correlation with the fact that in the cold climates the culture developed in, the use of bone meal and ash as a fertilizer was necesary. Reason and blood are more difficult to pin down, and are more indirect themes.

Culinary traditions
The Daelyrian people love baked potatoes, or potat as they are called in midlandian slang. In helmia, there is a special meal known as Gaelkrys, which consists of baked potatoes with alcohol. In the region known as the Midlands, widely acknowledged as a core of Daelyrian culture, there are a variety of popular alcoholic drinks mostly coming from the great tavern of Shamrock, but most valued is the Hvaekar wine. This special brew created by Alpha Kaerfels from the Hvaekar berries from the mountains around Frostarch.

Naming traditions
In Daelyria it is common practice for a person (most commonely male) to take on a new name, the so-called chosen name, after they come of age. This Name will be used till their death, sometimes the given name and the chosen name is the same, but often it's different. The chosen name commonly describes the actions, abilities, or personality of the person.

Literary traditions
Historically daelyrians only developed their own script relatively recently. The first logographic daelyrian scripts presumably were developted around three thousand years ago, the modern script began to develop around 800-1200 years ago. However, since then the daelyrian people, most signifanctly those in Helmia, steadily developed those traditions, resulting in 2 different used scripts, one for common usage and one for religious usage. Poems and epics are commonly written by both professional and amateur authors and educated entertainers.

Familial traditions
While traditionally patriarchical, the role of gender and sex in daelyrian culture is much less significant than in most other cultures. Female rulers are not uncommon, although influenced by other cultures in Helmia, still significantly fewer than male ones. Family and honouring it are quite important, and in Daelyria's feudalistic systems noble lineages, or "Houses" play a central role. Adoption is commonplace, although with one major difference to other forms of adoption; When one is adopted by a noble, they may inject the blood of their new parent into their own circulational system. This is only possible due to extensive research on the human body and specifically blood by daelyrian scholars over the time, due to many cultural traditions such as this relating to it.