The People of the Five Flowers

As taken from the Journals of C'liss Zoi Larran

“…The native people seem to be of Elvin decent. They are tall, long limbed with tapered overlarge ears, large eyes and fine facial features. They are also exceedingly long lived- barring accident or disease of course.

Their skin is uniformly a dark tan and their hair ranges between russet brown and coal black.

They wear fine woven robes woven from an odd fibrous plant they call ‘Agave’ and one may distinguish the aristocrat from the commoner by the quality of the weaving and dyeing of these robes. The men most often wear something like a short loose ‘kilt’, the women a wrapped burnoose. Their hair is often braided and worn piled atop the head in a sort of ‘knot’.

Most natives go barefoot or wear woven rope sandals. My boots are looked upon with wonder and no little amusement.

They wear copious amounts of jewelry here- rings anklets, bracelets, wide collar necklaces and fantastical headdresses made of gold, gems and long green feathers.

Noble and common alike wear round ‘plugs’ in their earlobes- the size and material, again explanatory of status and wealth. The poor often wear plugs of copper or beaten gold, the rich with palm size plugs of jade.

These plugs are quite weighty and stretch the earlobes- the ears look most strange when the plugs are not worn!

“...The locals look upon me as a ‘Demon from across the Sea’ but are friendly and courteous. I am slowly learning the native tongue and several youngsters from nearby villages are attempting to learn ours. The result is quite hilarious on both sides.”

Aristocracy:

The nobility will in general have the best of everything- including homes and food quality.

·Expensive clothing and ornate jewelry can identify them.

      ·Priests and warriors are often considered part of the nobility.

Slaves:

Most but not all slaves are taken in battle. Others were born into it or were sold by their family to repay a debt.

·They are considered property- like a farm animal or a pet.    ·They will be poor

               ·Underfed and Overworked    ·As forced heavy laborers, will rarely be educated.

A Note on the Local Militia.

As taken from the journals of C’liss Zoi Larran.

“…Aristocrats lead and train the warriors of each village. They often form militia following a particular god. The ilitia is lead by the best warrior available who wears armor created from the body of that god’s sacred animal.

So while the common folk make do with whatever armor they can scrounge the most eminent of noble warrior’s armor is highly enchanted by local priests.

These enchanted suits are highly valued and kept in pristine condition, and when possible, pass through several generations of use.

Take the feathered suits. They are carefully made from the fragile skin and feathers of the Condor- a carnivorous bird of immense wingspan. The head is hollowed and used as a helm while the feathered area tailored to ft across the torso and extremities.

When enchanted these suits allow the wearer to fly. Myself- I think this a useless enchantment for fighting in dense jungle.

The suits made from the bodies of hunting cats – such as the jaguar and ocelot- are made in similar fashion. Both suits when enchanted grant the wearer the cat’s hunting senses, stealth, fangs and claws.

The more heavily enchanted the suit the more animalistic the wearer becomes. Half creature, half elf these warriors are both respected and feared...”

A 'Condor' Warrior

Warriors:

In the past small tribal wars (mainly caused by differing religious views and political pressure) have occurred.

Because of this many towns and villages will have a small local militia. Most of theses warriors serve in a ceremonial way, participating in ritual battle at set times during the year. During the other periods they resume their normal jobs and continue life as usual.

 These militia usually consist of roughly 5% of the working population.

*Slaves cannot be warriors  and those who attempt to become such are summarily killed.

*The militia have a 'Lodge' where they meet, practice and hold cerimonies.

*The best warriors lead the militia and are noted for their animal skin armor.

*Aristocrat warriors may have rare enchanted hide armor blessed by and dedicated to a specific god.

Language:

Natives of Macuilxochitl speak their own dialect and understand regional variants of this same dialect.

·        A foreigner will have great difficulty communicating with the natives, as neither will be able to understand the other readily.

Writing:

The natives use a sort of knotted ‘rope’ as their written languages, utilizing different colors, thread thickness, space and patterning to indicate the message. To someone unfamiliar with this style all that would be seen is a confusing and jumbled array of twine.

There is a more permanent sort of pictographical writing used mostly in the temples and government institutions- that of glyphs carved in stone or clay tablets. These are often grotesque representations of the human form and other natural objects and later painted.

A Macuilxochitilian Glyph

A note on the SO Traders:

The traders have achieved a limited vocabulary of the local tongue; enough so simple phrases and requests can be understood. Likewise many natives from nearby villages have done the same.

·        This took both time and effort of being immersed in the Macuilxochitlian culture over a long period and cannot be easily replicated (as, say, a wizard’s translation spell)

A few thoughts upon the Local Religions…

As taken from the Journals of C'liss Zoi Larran

“…There are many religions here and many of the natives worship more then one god. Also it seems that each city-state has it’s own patron god as well as localized deities in rivers, lakes and various crops.

 There is a nominal queen and she is said to be the avatar of the Corn Goddess “Ceneotl” and the Mother of the Macuilxochitilian people.

There are gods for fertility, weather, the ocean, the jungle, battles and even animals!

The names of these gods are very evocative: “Feathered Serpent” “Smoking Mirror” “Flowered Hummingbird” and the “Eater of Filth” to name a few. In the local language they are tongue twistingly unpronounceable.

Quetzalquatael- The Feathered Serpent

If my own people are willing to worship spiders and insects- I see no problem worshipping birds, hunting cats or a mystical feathered dragon.

Each god has a different form of worship and many involve sacrifice. Some push people into ‘Sacred wells’ called “Cenotes”- loaded with golden treasure and drown them; others take children and maidens up into the mountains and ritually kill them. Those poor souls preserve over time in the cold dry air and ‘mummify.’ Others are placated by small offerings at roadside icons

The 'Flowery Death'