Freyja (Culture)

Freyja

Starting Location: In the valley of the hill range to the SE

Society: Matriachal society dominated by a Shamaness. Children tend to follow in the trades of their parents. Men are hunter/gatherers/farmers/warriors, while the women lead, create crafts, weapons and tools.

Lineage: Strong family ties. Inheiritance follows from mother to daughter, with the eldest taking half, then the next daughter taking half of what remains, etc. The last 'half' is given as tribute to the Shamaness. The men are judged by how much food they bring in, and the most prolific hunters may take multiple wives, just as the richest women may take multiple men. Marriages are not permanent, and any children are the wards of the mother alone. The dead are burned in a cool fire (not really cool, but not so hot that the bones burn). The bones are buried in rock mounds, and the skull is decorated in extravagant fashion. Some skull totems are kept by the family, some are kept at the mound, but all are sacred. Skilled skull-crafters are among the holiest of tradeswomen.

Values: Deeply spiritual, they view crafting as a holy art. The perfection of a single task is considered a life well spent. They are highly specialized.

Religion(s): Totemic pantheism. Any created object is both a symbol of a God, and a God in itself. The act of creation is perfomed in gratitude for having been created. The greatest sin imaginable is to live without making. They have no qualms about selling their crafts, but they retain the best examples for themselves. The skull totems are a form of ancestor worship, but they are more worshipping the totem than the ancestor.

Past: We were formed of the hills and valleys, and are created in their image. That is why women are more holy than men. We have lived in these hills since the sun made the moon. Once the ore was found and we could make our gods real, we settled and made contact with the barbarians of the plains.

Economic Base: Trade is the major driver of the economy. Our totems, tools, and weapons are not many, but they are the finest in all creation. The menfolk hunt for meat and tend the plants, for all they create is temporary, and the divinity drains out like water on a gravel bed. When the young men get the wanderlust, they are sent out with a satchel of goods and a week's supply of food. If they return (they usually do, empty-handed, hungover, and dejected), they are allowed to choose a path - hunter, warrior, or farmer. Women begin learning a trade from an early age and once started, almost never vary from that path. They are permitted to bear as many children as they can feed, and keep as many husbands as they can attract. The girls who are attuned to the spirits, however, may never lay with a man if they hope to be a shamaness, for she must only commune with the divine. Nation Names: Freyja, The Freyjar, Freyjarii

Person Names:

Legends:


 * Helmen, the warrior, who united the warring hill clans in the battles of Mart and Holm


 * Rothar, the first Shamaness, who taught the art of skull-carving to her seven daughters


 * Camdir, the thief, who stole the secrets of the ore and brought them back to Freyja


 * Marntok, the hunter, who passed unheard and unseen into the Pazryk caves and slew the sleeping bear-king


 * Prombra, the legendary smith, who forged a sword so sharp it could cut a man in two

Leaders:


 * Aalthanya, High Shamaness and spiritual and political leader of the Freyja


 * Prootar, War Chief and huntsmaster, wields the Sword of Prombra

For the mod: Just jam two hard syllables together. I can't be bothered to invent a linguistic tradition

Place Names:

Marten, Holmgren, Fretah, Barnst - Cities, north, west, east, and south, respectively

Pollack, Kandinst - The northern and southern hill (mountain?) ranges, respectively


 * Nation Name: Freyja - hbar
 * Capital: Fretah
 * Gov't: Shamanistic Matriarchy
 * Religion: Totemism