Ramithi

The Ramithi are the stewards of the frozen waters; glaciers, tundra rivers, and seas bound by ice. They view stillness, endurance, and clarity as sacred virtues, believing that wisdom is revealed only when the restless waters still. Their heritage emphasizes ancestral preservation — they keep detailed oral histories, carved ice records, and crystalline codices, many of which trace directly back to the First Rithi. They are regarded as guardians of memory and spiritual integrity.

Endurance over ease – hardship is embraced as purification.

Stillness is strength – silence, patience, and listening to the ice are seen as virtues.

Truth in clarity – deception is abhorred; the Ramithi value honesty even when harsh.

Memory is sacred – forgetting the past is viewed as a dangerous weakness.

The Ramithi excel in preservation technologies; methods of freezing, storing, and encoding memory. Their tools are simple but ingenious: ice-resonance instruments for long-distance sound transmission, insulated shelters of permafrost and stone, and techniques of frozen-time preservation (both for food and sacred relics). While not as expansive as later Ire groups, their innovations in cryomancy and hydro-engineering remain foundational.

Long silences are respectful. Pausing before speaking shows thoughtfulness.

Gifts of preserved items (salted fish, frozen herbs, etched crystals) show honor.

Direct eye contact is expected when speaking truth; avoiding it signals dishonesty.

Interrupting elders is seen as deeply offensive.

Heavy, layered attire made of sea beast hides, furs, and woven kelp fibers. Colors favor icy blues, deep grays, and glacial whites, accented with streaks of black or silver. Many wear carved ice-crystal pendants enchanted to resist melting. Hoods and face-wraps are common, especially in ritual or travel.

Ramithi architecture is monumental yet stark, using ice, stone, and bone. Their greatest works are ice halls, carved from glaciers that shimmer with eternal light. Art favors geometric symmetry and crystalline fractals, often etched into ice or crystal. They sing slow, resonant chants that mimic the sounds of shifting glaciers and cracking ice.

• Waste of water — spilling clean water unnecessarily is sacrilege.
• Breaking silence in sacred places is forbidden.
• Burning wood or fire indoors is taboo; warmth is to be earned through endurance.
• Eating land beasts (except in famine) is impure; they must rely on water’s bounty.

The Still Pool — a tale of the first Ramithi ancestor who sat in meditation upon a frozen lake until it cracked open, revealing truths of time and endurance.

The Ice Mirror — a myth that the gods froze their reflections in the first glaciers to remind the Ramithi of divine presence.

The Shattered Tide — a prophecy that when the great ice shelf collapses, the Ramithi will rise again to lead all Ire.

Eruvane the Silent — an elder who never spoke for 70 years, yet guided councils with gestures and memory.

Kalrith Frostbinder — credited with inventing the first preservation codices, etched in living ice.

Mirutha of the Glacial Path — a Ramithi wanderer who charted frozen waterways that others believed impassable.