Yavinian

The People of the Plains

The Yavinian culture originated from the plains around the Yavin River. It has since spread across the plains, and even into the marn forest, and the rend highlands. giving rise to four different nations and many subcultures.

Society

The Yavinians, a cattle-herding and grain-cultivating people, have a male-dominated society, where men rule, and women follow. This is less true in the countryside, but among the nobility, this custom goes deep, and usually, only men are eligible to inherit, and women are married off for political alliances.

They put great emphasis on propriety, ceremony, and appearances, and it is considered a great sign of disrespect to neglect another's titles when addressing them.

Yavin

The largest ethnic group is the Yavins. They are the ones who still live near the river, and on the plains around it, and can be divided into three main subgroups.

North Yavin

North Yavinian is the oldest of the three main culture groups. They have a strong tradition of cultivating oats and herding cows, which both started here. They are also considered to be the most proud of the Yavinians, and they formed the blueprint for the rest of the cultures.

Makreigh is a northern subculture, one that has a distinct trading and seafaring culture, setting them apart from other northerners. This started on the river and eventually made its way to the sea. They were also the ones who went to settle on the islands many millennia ago, where a new culture developed.

South Yavin

South Yavinian culture is much more modern, with a much greater love for wheat, the superior grain for the baking of bread. They also prefer wine over beer, made possible by their warmer climate.
They were a frontier culture for a long time, having been the ones fighting the elves for far longer than their northern counterparts.
They have much less of a beef culture, preferring pork and hunted game, such as deer.

Krennish culture is the southernmost of the southern Yavin cultures. It developed over many ages of war and conquest, their culture and ethnicity is deeply mixed with the wood and grass elves who were once the sole inhabitants of these lands, and still make up most of the rural population. The people here are some of the most mixed-race in the world, second only to the much newer Tiananmyan population.

Middle Yavin

Middle Yavin fits in somewhere between the two biggest Yavinian cultures, and on top of that, they have a distinct Rendish influence. They spent much more time fighting Orcs than elves recently, which has led them to have a more eastern-facing culture. They look to the mountains in fear and admiration, wondering when the next raid is coming.
They have also adopted the Rendish tradition of herding sheep, more so than cows or pigs.

The Onifnechi Culture developed from the middle Yavin one, and through centuries, if not millennia, of isolation, they developed one of the most distinct cultures on the mainland, focusing on their mountains and well-defended culture. They don't believe in reliance on lowlanders for their food or safety, and they have made sure to get all they need from within their own walls. They are also the only ones of all Yavinian cultures that resisted the influx of elven religion, leaving them the sole remaining followers of an ancient branch of Human Paganism .

Islander

Islander Culture, like Onifnechi, has spent a long time being isolated from the continent, much easier for them, because they are on a collection of islands. Their distinction is also easily visible by the color of their skin, they are decidedly darker than the rest of Westingham.

Their culture is one of independence and freedom, even if they have since been incorporated into the kingdom of Westingham. They pride themselves on their reef fishing and their superior shipbuilding technology. They have always had a limited supply of wood, since they are an island people, which is why they had to make every boat count, and they have long made some of the best in the world.
Besides fish and boats, they are also known for their dye production, many of them made from different types of coral or shells.

Rendish

The Highlander cousins prefer their sheep over horses, who have trouble with this uneven terrain. They defend their grassy hills and mountains with a relentless stubbornness and unbreakable will. They have much experience fighting, since the orcs love invading their lands, and stealing their sheep, among other things.

They are much more culturally unified than the Westerners, which has contributed to their continued status as an independent nation. Still, they are divided into three main cultural regions.

Akhran Yavin

The people from this region are closest to their Dendorian roots. They have much more of a lingering tribe structure. They also keep a lot a cows. This is because they live in the flattest parts of the Rend, with tough soil, great for heavy livestock such as cows.

Middle Rendish

This is the bulk of the Rendish population, they are clustered around the main Rend river and its tributaries. They are the ones who domesticated sheep, and the use of wool runs deep in their customs and clothing habits. They are a tough, strong people, with a fierce love for their homeland, however windy it might be.

Kethian

The Kethians live on a river not connected to the main Rendish one, which has in turn pushed them towards lowlanders seeking for trade. Their lands are also some of the most frequently raided by orcs. They are tough and strong, and they have a strong culture of arms, and it is said that there isn't a single Kethian who doesn't know how to swing a blade, and their are widely acknowledged as the Rends best warriors, which is saying a lot.
They are also some of the few who have adopted horses, as they often traded for them with their Yavinian neighbours. They have since bred their own variety, which is much more suitable for their highlands.
They speak in the most distinct of the Rendish dialects, and it is said that they sound as if they have their mouth full of wool.

Marnish

To this day, the remnants of the ancient elves that lived in these woods before them can be detected in these people, as they are taller than other humans, and live on average five years longer than their lowlander kin. There are even many Marnen words that can be traced back to the old elven language. However, over time, their isolated population has grown homogenous, and there are no significant ethnic differences between them, even the tribal boundaries were diluted many centuries ago, and everyone here has a cousin from any other town or region.
Their love of pork is unrivaled, and they even have a unique way of barbequing it, using many herbs and spices from their forest, and slow cooking it over an open flame, often whole. They also do this with chicken, and sometimes sheep, but pig is their favorite.
They have their own unique breed of pig to rival the Enyanian variety, which they feed exclusively with acorns, and swear is the best-tasting one in the world. They have also pioneered to creation of aged and smoked hams.
Besides food culture, they are also known for their high-quality fabrics, particularly hemp and flax-based ones.

Woodlander

While greatly influenced by the Yavinian people, the east Marnish still maintain much of their Marnen roots, as, like the trees, they are strong and not easily uprooted. This can most easily be seen in their faces, as they have very different appearances from the rest of Westingham. They have also held on strongly to Marnen food traditions, especially the keeping of Marnen pigs, of which they have since developed their own variety. They prefer feeding them with beech nuts, which are more common in the lower parts of the forest.

Isich

The Isich are a divergent branch of the South Yavin culture. They separated due to distance and because they formed their own sovereign nation. They were first formed by South Yavin settlers shortly after the region was conquered from the grass elven nation of Aethria.
They are unique in their southern-oriented vision of the world and their position in continental trade. They have long been the stopover point between Yeno and western nations for traders, first because of land routes, and later because of sea routes. This caused them to develop a strong merchant class and a powerful naval tradition that continues to this day. This is why, even though they are a relatively small nation, they are able to maintain a colony on Armir.

The Elves are still their biggest Rival, because the Elven city of Aenyth is their main rival in trade. They have often attempted to conquer the city, but the elven armies have proven too mighty, and the city's walls too thick. Not to mention that the Enyanians, especially with the help of their island kin, can easily blockade Isich, cutting them off from sea trade entirely, and cutting their income in half, which is why they were never successful, and the attempts grew more and more infrequent over time.