Forest Settler

Forest Settlers speak their own language, often called Forest-speak by outsiders. It has various dialects based on different forest regions -- for example, a roofed forest dialect, one for the birch forest, and so on. The difference among them is minimal, and different sub-groups of Forest Settler can communicate without need for translators. Forest-speak seems to have influences from animal sounds, especially in commands and signals. Other human ethnic groups have been known to complain about the "animalistic" and "beastly" sound of the Forest Settlers' language.

Marriage Traditions

Forest settlers have a practise of weaving engagement circlets, worn by all genders, out of certain flowers. In their flower language, red tulips mean romance, azure bluets symbolise loyalty and truth, and peonies are associated with marriage, so those are popular choices for engagement circlets.
As the Forest Settlers do not extensively practise metallurgy and smithing, metal rings are a rarity in their weddings. Instead, the rings are carved from quality hardwood. The prospective spouses will hand-make the rings for each other, tailored to their partner's unique measurements and interests.

Forest Settlers consider sixteen years to be the age of maturity. Upon a young person's fifteenth birthday, they will embark on a year-long quest to come of age. It involves tests of mental maturity, wisdom, and soul-searching.

Traditionally, Forest Settlers cremate their dead. The deceased's body is cremated on a pyre in an open space, and the ashes are collected in an urn. Then the friends and family walk in procession to the biggest, oldest, and most sacred tree in their woodland, which they call a soul tree. There, the ashes will be spread around its base. They believe that trees pick up the souls from the ashes laid at their cases, and tall trees reach high enough to pass the souls up to the Aether. The ashes left behind fertilise the ground, they believe, for new life to spring up. Not all Forest Settler traditions believe in ascension to the Aether, however, and instead state that the person's soul will be reincarnated into a new form. In that case, the soul tree is there to give the soul enough strength to revive and be reborn into a new body.

The Forest Settlers use patterns in nature as indication of good or bad fortune. Irresponsible treatment of the land is taboo among them, for they fear that any mistreatment of the earth and its produce are sure to bring about retribution. They fear that it could cause famine, pestilence, or other woes.
The community's soul tree (as mentioned under Funerary Customs) is highly sacred. People are not allowed to disturb the tree in any way: they may not break off sticks, pluck leaves, sharpen things against the bark, or even touch the tree at all. Doing so is seen as disrupting the connection between the natural world and the supernatural realm. Cutting it down would be an unthinkable offence.