Jann

The Jann are a nomadic people who dwell in small bands throughout the southern lands of Trimyra. They are a race of travelers, traders, thieves, entertainers, and peerless desert survivors. They are known to have magic in their blood and have a notorious reputation as being untrustworthy tricksters. Janni are a small people with a dusky to dark complexion, dark hair, and jewel like eyes in a variety of colors.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Aishia, Asena, Corina, Emmana, Lidea, Miri, Rukel, Siri, Vi

Masculine names

Bakik, Calemo, Dandor, Heji, Khula, Mosham, Rullso, Stocho, Tobar

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Janni speak Zhilian, Leonian, and/or Kedite. They also speak a common cant as to communicate secretly.

Culture and cultural heritage

Janni are peerless desert survivors often traveling through the Yellow Desert and are even the only people to manage to season in the fiery barrens of Kazarok in recorded history. They are famed performers and entertainers, using their natural talents as fire-walkers, dancers, jugglers, musicians, and street magicians to earn spare money in the cities of the south.

Shared customary codes and values

Janni have their own morality having little patience for the intricacies of other cultures and caring little for personal property.

Common Etiquette rules

Janni make their greetings with the left foot, and the right hand forward.

Common Dress code

Janni wear loose, open clothing with head coverings or wraps to protect them from the sun much in the fashion of the Kedites.

Art & Architecture

Janni build no permanent structures carrying fabric tents with them where they travel. They weave tapestries as a valuable trade good.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

The umbilical cord of newborn Janni are put into a stew and eaten as a special celebratory meal for the band.

Coming of Age Rites

Janni girls are taught the flickering dance which they perform at a dusk-time celebration. Those who perform the best are gifted with mirrored amulet of metal or glass to be worn about the wrist.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Being unable to visit the tombs of the ancestors due to their nomadic nature, the Janni cremate their dead in a ritual fire and mix tiny amounts of ash into their next meal in order to take the dead with them. They may also paint themselves with the ashes in order to release them into the next body of water in which they bathe. As Janni bodies are resistant to burning their cremation rituals are usually extended affairs.

Common Taboos

It is the Janni custom to let candles, lamps, and camp fires burn out rather than be doused. It is considered disrespect to undo a fire before its time and the practice is frowned upon.

Common Myths and Legends

Janni tell a tale of how an ancestor, the projenator of their shared bloodline, once did a great favor for fire and thus gained its approbation. Thusly Janni possess unparalleled tolerance to heat, some even able to withstand direct contact with fire without burning.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Women with wide hips and long glossy hair are considered attractive. Men with square, thin features and thin, manicured facial hair are considered attractive.

Courtship Ideals

Young Janni are free to pursue lovers of their own choosing. However parental consent is still expected before marriage.

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