True Vanite

Longer, using softer consonants

Short, usually monosyllabic, using harsh consonants

None

True Vanites speak North Speak, a dialect found in the High North. It is also spoken, though with differing accent and colloquialisms, by the Dragon men of the Frozen Coast.

Vanites value unerring stoicism as a necessity of the conditions in which they live. Weakness and shirked potential are socially unacceptable and responsibilities are usually enforced violently.

Though until recent years they were considered primitive by the standards of the world at large, they were relatively advanced compared to the "bone slingers" who occupied the surrounding territories. Unlike their stone aged neighbors the Iron Tribes possessed knowledge of metal work. There is some debate as to whether their moniker came from this ability or their iron constitution.   In more recent years King Vrom has advanced them significantly having returned from his travels with the knowledge and culture of the wider world.

Fur, thick cloth wrappings, and gambeson. Clothing is primitive and practical, though women may wear simple jewelry made from local metals and semi-precious stones and men my wear trophies such as the teeth and claws of slain beasts.

Songs of great deeds may be sung in a low register. Architecture is practical. Usually wood with high pitched tiled or thatched roofs. Some, more mobile tribes may live in hide or canvas gers.

Although King Vrom is often credited with the invention of the Vanite's Bargain, it was actually his cousin Kerr who first used the tactic. A Vanite mercenary, seeking the patronage of a lord, usually during foreign travels, will sometimes make a bet known as the Vanite's Bargain. The Vanite warrior will challenge three or more of the lord's greatest fighters to simultaneous combat, with the agreement that should he kill all of his opponents he will take their place in the lord's ranks for the pay of some fraction of the cost of the men he killed. For example a Vanite who has killed three of the lord's elite bodyguards might offer to take their place for the pay of two. The Vanite gains a greater pay scale than any other man in the lord's service, and the lord gets a man worth more than the three he lost at lesser expense. Though the tactic was invented by Kerr, Vrom was known to have used it numerous times as a traveling adventurer.

A Vanite is only considered a man once he has participated in his first battle.

Funerary practices vary among individual tribes, some practicing mound burial, cremation, or a combination of the two.

Men wear their hair long and straight. Younger men go shaven, older bearded and sometimes shaven headed. Men are usually hyper-muscled.   Women wear their hair very long and sometimes color it to a slightly lighter than natural tone. High levels of muscle tone are more accepted among Vanite women.

Marriages are usually arranged.