Ragavalli
Desert region rich with sand and rock, boasting a culture clash reminiscent of Egypt, Asia, and the American Southwest.
Contents
Description
Ragavalli's main city is surrounded with tents, the first solid structures are plain, flat-roofed adobe square abodes. The style changes closer to the center with curved roofs and becoming more intricately carved with red and green paints. Speckled throughout the town are stone carvings of lion-dogs and sleek and long-bodied cats that watch the passerby.
History
The land of sands became inhabited shortly after the Virtuoso war, when the main crafter's guild split into more specialized firms. The people that settled into the desert region had taken with them the art of metalworking and glassblowing. Their decision blessed and fueled by the presence of unique ores and abundant colored sands, from which the growing community took its name. At its center, like at one point in Uhrwerkstadt, there is a massive community forge though here it is revered as a temple and only those who have passed all trials may craft with its ever-burning flame.
People & Society
Population
~10,000
- Demon (40%)
- Human (30%)
- Avian-based anthros (20%)
- Giant/Half-Giant (10%)
Languages: Skaldic (Trade Common) Raglan (Japanese, intermixed with Arabic words/phrases)
Culture & Customs
Ragavallians are incredibly disciplined and honor-bound as a people. All of their traditions surround respecting not only those around them, but the nature they survive in. The majority of them take a pacifist route, though the repetition of martial training is included in day to day routines and meditations, making them no push overs.
Fashion
Acceptable fashion varies from occupation and/or wealth status.
Casual wear among foragers and farmers consist of flax linen wrap-round skirts that was tied at the waist with a belt. Sometimes the material was wrapped around the legs as well and can either be short or calf-length. Men often went without a shirt, whereas women wore a one-piece held up on the shoulders with simple shoulder straps. Shoes are woven palm or leather and typically only worn for special occasions or when it is expected that the feet could get injured.
General workers, such as forge assistants or those in charge of sales, would wear colorful Happis, or short robes, with matching headband to stand out.
For everyday formal or the wealthy (high ranking within their guild, for example) would wear kimono with geta sandles. They can be layered and elaborate as the occasion requires.
Life Events
Marriage
With social standing a matter of guild status in the Tapestry, marriage is not usually a tool to this effect. Ragavalli, like the position of the crown from Head Guild status, does lean on the tactic as an exception. Honor and family units are a strong quality of Ragavallian natives, and thus marriage and the ins and outs surrounding it are treated with special rule and care.
Ragavallians cannot marry until they have passed their coming of age trial. People of all status are allowed to marry whom they choose, however it is not uncommon for families to set up arrangements with ideal candidates in hopes that something will 'click'. The prospective bride or groom are not obligated, but the pressure they might feel from a parent may make it seem the opposite! The pressure is doubly apparent as they must seek approval from their prospective in-laws with a gift.
Marriages are also not always monogamous, but polygamous set ups are at the agreement of all involved and legally each must be treated equally. You cannot buy a horse for one spouse without also buying one for the other, and so on. So polygamous relationships are typically only found among people high ranked in their guild; and more likely among members of a head guild than not.
The marriage ceremony is often a joint artistic project forged at Hi-No-Kami in front of the wedding party and guests, overseen by a Forge Priest or Priestess while Forge Maidens chant and dance for the duration.
Births and Growing-Up
The mother-to-be often travels to the place of her own rearing if applicable to be cared for by her family during the event. While pregnant she cannot attend funerals, kill animals, or look upon the dead.
During the birthing process, the midwife will sing to encourage smooth delivery and after... a phrase from the Oratorio is whispered in the child's right ear, then a second in the left.
After birth, traditionally mothers are exempt from duties and prayer obligations for as long as 40 days.
Aqiqah On the 7th day of life, the child's name is decided and announced at the party celebrating the success of offspring. An animal (typically a goat) is sacrificed and the meat is processed and cooked for not only the party, but the poorer of the community. The choice of name is a serious undertaking and follows specific guidelines: It must be positive or significant to The Skald or Ragavalli.
Okuizome
On the 100th day a 'weaning' ceremony is held consisting of a large shared meal prepared by the mother-in-law. During the meal a symbolic stone is placed on plates. This ritual is meant to wish the baby a life of abundant food without hunger as well as good strong teeth.
Alam Mutazayida When a child turns 21 years of age a brief blessing-ceremony at the Hi-No-Kami is held before they are hooded and carried out into the far desert to an established point. Here the youth alone will meditate in place for 4 days, ingesting only pieces of a tiny pumpkin-like plant known as t’áá aaníinii that has psychoactive properties. The plant is naturally segmented and each slice remains active in the system for about 12 hours. It is believed that the combination of this plant and meditating will assist the youth in figuring out who they are, understand their role in The Tapestry and therefore prepare them for their adulthood. It is not known when this tradition started, speculation is that someone claimed to have seen or spoken with The Skald after having done this very thing, and so they do it in hopes that the action would prove accurate. This is never the case, however.
By day 4 the youth is ready to create, taking the inspirations of the drug-induced trip to create something they can bring back. For some this is a glass sculpture; requiring careful heating and cooling of sand they find out in the area. For others it might be to forge a dagger, or to carve something. Either way they cannot begin their return until it is complete. On their return another ceremony is held, as well as a celebratory feast. The youth will be required to tell them the story of their experience, introducing their art which will be displayed at the Hi-No-Kami up high in its rafters.
From this point on, the youth is considered an adult and is free to open their own business, leave Ragavalli, marry, and whatever else.
Burial Rites
Death in the Tapestry is nearly always dealt in a month long ceremony. For Ragavalli when the wake comes to an end with no success in the deceased waking to continue their story, the bodies are then moved into the mummification process or burned if this is a known preference. Either way, the trinket they had made during their coming of age trial will be removed from the Hi-No-Kami and either given to surviving family or thrown into Hyousuke's Rest.
Mummification The process is very simplistic but more time consuming and expensive than burning. The body is dried out using natron, a process that can take well over a month on its own. The organs are not removed, believing that the body must remain in harmony in order for the The Skald to smoothly write them elsewhere and that the deceased in their new life will not become distracted by the old one. Linen wraps are painstakingly written on with the full text of The Oratorio and the deceased's life summary, specifically any wishes or goals that were not obtained in hopes that The Skald will read them and aim to make them true in the next. They are wrapped on the body, folding in aromatic herbs and tokens of love. Finally a customized shroud or clay mask is placed on the deceased's face.
One more public blessing is provided before the being is buried in a rather shallow grave somewhere behind Hyousuke's Fall.
Cremation The body is burned on a flat stone slab for about two hours for an average adult human. Afterwards, if the family desired to keep them, the bones are carefully picked out with chopsticks and placed in order starting with the bones of the feet into its new custom terracotta urn. The sides of the urn are decorated either with images or the written summary of the person's life. This is the cheapest option, and should a person die that has no family this is what their body's end will go through. The urn will be, like the trinket, tossed to Hyousuke's Fall.
Religion
The Oratorio is prominent as the main religious text even out here in the desert. Some of the more unique twists to the traditions however are centered around the great forge, the Hi-No-Kami.
They like to tell people that the fire is The Skald's passion for The Tapestry. Something so strong it could take out every fiber of the world if left unchecked, but allowed to temper the right materials it can do great things. The Hephaestus Order is dedicated to tending the communal flame and consists of Forge Maidens, Priests, and Priestesses. As such they perform a great deal of social ceremonies for Ragavallians from blessing new and old homes to initiating people through the coming of age rites and marriages.
Economy
Main Exports
- Weapons
- Armor
- Glassware
- Sand-rice
Places of Note
Hi-No-Kami
The great forge at the center of town, tended to by forge maidens and a forge priest or priestess. It is often the site for people feeding their troubles to the flames written on prayer paper or as part of last rites for an old warrior with no heirs. The center of the flame is built up not only of wood and coal but a cornucopia of discarded weapons that have served their purpose.
Taken from an old tradition back in Uhrwerkstadt under Maestro Cecily's rule, every forge in Ragavalli has had its flame first fed by the Hi-No-Kami, and only once the respective forgemaster has passed the trials. The forge was established by Shimizu Akihito out of remembrance of Maestro Cecily.
The pagoda tower built over the forge is very open, capable of closing to protect the fire from most elements, but the inside is littered with the current population's trinkets made during the coming of age trial. These trinkets are only removed in the event of a (permanent) death, and then given to remaining family for personal shrines of remembrance. Those who have no family to give the trinket to are thrown into Hyousuke's Fall at the next annual ceremony so that the namesake hero may look after them.
Hyousuke's Fall
A large gaping hole just outside of the village. It never fills up despite the sand constantly pouring in, but thankfully has not grown either. It is the site where Hyousuke Nassar was eaten by the ground using a mysterious shield. This shield, made of terracotta, would later be known as a Skaldic Artifact for its incredible power, given to it by no person on the Tapestry.
Today it is a tourist attraction, with a carefully built stilted platform decorated with shide, zigzag paper streamers, in the Yoshida style for people to look down into the crater. Annually the natives of Ragavalli will take pilgrimage to the site to pay respects to their fallen hero. During this time the place is surprisingly lively with an intermix of dances performed by forge maidens in red and white, and feathered bustled men to the beat of taiko drums.
The space behind the massive hole is reserved as graves, relatively unmarked no matter the person's status in life.
