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A Kingly Host; Inish Clothing and Culture
Topic Started: Apr 6 2010, 07:43 AM (22 Views)
The Storyteller
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Clothing

Inish fashion has not changed much over the centuries. They still wear long leggings (a strange sight for the ancient invading Empire soldiers, all dressed in robes and tunics), long sleeved shirts and heavy cloaks, all made of wool. Leather boots and belts are common, but buttons are not. However, jewelry is very popular among the Inish. Pins and broaches are seen everywhere, as are armbands, anklebands, rings and necklaces all adorned with traditional knotwork patterns that have become a staple of Inish fashion.


Diet

Thanks to steady rainfall coupled with a long, warm summer, Inismore has one of the longest growing seasons in Northern Théah. In fact, in Southern Inismore, some farmlands can be maintained all year around. Farms cover two-thirds of Inismore. Her most important crops are barley, dairy products, hay, potatoes, poultry, sugar beets, wheat and some of Théah's finest livestock (cattle, horses and sheep). Fishing is also very important to Inismore's economy. Inish fisherman pull cod, herring, lobsters, mackerel, salmon and whiting fish out of Inismore's shallow waters.


Art and Music

"All Inish song are about one of two things: whiskey and Nancy. The best are about both."

The Inish love to sing. A scholar could learn everything he ever needed to know about Inish history, custom and traditions from their songs. The subjects vary from 'rebel' songs (rebellion against tyranny, be it Avalon or Montaigne), to war songs to love songs, to 'whiskey' songs (singing of the complicated love-hate relationship the Inish have always had with drink).

The most important part of Inismore's musical tradition, however, is the bard. A bard is part of the Inish learned class, called a 'Filid'. Bards are so unique to Inismore that there really is no cultural comparison. They are found in the courts of nobility, telling stories of days gone by and writing songs that will be sung in a hundred generations to come. They are the living history of Inish culture, and how a man or woman treats him greatly influences how they will be remembered.


Religion

The native religion of the Inish has remained relatively untouched by the Church of the Prophets. They recognize the wisdom in the Prophets' words but they never gave up their gods, chiefly because their gods never gave them up. Even in the darkest days of Montaigne occupation, the Inish knew that one day the O'Bannon would return. Return he did, and he covered the Emerald Isle with crimson Montaigne blood.

The Inish gods live in worlds far beyond Théah. These Shadoworlds can be reached by magical means, although the gates have been closed for many centuries. The Inish aren't very concerned about their gods. They know to worship them during the right times, on certain nights when the seasons converge, but otherwise the Inish gods have very little to do with everyday life.

The most important thing to understand about Inish gods is that anyone can become one...if his glamour is strong enough. Inish believe that reputation (glamour) has a direct link to the afterlife. The greater one's legend becomes, the more the land blesses him with glamour. Some of the Inish's most powerful deities were once heroes who passed into the Shadoworlds because their names are still spoken long after they left the world of flesh. It is this belief that makes the Inish so devoted to the concept of reputation, and why it is always a mistake to call an Inish a coward; you've just told him he has to prove he isn't.


Holy Men

The Keepers of Inish ways are her holy men, or druids. The druids were silent over the last century, practicing their rites under the cover of darkness. But with the O'Bannon's return, their rituals and teachings have returned to the open, sun-covered fields.

Druids are not necessarily sorcerers, but teachers and wise men who understand the world's most secret truths. Because of this understanding, they recognize world-patterns that occur over and over again, and are able to avoid pitfalls and capitalize on opportunities.

The best way to illustrate a druid's secret wisdom is by comparing him to a farmer. A man who grows up on a farm knows when a storm is on its way because of the smell of rain and the stillness of the air. He knows that foxes raid the henhouse after the first frost because all the food is gone. He knows when to collect roots and herbs at the peak of their potency because his father's father's father learned to do it a few hundred years ago and has passed that knowledge down to his son. To an outside observer such knowledge...without an accompanying reasonable explanation...may seem magical. In fact, it is only practiced intuition. As it is true of the farmer, so it is true of the druid.

Initiate druids are called Bards. A Bard's life is spent learning the secret knowledge their masters have already gained, and they learn it by wandering the countryside telling stories and picking up new ones. As they wander, they see the same patterns popping up in different counties, slowly contributing to the druid's understanding of the world. They also act as messengers between the distant Inish townships, walking with their "seven-league striders" (magical boots that can walk across the island in one day) over Inismore's fens and forests.
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