"We often stay open past midnight, depends on the day. But you needn't worry about the streets at this time stranger, whatever they are like where you come from, here people live in harmony, and any stranger you see in the shadows is just a good friend you haven't met yet."

-Proprietor of the Blueside Bar, Aliqora Cacha Orccosupa

Caxamalcan Culture

Pacifist Commonwealth

Arathia is a fairly hostile land, as a natural consequence of the dangerous plants and animals that fill its overwhelming jungles. Considering this fact, it is impressive and unlikely that the Caxamalcans of the western coast of Arathia have maintained an almost completely pacifistic existence for hundreds of years. Of course, it was not always this way. In the earliest day of their oral records, the Tortle peoples of the Golden Coast survived as hunter-gatherers, living a subsistence-level existence, very similar to the lives of the Firbolgs further in the jungle interior. However, as time went on, more and more tortles pulled away from the jungle, and began to settle the rich coastal region, while increasingly moving from hunting and gathering to fishing and farming. The egalitarian culture of their ancestors was retained, and the Caxamalcans became committed to non-hierarchical forms of organization as their culture developed. However, while their ancestors maintained some percentage of warriors, often the best hunters becoming them, overtime the Caxamalcans became morally opposed to violence and conflict, in all of its forms. Eventually, they made more permanent contact with the Alz Gamorans, who offered military protection to the Caxamalcans in exchange for tribute and trade rights. The Caxamalcans, needing some level of protection from the harsh inland environment, agreed, hoping for Gamorans to deal with any hostile outsiders for them, while the Caxamalcans would build sturdy fortified settlements to keep stray aggressors away. This development allowed for the Caxamalcans to move from mostly peaceful, to nearly completely pacifistic. Rather than becoming a target for easy aggression, overtime the Caxamalcans became revered as pious folk, and to most of the people of Arathia, aggression towards any Caxamalcan became a social taboo (much like hitting a puppy). Their geographic position and positive reputation brought merchants to their shores, and foreign gold, flowing between the westerners and the Alz Gamorans, began to flood into the settlements. The Caxamalcans, protected, respected, and wealthy, had all the providences necessary to make good on their norm not to raise a fist against another living being.

          Caxamalcans do not just talk the talk, they walk the walk. Almost all of them, with occasional exceptions, are truly committed to pacifist principles. Because of this, cases of violence and aggression within Caxamalcan society are almost unheard of, and when they are, tend to come from outsiders. Caxamalcans, rather than using force or violence, utilize effective means of social control, shaming, ostracization, and banishment, to ensure that all members of the society follow social norms, laws, and regulations. Furthermore, Caxamalcan society is planned collectively, with all spoils and produce being redistributed among familial units, and the redistribution, and indeed also broader governance of the society, is overseen by a constantly rotating body of random citizens. Because of their egalitarian mindset, strong democratic principles, and collective economy, there exists very little crime, social deviance, or unhappiness among the Caxamalcans. Due to their prohibition against violence, an omnivorous diet is shunned in favor of a vegetarian one, with meat-eating foreigners drawing much attention and sometimes ire from locals. In such a paradise, few flaws can be found. However, Caxamalcans are ill-prepared for any great power to roll over them, and live safely only off of the protection of the Gamoran army. In fact, while violence is forbid among their own people, very little thought is given to the violence of others. The Gamorans, and sometimes other mercenaries are absolutely required for the defense of the Commonwealth, as constant grung and other attacks perforate the endless treeline. Caxamalcans view violence and killing as the root of all evil, but see little issue with allowing others to accept this evil on their behalf. Furthermore, the incredible organization of Caxamalcans as a people leads individual Caxamalcans to have trouble standing up for themselves, and certainly defending themselves. While cowardice might be a harsh term for this behavior, it has been one levied on many occasions against this people.

          The Caxamalcan people are most highly concentrated along the Golden Coast, on the western coast of Arathia. The races of the Caxamalcans are most predominately tortles, though any race is welcomed into the culture, so long as the person can adjust to the strictures of Caxamalcan culture. While the Caxamalcans have no taste for state-sponsored religion, the de facto faith as such is the pantheon of Melteos, and in particular the God of Peace, Henewah. Caxamalcans tend to be pacifist, cooperative, and compasionate. They also tend to be hypocritical, timorous, and distant. The dominant language among the Caxamalcans is Caxamalcan, though many learn Terran in order to communicate with Gamorans, or even Low Arissian in order to communicate with western merchants.

If you choose the Caxamalcan Culture, you gain the following:

~A +1 to your Wisdom score~

~Either a -1 to your Dexterity score or a -1 to your Strength score~

~As a known language, either Caxamalcan Aquan, Terran, or Low Arissian Common~

~A Sub-Discipline in every knowledge skill on checks relating to Caxamalcan Culture~

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