"There is an old cache hidden on this island, and it has the gold you seek. My people will not return for 1 month. I will lead you to its location, but it will cost you, something money cannot buy."

-Son the Chief, Malawe of Timaka

Sunsokan Culture

The Wayfaring Peoples

In the eldest eons of Adra, the islands of the Sun Soaked Sea were lifeless rocks, occasionally visited by pioneers of sea travel. However, through connections to the elemental planes, children of the elemental princes began to come into being in the islands of the Middle Sea, as it was known in the ancient days. For what purpose they were sired, it is not known. They were divided into four groups, those of fire, wind, water, and air, called Genasi. They were each concentrated on one of four large islands, and then slowly spread out and promulgated throughout all of the Sun Soaked Isles. In doing so, they built mighty canoes and sailing ships that could take them hundreds of miles from their homes. At first, it was a means of colonization, but eventually, the sailing lifestyle became central to the lives of the Sunsokan Genasi. They made frequent trips between the islands, trading amongst each other, and holding many homes at a time. One island could cultivate bananas, another coconuts, and yet the larger community could benefit from both equally. Some islands would go nearly abandoned for a decade at a time, as its people went wayfaring and exploring for years, only to eventually return to their native home, reaping the benefits or costs of their voyage with them. Compared to other sea-faring cultures, the Sunsokan travelled light, only packing what they needed for the short journeys between two islands. When a group of Sunsokan took on a much longer voyage, and successfully returned to tell the tale, their journey would become legendary. The Sunsokan would use the journeys that were unsuccessful to mark the greatest boundaries of their world, as they saw it. As the technology of sailing reached all corners of the world, and with it, long distance trading networks, so too did piracy begin to flourish in the seas of Adra. In the Sun Soaked Sea, rather than becoming prey to such piracy, the Sunsokan peoples became either peacefully ignored, or actively involved in the business. The islands lacked the types of riches that would attract pirates to raid them, but served as a complex web of ports and hideaways that no sea-faring map could track in their totality. Therefore, while piracy spread everywhere, it truly flourished in the Sun Soaked Isles, where pirates could successfully avail themselves of constant safe harbor. Still, many of the Sunsokan, who had allies among the many merchant cities of the world, found the tolerance of this piracy distasteful. Perhaps the central conflict still to this day among the Sunsokan is the question of piracy.

          The Sunsokan are an adventurous people, perhaps to a fault. When growing up, if their wanderlust is not successfully curtailed, one can expect Genasi as young as 14 to attempt to take a private canoe into the sea to explore a nearby atoll. Their adventuring spirit is often capitalized on by those in search of such spirits, and as such, adventurers, mercenaries, and explorers are found to be Sunsokan more than the size of the culture would justify alone. Part and parcel to their adventurous spirit are their untethered nature. The Sunsokan are rarely satisfied with living in a single solitary location their whole life, and it is traditional for them to keep two, three, or more homes to move between throughout their lives. They are communal and extremely friendly to members of their own culture, forming large interconnected networks of friends and family that spread across dozens or even hundreds of islands, so that one can travel easily and still thrive in a new location. They are friendly too towards outsiders, though they often form circles, keeping outsiders at arms length, while welcoming some others closer. The Sunsokan are not strictly pacifist, but will rarely engage in armed conflict, only when a tribe is threatened with destruction. Most Sunsokan have a looser concept of property and currency than most people in Adra, and as a result, they also have an ungrounded sense of the wrongness of piracy. Those that do take issue with piracy tend to find it unsavory because of the wanton violence, and not because of the wanton theft. While there are many virtuous aspects of the Sunsokan culture, their untethered ways make them poor craftsmen, usually untaken by such static efforts.

          The Sunsokan people are most highly concentrated in the Sun Soaked Isles, though some are found in places across the seas of Adra. The races of the Sunsokan Culture are most predominately genasi, humans, and elves. The most popular gods among the Sunsokan are rulers of the Elemental Planes, Alas, Xerkune, Eoulous, and Mirkatakatar, but in the countless islands of the Sun Soaked Sea, shrines to every god can be found. Sunsokan tend to be adventurous, free-spirited, and communal. They also tend to be unproductive, flighty, and naive. The most common languages spoken among the Sunsokan are Terran, Ignan, Auran, and Aquan.

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

~Either a +1 to your Dexterity score or a +1 to your Wisdom score~

~A -1 to your Strength score~

~As a known language, either Terran, Ignan, Auran, and Aquan~

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

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