Psoglavi

Interpersonal Reactions

Most people find Psoglavi to be strange from the outset. Their very anatomy is bizarre and chimeric, seemingly drawing no parallels to any one species of beast. Yet, their jovial nature and hard working ethos often proves the better of any misgivings towards them and over time the Psoglavi have become fast friends of the Monaian people and a welcome addition to the Grim Countries.

Origin Archetypes

Many young Unknown start as apprentices, occultists and other bookish fields while the typical psoglavi fulfills whatever role his domagrad requires, though they prefer jewel-crafting and mining:

• Apprentice, Artisan, Herbalist, Librarian, Menial, Mountaineer, Nobilite, Occultist, Ritualist, Thief.

Character Archetypes

The following archetypes are thematic and relevant choices for this ancestry with those in bold denoted as particularly thematic. There are no hard and fast rules for these, but are intended to give an idea what the cultural and ancestral abilities of a tribe might skew their interests towards based off of keywords and popular fantasy tropes:

• Alchemist, Archer*, Diabolist, Necromancer, Sorcerer, Summoner, Witch, Wizard.

*Note that the reduced depth-perception from being a cyclopean species makes them poor ranged combatants and while they do have archers and yeoman, they are outclassed often. This means that Psoglavi usually prefer thrown weapons such as javelins or axes, which reduces their ranged efficacy, but is unhindered by their vision.

Common Names

Feminine Names

Liljana, Ognena, Paraskeva, Vana, Zhivka

Masculine Names

Goran, Kolyo, Lazar, Marjan, Zharko

Family Names

The peasant and trade populations go by such family names as Arsov, Degoricija, Janevski, Ristevska, Stavrik.

However, the ruling class of the Skollomanse give their names to both their family and the Domagrad they oversee, such as: D'Yavladel, Šildoma, Požamajstori, Džinovsmrt and Zmejprijatel.

Other Names

Prominent figures and members of the community often have central names denoting some form of rank within their own professional lives, usually in regards to their obtained levels of skill. Such names are very literal in nature; Gospodar or Master, Novegovija or Neophyte, Sredvek or Veteran, etc.

Culture

Psoglavi culture is something of a paradox. In one instance, they are ruled by mages who utilize arcane arts that manifest foul fiends and bend the material universe to their whims. In doing so, they provide free labor, wisdom (although sometimes dubious) and safety to their people. The land they live in is extreme, much like Inis Mona, with deep winters that freeze the land solid not unlike the Age of Winter itself. Yet, in the other hand, they are an extremely jovial people. Often the psoglavi confront tasks and trials with a laugh. Even death and war become ridiculed in song, the warmth of the people uplifting each other even in dire times or under dread circumstance.

Perhaps its that idea that no psoglavi ever truly dies so long as the Prazdmert is performed and their memories are carried on into the future by their descendants. That is not to say psoglavi do not fear death, but more that they see it as a transition from a singular consciousness into something more communal and whole. Although, this makes psoglavi often timid in the face of departing the families and lands they descend from. If the worst were to happen and they cannot be consumed by the community, then they suffer the true death; one of being forgotten.

Despite all the darkness of Etomestoan winters and the fell things that haunt those glacier capped lands, the psoglavi remain a resolute people that open their homes and hearths to strangers in need. Even those Skollomanse, the penumbral Unknown, are not unwelcoming to strangers provided they can prove to be of benefit to their people. In the way of the daily life of the psoglavi, they live the epitome of the concept where one might look death in the face and smile.

Native Language

All psoglavi speak Psovrazgo, their native language. Others might know Jotunn, picked up in their warring with the giants. Very rarely they may also know Ascendant, Darkspeech, Primal or Síog depending on if they often deal with summoned entities.

Customs & Values

Knowledge is the first and foremost value that psoglavi invest in. Since its passed down literally between generations, it is their most important asset. Having survived an event that seems to chronologically correspond to the age of Summer, an event the simply call the Darkening, wherein they lost most of the knowledge of their generations passed, the psoglavi take great pains to record things in a myriad of ways. Mostly through genetic memory, as they no longer trust the impermanence of tomes and scrolls. Their jewel and metal work comes in great use here, creating etched tablets of metal to record important events on.

Unsurprisingly, this hunger of knowledge means that the psoglavi also value spellcraft and occultism highly. Its unlikely that even the arcanists of the High Grove or the Unknown of the Dustling temples can truly compete with the diabolists, illusionists and elementalists of the Skollomanse. This heavy consideration to the arcane gave the members of the Skollomanse the ability to position themselves as leaders and rulers of their communities. With each community, or Domagrad, overseen even in its most mundane tasks by a sorcerous lord.

This reliance on magic permeates their daily lives. With members of the Skollomanse summoning devils and celestial servitors with an almost cavalier attitude to perform simple and often mundane tasks. Elementalists unleash barely-controllable elemental energies for the simple task of carving new mines, illusionists perform grand feats of spellcraft just to light the halls of the Domagrad. However, its not done recklessly or carelessly, with each psoglavi arcanist required to undergo extensive training, otherwise haphazard mages might find themselves under the vengeful watch of the Volshe'Ubiy.

Taboos

It is considered an egregious sin against the community for one to deal their arcane arts with reckless abandon. While the Skollomanse often takes a somewhat cavalier attitude towards using incredibly powerful magic, it is not without the utmost planning before hand. Endangering the community through wanton displays of barely-controlled magic often invokes disaster, and a call from the much-feared Volshe'Ubiy. A call many arcanists and diabolists never live through.

Less of a taboo, and more of a civic concern, it is considered incredibly tragic for someone to die far from the community. If someone goes missing or their body cannot be recovered, great mourning is felt for the community and for the individual. Without the body, their memories cannot be returned to the communal spirit and are, in essence, lost forever.

Art & Architecture

The Psoglavi, a unique and industrious species, construct their cities, known as Domagrads, within tightly packed arcologies that rise like towering monoliths amidst their rugged landscapes. These self-sustaining structures are marvels of engineering, combining living quarters, communal spaces, and agricultural areas into vertical, compact environments. Built from resilient materials and designed to maximize space efficiency, the arcologies of the Psoglavi feature interconnected levels and intricate passageways that support a bustling, close-knit community. Each domagrad is a testament to the Psoglavi's ingenuity, providing a harmonious blend of functionality and sustainability, perfectly adapted to their harsh surroundings.

Once inside, however, the sweeping stone architecture is dominated by hundreds and thousands of arcane sigils, wards, and formulae. Some are actual spells wrought into the Domagrad's stone work. while others are assigned to certain families of the Skollomanse and perform the function of heraldry. Unlike the Digir they do not adorn their walls with massive bas reliefs or murals, but simple stonework that swoops down into stairs and highways. While the Fwoarians irregularly carve pictographs and images forming unspoken stories into their important buildings, the Psoglavi only mark their with the arcane heraldry demarking whole quarters of the Domagrad and proclaiming which families oversee their communities.

Its difficult to gauge the technological skill of the Psoglavi nations. They can craft iron and bronze, they can carve stone and construct large cities. However, much of the upper echelon relies heavily on arcane means, and while this has allowed them to thrive and succeed in their dark homeland, its difficult to say if they would be able to exist long without it.

Clothes & Dress

They are clad often in simple woven clothes and belts in order to not detract from their elaborate and exquisite jewelry. They sport amulets, rings, and cuffs of dazzling brilliance with almost every member of their culture festooned in brilliantly shining gems that seem to dazzle with their own inner light. These light-enhancing crystals, called Svetkamen, are highly prized among their people. With many members often wearing literal pounds of jewelry designed to present the Svetkamen with prominence.

Myths & Legends

The Darkening - Sometime, about the same time as the Wounding of the Good Son, the psoglavi nation was plunged into uncertainty and turmoil. What happened before this time is lost, almost completely, with all that remains being the memories of the strife and darkness it left in its wake. It can be said the sense of community was born from this era in their history. The wanton violence and terrible deeds the psoglavi enacted on each other has clung, through the Prazdmert, even into recent memory. With the tragedies and the horrors still so clear in mind, the psoglavi willingly give themselves over to the totalitarian rule of the Skollomanse and the Volshe'Ubiy so it may never happen again.

The Communal Spirit - The psoglavi are deeply interconnected with the members of their community. In cases were even non-psoglavi might live among their number, those members, if they help provide and work for the community, are considered irrevocably apart of the living spirit of the people. This has led to some communities even incorporating extra-planar entities that the Skollomanse summons, to work at the behest of the ruling factions, as something akin to distant relatives. Connecting these communities are the genetic memories and the tightly formed relationships that the psoglavi refer to simply as the Communal Spirit. Both a philosophy and a spiritual entity, the Communal Spirit is the subconscious amalgam of everyone whose memories have been incorporated into the community either through its living members or those whose memories have transitioned through the Prazdmert ceremony. The Communal Spirit is revered as its own separate force and loved as a unifying spirit between the members of the community, even extending to different community groups, uniting the psoglavi as a nation and a culture. Though, each community has a separate Communal Spirit that is a cell of the greater Communal Spirit that extends over the entirety of their nation.

Vardyvle - There exists rumors and stories among the psoglavi that tell stories of individuals meeting a facsimile of themselves. These stories revolve around witnessing a duplicate of the observer engaged in an event, usually one of tragedy or importance to the individual. These stories indelibly end with the witness, and only the witness, reliving the witnessed event from their own true perspective. These Vardyvle events seemingly portent the event, as if the subject was watching themselves from outside their own body only to live through it themselves days, weeks or even months later. While the Vardyvle is not considered a malignant or evil entity, it is considered a bad omen and quite taboo to physical or socially engage with ones' Vardyvle. Even the Skollomanse officially advises those witnessing their Vardyvle act out an event to not engage with it in any way.

Age Rites

Births go unmarked, with providence often given to ones death instead. This is the time where they become one with the communal spirit. While this is a time for celebration and mourning, there is only one other time a psoglavi might celebrate with the community as a whole; when they prove their worth to the Skollomanse. Each years as winter begins, hundreds of children flock to the halls of their noble houses to be tested and tried for arcane aptitude. Those found deserving can be risen from even the most humble of backgrounds to the honored positions within the Skollomanse, effectively becoming nobility.

Funerary & Memorial Customs

When one of the community dies, their body is prepared in open ceremony. Rendered down into plates of spiced meat and broth. This event is known as Prazdmert; the death-feast. Anyone is welcome to partake, although the recently deceased's kin are given first turn at the table. This is an important time in the community as the strange biology of the psoglavi allows them to consume and incorporate the late individuals memories. This insures that they are kept alive in the communal spirit and their knowledge is not forgotten.

Beauty Ideals

Psoglavi see beauty in utility and illumination. Obviously, on a physical level, the psoglavi use their bioluminescent fur as a means for standing out among their peers as potential lovers and partners. A psoglavi inspects the intricate light patterns and even something as innocuous as the length and width of these luminous hairs to determine the other party's worthiness as a potential lover. Other considerations, such as health of the body, size of muscles and the cant of their singular eye, are taken into account, but not nearly with as much intense scrutiny as the intensity and color of the inner-radiance radiating from their pelts.

Gender Ideals

The female populace of the psoglavi are considered to be more readily able to tap into the Communal Spirit, as such, they find positions of scholarly pursuit, governance, and science more readily available to them. This is not a gendered caste however, and the males also find themselves capable of such roles if not as readily accepted as the women. Men are tasked with more physical roles such as war and labor, while also commonly believed to be more natural with tedious and time-consuming skills such as blacksmithing or jewel-crafting. Whether any of these outlooks are true or not, often does not occur to the psoglavi, who, despite having a "noble" caste, still accept individuals to positions based on merit and proven skill.

Courtship Ideals

When two or more psoglavi become intertwined in romance, the first thing that is done before any thoughts of official union are considered, is a long and arduous look at that individuals lineage. Its very important to the parties involved that heavy consideration is paid to what knowledge is being presented in possible unions as such knowledge is quite literally to be passed into the new family. Once all parties are convinced that the exchange of familial knowledge will be equal, or at least beneficial, to all involved, the parties will then begin the process of either hand-crafting or special-ordering jewelry made of their beloved Svetkamen, or light-stones. Each one is crafted by the opposite party with their potential partner in mind. They are expensive and unique to the marriage participants and exchanged at the ceremony. What form they take can be myriad; rings, anklets, bracelets, diadems and amulets.

Relationships

The psoglavi are highly communal. Any relationship is often based on how one contributes to the greater whole. Even down to individual relationships, psoglavi will not entreat with others they think offer nothing of contribution to the relationship. They often commit themselves entirely to their inter-personal relationships and their communities. This means that anyone who cannot commit as intimately, entirely, or does not contribute as much as the others involved are often promptly excised from the relationship.

Nazad

As with any of the mortal tribes, there are those among the psoglavi that are not on a directly moral pathway. They still, despite the capability and resolution of the Skollomanse, have thieves and murderers among their number. None, however, are so feared among their society's outcasts as the Nazad. These creatures are addicted to the sensation of recollection and acquisition of knowledge that comes from Prazdmert. So much so they cannot wait for another sentient being to die, and instead, go out of their way to eat both the dead and the not-yet-dead. These murderous lunatics are shunned by their more civilized kinsmen and given the label Nazad or "Backwards", synonymous with the term troglodyte, a meaning that speaks to the fear the psoglavi see their fallen kinsmen with. This fear is derived from rumors that the bloody and cruel events following the Darkening were brought on them by their own primitive ways and that the Nazad are something of a primitive version of their modern society. This rumination on their darker nature has the psoglavi ostracize these fiends, both to keep their culture sane and safe, but also so they do not need dwell on the implications the Nazad present.

Other

- Unknown ; the ruling government of their mother nation.

- Council of Dòchas Ùr; a council of representatives made up of tribes from across the Grim Countries.

Volshe'Ubiy

Translated into New Moni as "Spell-Killers", the Volshe'Ubiy is a feared organization, even by members of the Skollomanse. These psoglavi belong to a shadowy para-military that provides oversight to the Skollomanse. Trained specifically to kill magic-wielding members of psoglavi society, they perform the vital function of making sure the magistocracy never grows out of control or becomes a true tyranny. They also clean up the mess left behind when a member of the Skollomanse loses control of their arcane abilities, sometimes even executing them before they can endanger the community if they feel its truly warranted. Many restless nights begin with a mother telling their child to keep to their studies, or risk a jagged blade in the darkness when the Volshe'Ubiy come for their misbehaving hides.