The Fields We Know
The Kingdom of Arles
Before going too deep on culture, it’s important to understand what culture means to these people. The rough order of priority for considering someone “part of your in-group” goes as Religion > Following > Language / Locale. That is to say, it is more important that a foreigner be a Christian than a foreigner; likewise, if your neighbour isn’t Christian, they’re considered “apart” even if they obey your lord and observe your customs. Therefore culture mainly dictates the language and customs of a given settlement, but there hasn’t really been “nationalism” such as we understand it today, and people would find the concept of taking pride or being too stringent with the definition of your own culture to be strange.
In terms of culture, the main distinction in the kingdom of Arles is between those who are Arlesians and those who aren’t. The Arlesians are those who live in the city of Arles, at the epicenter of the Royal Demesne, as well as all lands to the west until the Duchy of Nero, all lands to the east until the Empire and some even beyond, all lands to the south until Avernia, and most minor landholds too. The Arlesians are known for their prizing ceremony and rigid hierarchy; all have a place in society, all know which place that is, and the place of knights is to protect those who are under them. The place of those under them is to support the knights and keep the rites going.
There are minor dialects of the Arlesian language - Anjolian, Borbonezian, Borgonian, Campalian, and Ponteani - and all of these would not call themselves Arlesians, but they understand themselves to all be of the same northern Arlesian culture.
Aside from the north, things quickly become diverse, because Southern Arles has many cultures, and none of them speak languages which are mutually intelligible with Arlesian. The Southern Arlesian cultures and languages are all united by prizing friendship as fiercely as other cultures prize marriages and homage. The things people do for love in some cultures are, in Southern Arles, understood as proper to be done for friendship too, up to the point of mixing in families of friends and treating one another as “cousins”.
These are the Southern Arlesian cultures, and they are all mutually intelligible, as well as vaguely intelligible with Arlesian:
Pictalian, spoken in the county of Pictalia. They are known as fierce people, turned almost entirely towards warfare down to the peasantry. Even their favoured pastime is wargaming. The land of Pictalia itself is known for its many beautiful castles. Despite all of this, Pictalians are the closest people to Arlesians culturally.
Gargonian, spoken in the southwest of the Duchy d’Aguiene, mostly sticking to the coast around the Forest d’Orso. They resemble the Pictalians in many ways, being very Arlesianised and bellicose, but they distinguish themselves with their churchbuilding. They might not have the biggest or most impressive, but there is not a settlement without one. Aside from that, Gargonians are sometimes regarded as “country bumpkins” by more urbanized folk, and much is told of their violent passions.
Volpean, spoken in the tiny county of Volpe, next to Trusca, though they resemble much more the Gargonians, to the point where ignorant outsiders cannot tell the difference between their languages. Culturally, however, they are very distinct; Volpeans aren’t nearly as bellicose, they are instead fervently religious. The shrine of St. Giacomo attracts many pilgrims, monastic communities dot the landscape, and the Volpeans seem to live and breathe Christianity. Aside from their faith, the Volpeans are known to ply the sea for fish and be a modest people.
Léonian, spoken in the small county of Forane, the Prince-Bishopric of Duronte, and Léon, in the Empire. They are a cosmopolitan people who enjoy the company of others, coming into contact with them frequently due to their Gargonian-like fervour in building churches. Their land is dominated by mountains and once upon a time the Léonians were known to defend them fiercely, but nowadays they mainly appreciate their beauty. These mountains feature prominently in their art.
A group of three cultures are very close together, forming a subcategory within the Southern Arlesian community. There is no name for this grouping but everyone knows they belong together because all of them call back to their past under the Wesians, a people from the time of the Republic who had their own very distinctive law-codes. These laws granted women very similar rights to men, unlike in Trusca, and all of these cultures remember this. Their languages are:
Santolian, present in the Duchy d’Aguiene, immediately to the south of Pictalia. They are the foremost culture in that duchy and associated with refinement around the entire realm. Their poets are the most valued, their merchants are the richest, their cities are the grandest, and the very name of Aguiene brings the taste of wine to your mouth from the best vintage of the best terroir. When people think of Aguiene, they are thinking of Santolia, the heartland.
Avernian, present in the county of Avernia and the mountainous eastern reaches of the Duchy d’Aguiene. They’re mountain warriors through and through, similarly to the Gargonians they are known for their warrior ethos. It is said Avernia was never conquered by armies, and that their mountains are entirely impregnable. They also have a curious custom of ransoming even lowly soldiers instead of just knights, which has led many poets to describe Avernia as “a kingdom at arms”.
And Lemian, present in the county of Lemi in the Duchy d’Aguiene, just south of Istrio’s Woods. The Lemians fit in with the Southern Arlesians in many ways, but in many more they are considered apart. Their language, while now mutually intelligible with its neighbours due to loanwords, does not fit with any tongue of the children of Mannaz; their marriage ceremonies are different, and the Wesian sources describe them as “already being there” when they arrived. Mountainous Lemi and its strangely egalitarian people who are known to hate deeply and love deeper thus stands together but apart with Aguiene.
The following cultures are the most distinguished from the rest due to their unique history, not really fitting in either with the northern or southern Arlesians, and some of them aren’t even Istrian.
Nerian, the language spoken in the Duchy of Nero around the the Darkmoor. There are certain things that distinguish the Nerians, such as being the finest fishermen of the northern coast of Arles or having produced the poets considered to be second only to the old masters, but what truly distinguishes them is that the Nerians are of Old Lyonessian stock. When Lyonesse was still above the water, their peoples were deeply enmeshed together, and when Lyonesse sunk, it was to Nero that they fled first. Nowadays the Nerians are known for their loyalty to one another, standing by their kin no matter what, and for their incredible mercenary work. Their classical tongue is not mutually intelligible with Arlesian, but the close relations (and current overlordship) between the nations have made it so that a Nerian and an Arlesian can communicate, albeit with difficulty.
Carthunian, spoken in the Duchy of Carthum. They have a very unique history for they are descendants of Ingvaeones from faraway Escanor who conquered the northern coast of Arles and eventually were allowed to settle it. They are known to be bellicose and adventurous, their younger sons who don’t stand to inherit are encouraged to range far and wide and take their fortune by their own strength, which makes the Carthunians quite individualistic in comparison to their neighbours.
Viandrian, spoken only in the very northern part of the County of Viandre. These are Irminones loyal to Arles rather than their Imperial Neighbours, who are called Tavasians, though they are both the same people divided only by politics. The Viandrians are known for being meticulous merchants, controlling most of the wool trade in the sea to the north. This has inflated their cities to the point where sometimes they are called the “Santolians of the North” given how fine these cities can be. Viandrian is mutually intelligible with Irminian tongues, but not Istrian ones.
And finally, Truscans, present in the old county of Trusca, the heartland of the former empire, some call it the “Birthplace of Civilisation”. They are a proud people who don’t let the fact that the northern and eastern “barbarians” overshadowed them (and, some say, usurped them) bring them down. They are a pious people, given their proximity to the pope, but they are also a republican people, and their urban elites are known to have as much power, if not more, than their rural landholders. Respect for the Count of Trusca, an Arlesian-made title, is one of the very first things to be let go in times of unrest.
Farther Afield
Immediately to the east of Arles is the Truscan Empire, known to Arlesians and Eastern Truscans as “Irminia”. It is chiefly made up of the different Renian peoples originally united by Arthur and, after his departure, organised by Emperor Otto into a coherent thing. They are stereotyped in Arles as stoic and phlegmatic, though they see themselves as having a pragmatic attitude to life. Much like Arles, the Empire is divided into many cultures, though do not be fooled by its size: there are less people in the vast territory of Irminia than there are in Arles. Otherwise, in most respects, the nobles of Irminia resemble those of Arles the most.
To the northeast of the Empire is the archipelago of Escanor, which once upon a time had deep ties to Lyonesse, though they are Ingvaeones. Their land is stereotyped as frozen over and grim, and it certainly can be, but the Escanorians see it as their home nonetheless. As they were never under Arthur’s realm, their knightly practices are strange and different, chiefly centered around the household fighters of powerful landholders rather than being divided into many smaller landholders. Nevertheless, they are Christians and considered distant cousins by Irminians and Istrians alike. When they aren’t at war, anyway.
East of the Empire are the vast lands of Esclavia. More accurately those of northern and eastern Esclavia, as there are Esclavians to the south, though these distinctions miss most Istrians. Esclavians are a different people entirely, with very little cultural ties to Arles. They are ruled by the Huns, pastoralist horsemen from the vast steppe to the east who rule over them “with an iron fist”, or so it is said. Ever since the Huns ravaged Trusca their reputation as savages precedes them, but a few generations ago they converted to Christianity and adapted to many Esclavian customs, with Esclavians themselves adopting Hunnish elements. Unlike those to the west, Esclavians wear caftans and turbans or big furry hats, similar to the Hunnish traditional hat. Their men are stereotyped as hairy hill savages and their women as ingenues who need to be “saved” from their grasp.
South of Esclavia and southeast of the Empire is the other Truscan Empire, known to Arlesians as the Eastern Truscan Empire. Their lands are the farthest that Arthur ever conquered, but their elites, which were likewise embroiled in a severe civil war at the time, embraced him and the identity he brought with open arms, to the point of trying to adopt Truscan as their court tongue (the resulting language sounds deeply similar to Nerian to the point of mutual intelligibility, confusing many scholars). When Arthur’s empire fell, they refused to recognise the usurper Otto and proclaimed themselves the true inheritors of the Empire. To most people, Eastern Trusca is the most distant place they can even envision, and also the holiest, aside from the Earthly Paradise somewhere on the edge of the world. It was in hilly Aram where Jesus lived after all, and in sun-beat Mishrun where many of his apostles fled to, thus many make pilgrimages to the Eastern Empire if they can afford. The Eastern Truscans dress in many ways given their cultural variety, but their elites, the majority of which are Hallians, dress in long robes like those of Irminia, though they value lighter fabrics and a slimmer silhouette, which has led many Irminians to denounce them as “sinful” and “dressed in see-through clothes that hug the body and invites lust to the hearts of men”.
There are other peoples and cultures too. The Lyonessians who did not settle in Nero wander the world as itinerant peoples, the Lietavians and Lettisians are tucked away in a tiny space between Irminia and Esclavia and have still refused to convert to Christianity; oversea Almyria and its burgeoning new faith, decried as a Christian heresy by some, looms on the horizon of the mind of the Christian clergy like the storms of ancient Jupiter once did in times past, and many others too, but Arlesians know little of these peoples.
Many also whisper of areas beyond the fields we know, Elfland and its thousand spires and thousand domes, where strange things yet live. Not to mention the large swathes of Jungle that still cover the planet, not like the wilds of our world, but rather something seemingly sentient that rapidly expands and breaks fields, sends warped, unnatural creatures to kill men, and prevents Man from drawing sustenance from itself. Some Jungles are closed forests, others are vast deserts or frozen tundras, but all are inhospitable to Man.
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