Human cultures/nations quick reference
Ostreman
https://armstreet.com/catalogue/full/re ... evra-2.jpg
a fashionable lady of Povero.
The people of Povero and many of the cities, towns, and rural districts of this part of the world.
The ancient Ostromanni were a tall, slim, fair people with eyes the color of the sea or the sky. They mixed with stouter, dark-eyed, olive complexioned brunet tribes to create the modern Ostreman culture.
Looks vary, but the old Ostromannic type shows up fairly often among aristocratic families. Ostronic has become the common language of trade.
Old Ostronic, written in an ancient runic script, is today a " dead" scholarly language.
Maerish
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/gam ... 0413041346
Sallow-skinned marsh and river folk of Modrona and neighboring districts. Some Maerish have webbed toes, and some have tea-colored dappling on their breasts , shoulders, or arms. They keep mostly to themselves. The fen-witches among them have a reputation as fortune tellers.
Their ancestors built the old city of Modron and once controlled a strong River and sea kingdom.
Picture shows a fen-witch.
Abbrontine
An alpine race with a long history of bloody feuds, private wars, brigandage, mercenary activity. Also lost treasures and haunted keeps. Related to Ostromane people, but they can be told apart by their speech, garb, and some of their customs.
Chaerulli
http://www.displacedminiatures.com/resi ... 000&w=1000
Seminomadic pastoralists and hunters of the Vinegrass Plains. Olive or tan skin, dark hair and eyes. They often show bluish stains on their teeth, a mark acquired from drinking copious amounts of bitter "wine"' (made from grass and fermented berries).
Chaerulli traders and mercs speak a dialect of Ostronic full of older , pre Ostromannic migration, words to do with sheep, horses, grasslands terrain, weather, and plants.
Chaerulli fighting-men may hire out as light cavalry or skirmishers.
Zikandroon
http://www.piratesofdarkwater.net/gfx/char-zoolie.jpg
The Zikandroon live on islands in the Sea of Whales. Most are simple fishermen or farmers, but the pirates, sailors, and whalers among them interact more often with people from POVERO.
They incline towards the worship of the powers of Chaos, benign and baleful. The classic Zikandroon type is well-fleshed and ruddy. Red hair is regarded as lucky; some Zikandroon use (imported) henna to acquire the fortunate hue.
Zikandroon don't have much of a legal system, but they do have strongly held customs. What government exists is mostly democratic in theory, but really amounts to either mob rule or the sway of a popular strongman.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)