Navarr people

Latest revision as of 01:20, 7 February 2024

Heirs to a fallen Empire.

The Navarr were once part of a great nation that was lost to Orcs and failed magic centuries before the Empire began. Although they continue to wander through the wild places, they embrace the Empire as an opportunity to be a part of a great civilisation again. Their cities still exist, buried in the depths of their forests and infested by the vallorn, a monstrous presence from the past.

Today the people dwell in Steadings, settlements cut into the heart of the woods, or travel in loose groups called Stridings. Individual Navarr move back and forth between the settled life of a steading and the mobile life of a striding as the mood takes them or circumstance dictates.

The Navarr love to travel. The journey can be a means to an end or an end in itself. Some of their journeys serve an arcane purpose, but wherever they are travelling they carry news, messages and people with them. The Navarr see moving people and items around the Empire, to the places where they can do the most good, as a method to solve many problems. The philosophy of the Great Dance teaches that everyone has a place where they can prosper, and helping other people find that place is a calling for many Navarr.

A Navarr guide, taking a moment to consider his place in the Great Dance.

The Navarr value self-sufficiency, and seek to test themselves
against the world

They value self-sufficiency, priding themselves on their ability to prosper in dangerous and inhospitable areas. They make a virtue of being prepared and ready. Many Navarr love the excitement of the hunt; stalking prey heightens their senses and tests their skills and the thrill of the chase gets their blood pumping, reminding them they are alive. Young Navarr, especially, like to test themselves against the world; they like to push themselves, whether it is conquering a mountain peak or blazing a trail to a new destination. They enjoy demonstrating their mastery over nature.

The Navarr are sophisticated enough to realise that self-sufficiency does not mean each individual stands alone. They are a gregarious folk who welcome strangers to their steadings and stridings. They like to cultivate friends and alliances, and relish the opportunity to work as go-betweens. Anyone in the Empire who needs to travel somewhere, or who is looking for a new start, knows that the Navarr are happy to embrace fellow travellers.

The Navarr keep a watch throughout the Empire. When they move through an area, they make an effort to look for problems and dangers, and warn their fellow Imperial citizens about them. A Navarr who discovers a ruined Marcher fortress is now a haven of orcs or bandits will seek out nearby Marcher stewards and beaters, inform them of the problem, and offer whatever assistance they can to help them deal with the threat.

Self sufficient does not have to mean standing alone.

They also maintain a network of small shelters or safe havens along the trods known as Tarries. Each Tarry is a well-prepared shelter stocked with enough a supply of firewood and dried food for a day or two. These can be used by any traveller in need of shelter, so long as the food and firewood is restocked in return.

The Navarr are as fierce towards their enemies as they are welcoming to their allies. When they march to battle they don war-paint so their allies can see they have committed themselves to the fight and their enemies know to be afraid. The Navarr have little time for notions of honourable combat; ambush, traps, misdirection and poison are all weapons that the Navarr readily employ.

Names

First names

Navarr names are primarily Celtic, mainly drawing on Welsh names.

A child's name is given to a Navarr at birth by the parents, whereas an adult chooses the name they wish to be known by during the Binding of Thorns.

Sample Names

Aedan, Angharad, Arawn, Breanainn, Brianna, Bronwen, Cadaen, Caiside, Cordelia, Donndubhan, Dradan, Drustan, Elisedd, Enys, Faelan, Gwynedd, Hywel, Ifan, Iona, Lindir, Logan, Maddoc, Megan, Myfanwy, Niamh, Olwen, Paul, Raelyn, Rhiannon, Saeros, Siani, Teleri, Tomas, Wyl

N.B. Whilst some names are inspired by real world names which may be given to specific genders, Empire is a gender blind setting and people of any gender choose any name they like that is appropriate to their nation.

Naming resources

Second names

A Navarr takes the name of their Steading or Striding as their second name.

Steadings and Stridings are named for the event that founded them but these are commonly abbreviated or inferred from a much longer descriptive. The oldest communities have names founded in the myths of the Nation while those more recently founded may seem more mundane by comparison.

Sample second names

Seventh Day - Abbreviated from "On the seventh day of the Battle of Lower Mirsh, Pwyll slew the Warlord of the Scaled Host"
Black Blood - Abbreviated from "... the rivers of Mitwold ran black with the blood of the traitors."
Long Stride - Inferred from "... and we parted ways in 307 YE as Dylan and Lowri the Vate of our Striding could not keep pace with us."

Names are not static; when a Navarr moves between the steadings and the stridings they change their name accordingly.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{CaptionedImage|file=NavarrBow3.jpg|align=right|width=375}}
+{{CaptionedImage|file=Tricksy Y'Basden.jpg|align=right|caption=Heirs to a fallen Empire.|width=450}}
+The Navarr were once part of a great nation that was lost to Orcs and failed magic centuries before the Empire began. Although they continue to wander through the wild places, they embrace the Empire as an opportunity to be a part of a great civilisation again. Their cities still exist, buried in the depths of their forests and infested by the [[vallorn]], a monstrous presence from the past.
-The first thing anyone learns about the Navarr is that they love to travel. THe journey can be a means to and end or an end in itself. Some of their journeys serve a magical purpose, but wherever they are travelling they carry news, messages and people with them. A Navarr might settle down for a time, but eventually they will feel a need to move on. They also view travel as a way to deal with difficult social, political or economic situations .
+Today the people dwell in [[steading|Steadings]], settlements cut into the heart of the woods, or travel in loose groups called [[striding|Stridings]]. Individual Navarr move back and forth between the settled life of a steading and the mobile life of a striding as the mood takes them or circumstance dictates.
-They value self-sufficiency, both in individuals and in groups. They enjoy hunting because it helps keep their skills sharp, and it is a pratcial way to demonstrate their ability to look after themselves. Despite their respect for self-sufficiency they are a gregarious folk, they simply like to know that their neighbours and fellow-travellers can take care of their own needs.
+The Navarr love to travel. The journey can be a means to an end or an end in itself. Some of their journeys serve an arcane purpose, but wherever they are travelling they carry news, messages and people with them. The Navarr see moving people and items around the Empire, to the places where they can do the most good, as a method to solve many problems. The philosophy of the [[Navarr Culture and Customs#The Great Dance|Great Dance]] teaches that everyone has a place where they can prosper, and helping other people find that place is a calling for many Navarr.
+{{CaptionedImage|file=PensiveGuide.jpg|align=left|width=300|caption=The Navarr value self-sufficiency, and seek to test themselves<br/>against the world|title=A Navarr guide, taking a moment to consider his place in the Great Dance.}}
+They value self-sufficiency, priding themselves on their ability to prosper in dangerous and inhospitable areas. They make a virtue of being prepared and ready. Many Navarr love the excitement of the hunt; stalking prey heightens their senses and tests their skills and the thrill of the chase gets their blood pumping, reminding them they are alive. Young Navarr, especially, like to test themselves against the world; they like to push themselves, whether it is conquering a mountain peak or blazing a trail to a new destination. They enjoy demonstrating their mastery over nature.
-The population of Navarr is fluid and mobile. Many of their people live in settlements called steadings, while others travel in loose groups called stridings. Navarr move back and forth between the settled life of a steading and the mobile life of a striding as the mood takes them or circumstance dictates.
+The Navarr are sophisticated enough to realise that self-sufficiency does not mean each individual stands alone. They are a gregarious folk who welcome strangers to their steadings and stridings. They like to cultivate friends and alliances, and relish the opportunity to work as go-betweens. Anyone in the Empire who needs to travel somewhere, or who is looking for a new start, knows that the Navarr are happy to embrace fellow travellers.
-The Navarr welcome strangers to their steadings and stridings. They like to cultivate friends and alliances. Anyone in the Empire who needs to travel somewhere, or who is looking for a new start, knows that the Navarr are happy to embrace fellow travellers.
+The Navarr keep a watch throughout the Empire. When they move through an area, they make an effort to look for problems and dangers, and warn their fellow Imperial citizens about them. A Navarr who discovers a ruined Marcher fortress is now a haven of orcs or bandits will seek out nearby Marcher stewards and beaters, inform them of the problem, and offer whatever assistance they can to help them deal with the threat.
+{{CaptionedImage|file=Steading together.jpg|width=450|caption=Self sufficient does not have to mean standing alone.|align=right}}
-Alert/vigilant. The Navarr keep a watch on the Empire. When they move through an area, they make an effort to look for problems and dangers, and warn their fellow imperial citizens about them. A Navrr who discovers a ruined Marcher fortress is now a haven of orcs or bandits will seek out nearby Marcher lords and [[Beaters|beaters]], inform them of the problem, and offer whatever assitance she can to help them deal with the threat.
+They also maintain a network of small shelters or safe havens along the trods known as Tarries. Each Tarry is a well-prepared shelter stocked with enough a supply of firewood and dried food for a day or two. These can be used by any traveller in need of shelter, so long as the food and firewood is restocked in return.
-The Navarr are as fierce in warfare as they are welcoming in peacetime. When they march to battle they don war-paint so their allies can see they have committed themselves to the fight and their enemies know to be afraid. They do not pick a fight lightly, but once a Navarr have decided something is his enemy, he ruthlessly deals with that enemy. Their fierceness is matched by their practicality. The Navarr have little time for notions of honourable combat. Ambushes, traps, misdirection and poison are all weapons that the Navarr readily employ against their enemies.
-To the Navarr guile is used to defeat their enemies and the things they hunt, to deliberately trick someone is to mark them out as an enemy. They are not truthful in the way the [[The Brass Coast|Freeborn]] are obsessively honest, but they prefer to reserve their wiles for their enemies.
-The Navarr were once part of a great nation that was lost to orcs and failed magic centuries before the Empire began. Although they continue to wander through the wild places of the world, they embraced the Empire as an opportunity to regain the civilisation they lost. Their cities still exist, but they are buried in the depths of the Vallorn, a monstrous presence that lurks in the heart of their forests.
-=== CUT ===
-As the Empire has grown in strength, orcs and bandits have sought to make their home in the Navarr forests, thinking to hide themselves in the dense woodlands. As a result the Navarr are ever vigilant, roaming their forests searching for any signs of incursion.
-A common Navarr philosophy is that wealth is measured in the number of allies you have, not the coins in your pocket. The Navarr expect everyone to work in the best interest of their steading or striding and many have little interest in personal wealth. Trade is a means of making allies and ensuring that people have the things they need rather than a means for merchants to enrich themselves. The Navarr are well aware of the value of money and don't avoid its acquisition, it's just that most of them count allies as considerably more valuable than possessions.
-Many Navarr dwell in steadings, great settlements cut into the heart of the woods. Steadings are usually surrounded by small orchards, most homes have vegetable gardens, and most families keep animals.  Most Navarr enjoy hunting and bands of hunters roam the forests in search of game. Navarr pride themselves on their self-sufficiency, their ability to survive alone in dangerous places. They make a virtue of being prepared and ready.
-==CUT==
-The Navarr are a cheerful and welcoming folk, the practicality that they employ in the defence of the Empire can offend the sensibilities of those who regard themselves as more civilised. They are not naturally a violent people – at least not to their fellow citizens of the Empire – but, at times, take a stance which others see as unreasonable or downright unfriendly.
-The Navarr are commited to the containment of a threat that lies at the heart of their territories, and is occasionally encountered elsewhere. Areas of malevolent growth called [[Vallorn]] occupy the ancient Navarri cities, teeming with hungry life and hordes of monstrous insect creatures. When the unwary stray into a Vallorn’s realm of influence they court a horrible death and - potentially - risk rousing it and the creatures that inhabit it.
-Part of the duty of the Navarri who dwell in the [[Steadings]] is to see that the Vallorn are not disturbed, so they keep a careful watch to ensure that no-one stumbles into such areas, not even barbarian invaders. Interfering with the Vallorn without the approval of the Senate is a serious crime, and the Navarr keep watch for such interlopers, handing them over to magistrates for judgement. Several Steadings are built in and around the ruins of Teruni'el, whether that is an old garrison, the remains of a town, or a still-flourishing sacred shrine, preserved library or reclaimed mine. The population of a Steading supports itself by hunting, and with whatever limited agriculture they can arrange in the forests.
-Steadings vary in size and composition. A few are shaped as natural parts of the forest, especially if they are important to the ''Vates'', but most are constructed of wood - of which there is a clear abundance in the Navarr heartlands. Some are built among the trees, some on hilly clearings, a few are even constructed on great platforms on the waters of freshwater lakes. In almost every case. the design is adapted to make the most of the terrain, and with an eye towards the purpose of the settlement. For example, a small Steading built around a shrine is a different affair to a prosperous Steading with a ring of cleared farmland surrounding it.
-Counterpart to the Steadings are the [[Stridings]]. These are travelling groups that largelly follow the established routes of the Trods around the Empire. Walking the Trods is neccessary to maintain the magic that keeps the Vallorn quiescent. The Trods pass through all nations of the Empire, so now many travellers prefer to use the Navarri Trods as trade routes and roads, and villages and resting places have grown up over the years near those routes. The Trods themselves are infused with moderately subtle magic that grants vitality to the traveller - after spending a day walking a Trod, a traveller is much less tired than he might expect. The magic also tends to keep the area around the Trod relatively wild - man-made structures tend to fall into ruin. This means that while the routes pass near villages and resting places, these are built a short distance from the Trods themselves.
-{{CaptionedImage|file=NavarrSpear3.jpg|align=right|width=275}}Stridings vary significantly in size and make-up. In a normal Striding, most participants are on foot, usually with a few narrow wagons pulled by oxen or similar beasts to carry essential supplies. Many Navarri are comfortable walking for days on end, and the power of the Trods supports them and enhances the endurance of newcomers. Some Stridings eschew wagons altogether, making it a rule to own nothing more than they can carry with them at all times. Others take the opposite approach, using larger covered wagons which can serve as living quarters, especially if they are transporting tools such as books or smithing materials over great distances.
-The Stridings support themselves in three ways: they carry staples with them; they contain hunters who range to either side of the Trod staying alert not only for food but also potential dangers; and they trade with the people they encounter en-route, For some Imperial citizens, the Navarri are the only regular contact they have with the Empire. Navarri Stridings are usually welcome, as they bring messages and news of events elsewhere in the Empire. Civil servants and magistrates travel with the Navarri to reach isolated communities and sometimes the Navarri bring individuals seeking a home with precisely the skills a community needs to survive and prosper. In addition the Navarri have become skilled at adapting to fill the roles required of them in the different Nations they travel through, for instance performing Fayres in Dawn or working as pedlars in the Marches.
-As well as the dark forests that Navarri now think of as home, the wild places between towns, burghs, fortresses and temples are hardly safe and the Navarri are practical about these dangers. They travel in well-armed groups and set regular watches. As they travel they remain alert for danger, and it is often Navarri who bring word of potential threats to their cousins in the other nations.
+The Navarr are as fierce towards their enemies as they are welcoming to their allies. When they march to battle they don war-paint so their allies can see they have committed themselves to the fight and their enemies know to be afraid. The Navarr have little time for notions of honourable combat; ambush, traps, misdirection and poison are all weapons that the Navarr readily employ.
 ==Names==
-{{CaptionedImage|file=NavarrTattoo4.jpg|align=right|width=275}}
+===First names===
+Navarr names are primarily Celtic, mainly drawing on Welsh names.
-Navarri names have a flavour of the fantastic, drawing on the sounds of Welsh or Celtic and Tolkien elvish.
+A child's name is given to a Navarr at birth by the parents, whereas an adult chooses the name they wish to be known by during the [[Navarr Culture and Customs|Binding of Thorns]].
-A Navarri takes the name of their steading or striding as their second name. Names are not static and change with the choices of the individual.
+===Sample Names===
+Aedan, Angharad, Arawn, Breanainn, Brianna, Bronwen, Cadaen, Caiside, Cordelia, Donndubhan, Dradan, Drustan, Elisedd, Enys, Faelan, Gwynedd, Hywel, Ifan, Iona, Lindir, Logan, Maddoc, Megan, Myfanwy, Niamh, Olwen, Paul, Raelyn, Rhiannon, Saeros, Siani, Teleri, Tomas, Wyl
-Each Striding or Steading has a name that ends in 'el. For example, Riodan'el, or Teyrn'el.
+N.B. Whilst some names are inspired by real world names which may be given to specific genders, Empire is a gender blind setting and people of any gender choose any name they like that is appropriate to their nation.
-A child's name is given to a Navarri at birth by the parents, an adult's name is taken during the Binding of Thorns. It is not uncommon for a newly-adult Navarr to keep the name their parents gave them as a mark of love and respect,
+===Naming resources===
+* [http://www.babynames.org.uk/celtic-baby-names.htm Celtic names]
+* [https://www.thebump.com/b/welsh-baby-names Welsh names]
-On occasion a Navarri may be given an honorific name to exemplify some great deed of magic, politics, trade or war. These individuals are collectively known as the Thornborn.
+===Second names===
+A Navarr takes the name of their Steading or Striding as their second name.
-===Sample names===
+Steadings and Stridings are named for the event that founded them but these are commonly abbreviated or inferred from a much longer descriptive. The oldest communities have names founded in the myths of the Nation while those more recently founded may seem more mundane by comparison.
-* '''Male''': Aedan, Arawn, Dradan, Breanainn, Cadaen, Caiside, Donndubhan, Drustan, Elisedd, Faelan,Hywel, Ifan, Lindir, Logan, Maddoc, Paul, Saeros,Tomas,Wyl
+===Sample second names===
-* '''Female''': Angharad, Brianna, Bronwen, Cordelia, Enys, Gwynedd, Iona, Megan, Myfanwy, Niamh, Olwen, Raelyn, Siani, Rhiannon, Teleri
+* '''Seventh Day''' - Abbreviated from "On the seventh day of the Battle of Lower Mirsh, Pwyll slew the Warlord of the Scaled Host"
+* '''Black Blood''' - Abbreviated from "... the rivers of Mitwold ran black with the blood of the traitors."
+* '''Long Stride''' - Inferred from "... and we parted ways in 307 YE as Dylan and Lowri the Vate of our Striding could not keep pace with us."
-Other examples are easy enough to find on the internet if you are lacking inspiration. These links to [http://www.babynames.org.uk/celtic-baby-names.htm Celtic names], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_Elves elven names] or Welsh [http://www.welshboysnames.co.uk/ boys] or [http://www.welshgirlsnames.co.uk/ girls] names can provide a starting point.
+Names are not static; when a Navarr moves between the steadings and the stridings they change their name accordingly.
+{{Navarr Links}}
-[[Category:Navarr]]
+__NOTOC__
-[[Category:Nations]]

Navarr people

Latest revision as of 01:20, 7 February 2024

Names

First names

Sample Names

Naming resources

Second names

Sample second names

Further Reading

Profound Decisions[edit | | ]

Community[edit | | ]

Wiki Editors[edit | | ]