Culture and Customs

Under construction

Felarya museum

Ironically, the first and only known Felarya museum is not situated on Felarya but on the world of Arlinic. It's a huge collection of treasures from various temples of Felarya and data on its fauna and flora, all of them brought by the talented veteran adventurer Ranilla. The museum is very famous for some unique pieces in its collection, and for the data collected by her. The museum uses a part of its income to pay for the next of Ranilla's carefully planned expeditions.

Felaryan Language

Most mages agree that an extremely powerful spell of translation was cast on Felarya thousands of years ago, and because of the enormous amount of magic in the world, it endures to this day. It allows intelligent beings in Felarya to understand the speech of others as if they were speaking their own language. However, in some magic-poor zones such as Lamina or Mycoria forest, the spell has almost faded and now barely functions. There have been a few rare cases of individuals using magic to make their personal tongue indecipherable to others. This has been done almost exclusively by small bands of thieves and pirates, wishing to keep their information secret from those they plunder, as well as any telepathic individuals they might encounter. However, because of the level of magic required, it has the downside of being very hard to reverse, making any form of communication with outsiders impossible, beyond primitive gestures and sounds.

Nukian

The Nukian is a popular sign-based language used by adventurers in Felarya. It uses quick manual communication and body language to convey simple, but sometimes crucially important informations, when silence is a question of life or death. It was first introduced in Felarya by Nukimons warriors and progressively spread out, because of its ease of use.

In Negav

The Negav Eye

A tall, oval-shaped building is the housing place of the Negav Eye, the best-selling newspaper in Negav, and probably in all of Felarya as well. The paper has been accused of relying on sensationalism to attract customers, publishing stories of crazy conspiracies, hidden treasures and dubious reports on predator behavior. It is also the only paper in Negav that will run stories on events outside of Negav... no other company is willing to go through that many employees each year. This work has paid off, as apparently some reporters have succeeded in actually getting interviews with predators! A very famous expedition was the horrific failure of an attempt to interview the Naga Anna Demorah.

Mirror Day

It's called "Cal-Chanim" in ancient elvish: "Deadly reflections". It's a yearly occurrence where the influence of the mirrors of Milkadis are at their peak. On this day alone, creatures from the mirror of the temple can travel through every mirrors of Felarya. Places that aren't prepared can be literally overrun by strange and deadly creatures coming out from mirrors, on which conventional magic is often useless. Even the Isolon eye seems to have little effect on mirror denizens. The solution to the problem is very simple however: just cover every single mirror with a blanket and they will be ignored by the mirror monsters. With time, Mirror Day (Cal-Chanim) has become a sort of festival with inhabitants of Negav parading colorful figures representing mirror lurkers or crysaltinos around the streets. In Negav, carrying a mirror during Cal-Chanim is an extremely serious offense that can be deemed sabotage and punishable by death in certain cases.

It's interesting to note that the mirror denizens can use any surface that is flat and reflective enough to be considered a mirror as a gateway during Cal-Chanim. It's said that they've even exited from the surface of a lake once!

The Blinded

Blinded ones, are criminals in Negav. When someone is caught after having committed a serious offense such as treason, theft, or murder in Negav, they are branded with the image of a closed eye. It shows that they have commited crimes of some kind. Depending on what they did, they'll be sentenced to work in the Ascarlin mines, be a servant for the rich and the elite, or even be banished from Negav altogether, which is basically a death sentence. Some Blinded who commited minor crimes are just released in the city, but the brand tells Negavians that they are criminal, and they are treated as second class citizens. Moreover, the brand is magic and can't be hidden by any means, and anyone with a hint of magic can sense the presence of a Blinded from a distance.

The O.A.D.D.

Founded nearly a century ago by an eccentric, but exceedingly wealthy, doctor from the planet Verimar, the Organization for the Assistance of the Dimensionally Displaced (O.A.D.D.) aims to "Bring a little bit of mercy to a world full of horrible, horrible deaths". From its HQ in Negav, the O.A.D.D. runs a small safe-house/clinic for those who have found themselves in Felarya against their will. They take in refugees that have survived their dangerous trudge through the jungle to Negav, or have been found by other expeditions into the jungle.

Upon being handed over to the Organization, the refugee is taken to a safe-house where they are given a good meal, a warm bed, and medical and psychological help if needed. If the refugee's world is part of the network that regularly trades with Felarya, they are sent back home through Negav's dimensional gate. If their world does not trade with Negav, they are aided in finding a job in Negav, with the O.A.D.D, or given the option of being taken to another world to make a new start. The O.A.D.D has been fairly successful in its mission, and has several divisions on a few of the more prominent worlds that regularly trade with Felarya. It gets most of its funding from donations from wealthy sympathizers, or from the dedicated employees chipping in with their own money to keep it running.

In Elifga valley

The Gate of Stories

To get to the high Elifga valley, there is one pass that all must take. And in this pass is a small clearing, surrounded by carved wooden poles. While seemingly innocuous, this is a place of great importance and power - The Gate of Stories. It is customary for Jotuns and any other travelers, either in or out of the valley, to stop here and tell tales. This is from the belief that a deity or deities make their home here - they enjoy the stories and will give blessings of luck and fortune to those that honour this tradition.

While many consider this a legend, if an endearing one, others take it very seriously. Some people will arrange parties to take them to the Gate of Stories, where they will spend days reciting an epic tale, in hope of a particularly epic blessing. Others will attempt to find the greatest stories in existence and gather them to tell here. Regardless of the truth of this legend, the Gate is also important as it is sort of a neutral ground - predators and prey, of any religion, take care not to attack each other here. The spirits hate having their stories interrupted.

• Credits goes to Jaette-troll for the idea of the Negav Eye, to Silent-eric for the blinded, to rcs619 for the OADD, and to French-snack for the idea of the museum.