Ardenai (Player-Created Lore)

A repository for various Ardenai player headcanons or observations about the culture.

Government

The ruler of House Ardenai, currently King Eamon Ardenai as of 5122, is also referred to by tradition as "The Briar Crown," ruling over "The Evergreen Court" which moves each season, hosted by different powerful families who vie for the honor through exhibitions of grandeur.

The nobility of Ta'Ardenai is composed of several families whose lineages can purportedly be traced to the time of Sharyth Ardenai. Among these are the ruling families of the Northern villages, traditionally loyal bannermen due to ancient oaths sworn to Sharyth Ardenai by their ancestors.

In modern times a steadily increasing number of merchants, bankers, and other individuals prominent in the field of commerce have been elevated to noble status. This has earned the ire of many of the traditional nobility, especially those of the North.

The villages dotting the harsh hinterlands of the Darkling Wood all the way to the northern shores are populated by elves who adhere to what they call the "Old Ways." They generally swear allegiance to House Ardenai but are a wild, almost savage people possessed of a close spiritual connection with the primal energies of their homeland.

Coinciding with the Eve of the Reunion, the northern Ardenai celebrate a holiday they call Winter Night. It marks the end of harvest and any animals not expected to survive through the winter are butchered and made into sausage or dried for the winter stores. It is also a time of revelry, celebrated with old tales honoring those who have lived and died before. The mead flows freely, and what mead is not drunk by the rowdy elves is saved to mix with beer for the winter braggot.

Similarly, there exists a Midsummer Festival. This is also marked by heavily consumption of mead, which seems to be a common theme.

The family unit seems to take a distinct interest in Ardenai marriages. Not unlike the Vaalor in their involvement. This is perhaps due to the dichotomy of old and new present in Ta'Ardenai.

Among many of the northern villages, it is customary for both the bride and the groom to build a home. Both the bride and the groom have agency over their destiny.

Another tradition among the Ardenai seems to be a pilgrimage undertaken during the autumn to visit a certain tree reported to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the Darkling Wood. Visitors tend to its roots, helping to protect it for the coming winter, and often take leaves as souvenirs to preserve them in glass or vaalin and put them up in their homes.

Weaving is a skill for which the Ardenai are renowned, especially tapestries. For the Northern Ardenai, everything has a practical purpose unless you are wealthy. Tapestries are beyond a document of lore or a work of art, they also provide warmth and insulation. Often during the winter months tapestries are draped along low ceiling beams to help keep the heat from rising up into the conical and vaulted ceilings of the homes. Prior to the warmer weather months, the tapestries are raised up to flush against the ceiling and often this is a signal of the arrival of summer and a celebration all its own. Heads of clans have metallic threading used frequently on their tapestries.

There are many bards, battle chanters and lyricists in the north but another kind of storyteller are the Weftmasters. They pull skeins of magic from nothing or use physical threads as conduits to keep the lore and history of their people. Once a piece of artwork has been finished a Weftmaster can channel the emotional and mental energy from that moment and harness it to cause great fear in an enemy or rally a kinsman in battle.

While House Ardenai's official Patrons are well known by most, the Northerners who adhere to the Old Ways have a more primal outlook. The fiery sun that lights the sky and grants reprieve from the harsh winter come spring; the wind that bears their ships when trading season begins; the forest that teems with life and provides nigh-limitless bounty to those who treat it with respect; the ice and snow which are a danger to be respected in winter but whose melting eventually helps to nurture new life. The strength of the bear, the cunning of the leopard, the rut of the elk--all of these, instead of any humanoid representation of a deity, are celebrated and sought to be exemplified by the hardy people of the North. There is a very real, primal energy that is felt by all and channeled by those who practice magic.

Sorcerers are viewed with grim respect by most living in the North for their ability to meld the primal elements and the spiritual realm. They see nothing unnatural about the concept of rot or decay, seeing it as but one part of the life and death cycle to which all are beholden.

When a loved one dies, one tradition common to the Ardenai is they take some of that loved one's clothing to turn into a mourning sash that they wear about the neck. They tether charms or keepsakes symbolic of that person and wear it for the duration of their mourning, which varies depending upon the nature of their relationship.