A (spoiler-free) visual and textual reference for the cultures, peoples, and languages of the Tidecaller world. All text is canon; all images are just for reference--trust your own imagination! All images created with MidJourney AI, under common use license.
ujeian monks
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Native Region:
The male half of religious and cultural power in the city-state of Serei, the monks of the Temple of Uje are responsible for many of the things that have made the city famous (and wealthy). Overseers, using the monastic technique of reading minds through touch, police the cities punishing anyone guilty of a crime, and warning those contemplating it. Monastic seers, given to long periods of meditation while immersed in the ocean, guide the faithful through personal difficulties by using that same magic to gain insight into their thoughts and struggles. And the temple's theocrats, while not formally in control of the city, make decisions that resonate through the economic system of guilds, and vie for power against their sworn enemies-- and bearers of the female half of the city's faith and power--the Theracant's Guild. |
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Appearance, Dress, Characteristics:
Given to flowing robes and shaven heads, the monks of the temple--whether theocrat or overseer--are expected to maintain personal regimens of exercise and meditation, leading to a uniformity of calm expression and healthy bodies into old age. While of mainly Sereian heritage, any faithful are welcome in the temple's ranks (so long as they are male), and so eye and skin color vary among the men, even as their daily ablutions and collective periods of sparring and meditation shape them all in similar ways. |
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Culture, Society, Religion:
Founded on the worship of Uje, god of the sea, and awareness of the floods that have ended previous civilizations--like the one whose ruins still thrust from the waters of Serei's bay--Ujeian monks believe the truly faithful will be spared from the next apocalypse. It is this conviction that has lead them to try to shape the city in their image, with overseers maintaining a safe and orderly city, while the seers guide their supplicants toward deeper devotion and peace, sharing the meditation practices they use to gain insight into Uje's will. |
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Language:
Given to water metaphors, and images of the sea, many of the temple's holy texts and expressions have made their way into the common parlance of Serei's inhabitants. Common expressions: Tides carry you (good luck/godspeed); roils my waters (makes me angry) Common curses: Floods/flooding (expletive); Uje's Eyes (to express surprise) |
jeian theracants
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Native Region:
One half of the religious and cultural power in the city-state of Serei, the Theracant's Guild has in recent decades sent healers to the major cities and polities in the world, cementing an international presence that overshadows their rivals, the Ujeian Temple. |
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Appearance, dress, characteristics:
Known for the peculiar blend of premature aging and long life that their blood magic imbues, members of the Theracant's Guild tend to dress in full-length dresses and skirts, sewn with rows of inner pockets to store the herbs, medicines, and tinctures of their trade. |
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Culture, Society, Religion:
Apocrophally known as the feminine side of Ujeism (the official religion of the Sereian theocracy), theracants worship Jeia, a female deity of blood and fertility. Known for recruiting novices from the poorer ranks of society, the Theracant's Guild is a highly stratified and organized society guided by principles of healing others and doing no harm. They are known, however, to collect the blood of the people they heal, giving them power over those bodies, should they choose to use it--thus the common derogatory term for theracants: witches. |
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Language:
While theracants generally speak the same tongue as the rest of Serei--or learn it, when they are recruited from elsewhere--they are also rumored to have their own internal language, capable of being transmitted through long distances. Common curses: bloody, and rotten. Common expressions: Vessels know, and Her blood runs deep. |
the seilam deul
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Native region:
The high, arid peaks of Vyna's northern continent, in a string of cities built over the ruins of a previous, technologically-advanced civilization. |
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Appearance, Dress, Characteristics:
A tall, dark-skinned people with pale eyes, they prefer a clinging, dark fabric to protect from the weather and harsh sun of the peaks. They also typically wear veils, to protect against dust and promote a sense of uniformity among citizens. |
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Culture, Society, and Religion:
With a religion that glorifies logic and abilities of man to organize nature, the Deul have built a rigidly heirarchical society, encouraging uniformity within classes and gradually eliminating mobility between them. |
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Language:
Slightly sing-song (shared origins with Bamani tongues) and utilizing clicks. Common greeting: Greetings, brother. Common farewell: Laws guide you. Common curses: Scrap that, rusting |