Arctic Over-culture [Crossroads]

[Mith]

Arctic Over-Culture

Background Skills: Craft (Leatherworking), Craft (Bone), Craft (Stone), Handle Animal, Knowledge (Religion, Nature), Stealth, Survival (Cold), Craft (Snow/Ice)


Background Feats: Endurance, Great Fortitude, Nimble Moves, Self-Sufficient

Native Language: Inuktitut (Tuniitaq), Norsq (Vinlindrs)

Bonus Languages: I do not know which ones we want to pick here., Icelandic

Mandates:

• Pay respects to all animals you kill, else bad luck will fall on you and your community.
• Provide what you can to aid your community. Everything may be shared with those in need.

Taboos:

• Do not disturb the dead, either by the disturbing of a grave with out extreme need (and an offering of repayment), or whistling at the Auorea Borealis, which are the spirits of the dead.
• Do not interfere with a person's private matters.
• Do not engage in activities disruptive to community affairs.

Description: The Arctic people are generally shorter then most other people, with dark skin and thick dark hair. Their faces are usually flatter featured and rounded, with high cheekbones, almond shaped eyes.

Clothing: Arctic Clothing is made out of animal hide, using caribou, seal, or polar bear. Sealskin is used to make the summer parkas and waterproof boots, while winter clothing is made from caribou or polar bear hide. Wolf or Wolverine fur is used as lining for winter hoods, as the fur does not frost up from the moisture in one's breath, making it a valuable commodity.

Grooming: Men and boys wear their hair at short to medium length, with some tribes having them shave the top of their heads. The women and girls wear their hair long and braided. Tattoos are common among various tribes, and are used as ceremonial marks to signify the first kill of various animals and to improve a hunter's success, to facial and arm marks of women to mark them as prospective wives, as well wards against sterility, with arm tattoos signifying the clan they belonged to. Specific designs can be found here

Psychology: The Arctic people hold the rights of an individual in high regard, as the individual knows what they need to do in order to succeed. As such, agreements such as joining hunting groups and other group tasks are non-binding, as the individual can decide to change their mind and go do other tasks, as they know what would be in their best interest to do at the time. An example can be seen in if one schedules a meeting with a hunter for the following day, and they get word that a caribou herd has moved into the area, the hunter may likely not arrive to the meeting, having decided that it was more important to him to go hunting instead.

Morality: The law of the Arctic people, which is passed on via oral tradition, as a written law is seen as fragile as the material it is written on, is divided into three categories: Maligait (What had to be followed), piqujait (What had to be done) and tirigusuusiit (What had to be avoided). If an individual broke any of these laws, the Angakkuq or Shaman may have to intervene to diffuse any bad luck that may impact the individual or the community. Everyone in the community knows the rules that must be followed in order to ensure the security and survival of the group,

Life: As a mostly nomadic people, the Arctic people migrate with the seasons to hunt for enough food to survive. Few permanent settlements exist, mostly at key trading points such as ports or southern trading posts, and mines. A few people, usually those who cannot keep up with the nomadic life, keep to the posts year round, while annual meetings of the various tribes at these posts occur when the migrating paths draw near to these posts.

The summer months found the Arctic people farther inland in small groups, hunting caribou and fishing using kayaks and whale hunting from larger boats called Umiaks. During the summer months, the Arctic use hide tents for shelter.

The winter months see dogsled as the main mode of transportation, as the Arctic people move to the coast, where they gather in larger communities for greater access for food, as they primarily hunt seals. The sled dogs (huskys) are also used to help find the seal breathing holes.

Arts and Crafts: Arctic soapstone, whalebone, ivory and stone carvings are highly valued for their beauty as well as their mystical value in shamanistic rituals.

Technology: Until the arrival of the Vinlandrs, the primary tools used were stone and some copper working. After contact was made with the Vinlindrs, knowledge of iron work had quickly spread, but at this time is limited to small items of great importance, such as the tip of a harpoon, or a strong knife.

Magic: The people of the Arctic region heavily favour divine magic in the form of Shamans and Druids to pay homage to the benevolent spirits of the land and to placate the darker ones, as well as Runecasting imported from Vinland. Other forms of magic are frowned upon, with necromancy being explicitly forbidden.

Love: Marriage is often arranged between families at birth, with the couple having no choice by the will of community. However, polygamy, open relationships, divorces, and remarriages were also known among the Arctic people, with divorces needing the approval of the elders before coming into effect.

War: Conflict between two tribes is usually carried out in merciless raiding, carried out by the hunters, with all members of the victim community fair target by the raiders.

Death: The dead are washed, with women having their hair braided, before being wrapped in caribou skins and placed on the ground with some small items such as combs, soapstone lamps, arrowheads, and other possessions of the deceased. The body is then covered by cairns to protect the body from animals. The Auorea Borealis is seen as the spirits of the dead, and whistling at the Auorea Borealis is believed to have them come down and cut off the whistler's head.

Newborn children are often named after recently deceased relatives to allow the deceased family member to gain a form of new life through the child.

Society and Culture

Leadership: There is no strict hierarchy among the Arctic culture, with decisions being made by the community as a whole. The opinion of the Elders of the community are greatly respected, as they recall how similar situations were resolved. Angakkuq or Shamans born with natural talents to commune with the unseen forces of the Arctic (Chosen in this setting?), are also respected for their advice, as they influence unseen forces to aid the community.

Social Structure: The men and women have specific roles assigned, with men doing the hunting, fishing, and construction of tents, homes, and kayaks, while the women cook, sewed, and raised the children. However, the length of hunting trips requires both groups were expected to know how to do the other's tasks.

Due to the harshness and isolation of the environment, the individual is expected to help the entire community, which makes the respect within the community extremely important, as there was little interaction with those outside of the community. The Arctic people use gossip and mockery as enforcement of social behaviour, expressing disapproval of the offenders actions. Examples of this can vary from gossiping, jokes and pranks as the offenders expense, doing their chores for them as a pointed reminder of how they do not carry their share of the work, or excluding them from communal activities, hunting, and sharing of food until it is determined that the individual had learned their lesson. In extreme cases, the community would move in the absence of the offender, physically isolating them from the community.

Family: Family is the strongest bond among the Arctic people, as without family, one would soon perish. As such, any ties of unity between two families is usually done with a wedding between people of the two groups, which joins the two families as one. Children that are orphaned are taken in by their closest relatives that will be able to provide for them.

Traditions: The Arctic people place great importance on songs and singing and storytelling, as it is a great form of entertainment within the community, as well as a way to pass on knowledge of previous generations. A respectful outsider can gain a good reputation within a community with a good song or story. The arctic people also have two forms of song competitions: Throat singing, a game performed among the women of the community serving as a means of friendly competition, and Song duels, which is used to settle a dispute between two men, as the women would settle disputes through the more informal methods of gossiping and social ostracizing.

Song Duels are a formal competition between two men, where each party would compose a song to disparage the other party, insulting their character, skills, or anything else that the individual would be sensitive for criticism through wit and humour, with no particular mention of the reasons for the conflict being stated. The songs were judged by the community, and the composer of the best song would win the dispute. The idea behind the song duels was really a judge of the individual's character by the community, with their virtues and vices on display as well as their wit and resourcefulness. The formality and composing time prior to the duel prevented the eruption of violence between the two parties involved, as well as forcing the people involved to reflect on the nature and reasons of their conflict.

In terms of physical resolution of conflicts, men would either resort to fist fights or wrestling. Both competitions are done in front of the community. In the case of the former, the two parties strip to the waist, and take turns striking at the shoulder or head until one party yielded, with avoidance of the blows being considered yielding. Wrestling would be done in a similar style, with both parties stripped to the waist, and wrestling in front of the entire community. The winner of the situation was deemed to have one the argument, and the matter was considered settled.

Other Races: The Arctic people readily accept strangers after they have proven themselves friends of the community. If one comes from a people/background that the people have had bad experiences with, they may have difficulty at first gaining acceptance, but once the individual has done so, they are readily included into the trust of the community. However, if one breaks that trust, the Arctic people will drive them out of the community, and will likely not accept the offender back. Due to the interconnection among the various communities, soon all communities will be reluctant to extend aid to the offender.

Religion: The Arctic People believe in the spirits of the land, and the variety of traditions that must be observed to keep things in balance. They view other faiths as the traditions for spirits of other lands, and influential religions have elements incorporated into the Arctic traditions.

History and Folklore: Sedna, the goddess of the sea was a giant who was cast into the sea by her father from his kayak. In desperation, Sedna clung to the kayak, and depending on the myths either had her fingers and hands cut off by her father, or they froze and broke off, and she sank to the deeps, and her fingers turned into the various creatures of the sea (walruses, whales, seals, etc.), and her legs turned into a fish tail.

Sedna is seen as a vengeful goddess to be placated in order for the hunters to find food, with the spirits of seals and other marine animals becoming tangled in her hair for her to release. Shamans can travel to her in visions to untangle spirits from her hair so that the hunters can have animals to hunt.

Language: Inuktitut and Norsq are both Agglutinative languages, where several root words are strung together to make one words that convey a concept that may take several words to describe in English.

Phrasebook: Examples of Inuktitut phrases:

• Inuktituusuunguvit? "Do you speak Inuktitut?"
• Naammaktsiarit "Have a good journey!"
• Umiaryuap Publimaaqpaga tattaurniq ammayaq "My hovercraft is full of eels." :small tongue:

Written Language: No written language exists for Inuktitut, but Latinized Futhark is used in written Norsq, and the Latin alphabet is starting to be adopted in areas of frequent contact with European cultures.

Names: Names are generally not categorized by gender, so boys and girls can receive the same name.
Examples: Yakone (Red Aurora), Tiquana (Adopted Son), Ataciara (Familiar Spirit), Amaqjuaq (Strong One), Nukilik (Strong), Anik (Seer), Qajak (Kayak), Qaniit (Falling Snow), Kamik (Boot), Nerromiktok (Soft to the Touch)

Find more Inuit names here

Cities and Settlements: The few permanent settlements in the Arctic are stone buildings that are located at meeting points for various tribes, trade posts with other nations, or mines. All other communities in the Arctic are nomadic communities, moving to follow the available food sources. During a gathering of many tribes, the stone buildings would be to the center of the settlement and used as a communal hall and storage of goods, with the tribes setting up their tents or igloos in the area surrounding the permanent buildings. Outside of these gathering points, the Arctic people will have temporary settlements of tents or igloos, depending on the season, allowing them to migrate depending on the migration of the animals.

Economy: No form of currency exists among the Arctic people, who instead use a barter system, trading for items of equal worth, or for a promise to give aid at a future point.

Example city: Iqaluit "The Place of many fish": A small located on the mouth of the Sylvia River on the South East Baffin Island, Iqaluit is a great trading post for the the people of the Arctic, as it serves as the central gathering point for the Tuniitaq. The large harbour allows for trading between the Tunnitaq and the Vinlandrs, as well as a few traders from other nations willing to ship their goods either by sea, or overland to Hudson Bay and then further north to Baffin Island.

Creating Characters: Favoured classes of the Arctic People are the Hunter and the Chosen.

Special Options: (I have no ideas for what a good special option would be for this culture. Any ideas?)

[Mith]

[reserve if needed]

[Mith]

[reserve if needed]

You can post after this.

[Admiral Squish]

Right! Let's get into it, shall we?

You've got a few good points to start with, plenty to get you moving in the right direction.

For skills, the culture isn't supposed to grant bonuses, just a couple skills that you can treat as class skills. For arctic cultures, I'd say you'd definitely want Craft (Leatherworking), Handle Animal, Knowledge (Religion, Nature), Stealth, Survival (Cold). Oddly enough, swim probably wouldn't be on there, since the water's cold enough to kill you if you're not careful.

Feats are tougher. Let's say... Endurance, Great Fortitude, Nimble Moves?, Self-Sufficient... Hmm. Not a lot of great options. Maybe we can make something to fill in gaps.

Now, on the softer stuff.

Soapstone and whalebone are a good start. You could mention ivory, there's walruses up there.

I don't think iron would be the primary material used for tools. Like I mentioned elsewhere, mining, refining, and forging are all specialized tasks that require a lot of infrastructure and a food surplus. I suspect iron would definitely be more common, but it would mostly be small, well-cared-for things, like an ulu, a harpoon-point. things that can be used over and over again. It's very unlikely you'd find iron-tipped arrows or large iron items like swords or axes.

The magic part sounds pretty solid.

The love bit doesn't seem to really talk about love all that much, it seems more focused on the family structure. What I found seemed to say most relationships were more about mutually assured survival than love, and that the families didn't join, rather, one of the ones getting married moved out into the other family's abode.

Religion sounds pretty good. There's one line I particularly liked in an article about inuit beleifs. It was something like "The inuit don't 'worship' their deities, so much as they 'accept'.". Basically, the impression I got was that the inuit regarded the spirits and the deities much like we view gravity, as forces entirely out of their control, forces that act in a way they can describe through legends. Some shamans might be able to intervene in times of dire emergency, but for the most part, they weren't given all that much thought or attention.

It's a great start, I look forward to seeing more of it filled out!

[Mith]

I don't think iron would be the primary material used for tools. Like I mentioned elsewhere, mining, refining, and forging are all specialized tasks that require a lot of infrastructure and a food surplus. I suspect iron would definitely be more common, but it would mostly be small, well-cared-for things, like an ulu, a harpoon-point. things that can be used over and over again. It's very unlikely you'd find iron-tipped arrows or large iron items like swords or axes.

Fair enough. I was more going on the basis that there is a fair amount of iron in the Canadian Arctic, and with the knowledge of iron working from the Vinlandrs, that would spread quickly through trade.

[Admiral Squish]

Fair enough. I was more going on the basis that there is a fair amount of iron in the Canadian Arctic, and with the knowledge of iron working from the Vinlandrs, that would spread quickly through trade.

Well, actually... I suppose the availability of iron would largely depend on just how bit we end up making the tuniit empire, and how many slaves they can hold and feed. Still, don't put too much focus on it immediately.

[Mith]

Updated some sections.

I am not certain about how to do lifestyle, since it varies on the group. The Dorset culture (The Tuniit) were known in the Inuit culture to build large stone houses, while the Inuit generally build small houses out of hide and whalebone, tents, and igloos, and then there is the Vinlandrs. What would you suggest with regards to the cities? Perhaps a few trade centers across the land that are only seasonal?

[Mith]

So I have updated this the best I can at this time. I am not certain how to fill out some of the sections, either because I cannot find good information, or because I am not sure what will stay and what will go in the mixing of the Crossworld Contact. In the Psychology section I have put a link to a really good source if people want to try thier hands with the empty sections and see if they can write something up.

It looks like it would be a lot of fun. Social norms is completely against anything that traditional adventuring parties do. It would be hilarious to have one drop in the middle of this.

[Admiral Squish]

Alright, looking pretty very nice and complete there! Let's get into it.

Skills: Hmm. Maybe we should just say 'craft', rather than a specific kind. I don't think bone and stone are particularly broad categories.

Taboos: How does one define 'disruptive activities'?

Description: For the arctic over-culture, the description should just revolve around the native humans. Vinlandr and tuniit subcultures will deviate from this part, but this is supposed to cover the average person of the culture, not the exceptions.

Clothing: Nice details here! I love it, really helps you think about their perspective.

Psychology: I'll definitely have to take a look at that and check it out in detail.

Leadership: Yeah, I'd say Angakkuq are probably a specific cultural take on chosen.

Traditions: I gotta say, song duels sound pretty rad. Kinda like rap battles, but slightly more artistic. Anyways, I could definitely imagine arctic bards being a big deal.

Relations: It seems like a good write-up, but most of this stuff seems like it would go better under 'relations'. 'Other races' is more about nonhumans and how the society intracts with them. Giantkin, little folk, touched, moose-taurs, and so on.

Written language: Weren't we going to have Norsq runes end up being used throughout the arctic? It would hardly be common, but the local shaman or wise man might know it.

Much better and more complete than the first time, great work!

I can't honestly imagine a culture where adventurers WOULDN'T make things weird and/or hilarious.

[Mith]

Holy Walrus Batman, it's an update!

So, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the Dorset Culture mainly settled the coastline, where they hunted larger sea mammals for food. So perhaps the Cities would all be found along the coastline, potentially by rivers and lakes, as they provide a source of clean water?

Other settlements would be the temporary settlements that are set up at by smaller hunting parties throughout the year.

[Admiral Squish]

Holy Walrus Batman, it's an update!

So, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the Dorset Culture mainly settled the coastline, where they hunted larger sea mammals for food. So perhaps the Cities would all be found along the coastline, potentially by rivers and lakes, as they provide a source of clean water?

Other settlements would be the temporary settlements that are set up at by smaller hunting parties throughout the year.

I think the vast majority of all arctic settlements are near or on the ocean. But yeah, I do think the Dorset definitely would have started with purely coastal settlements. I imagine getting bow and arrow technology from the Thule would allow them to extend more inland and diversify their dietary options with meat like deer and possibly feral mammut, but they would likely have remained largely coastal. What, in my mind, would take them from loosely affiliated hunter-gatherers into a major power in the north would be basic agriculture techniques gathered from the Vinlandrs. With abundant slave labor, they've got exactly what they need to maximize the benefits of agriculture. I'm imagining they expand dramatically at that point, moving inland and south as they set up plantation-settlements along the way. Surpluses lead to labor specialization, which allows for miners, smiths, a professional military, everything a budding empire needs. In the end you have small permanent towns of stone buildings, filled with giants and their human slaves, growing crops, hunting, and working their trades, using metal tools and weapons.... The original ocean-side settlements might have flourished into proper cities, or they might have faltered and failed as resources shifted inland. I could even imagine temporary hunting posts surrounding the settlements, posts that hunters can operate out of during different hunting seasons.
Honestly, it might look kind of European if you ignored all the signs that they approached this state from a very different angle. Sort of convergent cultural evolution. They would obviously have some dramatic cultural differences, though.

[Agent 451]

Just wanted to chime in about the use of iron by North American Arctic cultures. There is archaeological evidence for the utilization of meteoric iron by the Dorset. Obviously this type of resource exploitation is very different from those that the Norse would have utilized in order to make iron implements. The artifacts that have been found (to the best of my limited knowledge on Arctic archaeology) tend to be small knife blades and projectile points.

[Mith]

Thanks for the info! I will look into that. I am not sure if I will be using that in this setting, as the amount of iron the Dorset would gain from any finding would be pretty small, and would not always survive all the way to post Vinlandr Contact.

[Mith]

SO I have updated the OP in all categories except for the example settlement. I might leave that until I have time to figure out where a good trading post location would be. The Morality section will be updated at some point, since I have to mull over the information I have in order to come up with better wording.