Ciheian

Society

Values: entertainers or athletes
Ruling class: the royal family
Worst vice or flaw: anger

Culture

Ethics
Good people are expected to be gentle and humane.

Evil is defined as recklessness, cowardness, and avarice.
Taboo subjects are physical contact, certain clothing, and more rarely sex.

Attitudes
The spirit world includes guardian spirits, benevolent ghosts, and sometimes folk magic. The average person avoids any spirits, but never is cautious about them.

The highest art forms are psalms, metalworking‎, and more rarely singing.

Adulthood
Coming-of-age rites require promotion to a certain military rank, performing an ordeal, and more rarely leading a private ceremony.

Education

Ciheians consider education to be highly important. To this end, all children receive basic education regardless of their social standing. Those who can spare the time or have the inclination for it can receive education beyond the mandated five years. They begin schooling at the age of seven, learning for a half day during the week and on the weekends when they can be spared from their daily tasks. Subjects include reading, writing, simple math, the geography and history of Ciheim, and basic law. Those with the aptitude for it may choose to study the arts.

Current Fashion

This style features formal, tailored tan and red-violet garments. Tops are typically long with high necklines. Piercings are popular accessories. Grey-green, golden-brown, and burnt orange are also common colors.

Marriage

Ciheians practice polygyny (one man + multiple women). There’s no set limit on how many women a man may marry, but he must be capable of providing for his household. As such, certain classes and professions are generally restricted in the number of spouses. The King is the only one not permitted to have multiple wives under any circumstances as it tends to complicate the line of succession. Marriage is based on common affection and considered sacred.

Initiating or arranging a marriage is usually a father's role. Most commonly when a man seeks to marry, his father approaches the woman’s family. Sometimes the woman’s father approaches a prospective groom. In cases where there’s no father in the picture the mother may step in. Marriages usually include auspicious date selection, but never gift-giving between families.

Funerary Rites

Rites take place no more than 3 days after death. There are extensive eulogies, and at least 8 days of receiving visitors. Bodies are cremated and then pressed into glass beads which are then kept in a clear bottle.
Life after death is dull and grey except for heroes, although minor sects say the afterlife is incomprehensible to the living.

The afterlife can be reached by living ferali.