The Culture Column
I must also admit to a bit of fudging and incompleteness here and there, and relying on the tendency for a mind to fill in the occasional unexplored detail on its own. If the details of how the milishi govern themselves in their villages is not detailed, you will likely without difficulty just slip in your own ideas of how a small village would govern itself, taking into consideration the rest of the society in which the village rests. Given that it's small enough for everyone to know each other, things might easily be slightly more democratic, or each family might have a vote either in all matters or to determine the village headman, or everyone above a certain age might have a vote. Likely you had one of these ideas, or something else entirely, pop into your head the moment the question of village governance was brought up.
And, of course, if too much is explained, it's harder to adapt them to the needs of your setting. As noted before, ease of adaptation is a primary concern with all of these cultures, and while many of them can simply be placed into the setting without making room for a homeland (the traveler clans do not need the milishi, and there are other cultures which will be in this column, which are similarly mobile or are cultures designed as existing within a larger one), even the rest are developed so that it is no trouble at all to simply drop them where there is a blank spot on the map, and then, based on the size of that blank spot, adjust their population accordingly.
A Further Note on Transport
Travel by foot is both the lowest and highest form of transportation. To need to walk with one's own feet from town to town is pathetic and appropriate only for the milishi and nupi (who are, of course, nothing more than milishi who refuse to remain landed like they should be. Even the camrelidji (who would contest the use of the word "even") move from place to place in wagons or on the backs of animals. However, even more prestigious than owning even a very fine horse is having a quartet of servants to carry you, implying not just the resources to hire them, but also the resources to keep them well-fed and clothed, and do so continually, and feed oneself and one's family. Not only are you essentially paying for a mode of transport for yourself four times over (and a mode of transport which has a higher upkeep than others, no less!), but you must still have transport at hand to carry all of your other supplies, including their food, your food, and the goods which you will be selling.
Even some merchant princes will forgo being carried by humans, choosing instead to put that money in something which will prove to be a far better investment.
Food
Sourdough breads and thick stews are the staples of the Traveler Clans, and the camrelidji and suritchi combine these two staples into a turenn, or "soup bowl." Turenni are loafs of bread hollowed-out and filled with stew (usually containing tomatoes, turnips, beans, and mutton, which is jerked even when it isn't part of the stew). As a rule, Traveler breads are as heavy as their stews, and a turenn can be prepared, refit with the top which was removed earlier, and be put away for nearly an entire day before the bread is in danger of coming apart. Caravans thus prepare their turenni ahead of time, before setting out on the day's journey, and remove them as needed during mealtimes.
Breakfast for both milishi and the Traveler Clans consists of flatbread, made initially with nothing more than flour, water, and salt. Either after the baking is done (in the case of the Traveler Clans) or immediately before eating (the milishi), the flatbreads are seasoned with pepper.
Horses and oxen are common in the possession of Travelers and milishi alike, and along with milish-raised sheep provide a source for meat. Horses are more common among the Travelers than the milishi, and so are consumed more often than oxen, but in any event both are raised for the purpose of labor, and eaten only after they can no longer serve this purpose. It is the suritchi who are responsible for infamous "blue chickens," named for the color of the feathers along the backs of their necks, and known quite well, thanks to a personality more suited to a hornet swarm, through any lands frequented by the Travelers. Whenever possible, the blue chickens will be surrounded by the rest of the caravan and the group will be continually prodded with long sticks at random, in order to keep them moving and give them only one direction to go unless they want to be flattened by everyone coming up from behind.
Music
Music centers around singing, or sirkeen, and has a one-two beat keeping with the motion of marching. Most songs have a lengthy introduction with only a single participant before moving on to the main body of the song, which is intended to be sung in a group and often contains numerous self-references in a plural form. The length of the introduction is intended to allow someone to suddenly start up a song and give others nearby enough time to get a feel for the rhythm before joining in (most songs do not have any single speed and, also, despite the one-two-one-two nature of sirkeen, there is a difference between, say, one-two-stop-one-two-stop and one-two-stop-one-two-one-two-stop).
There are a good many songs about how terrible it is to be alone, without even a milish to sing with (obviously, most milishi sing slightly different versions) and after waxing long on this subject, the introduction ends, and others join into the song as it turns toward one's own fortune, and the joys of a proper round of sirkeen singing.
Clothing
The milishi typically wear tight clothing primarily designed to protect them against the elements, woven from wool in the winter or plant matter in the warmer months. Across the two lower levels of society, belts are common, with loops to accommodate tools (milishi) and weapons (camrelidji, and arguably still in the "tools" category"). Both milishi and true Travelers put holes through the middle of the coins they use (even in lands where this is not, strictly speaking, permitted by the law) and string them through bracelets and use them as hair decorations, for ease of access and so that they can display their wealth.
The Kareli Clan: Camrelidji
Unlike other camrelidji, the Kareli are always up for hire: any amount of them, to anyone, for any purpose, for no longer than a year at a time. Because they do not deal exclusively with the suritchi (even some milishi have hired them), the suritchi as a collective people do not deal with them at all, and a suritch who does will find himself thrown out of his caravan and his clan, lest the camrelidji extend their new ban past the offender, and to the people who gave him identity.
They are used to moving around, and do not typically engage in open combat. Rather, they disguise themselves and attempt to achieve their missions with the most roundabout method possible in order to blindside their target in a place he didn't even know existed. In answering the typical question of whether one should go through the front door or the back door, a Karel will not answer "the window," as many people do when trying to come up with an unorthodox answer, but climb onto the roof in the middle of the night, and cut a hole through it so that they can come down from above. So long as the target is unlikely to have even considered that anything like it is possible, let alone set up a defense against it, the Kareli will consider it as a possibility, and they will develop several different methods of using that route should they choose it, in the event that one method or another proves to be unfeasible.
The Slupini Clan: Camrelidji
The Slupini travel, but they do not have a very great range. Employed by the suritchi of the Glaski Clan, they have been given the duty of circulating through the villages and lands frequented by the Glaski in order to keep the peace. They have been "in contract" with the Glaski for seventy years now, and are mid-way through their fourth contract of service. They enjoy a better relationship, as compared to other camrelidji, with the milishi who they protect, and many Slupini spend their time in specific areas, or wards.
They have a reputation for hawk-sightedness. There are about five more bands of Slupini than there are wards, and a band does not move on from its current ward until a new band has arrived to replace it, so that no ward will ever be left without a protecting presence. Situated near an often chaotic border, where raiding parties from one side or the other are known to come over to take supplies whenever hostilities between the two greater nations are rising, the Slupini are highly-valued guardians. The idea of gaining protection from the competent camrelidji is enough to make more than one neighboring area attempt to gain the patronage of the Glaski, in order to get the safety offered by the clan's guardians, but there are only so many Slupini, and the other two camrelidj clans serving the Glaski do not have the necessary prestige. Nevertheless, as the Slupini grow in number, the lands of the Glaski will grow as well, and it is only a matter of time before the Glaski become thomithi suritchi.
The Skuboli Clan: Suritchi
The Skuboli are a suritch clan which has abandoned land-based modes of transport entirely, having traded them in a century-and-a-half ago for wide rivers and the near seas. There are divers among the Skuboli who acquire oyster pearls and dye snails, but a tremendous amount of their wealth comes simply from fish. There are frequently comments (although never in their presence, except by the foolish or powerful) that they do not deserve to be considered suritchi, seeing as how they produce their own goods, rather than simply engaging in trade.
The Kameeri Clan: Suritchi
To walk from town to town is pathetic, but to walk around in one's encampment is hardly something to snicker about. Unless, of course, you are a Kameer.
Their camrelidj servants may not exhibit the same behavior, but this only goes to show the Kameeri that there is yet one more step beyond not walking on the road. From the time that a Kameer is able to acquire an animal to ride upon, he will only get off of it when inside his wagon or tent, and even then, he will go far to make sure that his feet never come in contact with the bare earth, which carries the danger of dirtying his spirit as easily as it dirties his skin. If the Kameer has a wagon, he will feel safe in not wearing shoes while inside it, but a tent is too close to the ground, and if this is where he must rest, he will only take off his shoes in the event that he is switching them for another pair.
The Kameeri also have a distaste for foods which have come in contact with the ground, and their ancient progenitors likely turned to vegetarianism after growing disgusted with the difficulty inherent in trying to keep animals from ever touching the ground. Even in a diet limited to plants, there are restrictions: Only plans such as tomatoes, or wheat, the edible portions of which rise above the ground.
Grissol Bulldogs
Far from being the even-tempered, small bulldogs which are most often known today, grissol bulldogs have much more in common with those dogs' ancestral stock, although their aggression is more refined, and directed primarily against strangers, like a Doberman, rather than at nearly everything, like many of the older bulldog breed. They are intelligent, patient, and attentive, which makes them excellent guard dogs, and the males of the breed weigh between 150 and 250 lbs and stand around 32 inches high, with slightly smaller adjustments (about thirty less pounds and three less inches) for females.
There are no other varieties of bulldog which have made an impact upon the traveler clans and so they are referred to simply as bulldogs in everyday situations. The breed is believed to have originated with the camrelidji, and some contracts between camrelidji and suritchi clans explicitly state that only one of the fighting people may have ownership of a bulldog.
Next Month: Shapechanging Others fleeing a war in Faerieland and bringing with them magically-produced drugs, strange artifacts, and magic enough to change the world completely if only it wasn't so limited, and the faeries so functionally insane. Also, carrots might be holy.
