Barazon
Barazon [Bar-a-zon]
“What is the beginning-is the end.”
The Barazon are the majority of Imperial Royalian citizens. They inhabit the
provinces of Bavra, DormuKai, Mordovia, Taschair, and Mazyr.
The Living Code
They follow a code of conduct called the Vesiput Code. The Code requires that
all Barazons are taught self-control, loyalty, and honor. In accordance with the
Vesiput, hospitality was and is particularly pronounced. A guest is not only a
guest of the host family but equally a guest of the whole village and clan. Even
enemies are regarded as guests if they enter the home and being hospitable to
them as one would with any other guest is a sacred duty. This is a matter of
one’s honor.
Every Barazon arises when someone enters the room,
providing a place for the person entering and allowing the newcomer to speak
before everyone else during the conversation. In the presence of elders and women respectful conversation and conduct are essential. Disputes are
stopped in the presence of women and domestic disputes are never continued in
the presence of guests. Barazons do not touch one another in public and will bow
in greeting to one another.
Blood-revenge, a version of ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,’ had a bearing
on keeping the peace and made sure that human life was respected, some say
revered.
The passage of time furnished an aura of veneration on both men and women.
Elders were treated with the greatest deference. When an older person entered a
room or approached a gathering, the young ones arose in respect. No one was
allowed to sit unless permission was granted by the entrant.
Virtues are no less contagious than vices.
There is an overall refusal to consume alcohol, opium, and tobacco. If they are
used, they must be done with precise control, and overindulgence is seen as the
person lacking self-control, dignity, and honor.
An honorable life may be seen as part of one’s constant preparation for death —
to die a good death with one’s honor intact, the ultimate aim in life. Respect
for hierarchy is very important. Duty and devotion to one’s parents and Gods
were often associated with one’s devotion to the state.
Your honor – it is your face. Honor and dignity are not begging,
and not being bought, and deserved every day. But you can lose it for a moment’s
error. Whether you are a man or a woman, you should cherish and preserve your
honor. In honor can I sacrifice my life, but never – on the contrary, because
Royalians cannot live dishonored. For how can a living body, losing its heart?
History
Be stronger and smarter enemies.
Ruled by the Vivessians for centuries, their reverence and loyalty to their dead
and to the God of Undead were strictly outlawed. No Barazon could rise through
the ranks as all was based on lineage. Hovan Royale was born to a human woman,
son of the Fallen Arch angel Eirdandri, he would rebel against the Vivessians
with overwhelming odds. The Vivessians had always been a minority with the
majority of the power.
Hovan would create a system of power where knowledge
and duty would reign and any who showed greatness in military or civil service
could rise.
Replacing nobility of blood with
nobility of virtue.
A state built upon a bedrock of honor.
Relationships
Public displays of affection are not overly common in traditional Barazon
society, especially between lovers.
For marriage, a man and his father would bring betrothal gifts to the house of a
woman, including a sword, a treasured sword, an ornamental quiver, a sword
guard. This gave every married woman a sword of her own if or when she is called
to service by the Empire or must protect her hearth and home.
The Barazon may practice polyandry, polygyny, or monogamy. A woman may marry
male siblings to avoid the division of property or to provide financial
security. This may also happen where a man marries several daughters of a
household in which there is no son or heir so that the fortune is not dispersed.
However, monogamy is more common throughout Royale. Marriages are sometimes
arranged by the parents if the son or daughter has not picked their own partner
by a certain age.
When a child is born, they have no strict preference for a boy or a girl. Some,
however, prefer a daughter for she stays in the house of her parents once she is
married. Her husband is the one who moves to the house of his parents-in-law.
It is a woman’s responsibility twice a year to tidy the graves; that is look
after the graveyard and sweep out the tombs. This has become a national festival
where the dead are ritually cared for.
The Barazon have one important rule of burial; do not bury the dead with anything metal as the land will not take
the metal back.
Vogdashnen
A compulsory item in the costume is the ritual dagger and a sword. Women will
always have their Vogdashnen, ritual dagger on their person
but may not always carry their sword.
What he carries in his belt is a symbol of what he
carries in his mind and heart,–loyalty and honor. The dagger meant duty, pure and simple.
All those who die by the Vogdashnen,
(in the ritual of slitting their own throat with the dagger,) rise as
intelligent undead to serve in the King’s armies.
The Imperial Sacrifice
A firstborn child of the Emperor is named shortly
before the newborn’s spirit is returned to the Amaranthine River. This is done
by each Emperor in, “Royal
subordination of the Heart in servitude to the Royalian People and the Lord of
Darkness, Nanqa.”
This is a physical and painful display of the doctrine of service–the serving of
a cause higher than one’s self. The sacrifice is a manner in which the royal
family actively shows their loyalty, duty, and honor to a people who would
return said loyalty by offering their lives and undeaths in battle for the
Empire.
The Sovereign should serve the divine as they serve the people,
the ministers of state should serve their sovereign, the divine and the people,
and the people must serve the divine, the ministers, and their Sovereign.
_______________________
Additional Traits:
The Royalian Devotion:
"Lord Nanqa, we are yours now and in our deaths, our lives and unlives are yours and yours alone. To serve is our purpose and in honor do we serve now and forever."Royalian Defender:
You have served the minimum 2 years in the Royalian military . You know just where to aim to do the most damage. You gain a +1 trait bonus on all rolls to confirm critical hits with all trained weapons.
Additional Info:
All Royalians who live by the Vesiput Code /and/ have taken part in the Devotion have the Vogdashnen, a curved dagger on their person at all times. 1d4 DMG Critical 19-20/x2
All Original names and references to the story they are from are Copyright of Nathanial Davidson.
