Spoiler :

Starting Location: Specified



Society:



Seshweay is broadly divided along “ancestor linage” which is idealized and is used primarily to separate the political blocs. So different cities and polities will claim different “ancestors” as the primogenitor of their respective group naturally those who claim the same ancestors are likely to get along.



Most of Seshweay is ruled by a patchwork of different Oligarchies who normally rule a city and surrounds but little else. There are Kings in some areas but none have a real power most are figureheads. The Oligarchies in most cities by custom admit anyone with the requisite amount of wealth, although those newly wealthy are often relegated to non-voting status. This has created conflict, with the people often siding with the newly wealthy against the old wealth, in some of the cities this has led to outright conflict.



This conflict between the new and old wealth has led to a steady stream of new wealth leaving the old cities and founding new cities. The old cities were typically built in the most defensive positions possible which hampered economic efforts. The new cities were typically built in the areas likely to generate the most wealth for those fleeing the conflict in the old cities (typically those who were still in touch with generating wealth) and those members of the common people who were interested in money making and not tied to the old Oligarchs.



Seshweay has four major factions; the traditional Red and Blue group of cities who are broadly represent the traditional homelands of the Seshweay and are mostly composed of old cities. The Greens and Browns are mostly composed of the new cities and broadly represent the furthest flung cities of the Seshweay. Of course this is not always the case, with Green and Brown cities sitting in the interior of the homelands constructed to exploit some important resource. Likewise on the outskirts of Seshweay it is not uncommon to find Red and Blue cities surrounded by Green and Brown cities. Compounding these problems is conflict between traditional ancestral enemies; it is not uncommon for cities of the same faction to fight against each other over ancient slights. It is furthermore not uncommon in an ancestral conflict to find members of every group fighting members of every group over the same slight. It is furthermore not uncommon in many of the cities to find rival groups fighting over the same slight, these city tussles are also not uncommonly erupt inside even cities uninvolved in the greater struggle. It is also even more bizarrely not uncommon in a war against a rival faction for cities to refuse to fight one another because of ancestral links and it is not uncommon for cities to fight on different sides depending on who is on each side.



Broadly speaking there exists few constraints on professions for people of different lineages, it is however not uncommon that members from opposing ancestral groups to on principle not purchase from other groups. If one keeps silent on the ancestor purported to have birthed that particular person’s linage then it nobody is going to know, although different lineages can have distinctive features but with mixing between the groups it is almost impossible by looks alone to tell.



Family groups are almost impossible to chart, given that families often split as conflict between portions of the family that claim descent from one ancestor conflict with another. It is not uncommon to find a mother and father fighting with words normally over the linage that a son or daughter is to claim, wars have started over such disagreements.



Lineage:



Depends on city custom, but generally on “influence” which is in short the apparent traits shared in common with an ancestor, women can also inherit although the chances of inheritance are markedly increased if the ancestor is female likewise for men it is easier to inherent if the ancestor is male. It is not uncommon for inheritance to just be given by mutual agreement to the eldest male or female (although inheritance by preference of the parents is common). The rich commonly resolve to keep the riches firmly in one child’s hands (this is a reaction to the stipulation that those sitting on the Oligarchies must have a set wealth or be able to hold that much in a set period or lose their seat).



Values: Seshweay society values Freedom (albeit a slightly warped concept of it) seeing the relative Liberty of the Oligarchies as infinitely preferable to the Tyranny of One (it’s enshrined in the Seshweay creation story and Myths, bizarrely Military service to the state constitutes an important part of maintaining freedom from Tyranny through serving a Tyranny). Seshweay culture also values Individual Independence (which is achieved in part) and Self Reliance (which in Seshweay society represents more a desire to only rely on oneself and family).



Religion(s):



Ancestor Worship is deeply ingrained into the Seshweay, from the Seshweay individually trying to model themselves on the “Majesty” of their ancestors, to the constant warfare between the different factions and to the fanatical attention to familial links. Whether or not it constitutes a religion is unclear, Seshweay have the beginnings of a priesthood but at the moment they are really only paid “worshippers” who constantly honour the chosen ancestor of the payee with whatever the ancestor preferred in life.



Language(s):



Seshweay speak one language, however from region to region it varies heavily with different dialects being the norm. The most spoken version is perhaps with a hint of humour “High” Seshweay spoken primarily by the elite in business and civil interactions it is characteristic of the Seshweay language as a whole; Complex.



Seshweay between Ancestral groups will speak to each other differently to those outside the group using different greetings and changing the formality of the speech and changing the verb endings and even in the more extreme cases omitting whole sounds.



Seshweay is characterised as a language group by its extremely complex sense of timing, events of in the past, present and future have sub categories, those events which happen in the distant past and in the close past have different sentence construction. Similarly events which are happening in the present and those which have been resolved in the present have different construction. Throw into that a completely different approach to speaking about the ancestors and possible futures and the average non-native-speaker is unlikely to ever learn.



The word Seshweay means variously, people, the people, the four cities which claim to be the only real Seshweay, culture, the world, the heavens and a great many things beside (what context it is being used in is generally codified directly after or before the word is used, generally, Seshweay humour is composed of forgetting to codify the exact usage properly).



Mythos: The Seshweay claim to be the only true people in the world, claiming that their ancestors were the beloved of the world (whose soul they murdered to be free after it became a tad to demanding) and were bought into being as perfect paragons of all that is the Seshweay. After the ancestors murdered the world soul they resolved that never again would they be governed by one that instead they would be governed by many (of course this failed with predictably bloody results) this lead to the first of the great wars of the Ancestors who breed soldiers to fight each other (the Seshweay proper). The Seshweay have not yet reconciled what the other peoples around the world are, but they know that the Ancestors didn’t create them therefore they are not people. Since the Seshweay were created as soldiers it is expected of them to be soldiers. The site where the battles were fought and the Ancestors lived in first is hotly debated with four candidate cities jumping forward all calling themselves Seshweay. Seshweay logic dictates that since the Ancestors had only themselves to rely on and lived in perfect freedom (the murders don’t count they ignore that leap of logic) it is therefore logical that all Seshweay should try to live in freedom. There is no inherent contradiction between them living under tyranny and maintaining freedom. It is also logical only to the Seshweay that since the ancestors initially did not rely on each other during the wars that Seshweay should model themselves on this they ignore the fact that the ancestors later teamed up to fight amongst each other leading in their logic directly to the current red vs blue conflict in the old cities and all the disasters that have followed since.



Economic Base:



The old cities are for the most part heavily reliant on agriculture and industries which compliment them, while the new cities are largely trade, raw resources and complex goods which are not related to agriculture reliant. Since the Oligarchs are constantly competing for the greatest show of wealth (while retaining the requisite amount) fine wares are therefore extremely sought after, leading to a game of one-up-man-ship.



Nation Names:



Seshweay, Seshweay, Seshweay (I’m not joking), Seies, Aysh, Tisesh, Shw, Esay, Pa, Paasa, Paies, Kesseihw, Sei’Sh, Se’Pa’Pa, Kesh’esh’Sei, Sesh’Ay’Tes, Nes’Sh’Ies



Person Names: Ta’Val, Kes’Se, Pa, Aya’se, Te’esh, Paa’Oa, Te’Tes’Nes, Viws, Ihw, Es’w.



Place Names: The River that my culture will be on is to be called Sesh while the sea is to be called Weay, the Island at the mouth of the river is to be called Seshweay, while the Mountains nearby are to be called the Eay’Val Mountains.