Post by The Creator on Apr 9, 2008 18:50:45 GMT -8
The Atha'an Miere are headed by a Mistress of the Ships, roughly equivalent to a queen, but without a fixed geographic territory. Her consort and/or male counterpart is the Master of the Blades, responsible for trade and security concerns. Under this leadership, the Sea Folk are further organized into clans, headed by a Wavemistress. It is unknown at this time whether there is a clan-level counterpart to the Cargomaster.
A much less-known part of Sea Folk culture is that their vaunted porcelain is actually created by the Amayar, land-dwellers on the island of Tremalking, overseen by a Sea Folk governor. The Amayar apparently follow a pacifistic lifestyle very similar to the Tuatha'an Way of the Leaf.
Another little known facet of Sea Folk culture is that both genders go topless while at sea, and out of sight of the mainland. Presumably all of their passengers know this eventually, and keep silent either out of respect/moral outrage, or for more prurient interests. This fact alone may account for why passage on a Sea Folk ship is frequently so costly, although they are also the fastest sailing vessels in the land, and some of the most reliable (partially due to the unrevealed abilities of Windfinders).
The Atha'an Miere put a lot of emphasis on the "salt", or the sea. Each person has two names, a birth name, and a salt name awarded later.
Hierarchy
The Atha'an Miere have a fixed and rigid hierarchy, and are sticklers fror rank. The Atha'an Miere are headed by a Mistress of the Ships (informally called Shipmistress), roughly equivalent to a queen, but without a fixed geographic territory. Her consort and/or male counterpart is the Master of the Blades, responsible for trade and security concerns. She is also assisted by the Windfinder to the Mistress of the Ships, the highest rank an Windfinder can achieve. Under this leadership, the Sea Folk are further organized into thirteen clans, headed by a Wavemistress. She is assisted by their Winfinder and Swordmaster, respectively. Each ship of the various clans, has a Sailmistress, Windfinder and Cargomaster respectively. Even one who becomes the Mistress of the Ships, must begin as a deckhand. The rank of a Windfinder & Cargomaster is dependant on their sailmistress. The eldesst thirteen of the Sailmistresses of a clan elect its Wavemistress, while the thirteen Wavemistresses elect the Shipmistress.
A much less-known part of Sea Folk culture is that their vaunted porcelain is actually created by the Amayar, land-dwellers on the island of Tremalking, overseen by a Sea Folk governor. The Amayar apparently follow a pacifistic lifestyle very similar to the Tuatha'an Way of the Leaf.
Another little known facet of Sea Folk culture is that both genders go topless while at sea, and out of sight of the mainland. Presumably all of their passengers know this eventually, and keep silent either out of respect/moral outrage, or for more prurient interests. This fact alone may account for why passage on a Sea Folk ship is frequently so costly, although they are also the fastest sailing vessels in the land, and some of the most reliable (partially due to the unrevealed abilities of Windfinders).
The Atha'an Miere put a lot of emphasis on the "salt", or the sea. Each person has two names, a birth name, and a salt name awarded later.
Hierarchy
The Atha'an Miere have a fixed and rigid hierarchy, and are sticklers fror rank. The Atha'an Miere are headed by a Mistress of the Ships (informally called Shipmistress), roughly equivalent to a queen, but without a fixed geographic territory. Her consort and/or male counterpart is the Master of the Blades, responsible for trade and security concerns. She is also assisted by the Windfinder to the Mistress of the Ships, the highest rank an Windfinder can achieve. Under this leadership, the Sea Folk are further organized into thirteen clans, headed by a Wavemistress. She is assisted by their Winfinder and Swordmaster, respectively. Each ship of the various clans, has a Sailmistress, Windfinder and Cargomaster respectively. Even one who becomes the Mistress of the Ships, must begin as a deckhand. The rank of a Windfinder & Cargomaster is dependant on their sailmistress. The eldesst thirteen of the Sailmistresses of a clan elect its Wavemistress, while the thirteen Wavemistresses elect the Shipmistress.