Tubor

The Lord Paramount of Tubor, Pairin Talshar, knew the Lithmorrans were going to attack his mainland cities once he heard of King Dav's Declarations. When it came time to decide what to do, the Court was drawn in half. The Lords of the Mainland, as they were called, particularly the Duke Jaren of Vandago, opposed fighting the soon to be hostile neighbors. The Duke Jaren claimed his lands could not hold out against King Dav and his army, but the Paramount and the Lords of the Isle said otherwise. This rift caused a break in the Kingdom of Tubor, and soon Duke Jaren was sipping from the Lower Springs, and his Dukedom of Vandago (along with the other mainland cities) had fallen graciously into King Dav's hands without the loss of a single knight.

The Paramount and the Lords of the Isle would not give in so easily as did the Duke Jaren. It would take the King several long years of fighting in a series of campaigns, later called The Wars of the Isle, to take the rest of the Tubori lands.

The Wars of the Isle were actually a two-part campaign, the first of which was run by Duke Jaren. To him fell the task of conquering the remaining Tubori lands on the mainland, which he did with gusto. The Duke proved as able a commander for the King as he would have been for the Tubori, and soon all of Tubor's mainland holdings were under the flying golden chalice of Lithmore's flag.

Tubor City
"The Island Jewel" and now the Ducal Seat of Tubor. The bay upon which this city rests is known as Elliueh's Womb by the lower-class Tubori and as Lightwater Bay by everyone else. These waters are calm, and represent the heart of Tubor and the focus for much of their culture and larger scale events.

Architecture
The Tubori are not known for grand monuments and edifices to stand the test of time because hurricanes and tsunamis are ever possible and would destroy all the work in the first place.

Housing for all but the most wealthy is constructed of local wood, usually elevated on posts in case of flood, with stairs leading up to the main door. Windows are copious and shuttered so that air and sun can circulate. Roofing is devised from stacks of palm leaves or bamboo poles lashed side by side. While at risk for easy destruction in the worst of storms, these houses are just as easily repaired and replaced in the aftermath cleanup. Wealthy individuals, almost always either gentry or nobility, have homes made of stone with imported marble flooring. It is a mark of pride to have a white home, meaning a home made of white stone with tile roofing and no signs of the cheap and unimpressive wood construction materials anywhere in sight.

Typically there are four doors to any home, from the smallest hovel to the largest mansion, and a straight path through the space from front door to back, and side door to side, allowing all doors to be thrown open. In fact, a famous Tubori story calls for an angry suitor on the doorstep maiming his competition with an arrow for daring to serenade his bride-to-be from below her veranda in the back yard. Tubori houses also have exceptionally high balconies, verandas and porches, over 13 feet above the ground, to allow evening lounging while preventing many biting bugs.

Climate
The climate in Tubor is tempered by the ocean breezes, stay largely consistent throughout the year, and produces a pleasant, luxurious ecosystem. There is ample sunshine, although rain is also plentiful in the wet season which extends from the tenth month through the fourth. The wet season has more unstable wind patterns, heavier rains, and frequent tropical storms than the dry season, which in some aspects could be considered summer.

Gender bias
The Tubori are unique in that they have an absolutely neutral gender bias. Men and women are equals in their eyes, with their own benefits and attributes which are seen as neither better nor worse than their opposing genders. Peasant inheritances are divided amongst all the children, rather than preference being given to the eldest. The only deviation from that is in the case of the nobility who, affected by the Decree of Sodality, have come to follow the Lithmorran pattern of passing lands, wealth and titles to the eldest child.

Connections
A very social-based society, the Tubori are extremely communal and whom a person knows within a community is more telling to the Tubori than social class or individual wealth. The key to this culture is networks of people, and so Tubori typically know quite a few people and respond to situations through those people. Thus, bribes in the Tubori Isles are practically a way of life, and family often extends beyond merely those of blood.

Weddings
Marriages are a greatly celebrated event for the Tubori and huge affairs due to extended networks of both celebrants and gift givers. Also, Tubori marriages are almost always assured to be a love-match rather than cold, political arrangements such as the Lithmorran ones that the Tubori find so distasteful. Engagement and wedding rings are exchanged by both genders in the couple, and a year after the marriage, the couple holds a secondary, private wedding to re-avow their commitment to their union. Before the Consolidation, Tubori couples could divorce one another before the second year with no repercussions, though the spread of Davism has changed society somewhat. Now, while annulments before the first year are granted almost without question, the policy of first-year divorce has been greatly squelched.

Feasts
Being such a socially minded group, the Tubori love nothing more than an excuse for a feast, which can be something as minor as a fine fallow of swine or as major as the birth of a child. There is dancing and music, long yarns of epic and probably semi-concocted proportions, and ample quantities of food. A huge pig is usually spit roasted, fruits piled high in baskets, and roots baked and seasoned.

The Respite
In Tubor alone, a few hours after midday, all people take The Respite from their daily toil... An hour to sleep and relax. The Tubori believe that a siesta improves focus, productivity, and is a requirement for a civilized lifestyle.

Faith
The Duchy of Tubor, sequestered far away from the mainland, has allowed its religion to develop on an entirely different track than other duchies. Generally safe from mage attacks and more concerned with worldly considerations like pirate attacks on shipping and flooding, masses in Tubor tend to be far less virulent than anywhere else. It's common practice for priests to downplay the focus on magery and embrace personal vows of nonviolence. Anger is seen as a sin, and even Inquisitorial Questioning is performed with a minimum of emotional involvement. Much as in Farin, where geography has wrought certain predominant elements in society, the Tubori churches preach a sense of spiritual calm unknown in any lands besides the Charalin Plains. Perpetually giving thanks for their relatively easy lot in life, Tubori parishioners are led by their priests in shared prayers and meditative exercises. Given the scarcity of resources in Tubor, the priests exhort their people to remain calm and acquit themselves of the rage so common elsewhere. The most liberal of the sects of the Order, Tubori churches openly admire the discipline the Farins show; and they see the services in Vavard and Lithmore as backward. There are no public monuments to the Lord of the Springs in Tubor, and the concept of "public works" is generally unknown. Tubori tend to spread their wealth among the people rather than investing in buildings that might succumb one year to floods or tsunami.

Family
For the most part, the average family size on Tubor is directly related to the distance from the capital; those that live in the City of Tubor itself tend to have no more than three children, while the average birthrate of those who live on the opposite end of the island is approximately double that. Ties to the extended family are usually on the strong side, though they do not live under the same roof as the Charali do. Children usually remain in the city or town of their birth in order to remain in proximity to their relatives both immediate and distant. Marriage is never at ages younger than seventeen, though those who live in the capital tend to wait longer. Remarriage is almost unheard of unless one's spouse has died prior to producing any children. Both annulments and divorces are allowable due to the more liberal bent of the Tubori Davites, but they are still considered socially unacceptable except in extreme circumstances.

Fashion
What is commonly worn in Tubor would be considered nothing short of scandalous to Lithmorran eyes. Due to the general warmth of the climate, men and women alike dress themselves in light material, typically linen produced locally, although with the shipping ventures, the more practical sturdy cottons evidence themselves on shipdecks. When the weather is warm, arms are almost always bare; legs also, as skirts worn by both men and women are knee-length. Men and women both sometimes work shirtless, though women may simply bind their breasts flat with a simple fold of cloth slung around their necks. The cut of clothing is typically voluminous allowing for free air circulation, the preferred colors being white, light blues, bright greens, aqua and yellow. On colder days, robes are simply layered for more warmth. Jewelry is crafted from shells, coral, and glass beads; the local pearls are almost entirely sold away at export, too valuable to keep for personal use as well as not being to Tubori taste.

Landside common garb consists of a light shirt, a skirt, and sandals. Seabound Tubori are more likely to be found in cotton poet-style shirts with breeches, sea boots and some form of long socks. In either setting, brightly colored, fringed scarves, long and narrow, are worn by both genders, tied about the waist either as decoration or used as a belt. The ends are allowed to hang freely at the side, although on a practical note, if folded and tied correctly, they make an ideal place to hide small smuggled trinkets and coin. Only the upper-crust immigrant landowner gentry or nobility deviate from this standard, preferring light silks in the prudish, and admittedly hot, Lithmorran style. Tubori often joke that it's easy to spot a foreigner by their sweat as much as the ugliness of their clothes.

Hair dye is extremely popular among the colorful Tubori, a trend that began years ago with dye merchants who used their own hair to demonstrate the vividness of their products. The naturally dark hair of the Tubori can be lightened with lemon juice and sunlight, after which henna or other dyes can be added to produce a rainbow of color. It is not unusual to see even elders walking around with pink or blue hair.

Food
The Tubori diet is comprised almost entirely of local foodstuffs. Given the travel and shipping time, imported foods not only suffer spoilage, but also make them almost prohibitively expensive. Lithmorran wheat may be the only exception to this, although the Tubori frankly don't care so much for it.

The temperate climate provides the Tubori with lush foliage, flourishing with citrus fruit trees (oranges, pineapples, lemons, grapefruits), coconut and banana palms, berry bushes, and sugarcane fields. Exotic fruits seldom found elsewhere are also grown in abundance, such as mango, papaya, avocados, plantains, and mandarins. The fruit offerings are balanced with starchy roots and tubers like yams, sweet potatoes, taro and arrowroot. Protein is present in the forms of nuts, lots of fish, pork and fowl. The most commonly used flavorings are ginger, vanilla and roasted coconut shreds.

Morals
The Tubori aren't precisely amoral, but the average Lithmorran considers them less than honorable because Tubori society addresses status in less rigid lines. Status is gained primarily by age and networks of like-minded individuals. They do not see good and evil as such a clearly cut and dry issue as Lithmorrans do. In fact, they consider the topic of morality quite complex, as the relationships involved and benefit to the most people is a greater determinate of right and wrong than a set stricture of rules. Also, they are not given to the suppression of pleasure and enjoyment of life as a sign of an upright life. To deny oneself food, drink or company, or to live a life of self-imposed harshness is not only appalling to imagine but almost nightmarish to observe. There is no point to live miserably to affirm ones mores. They live with passion; Lord willing, they die with passion. There is simply no other way to live.

Interestingly, they do not consider marriage a prerequisite for intimacy. Conversely, they do consider marriage to demand fidelity by both parties in the union.

Trade
The Tubori maintain tenuous trade relations with the mainland. They take great pride in living a largely autonomous lifestyle, although the nobility prefer to maintain a more luxurious mode of living, typical to that found amongst the Lithmorrans. However, much of what the Tubori can provide is highly craved among the wealthy of other duchies. There is an axiom if there is something you want, either the Tubori or the Vavardi can get it for you. This is because smuggling isn't just an occurrence, it is a national pastime and a source of pride to be a successful smuggler at that. There are rumors of undercover trade with the Daravi and a lucrative slave trade as well, but if it is in fact occurring, it is indeed well hidden and privately gloated about.

Among the more lucrative exports are sweet wines, non-bleeding purple dye, fine glass, and pearls both white and the rare black varieties. The luscious fruits of the Isles, especially the citrus, pineapples and coconuts are considered delicacies by outsiders, although limited amounts are traded due to spoilage in transit. Spices and foodstuffs are sold such as coamjar, ginger, and vanilla beans. Goods of either practical or production value are also shipped out in the forms of whale oil, sea salt, tabac, hemproot, netting, palm baskets and sea sponges.