The Sundering Basin Cultures
The North
Northern life is built on the clan. Loyalty runs to your kin and to the people you've sworn to, and a person's standing rests on honor and on what they've done in war. A leader is recognized for strength, reputation, and proven ability, and blood alone won't hold a seat.
Names. Northerners carry no family surname. A man takes his father's name, and a woman takes her mother's. Raef Sorensson is Soren's son. Brynhild Runasdottir is Runa's daughter. When the parent's name already ends in -s, only -son or -dottir is added, so a daughter of Valdis is Valdisdottir. The clan comes after, and it often matters more than the parent's name: Lucan Ulricsson of Clan Haldren. A person with no parent's name at all is a bastard by northern custom, and in the North that has real consequences.
Ranks and titles. Every ruling title is held the same way by a man or a woman.
Jarl: rules a clan's territory and commands its levies.
Hersir: rules a fortified hold and its lands, keeps warriors year-round, collects tribute, and enforces the law, sworn to a Jarl.
Thegn: a lesser landholder who holds land in return for service.
Housecarl: a professional warrior sworn personally to a lord. The oath is to the man, and it dies with him unless it's renewed to his successor.
Drengr (plural drengir): a warrior named by a lord, before witnesses, for proven valor. The title belongs to the man and goes wherever he does.
Husfreyja: the wife of a ruling house. She runs the household, its stores, its servants, guest-right and the children, and she holds the seat in her husband's absence. A ruling woman's husband who doesn't hold the title himself is her Hearth-Consort, with the same authority.
Lady is a courtesy for high-born women. A woman who holds a seat herself is addressed by her title.
Oaths. A binding oath is spoken in public. The one swearing gives their full name and lineage before witnesses, says exactly what they swear, to whom, and on what terms, and swears it before God, before the old gods, or before the witnesses themselves. The more witnesses, the heavier it weighs.
Living with winter. Hunting, fishing and foraging feed most of the North. Long winters mean smoking, drying and salting everything that can be kept, and in the harshest country, people move between settlements with the seasons. Survival knowledge is shared freely.
Writing. Runes are the common script of the North, cut into stone, wood and metal for names, marks and plain writing. Mages cut runes too, but a northerner can tell a smith's stamped word from a mage's sigil at a glance.
On the road. Unrelated travelers moving together through northern country often pass themselves off as a family, a husband, wife and child, to keep gate guards and curious locals from asking questions.
Giants. Northerners know that giants call themselves Jotunn, and Jotnar for more than one. It's the oldest name the North has for them, older than most clan histories, and it's best known in the far north near the ice. Northern tradition treats giants with wary respect. A giant that speaks to a person in human words is a rare and significant thing.
The Imperium
Imperial life is city life. Cities are the centers of government and trade, guilds and organized markets drive the economy, and a formal hierarchy shapes who answers to whom. Most Imperial citizens see law, order and civic duty as the things that keep the empire standing.
Noble ranks, highest to lowest:
Emperor or Empress: rules the whole Imperium.
King or Queen: rules one of the four kingdoms.
Duke or Duchess: governs a large province. Addressed as Your Grace.
Baron or Baroness: governs towns, minor holds, or strategic posts under a Duke. Addressed as my lord or my lady.
Knight: a warrior's title, held by men and women alike and granted by a Duke or higher. It carries no land. Addressed as Ser.
The Vale
The ruling culture of the Vale descends from a steppe warrior tradition. The Khan's ancestors united the land by strength over generations, and that identity of warrior culture, clan loyalty and the Khan above all survived the Imperial conquest intact. The Imperium took the Vale's military service and left its culture alone.
The Khan rules absolutely. The title passes within his bloodline and is confirmed by the senior Steel Lords. It's older than the Imperium and owes nothing to Imperial titles.
The Steel Houses are the great warrior houses descended from the clans the Khan's line united. The houses that submitted earliest rank highest. There are four:
Altan-Shen, in the northwest, seated at Ishkar. The Khan's own house, first among the four.
Qorin-Hae, in the northeast, seated at Haerun. It controls the northeast coast and the Shattered Sea trade.
Ao-Tenger, in the southeast, seated at Naranbay. It controls Kairun Bay and the Juntai Downs.
Kawa-Temur, in the southwest, seated at Kawatai. It controls the Narumori Forest and the western mountain approach.
Each house is led by a Steel Lord. Iron Wardens rule its cities, and Bronze Wardens its villages. All of them are addressed simply as my lord.
Women hold no territorial rank in the Vale. Their power runs through the court, through the Khatun, the Khan's consort, and through the Veil, the Dominion's covert arm.
Names. In the Vale, a person's second name is their house. Someone with no house has no second name.
Memory. The Vale lost its war with the Imperium and knows it lost. The resentment is kept quiet. It hasn't gone anywhere.