[center]Telmarion - Cultural Information

[u][b]Local Dishes[/b][/u] 
Blank mang- a sweet dish combining milk, rice, almonds, chopped meat and sugar.

[u][b]Customs[/b][/u]
Rolling burning barrels down a hill on Midsummer’s Eve

[u][b]Clothes[/b][/u]

[i]Nobles[/i]

 Extravagant robes that are normally worn in a solid color, though no collective amount of people adhere to a certain color. Women wear elaborate headdresses of hair nets with pearls, or coifs, some that can afford to, adorn their head with golden headwear. Men, and women alike in the nobility wear fancy hats, as the more flamboyant, the more attention one receives. A favorite type of hat amongst the men, is either a small cap, or floppy, wide-brimmed hat with large feathers tucked into the hat band. It is not uncommon for men, or women to wear lots of jewelery all at once, many wearing three-to-five rings at a time on hand, with bracelets, and richly made necklaces for the women.
 
[i]Middle-class[/i]

Those that live in the middle class can afford better clothes than their lesser counterparts, the peasants. They can afford simple jewelery, often cheap, and brittle in construction. It is more uncommon to see a middle-class citizen wearing more than three pieces of jewelery, for example: one ring, one necklace, or a pair of earrings. Leather jackets are commonly worn amongst the men, and the women dress in simple linen dresses, with plain patterns, or solid colors. The same applies for men with their cloth tunics, lacking of detailed embroidery in most cases.

[i]Peasants[/i]

 The peasant people in Telmarion are lucky to afford a basic sack-cloth tunic, or a gunny dress for the women. They are lucky if they can afford a pair of boots, if not, they forgo that, and wear linen footwraps, or leather sandals in the warmer months. In the winter, they cover their heads with sack-cloth hoods.

[i]Legend[/I]

The Witch of the Grey Tower

	Long ago, during the first era in Telmarion, women practicing magick were condemned to being burned at the stake, as they were believed to be evil witches, that harmed innocent people. A noble family, by the name of Greywinter, bore a daughter, who from an early age, could wield magick. To prevent their daughter from suffering the flames of the stake, were she to be found out, they placed her in a tower, deep within the midst of their vast property. Inside the forest, there stood an ancient tower, long built by the family’s ancestors before recorded history. It served as a look-out tower for many generations, until their daughter, Azara was born. Then the tower served as a way to keep the girl inside. Her parents had a blacksmith forge an amulet for their daughter, then by the old ways, they were able to imbue the amulet with magickal properties, that would prevent the girl from using her magick. They still feared her nonetheless, and did not wish for their daughter to be found out, or for those close to the family to question the purpose of the amulet.

	For many years, she lived within the walls of the tower, where she was protected by two guardsmen, and she had a governess to look over her, and provide her with an education needed of a noble woman. As the years ticked by, Azara reached the age of seventeen, and she had begun to wonder what lay beyond the realm of her tower. To her knowledge, Azara did not know of her parents, or of her family that lived just miles on the outskirts of the forest. One day, as she sat gazing longingly out her tower window, she spotted a young man below upon horseback. This man was the first person she had seen other than her two guardsmen, and her governess. He too, saw her, and stopped her horse, and called out to her. The two exchanged words of friendship, and he vowed to return to her later, in a few days’ time. The guardsmen, and her governess did not learn of the encounter until a few days later when Azara accidentally informed her governess that she was expecting a visitor. To her dismay, the governess reacted in horror, and locked Azara inside her bedroom, preventing the girl from leaving the tower to meet with the mysterious young man.
 
	Devastated at the idea of not being able to meet the young man that spoke so kindly to her, Azara wept with anger. However, near dusk, as she sat languidly gazing at the sunset, she heard the familiar sound of hoofbeats below. There upon, she spotted the handsome man that had exchanged such friendly words with her. She called out to him in excitement, and he asked to come upstairs, for he brought her a gift, and even some food with which to dine. Before she could tell him that the guardsmen would not let the man inside, they exited the tower, and smote the man from his horse. She cried out in terror, and while the governess tried to comfort her, she could not be consoled. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and Azara would not leave her room. She did not understand as to why she had to remain inside the tower. Even at this point in time, Azara was not aware of her magickal capabilites, as she had never used them, due to the amulet she wore around her neck that suppressed the use of her powers.
 
	Azara refused to eat, which worried the governess, so she had the guardsmen break down her door. When the door opened, they found that Azara had thrown aside her amulet, and found her barely alive. However, they underestimated her capabilites, and when they rushed her thin, malnourished frame. Azara rose from her chair in anger, and with a fiery blast, torched the governess, and the guardsmen to cinders. In despair from what she did, Azara leapt from the window at the tower, and plummeted to her death. 
Many months passed before her father rode out to the tower to discover the reason why he had not received any letters on the well-being of his daughter’s well-being. Upon arriving at the Grey Tower, he discovered her decaying corpse, and lamented for casting her aside instead of loving her like any other child. He carried her body up the stairs, and laid her upon her bed, and left her there. To this day, some say that when passing through the Grey Forest, many can spot a youthful woman dressed in white seated at the tower window. Many have tried to gain entry, but the doors were welded shut to prevent anyone from disturbing the tower.

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