[center] Ralda – Cultural Information

[b][u]Local foods[/u][/b]

[b][i]Sea Food[/i][/b] (Shrimp, Fish {Flounder, Perch, Herring, Cod}, Lobster, Crab, Prawns. Often served with limes, or lemon, and flavoured with wild herbs, such as rosemary, mint, basil, and oregan.

[i][b]Wild Boar Bacon[/b][/i] (Wild Boars are a nuisance in Ralda, and to prevent them from destroying farmer’s fields, they are aggressively hunted, and the most prized part of the Boar, is the delicious, fatty, meat obtained from the belly. The bacon is prepared like most other, such as tamed pigs, but it is darker in color, and mixed with honey, and sugar for a sweeter taste, along with pepper for spice.)

[i][b]Venison[/b][/i] (Most people prefer not to eat their cattle unless they have to, as it can fetch a higher price at market if they fall on hard times. The abundance of deer in Ralda is significant, and much like the Wild Boar, are hunted aggressively to prevent the deer from eating their crops, especially if corn is grown. Almost every meal contains vension, from vension stew, to vension steaks, and even vension jerky.)

[b][u]Customs[/u][/b]

[i]Throwing of the Fruit Festival[/i]

	The residents in Ralda throw rotten fruit, and vegetables that are rotten, or spoilt, at one another at the end of summer. This event takes place throughout all of Ralda; though this is a treasured festival, and a much enjoyed tradition, it does lead to an average of five deaths per year. No one knows how this happens…

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

[i]Nobles[/i]

	Men, and women alike in Ralda wear loose fitting garments, that are draped across their shoulders, much like togas, but more refined. Women are often seen wearing jeweled armbands, heavily detailed earrings, and countless rings, though most noble men forgo adorning their persons with jewelery, save for a necklace, or a ring. Leather sandals, or finely crafted boots are the preferred footwear for most nobles in Ralda.

[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, or if they are poorer, they go without any footwear whatsoever. In the winter, they cover their heads with sack-cloth hoods, and hand-wraps for gloves.


[i]Legends[/i]
The Tale of the White Banshee

	Long ago, in 1000 B.R., across the hilly landscape, to the mountains in the south-west, lies an ancient, stone fortress. This fortress, known to local’s in the area, was once called, Corshire Fortress. The fortress was built by the Corshire family, a once noble family, now long gone. For five generations, the Corshire’s lived without trouble in the fortress, until a man travelling through the countryside, called upon the nobles to rest inside. The Headmistress of Corshire Fortress, Lady Nadina, agreed. She was married to a powerful Lord, and was quite young herself, only being 23, in age. Upon allowing the passing traveller refuge in her fortress, the man revealed to her that he was a seer, and asked her if she wished to see her fate. Skeptical about whether the man was telling the truth, Nadina couldn’t suppress her curiosity. Relenting, the mysterious man sat her down at a stone table in her court yard, and proceeded to read the lines in her hand. He clucked his tongue disapprovingly. When she inquired what he saw, he simply stated, that he needed to consult his runes. Drawing out a curious, black, velvet pouch, the man drew out seven stones, each with ancient markings, those of which Lady Nadina had never witnessed. Again, he shook his head disapprovingly. Finally, he told her what he read in her future.

“You will bear seven children. Each of them will be cursed. And they will all die. You will lose your mind, and turn to madness.”

	Upset at hearing his negative words, Lady Nadina cursed him with foul language, and had her guardsmen personally escort the man out of her fortress. Little did she know, she was already pregnant with her first child. For the next seven years, Lady Nadina bore a child every year. She paid no to heed to the seer’s words, and regarded them as folly.
However, when her first child passed in a freak hunting accident, she began to grow apprehensive, and worried that the foretold prophecy might be coming true after all. In an attempt to protect her children, she assigned guardsmen to accompany them day and night. Yet, for the next seven years, each child passed away under strange circumstances. One child drowned in the river, another from a fencing accident, another from falling from a horse, and cracking their skull open. One-by-one, until her last child perished, Nadina slowly lost her sanity as she could not bear the pain of losing all of her children. Lastly, her husband, Lord Gustav, perished as well, from falling off the ramparts of their fortress, and plummeted to his death.

	It is said, that when her last child died, from falling out of an open window, Nadina screamed for days on end. She banished all of her handmaidens, and even the guardsmen. How she managed to keep her voice, and continue her bouts of maddening screams, no one knows. They whispered that by shunning the seer from her fortress, Nadina was cursed. Others say that by letting in the seer, who, to many, was a dark mage in disguise, cursed her from the beginning. Days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, then months to years; yet, the screams of Lady Nadina could still be heard echoing across the landscape. When travellers pass by Corshire Fortress, many are overcome with fear, and grief. If one lingers long enough, as others have done in the past, they say they see a mysterious figure, dressed in white garments, floating along the rampart walls, or hovering in the now-broken windows. No one dares to trespass in the fortress, for fear of being cursed, like that of Lady Nadina. Many parents use this tale to warn their children of trusting individuals whom they do not know, others use it to warn them about the potential dangers of using magick, or falling victim to it.

[/center]