In one word, Grovelander culture can be described as quaint. While it is true that the Grovelanders are considered tough, direct, swear-ready, defiant, and harbor a take-no-funny-business attitude; their rough and tumble vocabulary, accent and outlook is just a symptom of their accepted way of life. Embracing their relatively peaceful and free way of life means that to ensure their warm and cozy living remains such a way, that they have to adopt a level of roughness needed to keep it as such. They question authority and social "set in stones" freely, never fold (be it bravery, patriotism or arrogance) to external pressures, and are always ready to defend their homes and ways.
This is not to say that the Grovelanders are a very serious and stern people, as humor and comedy is not only a social goldmine among them, but a respected and enjoyed art. Because of this, Grovelanders are both intimidating in a sense that they could be in an obligatory brawl one moment, while wisecracking the next with the very same people they were just fighting with.
Other than humor and a sense of toughness, the Grovelanders respect families and familial loyalty, be it with your actual family or a close knit group of friends which serve as your adopted family in a sense. Those you care about and enjoy being with are some of the first priorities in Grovelander culture, a symptom of their way of their close living and free way of life. This sense of companionship often extends down to the many pets of the Grovelands, often taking the appearance of a loyal cat or dog.
The last two things every Grovelander respects is the Grovelands themselves, and its cuisine. The quickest way to upset a Grovelander is to insult or destroy the Grovelands in an unnecessary fashion, but the quickest way to please a Grovelander is with good food.
Key ingredients to every Grovelander’s feast include various seafoods, butters, cheeses, potatoes, yams, cranberries (and jellies), beef, chicken, hazelnuts, turkey, venison, moose, garlic, onions, corn, pumpkin, maple, tomato, bell peppers, wild rice, spinach, green beans, peas, cabbage, carrots, oats, apples, ciders, and an assortment of breads, whiskies, bourbons, beers and pastries. Some common dishes include shepherd's pie, meat pie, steamed clams, baked fish, and an assortment of maple desserts. While not eaten, tobacco is also a regularly enjoyed crop.
As assumed, maple plays as vital a role in Grovelander culture as their other signature foods. During the height of winter, maple season begins -- and as such, festivals and large communal feasts follow the labor intensive work of turning the maple sap into syrup and sugar. Communities gather together for the large boiling fires and moving of barrels, just to reap the tasty rewards as crafty elders put forth their most creative maple dishes.
Other important seasons include the harvest season of autumn, and following the last harvest of the season is the traditional harvest feast. Usually centered around the fattest hunted poultry of the season (usually a turkey), the community comes together to put forth the best of their season in one large cornucopia feast. It is unheard of for cranberries and pumpkins to not grace the feasting table, being as integral to the tradition as the bird.
In the morning the Grovelanders usually sit down for a breakfast consisting of eggs, bread and a slice of meat (usually bacon or sausage), this can be washed down with chilled milk. Lunch is usually a simple meal full of vegetables and proteins to keep the Grovelanders working strong -- this could be a salad or seafood tossed with cabbage. Finally supper comes last and is usually a quiet affair (outside of feasts) done with close friends or family. Here the Grovelanders take their time and put forth their best dishes and desserts. Since suppers come earlier in the day (around 5), Grovelanders may have a snack before bed -- usually leftovers or a pastry over hot cider (spiced with imported Cinnamon if they can afford it). During this post-supper time, Grovelanders enjoy their many hobbies such as playing instruments -- often acoustic or stringed instrument -- for their close ones, whittling/carving, sports, singing, story telling (and sea yarns), and in the cities: watching theatre or drinking at a local bar.
Due to the many seasons of the Grovelands, the Grovelanders have an array of usual outfits to wear, from billowy buttoned/toggled shirts over rolled up trousers and shoes in the summer -- to fur or wool lined heavy coats in the winter. Most outfits are considered fit for either man or woman to wear -- with little regard for any gender role, and so it is common for men and women to wear the same form of outfits in the Grovelands. One such popular outfit in the Autumn is heavy pants with boots strapped over, with woolen socks and shirt, and maybe a long Autumn colored cloak over the whole ensemble. While there is no one way to do facial hair, Men’s hair tends to be cut short -- but even then, with the medley of hair and skin tones that make up the Grovelands, such uniformity in length is outdone by the variety of hair possible.
When discussing community, it is also important to discuss the family structure of the Grovelanders. As mentioned previously, Grovelanders have a deep respect for both familial ties and friendship, making their families as liquid as they are solid. Bringing friends into close family events is normal for Grovelanders, and as tight knit they hold their direct family, they are also independent enough to often find themselves making their own families or lifestyles at young ages (usually by their late teens and early twenties). It is usually unheard of for a Grovelander to stick around their parents home past adulthood without a good reason such as being a help for a farm, business, or medical/emotional trouble; the former two being the most common in rural boroughs and hamlets.
Other than this sense of independence yet respect in regards to family, social rules and cues regarding families are as varied family to family as the many personalities of the Grovelanders is. In the spirit of this variety, humans are not the only race that can call themselves Grovelanders (though often they are), as a sizable goblin population also shares the groves with the humans.
The Goblins
Much like the other goblins populations of Eae't, the goblins of the Grovelands prefer to separate themselves from the other races. Their usually deep self segmentation from the other races, however, does not run as deep in the Grovelands as it does elsewhere. The traditional goblin philosophy is the disregard and abandonment of the technical progress of civilization and to shun the large civilizations built by the other races in favor of a simpler more traditional living in union with the spirits of nature. This is often mistaken by the other races as a sign of stupidity, savagery or primitive living -- these assumptions not helped by the goblins’ stubborn nature against correcting or conversing with outsiders.
However, these stereotypes do not hold completely true in the Grovelands. Oddly enough and in spite of the Grovelanders harsh and straightforward honesty and way of talking, the Grovelands are a surprisingly open minded people, and in giving the goblins that level of respect, the goblins reciprocated. They lowered their defenses enough for the two peoples to coexist happily and converse in the grovelands -- with the humans living in their boroughs and the goblins in their discrete tribal locations.
Trade is common between the two camps, and while there are territorial disputes between the two at times, their coexistence is relatively peaceful. This level of cooperation with goblins is rare, and as such, the goblins would rather keep what partnership they have garnered with the human Grovelanders and in turn usually appear to aid the Grovelanders when outside change is threatening to disrupt this balance.
Other than that, the goblin Grovelanders also hold a deep respect for the grovelands, as well as their own sense of humor -- which can be found rigid or dry in their stark and serious goblin Grovelander demeanour. Unlike their human counterparts, the goblin Grovelanders utilize shamanism -- and while they respect the human religions, they harbor their own shamanistic religion based around the direct worship of the nature spirits. This pan-goblinic religion steeped in harmless rituals and deep respect for nature, the ancestors, and the spirits is called many things depending on the tribe and location. The common name in the Grovelands is simply “The Shaman’s Path.”
The Goblins themselves rely less on harvest and farming than the humans, but instead hold a tradition of hunting in the thickest parts of the woods -- isolated from passerby. Their sacred hunting bows are used to take down the many deer, turkey’s and moose of the Grovelands. What farming is done is done in spotty segments of the forest, where shafts of light break through the canopies.
Their respect for the forests goes in so far as they refuse to harm the trees of the land, opting to only use fallen branches and logs for their unique settlements. Because of this unique outlook on wood-use, their tools tend to be fire hardened and their buildings take the form of stretched hide and canvas rather than logs.
These yurts can be so large as to have different smaller yurts stuffed inside, or have a shawl wrapped around a ring of tiny yurts as to protect from wind and snow. Added to this, the goblins tend to decorate their yurts with colorful paintings of their communities past, present and future.
Leading these colorful settlements is the elder of each clan, along with their shaman. It is a rare sight for one of these elders or shamans to make their way into a Grovelander city, but not uncommon for them to have contact with smaller hamlets and farmsteads near their clan’s homes.
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