Oaths and Customs — The World of Caldrith

You can place a stranger in Caldrith by what they swear on. Every kingdom curses by the thing that could kill it.

Galmar

“Salt and Sea.” “Sweet Waters.” “Sweet salt.” “By salt and sea.” “Salt curse it.” A Galmarian child is born twice: once from the mother, and once days later when the father throws them into the sea. Their dead are weighted with stones and given back to the water, because all the rivers flow through us, and all back to the Seamother.

Brevos and Evarra

“Sacred Winds.” “Sacred Wings.” “Sweet winds.” “Great Eagle’s Wings.” “Thank the winds.” The two kingdoms of the air hate each other and swear almost identically, which neither of them enjoys having pointed out.

Thevric

“Praise the giving earth.” “Sweet Earth and Soil.” “May the earth hold you.” In a kingdom where nothing grows, every blessing is agricultural. Nobody there finds this funny.

Valnor

“What your heart tells you to do, you must do.” Valnor keeps arok: nobility in life and in death. When one of their people grows too old to be of use, they walk out into the snow, and their people let them, and put it in a saga.

Dravendor

“Everyone pays. With blood, oath, or coin.” A Dravendorian will keep a bargain past the point of sense. Getting them to make one is the hard part.

General

“Under the moons.” “By the good earth.” “Thank the stars.” “Pfagh.” The last is not an oath so much as a professional opinion, and is favoured by sorcerers.

On the counting of time

Caldrith counts in moons rather than months, and in watches rather than hours, of which there are twelve to a day. The festivals worth knowing are Wintertide, when gifts are given; the springtide celebrations; the Day of Grace, when people lay candles and dried flowers and keepsakes at the foot of their kingdom’s statue; and the Longest Night, which is not a festival at all.

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