Culture name: Fravaria
Starting point: Where the Main River and Rhine River meet in OTL Germany, the Southern bank of the Main and the East bank of the Rhine.
Description:
Economic: As of right now the Fravarians are mostly a nomadic hunter/gatherer society with a few basic agricultural methods. They are discovering how to cultivate plants but have not quite mastered the art. There is no real idea of an economy right now, as the tribes do not make much contact with each other and when they do its usually in competition for hunting grounds, though it seems more and more that the various tribes are choosing to instead trade goods to each other rather then kill one another off as they meet.
Military: The Fravarians do not have very well organized military units. The chiefs of each tribe usually occupy the lead military role as well as diplomatic and domestic leadership roles. In times of defense most of the tribes people, excluding children too small to fight and the mothers of the children, will pick up what ever weapon they happen to have to fight off attackers. Though women often aid in the defense of tribal villages and nearby areas, it is most often the men, and more often then not hunting parties out looking for game that run into other villages (occasionally a woman will be a member of a hunting party, though most of the time women stay in the villages to care for the children and elderly, or go out to gather fruits, grains, etc.) and either attack to scare the rivals away, or attempt to raid the other village's food supplies and capture a few slaves.
Cultural: The Fravarians have a very basic, paganistic religion. They worship nature spirits (animals, trees, rocks, anything they find, though especially the spirits of the various rivers and streams) and recognize the solstices. They have a few elaborate festivals in which they sacrifice an animal recently hunted to the spirits to help them in future hunts and, during the winter solstice, they usually sacrifice a pair of virgins (male and female) in the hopes that the next winter will be a mild one and have plenty of game to survive on. The various tribes in an area may have different names for their gods and goddesses, and place different priorities and importance in different ones, though by and large they all practice similar rituals and have basically the same customs as each other. The main gods that the Fravarians worship are:
Valgyer (The God of the Rivers, a giant fish), Hrolf (The Protector of the Woods, a large Aurochs), Sache (Keeper of the Dead, a serpent), Solha (The Sun), and Loohar (The Moon).
An interesting rite of manhood that all young Fravarians must pass is to take down a bull Aurochs all by themselves, and to bring back his testicles as proof of the deed. (Which they will then eat raw at a coming of age ceremony to gain the strength of Hrolf.)
Priorities: Begin uniting the tribes into a larger Fravarian union/confederation.
Begin to develop agriculture techniques.
Develop better metalworking technologies.
Domesticate basic animals (dogs, sheep, etc.)
Starting point: Where the Main River and Rhine River meet in OTL Germany, the Southern bank of the Main and the East bank of the Rhine.
Description:
Economic: As of right now the Fravarians are mostly a nomadic hunter/gatherer society with a few basic agricultural methods. They are discovering how to cultivate plants but have not quite mastered the art. There is no real idea of an economy right now, as the tribes do not make much contact with each other and when they do its usually in competition for hunting grounds, though it seems more and more that the various tribes are choosing to instead trade goods to each other rather then kill one another off as they meet.
Military: The Fravarians do not have very well organized military units. The chiefs of each tribe usually occupy the lead military role as well as diplomatic and domestic leadership roles. In times of defense most of the tribes people, excluding children too small to fight and the mothers of the children, will pick up what ever weapon they happen to have to fight off attackers. Though women often aid in the defense of tribal villages and nearby areas, it is most often the men, and more often then not hunting parties out looking for game that run into other villages (occasionally a woman will be a member of a hunting party, though most of the time women stay in the villages to care for the children and elderly, or go out to gather fruits, grains, etc.) and either attack to scare the rivals away, or attempt to raid the other village's food supplies and capture a few slaves.
Cultural: The Fravarians have a very basic, paganistic religion. They worship nature spirits (animals, trees, rocks, anything they find, though especially the spirits of the various rivers and streams) and recognize the solstices. They have a few elaborate festivals in which they sacrifice an animal recently hunted to the spirits to help them in future hunts and, during the winter solstice, they usually sacrifice a pair of virgins (male and female) in the hopes that the next winter will be a mild one and have plenty of game to survive on. The various tribes in an area may have different names for their gods and goddesses, and place different priorities and importance in different ones, though by and large they all practice similar rituals and have basically the same customs as each other. The main gods that the Fravarians worship are:
Valgyer (The God of the Rivers, a giant fish), Hrolf (The Protector of the Woods, a large Aurochs), Sache (Keeper of the Dead, a serpent), Solha (The Sun), and Loohar (The Moon).
An interesting rite of manhood that all young Fravarians must pass is to take down a bull Aurochs all by themselves, and to bring back his testicles as proof of the deed. (Which they will then eat raw at a coming of age ceremony to gain the strength of Hrolf.)
Priorities: Begin uniting the tribes into a larger Fravarian union/confederation.
Begin to develop agriculture techniques.
Develop better metalworking technologies.
Domesticate basic animals (dogs, sheep, etc.)
