LBK:Culture

Although a few things are set in stone for the tribe/starting culture, many aspects are variable and in the hands of the players. The culture is the same for all of them and they all incur the same cultural advantages and disadvantages - so it should be a group decision.

Aside from, ofc, the name of tribe...

Musical style
Little is known of IRL music at this time. There is some evidence to suggest song and dance existed, and bone flutes have been dated to not much later in the timeline.

In addition to instruments/song/dance, also the subject matter, tempo/feeling, and purpose could be touched on here, even if it were to vary for each piece of music.

Heroes/folk legends

 * Emese: Emese, the wife of Chief Ögyek, was impregnated by an eagle named Turul. Turul appeared to her in a dream and told her that from her womb a great river would begin, and flow out over strange lands. According to dream interpreters, this meant that she would give birth to a son who would lead his people out of their home and that her descendants would be glorious kings.
 * Tellervo: a renown archer, the greatest in their history. She is the daughter of Taipo (a forest spirit composed of moss) and Mielikki (a huntress and healer). She could speak and dance with forest spirits. One day, she turned into an elk and danced off, never to be seen again.
 * Dula: the wise chief who led his people from the Volga to the Dneister, where they have prospered to this day.
 * Goncol: a legendary travelling shaman who could heal any illness, injury, or sickness.
 * Garaboncas: a male witch whose limited magic included summoning thunderstorms.

Beasts and spirits

 * A white stag which led two hunters on a merry chase. They never found the stag, but instead found beautiful wives.
 * Baba, a fairy-like creature that lives near water. Sometimes considered foul and likely to drown children.
 * Guta, a paralysis demon that causes heart attacks/strokes.
 * Fene, an illness demon who targets the wicked and saintly alike.
 * Turul, an eagle that guides people to prosperity.
 * Vadleany, a forest spirit that lure shepherds into the woods. She can be caught with a single boot.
 * Sarkany, a dragon in human form that kidnaps villagers and breathes fire!

Religion
The tribe must worship the mother goddess but how she is seen and what she represents, and also how dedicated the tribe is is up to the players when they define their tribe's culture. Also, ofc, their characters may vary in their individual religiosity.

Opting for/against certain aspects should increase/decrease various culture stats or unlock options.
 * Everything should have an effect.
 * The more things, the higher the religiosity (in general at least).

Other religious features

 * Animism: the belief that objects, places, and things have spiritual essence. increases religiosity, superstition, and the effectiveness of shamans.
 * Totems: can build totems (eg. standing stones, totem poles) and gain familiars but these are desired and, if destroyed, grieved.
 * Shamanism: the shaman can go full time but there must be a shaman
 * Ancestor worship: increases community but requires involved/costly burial rites.

Other religious symbols

 * Blue: represents unity, the sky, and water. The water must be fed sacrifices. Without blue, only ochre exists, which represents earth.
 * Temdeg: upright swastika. It represents peace, asceticism, and the five no-nos (non-violence, chastity, three others).
 * Fire: protecting from evil spirits and guarding the clan. It must be "fed" sacrifices.

Feature:
 * Tree: represents either the Tree of Life, or Ulgen (the Birch Tree). Both of whom are associated with connecting earth and sky. Ulgen demands sacrifices of horses in exchange for plenty.
 * Eagle: named Turul, represents freedom, power, and the flight to the future. (steppe eagle)
 * Bear: strength, wisdom, healing. bears are a manifestation of ancestors. They should be sacrificed and feasted upon to be set free. They can then return to the mountain happy and bless the tribe with bountiful forests.
 * Elephant: strength, community, wisdom, eternity. elephants are equivalent to humans in spiritual importance, no harm should come to them.
 * Lion: strength, earth, fertility, the underworld. grow your hair long like a mane. consume your enemies to gain their strength and ensure fertility for the next harvest.

Funerary rites
The locals, in the settled area, do this: women and children were generally buried beneath the floors of residences while male remains are absent (suggesting cremation or excarnation/cannibalism).

Here is a list of common funerary rites of the time:
 * Burial/inhumation: intact or involving excarnation. In cemetaries, mass graves, or around the house.
 * Cremation
 * Cannibalism
 * Left to nature (a la the Dakhma, 4k years later)

Clothing and equipment
To some extent, these could be influence by the above choices, but probably a good opportunity for the players to describe their own visualisations of what the tribesmen look like at this stage.


 * Which articles of clothing.
 * Colours/decorations for those articles.
 * Decorations for tools and weapons.

Ethics
A lot of these could be generated from any info provided by this point, perhaps some should be posed in a less formulaic format to the party. It might be an idea to lock down about half of them, to align with modern sensibilities.

Potential conflicts with modern ethics
Since enlightenment is anachronistic, but the players are here to have fun, perhaps some features of these historical cultures are better left for another story. The following are the most likely to cause discomfort among players:


 * Egalitarianism: mentioned briefly above, there is some evidence for a gender-based separation of roles and rituals. Whether this needs to be included in the game could be left to the players, or just decided to be left out. There is also evidence for equal/similar rights/roles/rituals.
 * Cannibalism was rife among some societies at this time and not the taboo that it is today in Western culture. If it makes players uncomfortable, it could be relegated to actions of raiders/madmen.
 * Torture is another feature that could easily be avoided if it would make players uncomfortable.
 * Slavery is yet another thing that is irreconcilably evil in the modern age, yet would have been very prevalent at the time. Does it need to be included?

What is a crime?

 * Let them consider what might be counted as lying, oath-breaking, and treason.
 * Torture or taking time with killing - in modern times it is easy to make death quick but when the best weapon you have is a bone club, this might have been a more common issue back then - does the tribe care? What counts as torture? Is it ok to use it to extract information, for personal pleasure or entertainment, for punishment?
 * If cannibalism is generally ok, is it also ok for one's own clan? Is it only ok in that circumstance? Is it ok, in the heat of the moment when an enemy has been defeated, to tear out their heart and take a bite? Is it ok if the enemy is carefully butchered, seasoned, and cooked?

Example Crimes
Here are some example crimes. The punishments could range from 'inconceivable', through various punishments, then 'personal matter', 'accepted', and 'required'. Not all characters need to agree with the tribe's attitude toward any of these, but it might create discontent if they aren't at least mostly in line with their own tribe's "laws".
 * Assault:
 * Drugs
 * Killing animals:
 * Lying:
 * Murder:
 * Oath breaking:
 * Slavery:
 * Theft:
 * Treason:
 * Trespassing:
 * Trophies of animal/Same-race/Sapient:
 * Vandalism:

Societal roles
Although professionalism didn't exist yet, there are some responsibilities that were assigned to only one member. A precursor to what was to come, perhaps.

Does the tribe have any of those roles? Allow PCs to reserve them, otherwise generate random NPCs for them. Though they may not have survived the attack, it's still important as they are likely to enter folklore or be mentioned once the position is re-filled. In clothing & equipment above, do any of these roles have special decorations or clothing that distinguish them as being in that role? What about for certain ceremonies?
 * Leader:
 * Commander/warchief:?
 * Shaman:?
 * Champion:?