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Life In Kyr
PEASANTS
The vast majority of Kyrians are simple peasants living
in small, dusty villages. Although the cities in Kyr
are large and densely populated, they are spread widely
apart and represent only a small minority of the folk
of the empire. Peasants farm the land, hunt and fish
the rivers for food.
Most peasants are devout Kheyesaini and even the smallest
village will have an open-top hut for use as a place
of prayer and worship. Kyrian peasants are mostly content
with their lot and have a fearful respect for nobles
and their agents. Their religious beliefs make them
less fractious and less rebellious than the people of
Bereny.
Each village will tend to have a lot of poor families
and perhaps one or two richer families. Except in rare
cases, these families remain the leading power in the
village and almost always provide the Kamir, or village
leader. In a village this family is influential and
respected (and can be considered one social rank higher
than they would normally be due to this in certain situations),
but in the grand scheme they are still only peasants.
Nomads
The nomads are the people of the land. These native
Kyrians live in small tribes of about 100 people, in
the arid Kyrian landscape on tough and unforgiving terrain.
They are hard, independent folk, often warlike and aggressive.
They have no fixed home, moving around their chosen
area to follow the water. Nomads are not very religious,
although a few tribes have chosen to become Kheyesaini.
They fear magic and some even consider it evil, hence
there are no sorcerors of any kind in a nomad tribe.
Some, but not all, nomads accept the rule of the Empire.
Others are more like bandits. Some Kyrian nobles and
politicians use nomads as mercenary warriors. Their
loyalties tend to change suddenly and they are extremely
unpredictable. Each tribe is led by an Abi-Kamir, or
war-chief. Most tribes have slaves of their own and
these are the lowest of the low. Even the slaves of
peasant families look down on the slaves of a nomad
tribe.
Individual tribes often have great hostility towards
one another, holding grudges which go back hundreds
of years. In this, perhaps the empire is lucky, for
their numbers are estimated to be great indeed. Were
they to form under one leader, they would be a powerful
force to be reckoned with.
Food & Drink
Peasants and poor families tend to live on rice bread,
fish and dates, with some vegetables. Meat is only usually
eaten on special occasions and festivals, due to its
expense, and then it is usually goat. City folk, adventurers
and richer people have a more mixed diet including such
things as; Chicken, Mutton, Wheat Bread, Fattened Sheep,
Peaches and even expensive imported Berenian beef.
There are very few things as important in Kyrian life
than the entertaining of guests. How well a guest eats
and drinks is seen as a direct reflection of the social
standing of the host. This is true from the poorest
household to the richest, although the standards in
each obviously vary quite dramatically. Most Kyrians
love to entertain in their homes, giving them a chance
to show how important and wealthy they are. It is considered
extremely rude to rush a dinner party and they often
continue for several hours.
There are three great loves in Kyrian life; Coffee,
pipes and desserts. Most Kyrians carry coffee with them
and a small selection of implements for making it wherever
they go including tiny silver cups, a small coalpot
to heat the brew, and fresh ingredients. The beans are
mixed directly with spices and occasionally alcohol,
then heated to produce an aromatic potent brew. Kyrians
are fiercely competitive about their recipes for Coffee,
no two of which are the same, and great respect is given
to anyone who makes a particularly impressive cup.
Kyrians smoke a plant called the Ixus Leaf in long
ornate pipes. The herb relaxes the smoker and encourages
good humour, but only in a very mild sense. The effect
is not strong enough to cause foolishness, or Kyrians
would be loathe to use it. Smoking normally takes place
after dinner, or after last prayer, and is sometimes
accompanied by discussion of a philosophical nature.
Not all Kyrian men smoke the Ixus Pipe, but many do.
It is considered offensive for a woman to smoke a pipe.
Desserts are the pride and joy of a Kyrian host. These
lavish concoctions consist of shaped and coloured sugar,
cream, fruit, nuts and dark strong chocolate. In very
rich households they may even include magically frozen
cream and fruit. Although Kyrians would not usually
eat desserts on the road, no restaurant meal or dinner
party is complete without one.
Alcohol, with the exception of date wine, is frowned
upon by Kyrians for the most part. The attitude is more
flexible in cities, where a few taverns can be found
catering to adventurers and merchants. Peasants make
a strong alcoholic drink called “Metous” from
rice which is a powerful stimulant often drunk by people
who work late hours. “Raki” is made from grapes,
figs and plums and fermented sugar. “Arak”
is an aniseed-flavoured grape spirit. Some folk drink
an alcoholic cold coffee which is called “Beqia”,
but this is extremely expensive.
Health
Kyr has a reputation as being a hotbed of disease in
Bereny, but this is actually not true. There are a variety
of sicknesses, of course, but really only three which
form a major threat and count for a large proportion
of mortality in the empire. These are Malaria, Wet Leprosy
(called “the waste” by Kyrians) and Typhoid.
Malaria tends to strike foreigners harder and more often,
whereas typhoid regularly wipes out whole villages.
Leper colonies are common in mountainous areas of Kyr.
Lepers are considered unclean, are driven from the villages
in which they live and are shunned and feared.
Medicine in Kyr is of the holistic variety and is philosophical
in nature, unlike the rougher “cut it off or leech
it” Berenian style of cure. For those who can afford
it, a physician can be hired to tend the sick. While
few actual cures are known, the general idea of keeping
the sickly clean, comfortable and at peace does result
in a reasonable rate of recovery. For those who cannot
afford it, the families do the best they can with what
little knowledge their elders have gained.
Animals
By far the most common animals owned in Kyr are Goats
and Camels. Goats are kept for milk and meat, while
camels are used for riding and carrying goods. Donkeys
are sometimes used by merchants and traders who stay
to the roads. Horses are less common, used mainly by
the military and by the rich. Some nomad tribes have
wonderful herds of horses, which they guard jealously.
Kyrians do not like household pets. Cats and dogs are
considered vermin, in the same class as rats. Indeed,
Dogs are a serious problem for many villages, roaming
in starving fierce packs just out of the village borders.
Rich folk often keep hawks and falcons for hunting and
sport.
Monsters
There are a large variety of monsters in and around
Kyr, as you might expect. They are a constant threat,
haunting the wild areas, lurking in underground lairs
and suchlike. Most villages train their young men to
defend them against an attack, since it is unlikely
the military would deign to assist them unless they
happened to be there collecting taxes. Travel can be
very dangerous indeed.
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