Vinyot

A drum roll of fat raindrops patters against the roof of the wagon. The wheels jerk to a halt. You’ve arrived. You open the door to take a deep breath of salty air. Trade ships line the harbor on the horizon, with the glittering sea beyond. A dense mass of old stone buildings surrounds the dock, with a bethel’s spire pointing skyward in the west. The booming port city awaits, filled with busy foxes who talk fast and move faster. After all, there’s so much to do. 

Welcome to Vinyot.

The homeland of Vinyot sails fleets of trade ships to bring modern life and foreign goods throughout the world. It runs along the western and southern edges of the Beast World’s mainland, with cities at its river estuaries. Its eastern border follows the Allemagnian Bêtemère Mountains, with hilly and difficult terrain in its inland regions. Vinyot is smaller than Allemance, but its 8,000 miles of coastline has blessed it with a flourishing economy and unique identity. The climate is balmy most of the year. Sea winds carry humid weather and frequent summer rains. 

5.5 million people live in Vinyot. The tradewind vulpine and human species make up most of its population. The majority of otter and ferret laetines, as well as the raccoon and possum tenebrines also call Vinyot their homeland. 

Maritime Legacy

Vinyot is characterized by the numerous commercial port cities along its freshwater shores and saltwater coasts. The prevailing winds allow sea travel to and from Vinyot faster than anywhere else in the world. Its Trade League has dominated maritime trade throughout history. 

From the smallest river village to the mercantile metropolis of Arloris, southern homes feature elaborate, ornate architecture erected to stand steadfast for centuries. A building’s legacy is a powerful idea in Vinyotian culture, and family heads live in the same houses their founding ancestors built. Over time, the homes merged with their families’ businesses to become the homeland’s great trade company headquarters.

Connecting the Dots

The people of the Trade League see the value of things. Whenever an item changes hands, a Vinyotian considers its worth to both sides. Their minds live for arbitrage; they examine everything they see in terms of who might get the most use from it. This attitude makes the foxes of the Vinyotian trading companies a fortune. It drives urban laetines to innovate, and motivates efficient generosity from everyone in the homeland.

Debating the Details

Vinyotians pay unusual attention to subtlety and nuance. When they differ in perspective, they revel in the opportunity to make their case and debate the minutiae of each viewpoint. These debates could be about future business opportunities, philosophical matters, or even which wine to order with dinner. Cooler heads usually prevail, but when the conversation becomes circular, a southerner’s temper is legendary to behold. 

Refined taste is also characteristic of southerners. Someone taught to appreciate value is better-equipped to recognize the best things that life offers. Vinyotians rarely complain about cheap food and entertainment, but their first recommendation is sure to be the best option possible.

Invention & Innovation

If one carries an unusual object through a port city, those watching it pass by will come up with a half-dozen ways it might be useful. Vinyotians love to figure out where things fit, whether they’re trade goods or loose gears. None are more attuned to this way of thinking than ferrets and otters. 

Smart city planners carefully cordon off the laetine districts of Vinyotian cities. Their public laboratories tend to spill out into the street as projects become more complex. Southern ferrets immersed in the passion of a blueprint diagram often cast aside nuisances like “owned property” and “the need for horses to get by on the street.” Vinyot is uniquely tolerant of this general disregard for ownership and space. The marvels that spring forth from the chaos of laetine districts are well-worth a few traffic difficulties.

Investment & Wager

People from the southern coasts learn the value of financial patience from a young age. Vinyotians consider investing in the future to be financially wise, but also part of raising a thoughtful and discerning adult. By focusing on what something might become, one resists the allure of quick wealth and the moral failure that follows it. A cheeky saying goes, “Where you see one coin, a Vinyotian sees one-point-two in three months.” 

And yet, the world’s flashiest luxury gambling houses are exclusive to Vinyot’s shores. Wagers and games of chance are immensely popular here, with dockworkers and company owners alike congregating to celebrate a happy return. The venerated Oric academic Sergey Volkov writes about the subject in his seminal work, The Homelander. “The Vinyotian psyche is soothed by the concrete and knowable stakes of a game of cards. To a southern fox or raccoon, a die’s six faces are a conquerable world.” 

The Vinyotian rigger Angela Rossi once offered a rebuttal. “Cards are fun. Orians need to get out of the house more.” 

Individualism & Ambition

The Vinyotian work ethic is centered on individual ambition and achievement. When mastering one’s career, craft, or hobby, southerners take special pride in climbing the ranks of their peers. Life is built on the questions “Where am I?”, “Where could I be?”, and “Where should I be?” 

Some bristle at this self-centered aspiration, pointing toward Vinyotians driven by it to undermine and sabotage. An obsession with reaching some imagined peak consumes some Vinyotians, pushing them to cruelty. They lord their victories over fellow beasts and brethen, then forget about them once their challenge loses its bite. 

However, most would argue that someone using cutthroat business tactics has abandoned a core part of the southern identity. A popular lesson is held sacred in most fox families: “generosity is an investment with good returns.” Personal ambition is a luxury one indulges only after ensuring everyone has what they need. An affluent Vinyotian’s surroundings are considered a reflection of their own worth, so if they’re rich while others are too poor to compete, then any victory is a lie. 

Family Enterprise

Love and support come from the Vinyotian family, as well as a career. Successful elders take on children and nephews as apprentices, lifting them up by passing on their skills. Unlike in many Allemagnian farming households, workers in the family are paid the same as hired laborers. Businesses hire from within their relatives, and only seek outside help when no close relations are suitable. 

Households also offer financial support in a young adult’s life. When a southerner comes of age and finishes their education, they purchase an ownership share in their first ship or start some other business venture. A substantial gift from their older relatives is an expected gesture to establish them on the path of adulthood. 

These financial investments keep families close, but come with an expectation of respect and deference. The word spoken by the eldest is law in the Vinyotian home. Through smart living and achievement in their youth, patriarchs and matriarchs have earned the right to live in the family’s head house. When younger family members visit the elder’s home, proper attire and formal means of address are always observed. Their guidance in any matter is rarely ignored without consequences. 

The Marriage Contract

Vinyotians seek romance while learning the family business. Lovers connect emotionally with one another, but also try to demonstrate they could provide for a family. To stay competitive, it’s crucial to pick a spouse with sharp wits. It’s popular for young Vinyotians to plan romantic engagements around work days. This way, they can gain insight into a partner’s wherewithal in love and trade all at once. 

Engaged couples must earn the explicit approval of both their parents. This is more than tradition; marriage is only legally recognized if all the parents and the betrothed sign the contract. It contains language determining which side of the family they plan to work with. The side losing a member usually pays a dowry for partnership considerations with the newlyweds’ business. (At some point, they make time for a tremendous wedding party, too. It’s not all legalism.) 

Fours and Twelves

Vinyotian music is beautifully elaborate. Twenty or more musicians perform together for family gatherings or public events. The compositions are magnificent hour-long masterpieces, which take years to compose. Even a smaller show for an intimate audience is a direct demonstration of a musician’s finest skills. A casual or halfhearted performance is unheard of. 

Arithmetic is central to every aspect of a Vinyotian’s life, and music is how one learns it. Southerners count in fours and twelves, taking each group as a measure in one of many mnemonic songs learned in childhood. Ledgers and other written numbers are recorded in base 12, a duodecimal system. 

Cross-homeland finances tend to involve a fox angrily singing a children’s song at a frustrated business partner, who is just trying to read records with two completely alien digits. 

Pirhoua the Patron

When a Vinyotian devotes their life to art, they often enter the goddess Pirhoua’s service as well. In the south, the Beast Mother’s church educates bards, and their work centers more on religious faith. Thanks to the Pirhouan bards, southern bethels are the most elaborate and ornate of all, a showcase of painting, architecture, and other disciplines. 

Among these breathtaking works of grandeur, one humbles all others: the Bethel of the Heartleaf. Perched on a quiet island hilltop, master artisans all contribute to this physical tribute to Pirhoua’s love for beasts and brethren. 

Death

When a Vinyotian dies, their local bethel collects money from friends and relatives to fund a funeral trip. Working just after a family member’s death is immensely disrespectful, seen as a rush to move the world beyond their memory. If called to a funeral, they depart for at least two weeks. 

Grieving is a personal and solitary affair for a Vinyotian. Immediate family and two or three close friends of the deceased travel to mourn in their favorite place. While at this remote destination, the mourners spend daytime looking back on memories with their loved one in seclusion. Every night, they gather to share these memories and stories. This helps them find closure, but also builds a new bond between friends of the departed and their family. Having their former friends in their lives helps the departed’s family keep a part of them. 

The Delve in Vinyot

Excitement lurks around every rocky seaside cliff. A caravan roaming the south has all sorts of potential spots to hunt for leads, on the sea or the land. Caravans who stay in Vinyot are fitted to be fully amphibious. Seaworthiness allows them to respond quickly to sunken Dungeon entrances. Trade fleets often put out leads after being set upon by dangers lurking in the salty depths. 

The glamor of full-time heroism is just as alluring on the coast as anywhere else, and delving crews have won the hearts of its public. There’s chatter in Vinyotian family meetings about the profession of pulling entire crates of gold out of holes in the ground. The heirs of trade lords see the Delve as a way out from under the expectations of family without disappointing them. Many lower-class Vinyotians joining crews see it as a way to what they feel the world sorely lacks: social mobility. 

Until now, taxing delvers and their scouts has fallen to individual cities. However, many cities with higher taxes have seen their delver population simply renounce citizenship and become fully nomadic. The League isn’t thrilled with losing their share of the riches pulled out of the holes in their land, monsters be damned. They have struggled to adapt to so many of their people taking up a mobile life outside any specific municipality. 

Comedy of the Guild

For the last century, the south has developed a cast of familiar character archetypes, which are consistent across every artistic medium. These masked character tropes are based on different professions in Vinyotian society, each with their own larger-than-life personality. Art featuring characters from this Comedy of the Guild is popular across social classes. The types are used by any artists who want their work to reach a broad A Math Nerd’s Challenge audience. 

Guild stories are most commonly stageplays performed in the public square by traveling theater companies. While these plays are frequently scripted from start to finish, more improvisational ones are also common, scripting major events and scene changes while relying on performers with experience portraying a character to fill in the dialogue and action. The Comedy of the Guild has influenced modern entertainment all over the Beast World, such as in Arneria’s Storied Histories League. 

Comedy Continuity

Guild stories don’t have direct continuity between them, but the characters have evolved over time. Popular tales have certain elements referenced by future ones, until they become part of the archetypes themselves. For example, the scar on The Blacksmith’s mask originally comes from fighting for his wife’s dignity in the play The Blush of the Baker. The Comedy of the Guild has a kind of “soft canon.” 

Leaving a mark on the ongoing Comedy requires a light touch. If a writer tells a story about several characters meeting their doom, future works are unlikely to “remember” that they’re gone if it inconveniences the story in question. That’s not to say it’s impossible; one of last year’s most popular plays featured the death of The Stargazer. Fans and writers both agree that it was the most fitting end for that character’s story. 

This interplay has created a unique status symbol among Guild storytellers. Modern writers and musicians are measured in Vinyotian popular culture by the influence they’ve had on the Comedy. It’s a great honor when a song or play features two characters marrying, and then a future poem respects that truth in its own story’s canon. Comedy of the Guild superfans hold meetings in their homes and bethel basements, where they chatter about their favorite plays and share their own stories featuring the characters. 

Some Guild Members

Usually Heroes

Allegiance Uncertain

Usually Villains

The Day of the First Beast

The third Friday of August is The Day of the First Beasts, a Vinyotian Pirhouan children’s holiday. Horses (both beast and animal) dress up (or are dressed up) in oversized costumes with bright colors. Others wear complex stilts that let them walk on all fours, then stand without breaking their stride. They stroll through city streets on parade, giving out copper pieces to children as they pass by. The trade lord and their family walk last in line, and give out silver instead. 

Later that evening, families gather in the bethel to sing songs and thank Pirhoua for the gift of will. The bethelkeeper gives a lively accounting of all the good and merciful deeds done that year by members of the bethel. This allows modest people to enjoy their peers’ appreciation without embarrassment. 

Once the speech ends, the kids are let loose. Children rummage through an enormous pile of packages looking for the one with their name on it. When they find it, they open a collection of clothes, toys, and other gifts inside. If a family can’t afford to give their children the customary amount, the bethel helps make up the difference with earlier anonymous donations by those with more than they needed. 

The Evening of the Veil

When the Comedy of the Guild first became popular, Arloris threw the first Evening of the Veil. The tradition quickly spread all over Vinyot, and has been enjoyed by the homeland for nearly a century. The festivities begin the day after the Day of the First Beasts, and last until the following Tuesday morning. 

During the Evening of the Veil, Vinyotians dress in colorful formalwear and businesses keep their doors open late. People move from one building to the next; cities blend together into one giant house party. The stifling propriety of Vinyotian society lets loose for this one long weekend a year. Sumptuary laws governing alcohol consumption and other vices are relaxed during the celebration. Vinyotians make the most of it; the party’s energy rivals Oria’s Oenin. 

Masked Mingling 

The festival’s name comes from the masks worn by the revelers. Originally, the Evening of the Veil was a chance to dress as one’s favorite character from the Comedy. Over time, however, the festival’s masks took on their own identity. They’re made by local craftsmen who follow commissioners’ designs to create interesting variations of a standard half-face shape. Maskmakers in most cities work year round to make enough to supply partiers with a new disguise every year. 

The masks and their festival serve an unstated but important purpose in Vinyotian society. During the Evening of the Veil, a mask wearer’s identity is obscured, thus so is their class. The festive disguises allow the city to become one people, without regard for social politics or being seen with the “proper sort.” In fact, some lower-class beasts use this anonymity to their advantage, proposing business deals to richer beasts that they come back to after the party ends. The true benefit, though, is the simple opportunity to use a mask to let one’s guard down for a while. 

The Trade League

A board of merchants and company heads make decisions affecting the welfare of Vinyot and the land it claims. The Trade League is also a diplomatic body that represents Vinyot as a state. 

It meets at a summit to collect dues, spend the common fund, debate the passage of new mandates, and handle diplomacy. The regular summit is every two years. If sitting members raise an urgent issue, the League can hold a special off-time summit as well. The location of the Trade League summit is one of the most wellkept secrets. The League dislikes when Varasta, the god of chaos, finds out where it’s being held. There’s nothing the flippant deity loves more than to crash an expensive party. 

Key to the City

In Vinyot, rulership is represented by a deed. The deed’s owner is the head of government in a town or city, and owns the land and any public assets. Deeds are held most often by the city’s most prosperous business, and its head is the trade lord. Like any asset, the deed can be sold to another company if the trade lord considers it a smart move to divest. If a trade lord’s business fails, the deed is auctioned to pay its debts. 

Trade lords try to keep their deeds, as the benefits of owning a city can’t be overstated. Their companies enjoy right of first refusal on work contracts, they can collect permit fees to do business, and the lord is otherwise socially influential in their city. As long as a trade lord doesn’t run afoul of the League’s mandates, they enjoy autonomy to run things any way they choose. 

Of course, the trade lord must maintain their property and take care of their tenants. Their companies are responsible for roads, law enforcement, criminal justice, and every other public line item. If a city can’t indulge in the luxury of drinkable water, the economy tends to suffer. The driving force of urban development is making the land more attractive to future contractors. 

Mandates & Dues

Laws affecting everyone in the homeland are called mandates. Voting to pass mandates is one of the primary functions of League membership and also one of its most lucrative benefits. Cities that can’t afford League dues are subject to the legislative whims of ones that can. 

The Trade League rarely passes mandates. The lords know that angering lesser municipalities comes at an escalating price. They prefer to keep out of their affairs. Some basic mandates have stood for centuries, however: 

• The Trade Empire Mandate. A single company cannot own deeds governing more than a maximum total population. After humans’ arrival, the first single Vinyotian cities grew beyond this maximum. They were split into two deeds, now governed by multiple trade lords. This is a troublesome ongoing transition for these cities and their jealous new bicameral lordships. 

• The Bread and Water Mandate. A municipality must provide basic needs to all its citizens: food, water, and shelter. 

• The Justicar’s Mandate. A municipality must maintain a formal law authority and abide by laws set by the Dramphinian church. Paladins have absolute jurisdiction in Vinyot. 

• The Ship Breaker Mandate. Trade lords must contribute a percentage of their profits to maintain the Vinyotian pirate-hunting fleet. 

The Trade League comprises companies that can afford the dues to sit at the table. These are added to a common fund during the summit. Only a few treasurers know the exact amount of gold in the common fund, but the number would likely send most dragons into cardiac arrest. 

Mandates are passed by the League to spend gold on philanthropy and social projects. For example, the Trade League emptied the coffers entirely to build vital infrastructure after the human Pilgrimage. The common fund paid for homes, cultivated farmland, and put brethren into League-sponsored apprenticeships to learn skills relevant to life in the Beast World. 

Class of Wealth

Company heads are afraidn that their offspring might be seen as “buying achievements at the altar,” Conversely, they’re also wary of social climbers “investing into” the family’s business through a beloved son or daughter. They want their children to marry business heirs with comparable renown and influence. To prevent these problems, family heads encourage their younger generation to associate with peers in a similar economic position. 

Vinyot has a resulting social hierarchy defined by three classes. At the bottom of the pyramid is the largest class: company workers and owners of small local businesses. With a combination of outsized hard work and a lot of luck, businesses with a single storefront can grow in size and influence. This raises up the owning family, elevating their class. However, most never accomplish this feat. 

The middle class of Vinyot is made up of businesses nearly large enough to buy a deed in the homeland’s territory, but haven’t had a good opportunity. Most medium shipping companies and their families are members of this class. The public sees them as the hardest fighters and strongest sellers, as each is one good decision away from generational wealth and security. 

At the top are the trade lords. These are the families with the power to make decisions that affect all of Vinyot. Trade lords rarely fall from grace, especially since the influx of new workers from the Pilgrimage. When humans came to Vinyot, trade lords who could go above and beyond investing in their homes earned loyalty and the unique knowledge of the brethren. Their sudden arrival was expensive, but solidified the power of many trade lords for generations to come. 

Sellswords

The Trade League trains a private infantry and keeps them on retainer as mercenaries. These soldiers of fortune are known as the Sellswords. Their presence is an insurance policy against the sort of “bold crown maneuvering” that caused the Mantle War. The Sellswords are a full-time force patrolling the homeland, on the road and in coastal boarding skiffs. 

Sellswords aren’t always under the direct command of the Trade League. The majority of Sellsword contracts are sold to Vinyotian cities, to be used as their guard. Vinyotian company workers don’t like Sellswords. They have a reputation for brutal tactics and a cavalier attitude about collateral damage. Sellswords are outsiders who work for the trade lord, not the city. 

Debt to Society

Vinyotian criminal justice is based on restitution not rehabilitation, rather than punishing the guilty. Every crime has an agreed-upon price, and the convicted become indebted to their victims. If an injured party isn’t willing to employ the perpetrator, they are forced into a trade lord’s service. They perform labor to pay off their criminal debts. 

If criminal debt falls into delinquency, due to the perpetrator’s flight or expiration, the injured party can seek restitution from their family. While this is often considered immoral, the mechanism of generational debt allows criminal families to be dragged to justice one-by-one. It has also prepared fertile ground for the nascent, heinous industry of family criminal restitution insurance. 

Love a Lawyer

The Vinyotian’s deep love for debate and legal procedure makes them the perfect lawyers. The coastal homeland’s universities are overflowing with talented attorneys. A strong system of legal representation is crucial; wrongfully convicted criminals are often a shame borne by multiple generations. 

Southern attorneys are hired for all the same functions as anywhere else, but a Vinyotian lawyer can also make a comfortable living without ever setting foot in a courtroom. If two Vinyotians are engaged in a heated argument for long enough, their spouses will split the expense of hiring a lawyer to arbitrate. This is useful in matters of finance, but it’s also a great way to determine who was rude at a party several years ago, or who is allowed to wear a specific dress to a gala. Vinyotians consider attorneys to be an important part of social life, and a lawyer’s final decision is held sacrosanct. 

The Ceiling of the Night Sky

Tenebrines are misunderstood, especially in Vinyot. For centuries, possums and raccoons have been caught in a riptide pushing them into the margins. Living at night separates them from their neighbors, despite sharing the same streets. Foxes and other beasts are wary of them for it, assuming them more likely to be con artists and criminals. Because others think twice about hiring or working with them, raccoons and possums are often forced to do unsavory things just to make their way, thus reinforcing their untrustworthy reputation. 

Of course, tenebrines are no more likely to be criminals than anyone else. However, even if the vast majority of them are friendly folks just doing their best, poverty and the world of night they live in makes them invisible. Meanwhile, every possum caught stealing reinforces the idea that their kind is naturally predisposed to misbehavior. This spiral has turned the Trade League into a table without seats for tenebrines. 

Most Vinyotians regret the disadvantages tenebrines endure. Their belief that poverty doesn’t come from immorality is genuine, but they haven’t faced the challenge of reconciling that belief with their distrust of the tenebrines. This hypocrisy is rarely intentional, but ugly ideas can hide in good people, and old prejudices are stubborn in the heart. 

In many ways, recent events have forced tenebrines even farther away from the trade lords. However, shifts in the status quo are also working in their favor. The brethren are just as much a part of Vinyot as any other species, but they haven’t been steeped in the same unconscious prejudices, and this blank slate has made room for new social mobility. Brethren enterprising and lucky enough to gain wealth don’t hesitate to work with tenebrines, which gives them new opportunities to elevate themselves. Those who do are proving that other species have been losing out from their unwillingness to confront their attitudes. Delvers will have the chance to help bolster the nightbeasts’ reputation in the coming years, if they’re brave enough to question misbegotten lessons. 

Pirhouanism in Vinyot

A brick building sits in the central square of a small fishing village. It’s the tallest building in town, decorated with stained-glass windows and a well-tended front flower garden. Warm light from the silver candelabras shines out of the open doors onto its wide steps, as does the excited chatter of beasts and brethren gathered for the night’s performance. The Vinyotian bethel has stood this way for almost two centuries. 

Vinyotian Pirhouanism is the most formal of the religion’s five sects, as well as the most politically involved. The people of Vinyot build bethels as a reflection of their reverence to the Beast Mother. They are as expensive as their congregation can afford to make them, and their keepers dress in a manner worthy of one speaking with the goddess’ voice. Beasts and brethren of the south shores take their religion seriously, and let it guide them to a happy life. In Vinyot, Pirhoua is the goddess of beauty, prosperity, and giving. Her bethels serve as artist enclaves and theaters, as artists’ careers usually exclude them from the support of working for their family businesses. 

The First Divine Charge: Generosity

Pirhouan mercy is driven by ensuring that everyone has what they need, and success is measured by the comfort of the people around someone. If a Vinyotian gets rich through greed, the status that comes with that wealth is unearned. It is a lie, told at the expense of those left wanting.

The charge of generosity is present in almost every lesson a Vinyotian child learns. It’s customary to give a portion of everything one earns to the Pirhouan church. The bethels use this money as a fund to help the poor find their footing, and as disaster relief. Vinyotian bethels are economic centers that contain the prosperity of a community. If the bethel is filled with fineries, its people are well-prepared. 

The Second Divine Charge: Prosperity

A community only grows when there’s more than enough to go around. Wealth is considered the power to make positive change and carry out her will. A secure life is a blessing from the divine. 

Prosperity is the effect of a life well-lived, but poverty is not the result of moral failure. On the contrary, Vinyotians are taught that financial need is a distraction, the cause that leads to immorality. By eliminating that distraction, one’s soul is free to keep improving Pirhoua’s world. 

In recent years, some have called for the bethel to actively reinvest its wealth. The idea is for the Pirhouan church to act as a bank for its people, granting loans at low interest rates to people without rich families looking to better themselves. The central Vinyotian Bethel of the Heartleaf has rejected the proposal each time it comes forward. The Heartleaf Bethelkeepers fear the church will become a political body. They warn, “one Trade League is enough.” 

The Third Divine Charge: Luxury

Pirhouans on the shores show off the Beast Mother’s love for the world by wearing her finest blessings. Devotees cherish aged wine, expensive silks, and exotic foods. Guests in a Vinyotian home are treated with all the same luxuries as the head of the house. In Vinyotian culture, the display of wealth and privilege is to demonstrate Pirhoua’s favor without shame or remorse… so long as it was earned legitimately. 

This charge motivates the grandiose appearance of Vinyotian bethels. Rather than hide gathered offerings in a stone box, the money is spent on items that can be resold if the need arises. In fact, owning a Pirhouan relic is a proud status symbol among the trade lords, representing an immediate ability to help those in need.