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==Community==
==The Great Dance==
The Navarr are a communal people. A common Navarr philosophy is that wealth is measured in the number of allies who are prepared to fight for you, not the coins in your pocket. The Navarr expect everyone to work in the best interest of their Striding or Steading and most have little interest in personal wealth or success. Trade is a means of making allies and ensuring that people have the things they need rather than a means to enrich themselves or their Striding. The Navarr are well aware of the value of money and don’t avoid its acquisition, it’s just that most of them count allies as considerably more valuable.
The central philosophy of the Navarr is the idea that life is a Great Dance in which all humankind is engaged. Some may lead and some may follow, but the Dance is better for everyone when the dancers have the right partners at the right time and place. Many Navarr try to help people find their place and their partners in the Great Dance. People who do not feel ‘right’ where they are should be encouraged to travel to find a new place in the Great Dance, a chance to find a place they will belong, where their partners will be right for them.


Many things are kept communally, a wagon or an oxen that is the possession of the whole Striding, or a palisade which protects a Steading which is regarded as everyone’s responsibility to maintain. Despite or perhaps because of this, the Navarr are acutely mindful of those possessions which are owned by individuals and they are careful to respect them. Thieves who steal from the Steading or Striding are considered little better than traitors, thieves who steal from others are considered a dangerous menace that threatens the good standing of the Navarr.
Reincarnation is central to this belief - to the Navarr the dead are simply resting for a while before they resume their place. People who find their perfect partner in the Dance are destined to find that partner again and again each time they are born. A partner may not always be a lover, it could be a sibling or simply a close friend.


==The Welcoming==
==Tattoos and Vows==
Attuned to the passage of the seasons, the Navarr Stridings congregate at festical times, either together or at the Steadings. The Navarr celebrate the turning of all the seasons but the birth of a new spring, the end of the harsh winter that makes travelling so difficult is their major festival. This grand celebration, the Welcoming, is a time for revelry, feasting, raucous music and wild dancing.
The Navarr mark vows, oaths and promises with a physical sign of their intent and commitment, often through tattooing or scarification. The more enduring the commitment, the more permanent the marks. The Navarr mark the most significant vows with brands. These marks help hold a person to their pledge, but they also make it easier for others to identify those who have sworn themselves to a given role or cause (as discussed in [[Navarr Hearth Magic|Hearth Magic]]). Most important tattoos are done with a dark red ink, symbolic of the blood that flows beneath the skin. Thorn motifs are the most common design, but other common motifs include blood, twisting plants, star-shaped flowers, and feathers.
{{CaptionedImage|file=Intricate Tattoo.jpg|align=right|width=400|caption=Tattoos are a way to demonstrate oaths and commitments}}
Many Navarr who choose to follow a [[archetype|specific calling]], such as a [[thorn]] or a [[brand]], take on a new mark to signify their commitment. Tattoos that mark an oath of service are generally worn openly on the hand, arm, or face. The mark commemorating a brand's oath - often a literal brand rather than a tattoo- is worn on the left cheekbone, while thorns sometimes eschew a publicly visible mark and instead don facepaint every day to announce their calling.


==Steadings and Stridings==
Skilled tattoo artists are very much in demand in Navarr society, as it is rare that someone will mark an oath or vow with a tattoo or brand that they create themselves. The artist always expects the patron to explain their oath, and will often want to be present personally when they swear that oath. Some tattooists are also priests and may accompany an oath with a [[testimony]] that marks the soul as the tattoo marks the body. This combination of skills might also be used by a tattooist-priest when creating a normal testimony - believing that the act of combining a spiritual mark and a physical mark not only makes the testimony "visible" to others but enhances its potency.
Navarr Stridings and Steadings are not fixed – they shift and change over time, as people die, retire or move from one to another, perhaps due to a love-match or to a desire to see other climes. When an individual decides to leave a Steading to join a Striding, the event is celebrated with a simple feast in which they ceremonially burn a list describing their belongings. The Navarr are far too pragmatic to burn valuable goods, but the ritual helps people to let go of the things they do not need. When an individual leaves a Striding to join a Steading, a similar feast is prepared, where they are presented with a barbed spear, the weapon that symbolizes the Navarr struggle against the Vallorn.


==The Binding of Thorns==
While oaths are marked with permanent tattoos or brands, more ephemeral methods of decorating the body are also used by the Navarr. Before engaging an enemy or going into a risky environment many Navarr will paint symbols on their bodies intended to last for the length of the battle or challenge, while henna tattoos are used for commitments expected to last for a few weeks.
When a child passes into adulthood they undergo the ‘Binding of Thorns’. The Egregore Liaven shares of Its blood with the celebrants. Then, accompanied by a war-band, the Navarr hunt for an offering to be given back to Liaven made of the denizens of a Vallorn infected forest. Those that die during the Binding are lauded by the Navarr and their names make up many war-chants.
===The Binding of Thorns===
Everyone who joins the Navarr swears the oath their predecessors swore centuries earlier when their cities were destroyed by the [[Vallorn]]. Once the oath is taken, the new Navarr mingle their blood with all other Navarr who have attended the ceremony, and receive the traditional Navarr tattoo, called the Binding of Thorns - an intricate pattern of intertwined briars or thorns. The Binding does more than just denote an individual as a member of the Navarr. It stamps the oath they have sworn in their flesh, binding them to their commitment for as long as they live. An individual may leave the Navarr, but they cannot put aside the fight against the Vallorn without breaking their oath.


==Names==
All Navarr who have undergone the Binding of Thorns bear this tattoo, one of endless variations on the motif of intertwined briars or thorns. This ceremony is also used when an adult from outside the Navarr wishes to become one of them. The Binding reminds the new Navarr that wherever they go they are part of the Navarr, and that regaining the remnants of their former civilisation from the Vallorn is their ancient purpose.
Once an adult, the Navarr adopts the name of their Steading or Striding as their second name. Names, therefore, are not static and change with the choices of the individual. On occasion Navarri may be given an honorific name to exemplify some great deed of magic, politics, trade or war. These individuals are collectively known as the Thornborn.
{{CaptionedImage|file=Leafstalkers.jpg|align=right|width=400|title=Corwin Leafstalker shares a joke on the battlefield.|caption=Unburdening yourself from ones oaths and starting on a new path can cause much joy.}}
==The Vallorn==
The appearance of the [[Vallorn]] started the downfall of the Terunael Empire, and caused the destruction of the great cities that the Navarr once called home. In their place was a fecund abomination, an dense ever growing forest that had cracked and crumbled stone, and shot great trees up through streets and buildings. Here there were monstrous plants and warped beasts that attacked anything that disturbed them. Everywhere the trees grew, the air was so infused with the magic of the Spring realm such that made the plants resistant to all efforts to destroy them.


A child's name is given to a Navarri at birth by the parents, an adult's name is given during the Binding of Thorns. Their actions that night earn them their given name, by agreement between the elders – there’s usually a significant reason for it.
In reponse, the Navarr created the [[trod|trod netowrk]], a system of paths and roads that draws on the Spring magic at the heart of a vallorn, like tapping the sap of a tree. Now the structure of Navarr society reflects their generations long struggle to defeat the vallorn, with stridings and steadings each performing a vital role in the war against the horrors of the Spring realm. Magic is a vital component of that battle, with Navarr vates using Spring rituals to extend the trod network anywhere they can reach. But the Navarr treat Spring magic with respect, knowing that it is a weapon that can turn on you at any moment, if you lose control.


Each Striding or Steading has a name that ends in 'el. For example, Riodan'el, or Teyrn'el. And each Navarri's full name -- the name they will give to others -- is their earned name followed by the name of their group.
As a result there was a longstanding concern about [[Briar|briars]] who were often shunned as an outward manifestation of the overabundant growth of the [[Vallorn]] and as a reminder of what was lost. The discovery that briars make particularly dangerous [[Vallornspawn_husk#Vallornspawn_Husks_and_Briars|husks]] when exposed to [[Vallorn#Vallorn_miasma|vallorn miasma]] only increased the distrust. This discrimination continued until Autumn 383YE, when it was directly challenged in two statements of princple passed the Imperial Synod, by [[383YE_Autumn_Equinox_Synod_judgements#Judgement_52|Josephine of Adina's Charge]] and [[383YE_Autumn_Equinox_Synod_judgements#Judgement_118|Friar Jack Reed]]. Since that time, Navarr citizens have challenged any who would distrust Briars, or assume they have some sympathy for the Vallorn based on lineage alone.


===Sample names===
==Celebrations==
* Rhiannon of Teyrn’el
The Navarr have a long tradition of marking important moments in their lives with celebrations. Usually these take the form of a shared meal followed by dancing, drinking and gaming. Marking important times strengthens the links between members of a community - especially an extended community such as the Navarr possess. Three important celebrations observed by the majority of the Navarr are <i>Unburdening</i>, <i>The Binding of Thorns</i> and <i>Welcoming</i>.
* Alva of Riodan’el.
===Unburdening===
Navarr [[striding|Stridings]] and [[steading|Steadings]] are not fixed – they shift and change over time, as people die, retire or move from one to another, perhaps due to a love-match or to a desire to see other climes. When an individual decides to leave a Steading to join a Striding (or even just to travel to another Steading), the event is celebrated with a simple feast in which they ceremonially burn a list describing the belongings they are leaving behind. This symbolises an intent to give up ownership, and comes with a general assumption that these possessions can be claimed by or redistributed among the Navarr who remain behind. The Navarr are far too pragmatic to burn valuable goods, but the ceremony helps people to let go of the things they do not need.
{{CaptionedImage|file=Welcoming.jpg|align=right|width=400|title=Eosffair of the Pathfinders Striding leads the way to the Navarr campgrounds.|caption=The Welcoming celebrates the coming of Spring.}}
===Welcoming===
Conscious of the passage of the seasons, the Navarr Stridings congregate at festival times, either together or at the Steadings. The Navarr celebrate the turning of all the seasons but the birth of a new spring and the end of the harsh winter that makes travelling difficult is their major festival. This grand celebration is a time for revelry, feasting, raucous music and wild dancing. It is also traditionally a time for making a new start, abandoning grudges and putting aside past failures to concentrate on the possibilities of a new year.


''Navarri names are primarily Celtic in flavour.''
Welcoming begins with a ceremonial hunt. The traditional quarry of the Welcoming are the [[Navarr_Magical_Traditions|Vates]], who often adopt fanciful costumes or headdresses that represent game animals, such as stags, hares and pigeons. Details of the hunt vary from year to year; a glorified game of hide-and-seek one year may be followed by a mock hunt through light woodland the next, or a chase across open ground. The hunt is good natured, but some Vates relish the opportunity to employ their magic to make the hunt more exciting.
<div style="float:right; width: 300px; clear: right;"><quote by="Nana Bronwyn Wordless">Come, come, why the tears my sweet? Death is just another step in the Great Dance. We all take it.</quote></div>
==Funerals==
In death, what remains are the memories of your deeds in the minds of your partners in the Great Dance. The Steadings use a traditional corpse-glade where the bodies are laid out in the forest. Such glades are rarely troubled by scavengers or carrion-eaters, and the bodies are simply left undisturbed to moulder.  


==Death==
The Stridings usually commit bodies to a simple cairn but a Striding may decide to transport a corpse to a Steading before performing a funeral. There is also a custom where the friends of the deceased make a pilgrimage to a corpse-glade to hang a reminder or memento of their fallen comrade among the branches.
In death, what remains are the memories of your deeds in the minds of your partners in the Great Dance. The Stridings commit bodies to simple cairns, the Steadings use a traditional glade – a charnel house – where the bodies are laid out in the forest. For reasons unknown, such glades are rarely troubled by scavengers or carrion-eaters, and the bodies are simply left undisturbed to moulder.


[[Category:Navarr]]
==Icons and Artistry==
[[Category:Nations]]
The iconic symbol for the Navarr is the White Tree, a stylised, leafless oak with branches and roots representing the different paths leading to, and extending from, the present moment. It is often depicted surrounded by crimson thorns, representing the sacrifices needed to walk a path. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_and_form_(visual_arts)#Geometric_and_organic organic] curves and shapes featured in the banner that hangs in the Imperial [[Senate]] are common in Navarr paintings, sculptures, and decorations, as well as in the designs for their architecture, landscaping, and body art. Many Navarr decorate their clothing and belongings with images of vines and thorns.
 
The Navarr prize living art that emphasises the idea of things being maintained or built upon with every passing year or passing striding. A painting on a rocky outcrop might need retouching each time a striding passes by, or they may add a new detail to a tree stump carved to mark the location of a trod. In Navarr eyes, the best art must be constantly maintained so that it can be developed with each iteration or each hand that contributes. Music and performance can be continuously updated with new lyrics and lines to adapt to changing circumstances. Even a piece of furniture can have new carvings added to the wood. The aim is not to improve a piece, so much as to keep it "alive" as a piece of art by constantly working on it.
 
[[Miaren#Seren|Seren]], in [[Miaren]], is considered the centre of Navarr art. The flowering glades and immaculate gardens are testimony to what humanity can achieve when the natural world is tamed. To the Navarr tending nature to make it both benign and beautiful is a crucial artform - one that can be practised by everyone whatever their level of skill. Every part of the surrounding forests that can be improved on is available, glades can be opened up to allow flowers to grow on the floor below, seeds planted to create tree-lined paths and lanterns strung from branches to make the forest a riot of colours at night.
 
{{Navarr Links}}

Latest revision as of 13:50, 19 April 2024

The Great Dance

The central philosophy of the Navarr is the idea that life is a Great Dance in which all humankind is engaged. Some may lead and some may follow, but the Dance is better for everyone when the dancers have the right partners at the right time and place. Many Navarr try to help people find their place and their partners in the Great Dance. People who do not feel ‘right’ where they are should be encouraged to travel to find a new place in the Great Dance, a chance to find a place they will belong, where their partners will be right for them.

Reincarnation is central to this belief - to the Navarr the dead are simply resting for a while before they resume their place. People who find their perfect partner in the Dance are destined to find that partner again and again each time they are born. A partner may not always be a lover, it could be a sibling or simply a close friend.

Tattoos and Vows

The Navarr mark vows, oaths and promises with a physical sign of their intent and commitment, often through tattooing or scarification. The more enduring the commitment, the more permanent the marks. The Navarr mark the most significant vows with brands. These marks help hold a person to their pledge, but they also make it easier for others to identify those who have sworn themselves to a given role or cause (as discussed in Hearth Magic). Most important tattoos are done with a dark red ink, symbolic of the blood that flows beneath the skin. Thorn motifs are the most common design, but other common motifs include blood, twisting plants, star-shaped flowers, and feathers.

Intricate Tattoo.jpg
Tattoos are a way to demonstrate oaths and commitments

Many Navarr who choose to follow a specific calling, such as a thorn or a brand, take on a new mark to signify their commitment. Tattoos that mark an oath of service are generally worn openly on the hand, arm, or face. The mark commemorating a brand's oath - often a literal brand rather than a tattoo- is worn on the left cheekbone, while thorns sometimes eschew a publicly visible mark and instead don facepaint every day to announce their calling.

Skilled tattoo artists are very much in demand in Navarr society, as it is rare that someone will mark an oath or vow with a tattoo or brand that they create themselves. The artist always expects the patron to explain their oath, and will often want to be present personally when they swear that oath. Some tattooists are also priests and may accompany an oath with a testimony that marks the soul as the tattoo marks the body. This combination of skills might also be used by a tattooist-priest when creating a normal testimony - believing that the act of combining a spiritual mark and a physical mark not only makes the testimony "visible" to others but enhances its potency.

While oaths are marked with permanent tattoos or brands, more ephemeral methods of decorating the body are also used by the Navarr. Before engaging an enemy or going into a risky environment many Navarr will paint symbols on their bodies intended to last for the length of the battle or challenge, while henna tattoos are used for commitments expected to last for a few weeks.

The Binding of Thorns

Everyone who joins the Navarr swears the oath their predecessors swore centuries earlier when their cities were destroyed by the Vallorn. Once the oath is taken, the new Navarr mingle their blood with all other Navarr who have attended the ceremony, and receive the traditional Navarr tattoo, called the Binding of Thorns - an intricate pattern of intertwined briars or thorns. The Binding does more than just denote an individual as a member of the Navarr. It stamps the oath they have sworn in their flesh, binding them to their commitment for as long as they live. An individual may leave the Navarr, but they cannot put aside the fight against the Vallorn without breaking their oath.

All Navarr who have undergone the Binding of Thorns bear this tattoo, one of endless variations on the motif of intertwined briars or thorns. This ceremony is also used when an adult from outside the Navarr wishes to become one of them. The Binding reminds the new Navarr that wherever they go they are part of the Navarr, and that regaining the remnants of their former civilisation from the Vallorn is their ancient purpose.

Corwin Leafstalker shares a joke on the battlefield.
Unburdening yourself from ones oaths and starting on a new path can cause much joy.

The Vallorn

The appearance of the Vallorn started the downfall of the Terunael Empire, and caused the destruction of the great cities that the Navarr once called home. In their place was a fecund abomination, an dense ever growing forest that had cracked and crumbled stone, and shot great trees up through streets and buildings. Here there were monstrous plants and warped beasts that attacked anything that disturbed them. Everywhere the trees grew, the air was so infused with the magic of the Spring realm such that made the plants resistant to all efforts to destroy them.

In reponse, the Navarr created the trod netowrk, a system of paths and roads that draws on the Spring magic at the heart of a vallorn, like tapping the sap of a tree. Now the structure of Navarr society reflects their generations long struggle to defeat the vallorn, with stridings and steadings each performing a vital role in the war against the horrors of the Spring realm. Magic is a vital component of that battle, with Navarr vates using Spring rituals to extend the trod network anywhere they can reach. But the Navarr treat Spring magic with respect, knowing that it is a weapon that can turn on you at any moment, if you lose control.

As a result there was a longstanding concern about briars who were often shunned as an outward manifestation of the overabundant growth of the Vallorn and as a reminder of what was lost. The discovery that briars make particularly dangerous husks when exposed to vallorn miasma only increased the distrust. This discrimination continued until Autumn 383YE, when it was directly challenged in two statements of princple passed the Imperial Synod, by Josephine of Adina's Charge and Friar Jack Reed. Since that time, Navarr citizens have challenged any who would distrust Briars, or assume they have some sympathy for the Vallorn based on lineage alone.

Celebrations

The Navarr have a long tradition of marking important moments in their lives with celebrations. Usually these take the form of a shared meal followed by dancing, drinking and gaming. Marking important times strengthens the links between members of a community - especially an extended community such as the Navarr possess. Three important celebrations observed by the majority of the Navarr are Unburdening, The Binding of Thorns and Welcoming.

Unburdening

Navarr Stridings and Steadings are not fixed – they shift and change over time, as people die, retire or move from one to another, perhaps due to a love-match or to a desire to see other climes. When an individual decides to leave a Steading to join a Striding (or even just to travel to another Steading), the event is celebrated with a simple feast in which they ceremonially burn a list describing the belongings they are leaving behind. This symbolises an intent to give up ownership, and comes with a general assumption that these possessions can be claimed by or redistributed among the Navarr who remain behind. The Navarr are far too pragmatic to burn valuable goods, but the ceremony helps people to let go of the things they do not need.

Eosffair of the Pathfinders Striding leads the way to the Navarr campgrounds.
The Welcoming celebrates the coming of Spring.

Welcoming

Conscious of the passage of the seasons, the Navarr Stridings congregate at festival times, either together or at the Steadings. The Navarr celebrate the turning of all the seasons but the birth of a new spring and the end of the harsh winter that makes travelling difficult is their major festival. This grand celebration is a time for revelry, feasting, raucous music and wild dancing. It is also traditionally a time for making a new start, abandoning grudges and putting aside past failures to concentrate on the possibilities of a new year.

Welcoming begins with a ceremonial hunt. The traditional quarry of the Welcoming are the Vates, who often adopt fanciful costumes or headdresses that represent game animals, such as stags, hares and pigeons. Details of the hunt vary from year to year; a glorified game of hide-and-seek one year may be followed by a mock hunt through light woodland the next, or a chase across open ground. The hunt is good natured, but some Vates relish the opportunity to employ their magic to make the hunt more exciting.

Come, come, why the tears my sweet? Death is just another step in the Great Dance. We all take it.

Nana Bronwyn Wordless

Funerals

In death, what remains are the memories of your deeds in the minds of your partners in the Great Dance. The Steadings use a traditional corpse-glade where the bodies are laid out in the forest. Such glades are rarely troubled by scavengers or carrion-eaters, and the bodies are simply left undisturbed to moulder.

The Stridings usually commit bodies to a simple cairn but a Striding may decide to transport a corpse to a Steading before performing a funeral. There is also a custom where the friends of the deceased make a pilgrimage to a corpse-glade to hang a reminder or memento of their fallen comrade among the branches.

Icons and Artistry

The iconic symbol for the Navarr is the White Tree, a stylised, leafless oak with branches and roots representing the different paths leading to, and extending from, the present moment. It is often depicted surrounded by crimson thorns, representing the sacrifices needed to walk a path. The organic curves and shapes featured in the banner that hangs in the Imperial Senate are common in Navarr paintings, sculptures, and decorations, as well as in the designs for their architecture, landscaping, and body art. Many Navarr decorate their clothing and belongings with images of vines and thorns.

The Navarr prize living art that emphasises the idea of things being maintained or built upon with every passing year or passing striding. A painting on a rocky outcrop might need retouching each time a striding passes by, or they may add a new detail to a tree stump carved to mark the location of a trod. In Navarr eyes, the best art must be constantly maintained so that it can be developed with each iteration or each hand that contributes. Music and performance can be continuously updated with new lyrics and lines to adapt to changing circumstances. Even a piece of furniture can have new carvings added to the wood. The aim is not to improve a piece, so much as to keep it "alive" as a piece of art by constantly working on it.

Seren, in Miaren, is considered the centre of Navarr art. The flowering glades and immaculate gardens are testimony to what humanity can achieve when the natural world is tamed. To the Navarr tending nature to make it both benign and beautiful is a crucial artform - one that can be practised by everyone whatever their level of skill. Every part of the surrounding forests that can be improved on is available, glades can be opened up to allow flowers to grow on the floor below, seeds planted to create tree-lined paths and lanterns strung from branches to make the forest a riot of colours at night.

Further Reading

Core Brief

Additional Information