Navarr people
The Navarr love to travel. The journey can be a means to an end or an end in itself. Some of their journeys serve an arcane purpose, but wherever they are travelling they carry news, messages and people with them. A Navarr might settle down for a time, but eventually most will feel a need to move on. They see travel as a way to deal with difficult social, political or economic situations.
They value self-sufficiency, priding themselves on their ability to prosper in dangerous and inhospitable areas. Many Navarr love the excitement of the hunt; stalking prey heightens their senses and tests their skills and the thrill of the chase gets their blood pumping, reminding them they are alive. Young Navarr especially, like to test themselves against the world; they like to push themselves, whether it is conquering a mountain peak or blazing a trail to a new destination. They enjoy demonstrating their mastery over nature.
Despite their respect for self-sufficiency they are a gregarious folk, they love the opportunity to share their survival skills with others. The Navarr welcome strangers to their steadings and stridings. They like to cultivate friends and alliances. Anyone in the Empire who needs to travel somewhere, or who is looking for a new start, knows that the Navarr are happy to embrace fellow travellers. They relish the opportunity to work as go-betweens. The philosophy of the Great Dance teaches that everyone has a place where they can prosper, and helping other people find that place is a calling for many Navarr.
The population of Navarr is fluid and mobile. Many of their people live in settlements called steadings, while others travel in loose groups called stridings. Navarr move back and forth between the settled life of a steading and the mobile life of a striding as the mood takes them or circumstance dictates.
Alert/vigilant. The Navarr keep a watch on the Empire. When they move through an area, they make an effort to look for problems and dangers, and warn their fellow imperial citizens about them. A Navrr who discovers a ruined Marcher fortress is now a haven of orcs or bandits will seek out nearby Marcher lords and beaters, inform them of the problem, and offer whatever assitance she can to help them deal with the threat.
The Navarr are as fierce in warfare as they are welcoming in peacetime. When they march to battle they don war-paint so their allies can see they have committed themselves to the fight and their enemies know to be afraid. They do not pick a fight lightly, but once a Navarr have decided something is his enemy, he ruthlessly deals with that enemy. Their fierceness is matched by their practicality. The Navarr have little time for notions of honourable combat. Ambushes, traps, misdirection and poison are all weapons that the Navarr readily employ against their enemies.
To the Navarr guile is used to defeat their enemies and the things they hunt, to deliberately trick someone is to mark them out as an enemy. They are not truthful in the way the Freeborn are obsessively honest, but they prefer to reserve their wiles for their enemies.
The Navarr were once part of a great nation that was lost to orcs and failed magic centuries before the Empire began. Although they continue to wander through the wild places of the world, they embraced the Empire as an opportunity to regain the civilisation they lost. Their cities still exist, but they are buried in the depths of the Vallorn, a monstrous presence that lurks in the heart of their forests.
Names
Navarri names have a flavour of the fantastic, drawing on the sounds of Welsh or Celtic and Tolkien elvish.
A Navarri takes the name of their steading or striding as their second name. Names are not static and change with the choices of the individual.
Each Striding or Steading has a name that ends in 'el. For example, Riodan'el, or Teyrn'el.
A child's name is given to a Navarri at birth by the parents, an adult's name is taken during the Binding of Thorns. It is not uncommon for a newly-adult Navarr to keep the name their parents gave them as a mark of love and respect,
On occasion a 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.
Sample names
- Male: Aedan, Arawn, Dradan, Breanainn, Cadaen, Caiside, Donndubhan, Drustan, Elisedd, Faelan,Hywel, Ifan, Lindir, Logan, Maddoc, Paul, Saeros,Tomas,Wyl
- Female: Angharad, Brianna, Bronwen, Cordelia, Enys, Gwynedd, Iona, Megan, Myfanwy, Niamh, Olwen, Raelyn, Siani, Rhiannon, Teleri
Other examples are easy enough to find on the internet if you are lacking inspiration. These links to Celtic names, elven names or Welsh boys or girls names can provide a starting point.