The League culture and customs
Hospitality
“The best of everything” might as well be the League motto. Wealth exists partly to "keep score" but its true value lies in its ability to acquire the fruits of civilization: beautiful things, comfortable clothes, delicate jewellry and inspiring entertainment. While outsiders sometimes criticize the League for being a den of greed and miserliness, this is largely unsupported prejudice. Wealth, after all, achieves very little if it is simply stored in a vault.
The nation is a crossroads for trade in all kinds of luxury goods, and being able to set a fine table for close friends and allies is the mark of a solid citizen, regardless of social position. It is clear, however, that such a table is by invitation only; life in the League is busy, and unexpected guests are an unwanted distraction. People wait to be invited to dine, anyone arriving at a League table with an assumption of hospitality will receive short shrift. To ensure that everyone has a chance to see the depth of their hospitality, most individuals and guilds prefer to throw a lavish party, at most once a year, to which they invite everyone they know, friend and foe alike. Balls and feasts are common, with hosts competing to offer the most lavish entertainment and finest distractions. A party is a serious business in the League because it is an opportunity to demonstrate one's wealth and social cleverness.
Citizens of the League are meticulous in recording favours done and favours owed, but when they give a gift to someone it is free of any obligation, even the expectation that the gesture will be returned. Gifts are given by the rich and powerful as a way of demonstrating their social standing but the cleverness and appropriateness of the gift is much more vital. Gifts that display insight into a person's character, or allude to their situation are more impressive than mere wealth. Gifts to political opponents are common, they carry a mark of respect and appreciation. It is the mark of a true Merchant Prince that they are as gracious in defeat as in success.
Duelling
Although duelling to the death is illegal, formal duelling is an accepted way of settling disputes. Challenges are usually publicized, bouts between well-known duellists can attract quite a crowd and the magistrates like to have one of their number present to ensure that no foul play occurs. The terms of the duel are set by mutual agreement by the participants, but usually both parties will use matching weapons and fight until one party submits or is too wounded to continue. It is accepted practice for powerful and wealthy individuals to employ professional duellists to fight in their stead.
Rules
There is a strong emphasis on rules in League society, they despise people who break the law, because they are seen as cheating, using unworthy mechanisms to take wealth and power from their more prosperous neighbours. But the League has other rules besides Imperial laws. Manners are important, individuals are expected to remain polite even towards their hated enemies. While the League strives to be civil not servile, it is exceptionally important to show due respect to those who have earned positions of importance in League society. Punctuality is important in every walk of life, if a party begins at sundown then you can expect to get turned away if you turn up an hour later. Breaking these rules invites distrust, because it suggests you are the sort of person who cannot be trusted. If you cannot obey the small, simple rules how can you be expected to obey the important, complex ones?
Small Talk
Citizens of the League consider sharing information to be a national past-time. Very often, the cities are built up rather than out – particularly in the Jewelled City of Sarvos, where space is a premium – meaning that families are, quite literally, living on top of each other. In these cramped conditions it is difficult to pretend not to know the business of ones neighbours; and most simply don’t – conversation easily turns to what your neighbours have done, the games that your Merchant Princes are playing amongst themselves, who owes what to whom; and which stories are being told about them. There is an element of competition here as in most things in the League - a person who consistently has information that is interesting, useful and factual demonstrates their superiority over someone who doesn't.
Performance
Performance and display are important parts of life in the League, and the arts are seen as a valuable way both to express one's wealth and one's appreciaton of what it means to be "cultured". Different arts wax and wane in popularity, but the theatre has maintained constant popularity since the early days of the League. The Nation claims to have invented the idea of theatrical performance, and is inordinately proud of it. From the towering theatres patronized by the rich to the squalid backrooms of taverns where an impromptu performance of "The Steel Throne" attracts a crowd of heckling drunkards, performance is everywhere. Theatre holds a mirror up to life, it allows people to relax and be entertained or informed, and for many it is an almost magical experience. It is perhaps no surprise that the most well-known and powerful magicians in the League are actors. Theatres compete to offer patronage to the most popular and experienced troupes and playwrights, and competion is fierce and occasionally violent.
Relationships
Love and romance are often irrelevant when marriage is discussed between the rich and powerful. The affairs of the heart may guide the naive or unambitious but prominent League citizens consider marriage to be an opportunity to cement an allegiance or gain a key ally. For powerful citizens in the League, marriage is usually about personal loyalty and social advancement rather than passion.
That is not to say that the League is devoid of romance. A spouse that begins an affair must be discreet, but as long as they ensure that their paramour is not using them to gain damaging information on their guild, and that their husband or wife is not insulted by their behaviour, society turns a blind eye. Such romantic affairs rarely last long, and neither partner expects them to, but there are plenty of stories of "true love" prospering in the barren garden that is guild politics, although in theatre and litearture such romances invariably end badly.
Prosperous and well to do members of a guild, both married and unmarried, are sometimes accompanied by a cicisbeo (kick-a-BEY-o). At first glance, outsiders sometimes confuse a cicisbeo with a courtesan. Whether male or female these individuals are expected to be examplars of League society, quick-witted, sharp as steel but above all loyal. Some do provide sexual services but their primary service is to support their patron with unconditional loyalty - and also to make their patron look fantastic when out and about in League society. Most provide other services as well, whether as bodyguards, valets, personal assistants, confidantes, doctors or even espionage agents. The cicisbeo is unique in that they are generally not part of the guild to which their patron belongs, but that once their loyalty is bought it is ironclad. They do not work for "the highest bidder" but rather as long as the financial agreement between patron and cicisbeo is maintained, they endeavour to be absolutely reliable and trustworthy. A cicisbeo who betrays their patron, for whatever reason, is effectively ruined and likely to be utterly excluded from League society - assuming they survive the attentions of their outraged patron, her guid, any previous employer, and indeed all other cicisbeo.
Funerals
The League obsession with keeping score extends past death. League wills are full of grandiose stipulations, extravagantly planned wakes, and endowments for public statuary.
The true stars of League society, or simply those with the greatest reputation for hosting the finest parties will attract the cream of society to their wakes. This being the League, it can be hard to tell the difference. The less-than-popular will put aside monies for the hire of mourners to weep and throw themselves to the ground. Traditionally, the deceased attends their own wake, in the form of a single masked performer. Party-goers are given free license to say things to the Death Masque that they would have liked to say to the deceased were they were alive.
The richest will hire professional Troupes to perform the highlights of their lives in theatre or music. True immortality is to have the play or song commissioned about your life performed long after you're dead. Of course, the writer may choose to subvert your memory cleverly if the actual truth doesn’t agree with the public image you wished them to portray. Immortality can be for good or ill, after all.
The ashes of the vast majority of League citizens will end up cast into one of the of the four great rivers. The exception are those few souls whose virtue has gained them the signal honour of a place in the great Necropolis of Highguard. Their remains make their final journey across the Bay of Catazar on black-draped funeral barges.