Something that visitors to the nation are quick to notice is the style of name that the citizens around them employ. It can be a cultural shock to deal with a colleague in the Treasure Hunters’ Guild or Court of Daggers and find their full chosen name does not fit on the paperwork. When a Syradonian comes of age, they are offered the choice of confirming their name or choosing a new one. This is so they can make their name a promise of their own goals – each name is a road for that citizen to travel, and a light to guide them by.
On occasion a citizen will choose to change their name again when they feel they have achieved a major milestone and it no longer fits, or they feel they have completed the goal of their current name.
There is a high value on community. The state provides a lot of the basics people need and recognises that providing luxuries and opportunities for people means they are at their best. This means there is often an expectation of people in Syradonia to think of their families, Domus, and wider groups they are attached to as much as to their own needs. Recreational activities are encouraged to form bonds throughout the nation, with track races and accuracy with the crossbow particularly prized.
Due to the lack of easy availability of fabrics, craftspeople who can renew and remake clothing from old to new in creative ways are highly prized, as are those who repurpose garments to pass along to those of different sizes. A degree of ingenuity and thrift is required in these industries, with items dyed, patched and darned to extend their life. These repairs are sometimes covered in metallic pigment or thread to emphasise their renewal and the care that has gone into their reuse – beautifying the repair itself as a symbol of the nation’s diligence and refusal to carelessly waste things of value.
Food in Syradonia can be an interesting mix. Internally their focus is on nutrition and using what is available to be cultivated. Innovations such as simple but efficient greenhouses use the power of the Brights light combined with heat sources allow them to industrialise and control what they can produce to an extent. Mushrooms and other cave plants can be harvested as well as some limited capacity for fishing in the underground pools of purified water that sit within the city.
The Order of Luxury is vital for ensuring that complimentary items produce a varied diet that allows for all they need as well as ensuring that Syradonia has access to many ways to flavour food and are never reduced purely to simple rations that never change.
The Venerati
The Venerati are citizens who have contributed some sort of revolutionary development, item or technology to Syradonia and improved the city in some way. Living ones are treated as honoured members of the community and generally move onto helping other people figure out their contributions though a few will continue to work and improve on whatever they became Venerati for. The majority are recognised only upon their death. Venerati are remembered beyond death, literally venerated once a year during the Remembrance festival.
Information about some of the Venerati was lost during the Fading, but the following are the known venerated citizens:
Hope Raked From The Ashes – Creator of the Spa network, a Ferrum who decided to improve life for themselves and everyone around them.
Praise The Celebrant With Azure Waters – The creator of a magical filtration system using crystals and an underground lake
Diamonds Cut From Tears Of The Mountain – A Tyrian who gave all their money back to the nation by building a sporting ground
Steadfastness Shall See Us Thrive – An Apostle who stood alone in battle against a hoard of Corrupted invaders to allow a group of trapped miners to escape
Clarity In The Dark – A hewer who undermined an incursion of attackers, causing a rockfall that killed them as well as the invaders
Laughter Is Gold Of The Jester – An early Leader of the Order of Faith, who prevented a cult taking hold of the nation
The Crystal Within – A Sacrist who prevented the progression of a virulent disease which could have decimated the nation
Gallant In Shadow – A Ferrum who created the process for quickly forming reliable Glowstone crystals
It is not possible to invent additional Venerati. Additional information about them can be sought in-game, and rediscovering the name and information about lost Venerati is a great in-character goal.
National Festivals
A festival of light in the depths
A festival of light that celebrates the continued resistance to corruption. This is a relatively new celebration where Syradonians put down tools for a day to spend time with those they are close to and take part in activities that bring them joy – with the express reason of reminding them what they are fighting for.
Realm Festivals
The Venerati Remembrance
This is a festival where people remember the Venerati’s contributions to society, alongside their neighbours Morvalis and Kairos, who celebrate the dead in slightly different ways. In Syradonia, pageants to show the achievements of the Venerati are common, with mummer-style plays to depict the disasters that could have occurred had the Venerati in question not given all of the sweat of their brow or passion in their heart to solve the problem on behalf of the nation. Without gravestones, the achievements themselves become memorials – the location of their final stand, the public work they created or the workshop that was the place their genius was fostered. Commonly, Syradonians will use this holiday to reaffirm their own ambitions and consider what they could personally bring to Syradonia to be awarded in such a way.