People and Culture
Ethnic Diversity by Percentage:Highly varied. Kota's position as a trade hub sees all manner of people come through their river systems, both from other territories and from Serendipity.
General Appearance:It is most common for Kotans to be tall and well-built thanks to their plentiful access to nutrient-rich food and clean water. They most typically have lightly tanned skin, deep sapphire eyes, and violet-black hair.
Values:Shrewdness, Intelligence, Industriousness, Prosperity
Naming:Kota shares many naming conventions with Serendipity, with a few influences from their culture prior to the Serenian occupation. Bird names for both boy and girl children are common practice.
Interclan Relations:Kota values all of their trade relationships, so long as those relationships are good. Attitudes towards troublemakers who impede trade quickly become hostile, and certain groups can expect to be charged considerable hazard pay or face long delays between shipments as a result.
Slavery:Kota does not possess chattel slavery, but rather through their emphasis on trade and profit, have created a kind of wage-serfdom. The lowest class Kotans are thus much less likely to be able to get by on their own, often sinking into debt to their own employers and so unable to freely move about the territory.
Hair and Dress:Kotans borrow their fashions very heavily from Serendipity and their other trading partners, as they are able to move exotic goods easily through the territory. Being a boat-faring people, they need to be able to freely move, and most Kotans will wear thin loose-fitting pants tucked into waterproofed boots in cooler weather. Loose shirts made from light, whiter fabrics are also common, as it helps to keep the body from overheating during the hotter summer months.
While the overall clothing styles are fairly simple out of practicality, those with money compensate with accessories such as ornate crocheted vests, gloves, sashes and shawls. Lace is very popular, and is present in much of the jewelry in Kota.
Hair is typically worn long, and braided into two pigtails. These pigtails are often wrapped in otter furs and bound with leather thongs, and may be additionally decorated with beadwork.
Art, Music, and Dance:Certain forms of art such as oil paintings and sculpture are favored heavily by the upper class of Kota, and the richest families will spend quite a lot on several pieces to decorate their homes. Music is similarly valued, though there is a similar emphasis on what is popular in the courts of Serendipity. Being unable to afford such luxuries, the lower class Kotans instead rely on handmade crafts, and have developed their own subculture of music and dance that blends traditions from pre-colonial times with new influences from other territories and countries.
Food:Primarily composed of shellfish and other seafood, along with other delicacies acquired through trade.
Housing:Houses in Kota are less houses than they are ports - manmade canals act as roadways that empty out into rivers and marshes to connect a town. The wealthiest homes have impressive docks to allow for multiple visitors, leading up to massive wraparound decks lifting their considerable homes out of the mud of the riverbanks. Poorer Kotans live in boathouses they keep docked on their employer's property, or in small cabins on the riverbanks.
Sexuality, Gender, Marriage, and Divorce:In Kota, everything is a business practice. This includes marriage, as courting involves careful negotiations where two families work out the best possible outcome for their children and themselves. Upper class women are expected to marry upper class men of suitable standing and business connections, and the husband is expected to share those connections with his newfound in-laws. Sexuality is seen as a non-issue: it doesn't matter who you'd prefer to marry, as many of these relationships are purely contractually based. Divorce is unheard of, as that often results in a considerable souring of business relationships.
It's not uncommon for two unlucky newlyweds to find happiness in extramarital affairs, though this action is officially frowned upon. Many families simply try to 'make it work', and focus on at least being able to work together even if they aren't in love.
Religion:Most Kotans are ambivalent about religion, having had contact with many different belief systems. Many may pay lip-service to the Serenian pantheon, but it's rarely in a devout manner. A conglomerate of spirituality, local myth, and urban legends make up the brunt of what Kotans truly believe in, with folk practices from all over Adela being adopted and blended into Kotan spiritual life. Many of these folk practices have a lot to do with neighbors, either spirit or human, and involve maintaining a healthy relationship with good neighbors and repelling bad ones.
