Ladinh

Languages: Ladino, Linguafranca (Common), Tetouani (Dwarven language), lo Patois (lo Marais)

Jewel of Terranuova, original home of the Great Portal, protector of the Eastern Basin and master of trade with the Thousand Archipelagos, hub of culture and learning and the centre of the new Known World... is how a Ladinho would describe their home country. Outsiders might mention a venal and corrupt political system, a cacophony of religions, a grid of angry city-states where civil strife makes civil hands unclean, or gasp at the Ladinh practices of cruel exploitation and conquest around Terranuova. And they'd both be right.

Latin origins
The peoples of Ladinh are arguably the misfits and free thinkers from the Latin culture, an ancient Motherland empire that incorporated elven and human cities into a brief superpower. Then the events of the great disapora played out and, well, first to develop portal technology were Latin scholars and artificers. Vestfal's portals were small and efficiently engineered, which set the model for other travellers: but the Great Portal was first and biggest of its kind, a grandiose magical experiment that went either spectacularly wrong or spectacularly right, depending on whether you are Ladinho or a member of the former Eastern indigenes.

It's proper to say that scraps of Latin culture came through the Great Portal - the cataclysm that created the Eastern Basin and upset half the Eastern seaboard was not kind to parchment, and the Latin ruling classes never made it across to their new antipodean kingdom. Instead, cut-throats, merchants, explorers and enterprising people of all races found their chance to make their mark - and their own tradition - in one of the many handy coves hollowed out by the Great Portal's glorious malfunction.

The Great Houses
Also known as the Familiares or simply the Houses. Mostly-human, semi-criminal business organisations that have amassed enough power to govern a city and maintain a standing army of condottieri.

The Houses each have their own way of doing things. Central to their decision-making process, however, is a family structure with a Paterfamilias or Matriarch at the head. Advisors and allies are welcome to offer support and knowledge - but the family, and specifically the head of the House, bears the burden of any decisions.

A few definitions: the Paterfamilias has the right to discipline, exile or order the death of any immediate family member. The Matriarch has the right to speak first in family meetings - as the symbolic mother of the house, she "births" all new motions and no new battles will take place until she gives leave to sacrifice her children. Some Houses appoint a Tribune of the Youth, someone under 30, who has power to veto many family decisions and who is considered protected by the household gods.

Each House appoints at least one Lar, or elven representative, who acts both as a magical focus and a political ambassador for their House. Lares can be any gender but are often Two - either because Two are meant to be blessed by the gods or simply because it's the current fashion. Lares tend not to be affiliated with a particular cartel; the exception is House del Pontevecchio, which allied itself with Cartel del Flor in the earliest days of Terranuova and which appoints several Lares to its ruling council.

The Cartels
Elven seats of power, influence and commerce, the Cartels maintain their status through impressive displays of magic and sheer ruthlessness. The Great Houses may be dysfunctional families but the Cartels are chaotic charnel-houses. Their economic resources and magical strength mean that elves fight, die and just keep coming back with more grudges.

The Ladinh Cartels tend to build fortresses and settlements outside the Eastern Basin; elven traders ply the sea constantly and are more than happy to treat the wild jungles adjoining Kingdom Plantae or the Thousand Archipelagos as homes away from home. As a result, the Cartels have brought many changes to Ladinh culture, including exotic new languages, foods, clothing styles and technological innovations. Plus drugs. Someone, somewhere in Terranuova, will always want a new recreational substance to trade, and these enterprising elves are more than happy to supply.

Y'd
Dwarves from the Motherland, already slightly out of place in Latin society and probably moreso in Terranuova, the Y'd have nonetheless found a home within the Eastern Basin and are keeping their religious and cultural traditions alive. Each Eastern Basin metropolis currently has a Shtetl or dwarven suburb. Occasionally some princeling will try to get the Y'd to move on, but this never ends well for their House. Y'd and the Houses (and to an extent the Cartels) have a symbiotic commercial relationship.

As well as speaking Ladino and Linguafranca (Common), Y'd also speak Tetouani, an Eastern-specific language that mixes dwarven, human and elvish grammar and words. It is unusual for Y'd outside the church or educated classes to speak or read the holy Dwarven language with fluency.

Lately in the cities of the Eastern Basin, a Dwarven Renaissance of sorts has begun - the Haskala. It is both a cultural rediscovery and flourishing, and a political movement in favour of dwarven independence, possibly the establishment of a true Y'd city. So far, none of Haskala's proponents has agreed on where the Dwarven people should create this utopia.

Terms of address (M/F/Two)
Houses: Siro/Sira/Lei

Cartels: Dom/Dona/DomNa or Sieu/Mam/Leu (Cachou and colonies)

Y'd: Moreh/Morah/Morom (teacher/elder), Reb (cleric), Rav (judge/high priest)