Balada inhabitants are quite reclusive and wary of foreigners. They prefer to keep to themselves, and will very rarely venture into other provinces.
The Balada prefer to live as one with nature. They dismiss most heavy technology, and reside in wilderness areas. They are incredibly resourceful, though, and have more raw products for trade than any other nation on Anygh.
No one chief is supposed to be considered in higher regard than any other, but through reputation, age, and power, influence can certainly be tipped in one direction.
It isn't surprising then that the Balada people are called fearless of death. They know their land extremely well, and have managed to thrive there for centuries.
The Balada province is filled with excellent food sources in the form of wild animals, fruits, roots, and tubers. Furthermore, their heavy humidity means plentiful water year round, although there are few real lakes and rivers.
The Plaza
A large deck, built between the trunks of several Balan trees, the plaza is a meeting center for Binludae. Meetings between chiefs occur here, with some citizens available to audience all decisions made. Town-wide festivals are also held at the plaza. Day to day, the plaza is off limits for civilians. The bridges are only put up during important occasions. The plaza is otherwise considered a sacred area, and is often home to several arboreal animals and their nests.
While Akouta is filled with many giant plants, its density of trees is much less than that of the surrounding jungle. Experts believe that this might have contributed to the varied number of smaller, ground-based plant life. Seen from above, Akouta appears to be a deep bruise in the otherwise lush green of the jungle.
Akouta, therefore, has not earned its nickname from being barren, but rather from its deadly reputation. The rare properties of its plants draw many victims, who seek out fortune or aid for relatives who are ill. Healers, too, attempt to frequent this area to collect ingredients for their potions and cures. But for every helpful plant, there are twenty that can kill. Akouta has the highest number of toxins, carnivorous plants, and venomous animals in Izarn. A traveler here can be exposed to over a thousand different toxins, many of which do not yet have cures. Their effects may not be immediate, but are always deadly. Very few individuals manage to survive a trip through Akouta, and of those, many will come out with lasting scars and neurological trauma. Akouta will kill, devour, maim, and paralyze anyone who takes the time to smell the roses.
The road narrows to only a few feet further away from Binludae, and the stones that keep the earth pressed and even are no longer present. The road becomes more difficult to read, and only the scents of previous travelers tell explorers where to go. The road is kept visible through constant usage. Maintainers are hired to walk various stretches of its length each day, to press the earth and curtail plants from growing in these areas. The Baladians despise the culling of plants and take all measures possible to avoid doing so.
The road meanders through Balada east to west, branching off at each smaller community as it goes. Its purpose is only to connect towns and villages to the city, making trade, the spread of news, and visiting distant family members easier. It is by no means a spectacular road, and to many provinces it is nothing but a beaten trail, but it serves its purpose in Balada, and is well loved and well used by the people.
Beautiful petroglyphs can be found throughout Balada’s rocky plateaus. These glyphs can be carved or painted into the stone, and depict various murals of history and folklore form the Baladian people. This is the only popular form of painting in Balada, and gives a good representation of the nation's style. Drab colors, mainly browns and reds, are common choices, and brush strokes are made quite thick and smooth…with one object flowing into another. There are few hard corners or geometrical shapes used.
Bakal is a form of traditional body modification, specifically in the form of burning away hair, and tattooing the visible skin. While permanent hair removal has become uncommon, this art form still requires the subject to shave or pluck the hair or feathers from their body. This then becomes the Bakal artist's canvas. Tattooing is done as a form of mild burn with black ink placed on the edge of a stylus. The process is quite painful and it takes several weeks for the subject to recover, during which they need to keep the exposed areas covered in special healing creams, such as aloe vera. The burn is quite mild, though, so that hair and feathers will continue to grow over the tattoos. Bakal tattoos appear in a similar style to petroglyphs, with bold, thick strokes and continuously flowing patterns. Bakal tattooing is meant to portray various times in the subject's life – when they first killed, their birthing ceremony, a rise in rank, taking on an important task in the community, and so forth. Each Bakal tattoo is very personal, and the story is just as important as the art.
Music is never recorded in Balada, except on paper and stone for it to be more easily remembered. It has become as pleasurable, if no more so, to sing, dance, or play an instrument as it is to listen to it. Music plays a huge part in most of Balada's traditions, and can be heard throughout the province at various times of day. Before all meals, to begin the day, during times of great pleasure, and times of great sorrow. A household never goes a day without communal singing.
Singing for pleasure, and an audience, is also quite common. At any restaurant there will be a small orchestra or entertainer hired to serenade the customers, and several wealthy businesses also hire singers or musicians to lighten up the atmosphere of their shops. Street performers, who may request money but never charge it, also appear quite commonly.
While Balada is rich in timber, their culture requires that they only destroy nature when absolutely necessarily. So, instead of freshly cut trees, the Baladian people make their houses from deadfall and branches that have been removed to better support the growth of a tree. Ropes are made from various plant materials, as well as the bark of young saplings, which are considered less sacred than the ancient giants their homes are built on.
The Baladians have created a culture that chooses to live with nature, rather than against it. For that reason housing must be built with as little harm done to the natural landscape as possible. Stairways and rope bridges are made to connect each tree to another, and to allow easier access between the different levels. Homes are built on platforms supported by giant branches, with the roofs and walls created in such a way that the branches and leaves of the tree are used, but not disturbed. Houses are fortified against the potential onslaught of rain, but not against other people or predators. Baladians make their presence known through noise and scent, which keeps most dangerous beasts away. Even the toughest of predators is unlikely to attack an area with hundreds of people around.
In most communities, a large platform will be built around the trunk of a tree, creating a "floor," which several close families may occupy together. Sleeping quarters are very rarely private, allowing children to bunk together, and adults to sleep at the entrances to aid in protecting them. And to keep them from running off! Places for preparing food are shared, as are visiting areas. Only small storage areas, where an individual will keep their belongings, are considered personal and private.
Baladian homes do not have windows, by definition. As the 'roofs' of the houses are simply branches and the occasional crafted beam for support, with large leaves fastened between them, there is no place, or need, for true windows to be built into the "walls." Instead, during rainless days, the leaves will be rolled back over the house, and tied in a loose bundle. This leaves the entire upper area of the house exposed, allowing occupants to look out, and visitors to look in, as they please.
For privacy, in the bathroom areas and sleeping areas, woven curtains of animal hair are attached to the branch-and-beam skeleton of the roof, allowing the occupants to block off smaller sections of the home.
As with windows, Baladian houses do not have proper doors. Each "home" is essentially its own level on a never-ending tower of houses and businesses built along the trunk of a tree. On occasion a larger tree may house several homes or businesses, each separated by a "wall" created from branches and deadfall. This is perhaps the only case in which a "door" may appear. Generally, entrances to homes and other establishments are left bare. The front facing wall itself may not be completed, or may be missing altogether, leaving a wide gap for people to pass in and out of. For privacy, large woven screens, similar to those used within the home, will be pulled over the entrance way.
During the rainy season, the presence of doors, or, at the very least, a means to keep the water out, become more prevalent. In these cases large, sturdy blockages are put in place. These are made from deadfall with hardened tree sap or pitch used to fill the gaps. They are made to fit the length of the entrance way, and are fastened tightly to the adjoining walls with leather or woven ropes. Businesses will shut down temporarily, and all individuals will return to their homes. The blockades are not meant to act as doors, but rather a temporary wall. They are not easily put in place or removed, and therefore are a hindrance when attempting to let in customers or visitors.
Houses in Balada are very natural, no paints or artificial decorations are used in either the interior or the exterior. The exterior walls of the house are merely pieces of deadfall and branches that have been bound together, the texture and color of which are natural for that tree. Generally speaking, most homes appear shades of rich brown, reddish, or silver depending on the type of trees used in wall construction. House roofs, as they are made from the leaves, are vibrant shades of green, occasionally mottled with yellow if the health of the home tree is poor.
For marionettes or those possessing a blessed ruby, fashion is only slightly altered. The Baladians do not believe in restricting the natural movements of the body, so very little clothing is worn. They require no protection from the cold, as the jungle itself is warm and humid. Insects prove to be the most disastrous to naked skin. The upper class wears ornate loincloths, often dyed in green, black, and blue. For women, a simply strip of leather or cloth will be used to cover the breasts, often decorated with beads. Leather gloves and shoes are also quite popular, as the material is soft, but still tough enough to protect delicate hands and feet. Both sexes enjoy decorating their hair with feathers, bone, and, most importantly for the upper class, the petals of colourful (and often dangerous) flowers.
When greeting an elder, it is quite common to extend one's hand to the elder's outstretched hand, touching fingers. This is only done with those who are very old, as a sign of respect.
The equivalent of "screw you" in Balada is the lifting and dropping of the ears several times in succession, obviously not something that can be easily copied in human form. Therefore it has also become uncouth to lift the hand, palm face outward, and flap the fingers up and down. To call someone a whore, dirty, or otherwise "lower class" one would sweep the wrist in front of one's self in a wide arc, stating that "everything around here has already touched you." This arc is considered a very grave insult, and is not often done in respectable society.
Two consonants may not appear together (eg. LK, ST, etc.), and no more than two vowels may be paired (eg. ao is allowed, but aoo is not).
Names always end in A or N.
Faction leaders (commonly chiefs) have a 'Z' in their name. No other rank may have Z.
Example Names: Beten, Kouta, Tera, Sesana