Kalderani mindset
The Kalderani are generally honest and helpful, and are somewhat obsessed with laws and government organization. Laws mostly favour society over individuals, and at times complicated bureaucracies and regulations can dominate government. Order and peace is maintained by a strong monarchy. Social programs to address specific ills or situations are common, administered by royal charities, guilds, and the various churches.
Family life
Kalderani families are multi-generational, so that a child typically grows up with siblings, parents, and grandparents.
The custom by which people are named is based around the family. A first name is assigned at birth, whilst a family name is determined upon marriage. See the section on naming conventions for further details.
On average, a couple has two children. Childcare is the duty of the parents and grandparents.
The age of adulthood, which ranges from 12 to 15, is defined within a particular religious context and is publically celebrated.
In the Oohmian tradition, for example, a public ceremony and feast is held to celebrate a person’s 12th birth day, which they consider adulthood. Razimites consider the 15th birthday as marking adulthood.
For the next 5 to 8 years (the duration depending on the particular religious tradition the parents follow) the young adult is encouraged to engage in courtship. Only after this period is marriage allowed.
Birth order does not automatically convey legal or societal benefit. Rather, ability, experience, and personality play a larger role in social elevation. Similarly, gender is only deterministic where it is a biological imperative.
Despite this egalitarian foundation, Kalderani society is strongly socially stratified, with social status correlating with power, which itself is correlated with wealth.
Customs
A dizzy array of customs exist across Kalderesh. Some are inspired by religious affiliation, others by social rank, and yet others by idiosyncratic family tradition.
Some groups require tattoos, others expect heads to be shaved or strange hairstyles to be adopted. Marriages are sometimes arranged by specific groups.
In some circles, outsiders are not allowed to visit homes, and meetings take place in public arenas. Unusual greetings and farewells, and specific rituals before meals, are common but vary greatly from place to place.
Navigating these social spaces can be very tricky.
Arts
A wide range of arts are practiced and enjoyed in Kalderesh. The brightest artists become household names. Performing arts includes storytelling, theatre, music, and dance. Decorative arts include prinwork, sculpture, and painting. Literature and poetry, too, have had a powerful impact on the development of the nation.
Entertainment
Places of entertainment include brothels, dance halls, bars, pubs, and restaurants. Also commonly found are theatres, small performance venues, sport arenas, sport fields, and race courses. In Camfor, the Golden Cobra Menagerie houses a bewildering array of exotic animals, fish, and plants.
Theatres and other performance spaces are home to actors, narrators, poets, minstrels, musicians, jesters, acrobats, dancers, illusionists, and bards.
Popular board games are checkers, knucklebones, hazard, and knights. The latter two are particularly popular amongst gamblers.
The most popular sports are running, archery, football, horseshoes, quarter-staff sparring, wrestling, dagger throwing, and fencing.