Physical Description and Aging

Often standing nearly 7 feet tall, the Boort are one of the most towering of races, though due to their proclivity to squat while resting, they often see eye to eye with most other races. Both genders are similar in body and build, though the males favor a square jawline, while the females favor a pointed face.

Fashion

Due to their proximity to the estuaries of Lastbreath, the Boort are constantly dealing with the issues of an ever changing marshland. For day to day wear, the poorest Boort wear rough flaxen, flared at the hip, to allow them to squat while working. For laboring classes more often exposed to the elements, they prefer oiled leather pteruges, similarly flared at the hip, to keep the elements at bay, though raincoats are worn by more affluent traders. For the arristocracy, silken robes are the preferred garment, with beautiful patterns woven thereon as displays of wealth.

Metals are a rarity in Lastbreath, with most of the population living near the coastlands and estuaries feeding their locale. The only mines are found farther to the north, with such areas considered the frontier. Moreover, due to the very wet nature of their locale, metal often degrades at a far greater rate than in other civilizations. Accordingly, metal fashion is afforded only by the Clannates who build their homes high upon the Sporespires, away from the mist and deadly miasma near the water's surface and with a team of serfs ready to care for such accoutrements. Clannate members often wear bracelets, torques, and other bands of beaten metal, some as lowly as copper, due to the great rarity in procuring such materials. Less wealthy Boort, lacking a servant staff and climate to care for such materials, prefer ornaments made from natural materials, such as bone and treated leather. Wealther clans can afford pearls and polished shells procured from divers along the coastal towns of Lastbreath and imported along the coastal waterways.

As with other races, the marriage customs of the Boort include a visible token of marriage. Unlike the other races that have hair or extremeties that can be pierced with ornaments, the Boort are reptilian in nature, with smooth bodies and a lack of extended membranes or whiskers. Accordingly, the Boort have a custom of exchanging wedding necklaces which are always visible no matter the clothing, sitting above the breastbone and along the neckline. More rural Boort will often exchange only leather thongs interwoven with polished bone as simple necklases, while more affluent Boort will instead provide banded necklaces or collars of overlapping materials, with such materials being of different colors and shapes for ascetic appeal. Due to the muggy nature of the Boort's natural climate and their prediliction for flared garments, so as to allow themselves to squat comfortably while performing even the most inane tasks, the Boort typically keep the upper portion of the robes open, exposing their chests and their marriage necklaces for all to see. More rural Boort of both genders often eskew wearing any garb above their waists altogether; while outsiders, especially mammalian outsiders, may see this as scandalous, the Boort's reptilian nature lacks sexual organs, such as breasts, and they view such exposure as natural for their climate. City-dwelling Boort, especially the Clannates, view exposing one's entire chest and torso less as an act of displaying oneself to the other sex, and more as a byproduct of poverty, in that the Clannate can afford ostentatious garb and view the act of exposing oneself without covering their torso as a missed opportunity to display their wealth. While the Boort are by no means asexual in viewing the other sex ungarbed in any way, they view the act far less as a distraction their than the other mortal races.

Breeding and Children

Unlike the mammalian races, the Boort's physiology does not noticeably change for childbirth, as the females lay a small spawning of eggs in estuary pools, typically located in the basement of homes submerged in the local marsh, with gestation occuring outside the body. Children are born as tadpoles and slowly morph into their adult forms, being long of limb and dactylic in nature. Children are typically born in accordance with the marshwater's warmth, with warmer waters typically engendering females, and colder waters engendering males. While the common classes are kept at the whim of the marshes ever changing temperatures, many attempt to dictate their children's gender by spawning at certain times of the year, with the Boort holding fertility festivals when the nilometer and temperature changes, denating a spawning season. For the Clannates who can afford servants and the accoutrements of wealth, they can breed unrestricted by the marshwater's temperature, as they can keep their spawn in perpetually-cared-for hot or cold baths, depending on what is desired by the Clannate's political and marital needs.

Child rearing is typically dictated not by gender, but by political and economic status. Clannate Boort, having the wealth to support full-time servants, often leave the rearing and tutoring of their children to servants. For non-Clannate Boort marrying into a Clannate, the non-Clannate Boort typically perform parental duties, unless their household can afford servants; however, due to the nature of politics, some Clannates marry wealthier commoners, and the socio-economic dichotomy of both families often creates conflict which is negotiated by the marrital parties' parents before the marriage. For poorer Boort, the bread-earner of either gender will provide for the household, with the other staying home to care for the young. The Boort are similar in physiology between the genders, and thus there is not a gender-bias for either towards certain forms of art: Boort society allows either gender to pursue a craft, whether martial, artistic, or laborious, with clans often determining the family trade and, accordingly, determining the familial structure and duties well before marriage or negotiating by the marriage parties' parents.

Spawned eggs are typically small in number, numbering 2-3 in most scenarios, though having only one egg or more than 3 isn't unheard of, just rare. Situations where more than 3 eggs are spawned are often causes for celebrations by throwing a small party amongst family members and thanking their household gods for such an occassion. Most eggs spawn into tadpoles, with only a small percentage never hatching. For such unhatched eggs, they often dissolve into their spawning water, with numerous local traditions dictating such an occurance as fortituous, in that the gods whisked such progeny away, or dire, with the belief that yestakarthi stole from their clutch.

The Boort possess slightly enlarged fingertips which, upon mental command, can easily grab onto all but the smoothest surfaces and hold their weight. A mark of Boort childhood are children learning to control their hands to varying success, with some walking about with numerous objects stuck to certain digits for hours at a time.

Politics and Marriage

The Boort are innately political as a species, with their earliest records being that of marriage amongst Clannates and clans alike. Unions for love without any other thought are unheard of, and typically disdained, by Boort along all societal strata, though if a married party are happy in their marriage, then this is seen as auspicious for both families, as the happily married often breed more than their unhappy counterparts and thus produce more children for future political marriages in clans.

Marriage between Boort is reviewed once tadpoles gestate into their limbed forms, due to the chance that the egg sacks may not hatch. Clan and Clannate alike, once having a tally of their family's new progeny, will immediately cast about for families of similar or greater political or economic status, hoping to lock in expectations for marriage between said families. For wealthier clans and most Clannates, the haggling of children is a rigorous affair, with banquets and small festivals held to demonstrate their power and wealth, and hopefully entice visiting patrons to reassess their view of the family and their new children; such practices are often as lavish for wealthier clans who hope to entice a Clannate, perhaps on the decline for economic or social reasons, to add the wealthy clan as an exchange in wealth for prestige. For poorer clans, the same actions are taken though on a far less luxurious scale, with local communities even hosting festivals near spawning seasons, so that poorer families, loathe to leave their work and subsistence labors, can prepare financially ahead of time.

Clannates and wealthy clans who wish to solidify a marriage pact, sometimes right after a tadpoles hatching, will do so through formal customs oftentimes rivaling the ceremonies required for the actual marriage, in that the parents wish to ensure all the local population are aware of such a coupling, so a party will be less likely to renege lest they tarnish their name and their actions impugne future attempts with other, now skittish, families similarly looking to wed their children. For all Boort, formal rites are often announced during local festivals, with the joining families hosting their own, public parties for all to attend; while this may seem altruistic to outsiders, the act is more to solidify the memory amongst the population of attending such an occasion, rather than an attempt at ingratiating themselves with others. Even the poorest Boort will at least put forth a public banquet, even if meager, to denote the occassion during a festival.

For wealthier patrons, betrothed children will often be tutored and perform festivals and ceremonies with one another from before even their first memories, further intertwining the families amongst one another. To outsiders, the practice seems rather extreme and perhaps early, but to the Boort who view marriage as the principal means of elevating one's family, both financially and socially, their culture bends towards customs to ensure that a break of such a betrothal is extremely rare. In the instances where such betrothals are broken, the affair can be socially devastating to both parties, in that each will likely blame the other publicly, all the while impugning each family's name and leading other family's to shy away from enjoining their own families with the despairing parties. The Boort treat such an event to the greatest extremes, with families, especially Boort Clannates, preferring assasination of the betrothed, often to look like a natural accident due to the deadly marshes they call home, so as to lessen any chance of being blamed for such an occurence. Amongst the ever-shifting political tides of the Boort Clannate, such occurences are often the rule, rather than the exception, and such Clannates go to extremes to ensure their children are protected against any kind of interference, with tutored children often being guarded by each respective family's bodyguards during even the most inane activities.

For older Boort, the proposition of remarriage is always a possibility, with powerful Clannate members seeing the opportunity for remarriage as part of their existence as a member of the uppermost echelons of Boort society. Both genders, if seeing the possibilty for remarriage, may enlist the help of assasins to ensure the untimely demise of their spouse and, after an appropriate bereavement period depending on the circumstances, will remarry into another family thereafter. Occasions for the natural death of a Clannate member are often celebrated affairs, for such an occurence is a rarity; in other circumstances where a Clannate member died during a hunt, a ferry-ride, a sudden illness, or other occurences, Clannate members are immediately put on notice that such an event may not have been natural, and that those outside the Clannate married party may suddenly have suitors appearing at random, or oftentimes, specific suitors appearing at just the right moment. Such occasions often put the deceased family on edge, for they know that upon the death of a family member, their connection is now tenuous at best, and political storms are likely afoot, with a new marriage casting the old family aside. While this is less likely amongst the poorer Boort, who lack the resources to afford sophisticated-enough assasins to ensure the death appears natural, such an event still occurs, especially in more rural locations with less structure and clans about to ensure prying eyes prevent dagger-held hands.

Arts and Entertainment

As lovers of the musical arts, the Boort place a premium on access to performative arts of all kinds. Boort from the highest Clannate down to the poorest serfs typically have song and dance after meals, with children of all social strata developing their artistic skills. While Boort will pass on their chosen professions to their children, as more hands help the clan, the arts are still kept at a premium for even a poor Boort can quickly escape poverty, and elevate their clan, by becoming a proficient musician, singer, or performer. While the Boort are lovers are art, they greatly prefer performative arts over tangible arts, such as written works, unless they are intended to be oral poetry, paintings, sculpture, etc. The Clannates view these tangible arts as markers of their own station, decorating their homes with paintings and sculpture, but the act is more of a display of wealth rather than a deeper appreciation for the work itself.

Access to artforms, as with most things, are delineated along economic and social strata, with the poorer Boort, lacking access to funds and the instruments to purchase them with, will often stick to song, dance, and oration, for these arts do not require physical accoutrement. For Clannates and wealthier clans, they will often provide numerous musical instruments to their children with specialized tutors, often the "Patroned" explained below, with an expectation that the child will master not only song, dance, and oration, but also the instruments provided. Due to the locale, the Boort prefer instruments made from local materials with woodwinds and leather drums being the most prevalent. Those of greater means can afford catgut and stringed instruments, while the wealthiest, being able to afford metals from the far lands of Tullusia to the north, may procure brass instruments, with a focus towards smaller, handheld horns. Despite the prolific nature of arts with the Boort, they eschew orchestras, and prefer smaller bands, typically quartets, as their musical history is rife with songs composed for such assemblies rather than larger groups that would likely require an entire Clannate's wealth just to train and accoutre an orchestra. Such limitations for musical groups do not extend to the performing arts, with theatrical performances often having ten or more Boort performing plays. While the Boort prefer to have a child who is a star of a play, or at the skill of a Patroned for performing an instrument or in oration, nevertheless the role of playwright is still held in esteem, though not to the degree of one acting in the capacity of a Patroned. Those who pursue the role of a playwright are seen as "bookish", which befits the wealth and tutoring of a Clannate, it just isn't held to the esteem of a star performer.

All Boort events and festivals are accompanied with poetic readings, song, theatrical performances, and small to large bands depending on the patron's wealth. The Boort, while often keeping displays of wealth restricted to garb, their barges, and decorations of the home, the Boort lose all sense of fiscal propriety when it comes to hosting troubadors. While food and decoration are held in high esteem, the greatest delineation between events are the bands and performers therein, with the Clannates spending massive amounts of wealth during festivals to outdo one another. Entire theater productions, large bands, and famous performers are all paid a premium to perform at one Clannate over another, and while the performers enjoy the attention and especially the coinpurse, the attention of the Clannates are a double edged sword. Performers for one Clannate, even if the Clannate asked first, may be seen as a slight to another Clannate. To handle these affairs, larger production groups and stars have their own "Speakers", acting as agents to handle the ever shifting political landscape between the clammoring Clannates. While the payoff for being a successful Speaker is a lucrative position, those who are unable to handle the political pressures often find themselves drowned within the marsh, with the next Speaker told, in friendly terms, to reconsider their predecessor's decisions.

While performers and their Speakers are often subject to the political whims of the Clannates and wealthier Clans, they are by no means immune to asserting their own political authority. Wealthier Clannates, seeking to avoid confrontation with other Clannates and the possibility of losing talent, instead elect to become patrons, dictating the overall locales in which the performers may show their arts. This class of performers, often called the "Patroned", are the highest echelon of performer, with their wealth often rivaling that of the most powerful clans. Such Patroned are effectively members of the Clannate, with their actions reflective upon the Clannate, for better, in that they have the protection of the Clannate, and for worse, in that they are now essentially political targets by other Clannates who utilize assasins to dispatch such Patroned and lower the cultural clout of their respective Clannate. The Patroned, being the greatest artists of their locale, are often given great freedom and little restriction, save for the Clannate having the right to recall the Patroned to perform for upcoming festivals and ceremonies; otherwise, the Patroned are encouraged to stay within the locale of the Clannate, giving public performances within bars and other "Songhalls", both to earn their own coin, but also to elevate their respective Clannate's prestige.

More affluent Songhalls will often seek to employ the Patroned, knowing that their performances are sure to pack the Songhall with the affluent and their pliable purses, though just as with Speakers and the Patroned, the Songhall's proprietors must keep a sharp ear towards political chatter, to ensure their use of a Patroned does not bismurch another Clannate; accordingly, Songhalls often rotate numerous Patroned with a special effort to ensure that the Patroned do not share the same artform, lest a public tit-for-tat get out of hand. No matter the care taken by a Songhall's proprietor, their establishments attract all kinds, and competing Patroned may attend during the same performance. For the hotter-blooded Patroned, often at the whimsy of their cups, may hear a performance performed with their preferred art and deem it unsatisfactory. Such events are rare and always spark an immediate frenzy amongst the Boort, with passerby flocking to the Songhall to attend the musical duel between the Patroned. While such events are extremely lucrative, they are often not worth it, for now both Patroned will perform with their chosen artforms in a duel and, due to the societal pressures associated with their patronage towards a Clannate, will never accept defeat aloud, even if one artist did outperform the other; moreover, Clannates may turn a blind eye to their Patroned provocation or acceptance of a provocation, and instead direct their ire to the unfortunate tavernkeep of the Songhall who "allowed" the two parties to get into this tit-for-tat in the first place.

Homelands

The Boort hail from the lands of Lastbreath, a marshy estuary dotted with massive spires of mushroom stalks with older trunks often reaching 400 feet in circumference and often reaching heights of 300 feet, though the mushrooms rarely grow plumb. Varied in hue and slant, these massive living towers are known as the "Spirestalks", with their trunks plumbing the depths of the nearby marshes. The Spirestalks stem and cap are akin to hardwoods in makeup and often used for both construction and furniture making. Unlike trees to the north of Lastbreath, the Spirestalks grow rapidly into adulthood, often taking little as 30 years to reach full maturity. The spores of the Spirestalks constantly fall downwards into the marshy waters, resembling a constant, light snow year round.

The Spirestalks dominate the landscape and Boort society, as buildable land is a rarity. For other species, such plots of land would likely sell at a premium, but the greatest locations of value are atop the stalks themselves where Clannates and wealthier clans built palatial towers thereon. Due to the Spirestalks height, the Boort build multi-tiered terraces up the stalk. Most stalks host a single elevator mechanism, often owned and operated by a wealthier clan, to ensure that goods can be brought up from the water below to the buildings above. These elevators are typically accompanied by a small jetty, allowing boats to dock, offload their goods, and use the Elevators to make deliveries. Larger jetties sometimes become bazaars in and of themselves, with merchants haggling over railings with passerby merchants for goods, then turning around selling the goods to the terrace-dwellers above. The wealthiest Clannates often own their own Spirestalk, with each terrace being a different aspect of an overall palatial, vertical landscape.

Despite the ease of the elevators, such ferries and perhaps even the bazaar space itself comes with a fee charged by the proprietor, and poorer boort, located closer to the water, will often instead use small ladders to lower themselves down to trade barges and boats ferrying goods and produce about the marshland cities. The Boort's ability to "grip" onto surfaces shines here, in that poorer Boort, after haggling and loading their goods into backpacks, will sometimes need to vertically scale the Spirestalks if a ladder is not nearby. While many of the Spires host rope bridgeways between Spirestalks, some areas are bereft of any constructed forms of ingress and egress, which may baffle the other races, but to the Boort this is just another aspect of daily life as they easily climb up the stalks using their grip and body strength.

While the Spirestalks are prolific, they are by no means universal in access to the population. Due to the premium on this "land", the Boort have necessarily evolved sophisticated property rights and a legal framework focused both on marriage rights, but more importantly on property rights for both chattel and realty. Terraces and catwalks built thereon are owned by the landower, who possess the right to restrict access to any passerby; however, the ultimate arbiter of rights of access belong to whomever lives upon the Spirestalk's cap. Unless the Spirestalk is wholly owned by a Clannate, most of those who dwell upon the cap, colloquially known as "Cappers", typically dictate that the stalk itself is a free means of access. Thus, Boort may use their grip to climb up and down the stalk itself, with a single "strip" of stalk often owned by the Capper and designated as a "walkway", to ensure that traders may freely deliver their goods up and down the stalk, even if they choose not to use the nearly ubiquitous elevators, ladders, and professional ferries that always accompany established Spirestalks. After all, Cappers who decide to be stingy and do not allow a "walkway" often find that traders avoid their Spirestalk for the effort and ferrying "tarifs" that accompany sale of goods eat too much into the bottom line.

As with most ancient cultures, the Spirestalks and the marshlands below lack any kind of formal zoning, though informal, de facto, zoning has emerged among the Boort. The waters abutting the Spirestalks are often just a ring of docks, warehouses, and bazaars, where barge-merchants can deliver their goods or, if they are more well to do, wealthier merchants may rent or own portions of the bazaar and hire their own ferries to usher goods to their shops. Less affluent areas often have a warehouse with space rented to nearby merchants who can stockpile goods in anticipation of day to day sales, with greater use often accompanying the weeks of preparation before public festivals and other formal ceremonies. Above the docks are usually entertainment and commercial districts, with shops, bars, and craftsman plying their trade. As with any other city, areas become homogenous with certain industries, since buyers, having to purchase ferries, unless they own their own barge, consider the time it takes to travel across the marsh as a premium. Accordingly, if a Boort needs to purchase a specialty good, the time it takes to get to a merchant makes traveling across the city typically difficult, and thus mongers of certain industries typically congregate to compete with the same customers in the same locations. Different Spirestalks may reflect the industry of a specific Clannate, with the lower terraces devoted to their preferred method of production and trade. For the overwhelming majority of Spirestalks, their mongers are typically not tied to a Clannate from a production standpoint, though taxes are taken, and they act as independent businesses in their own right. Boort seeking leather goods will often travel to a single Spirestalk, while those looking for jewelry will travel to another, and so on and so forth.

While the Spirestalks are the centers of culture and industry, entertainment is often as lucrative, if not more, of an industry for the Boort. While nighttime is seen as a scarier time for most other races, who are quick to return home at sunset, the Spirestalks come alive at night, for the early hours of the evening mean that the days' labors are through and entertainment may be sought. Songhalls have hawkers traveling on onstentatious barges, proclaiming upcoming performances by Patroned. Bemused onlookers will sometimes see competing barges of perfumed dandies trying to shout over one another as to how their Songhall will be greater than the other. The second, third, and sometimes fourth terraces of the Spirestalks are often devoted to entertainment, with bars built against the stalk itself and large terraces jutting outwards, offering a view of the city and large, raised octagons where perfomers may ply their trade. For more affluent spires, certain Songhalls may specialize for the theater, with the terraces closed off at the wings to allow performers time to switch garb and masks in between acts. Unlike industries, every spire will typically claim an entertainment establishment, with the Clannates often boasting their own, private clubs open only to other Clannate or wealther clans seeking to ingratiate themselves economically and politically.

The Boort's racial preference for supernal arts are typically close affairs, with the trade of assasins and guerilla fighters rarely something the Clannates wish to parade in front of others; despite this, certain, practical magics have evolved with the Boort, who find themselves proficient with lumocution. Though Cappers are able to draw rent from all denizens beneath, they are expected to provide basic maintenance for the Spirestalk, such as the docks and elevator as owners; along with these requirements, it is universally expected that the Capper will hire a lumocuter to maintain lantern lights for portions of the Spirestalk, though business owners will similarly hire the lumocuter to provide lanterns, typically made of colored reed strips, to decorate their establishments, workplaces, and terraces. A ubiquitous practice amongst the Spirestalks is that the Capper will ensure their dock is well illuminated at night to allow shipments at all hours of the day, as nighttime deliveries of bulk goods are typically easier to perform than during the more crowded daytime hours; moreover, the Cappers will also ensure that each stalk has a single terrace that is bereft of any structure and instead has lanterns, placed in the characters of the Boort language, along all sides of the terrace to ensure that any barges passing by can readily identify the Capper owning the Spirestalk. Similarly, businesses will also decorate the outside of their businesses or terrace complexes with the Boort language in lantern configurations. While the Boort are overwhelmingly illiterate, they nevertheless combine their knowledge of local geography, aided by the unique shapes and builds of each Spirestalk, with outer decorations to denote where they are within their cities. Ferries and the merchant class are some of the few lettered members of Boort society, with ferries requiring a basic knowledge to couple their passenger's desired location, and often innebriated descriptions, with the actual locales and their denotation outside in lantern-light.

As night falls, ferries begin the brisk business of taking revelers to and fro certain Spirestalks to partake in entertainment. Music drifts across the winds, with terraces, bedecked in lanterns and denoting the proprietor of such establishments. During festivals and ceremonies, the lanterns will take unique configurations, sometimes purely aesthetic, such as configured to represent geometric patterns or local flowers in bloom, or to denote a Clannate's name in the event of deaths or ascensions of power. Regardless, the Boort ply a brisk business in entertainment, with jugglers, singers, and quartets performing for their respective Songhalls.

For less wealthy Boort seeking to make a name for themselves, they may use their meager wealth to hire barges for an entire night, playing or performing thereon for passerby who, if appreciative, may throw coins upon the performer's barge. More ostentatious performers, sometimes under the influence of their cups, may try to perform underneath a terrace to engender the eye of the patrons and Songhall owner. Appreciative patrons may roar their approval, boo the actual performer offstage, and demand the Songhall owner to bring the new performers from the barge below to put on a performance, with such occurences often being the start for many performers on the road to Patronage. For those poor performers who do not perform to the expectations of the patrons above, they may find that food is thrown at them, with a Songhall owner, not appreciating the interruption, deciding to empty chamber pots earlier than normal at the passerby below.