Vinyot

"A drum roll of fat raindrops patters against the roof ofthe wagon. The wheels jerk to a halt. You’ve arrived. You open the door to take a deep breath of salty air. Trade ships line the harbor on the horizon, with the glittering sea beyond. A dense mass of old stone buildings surrounds the dock, with a bethel’s spire pointing skyward in the west. The booming port city awaits, filled with busy foxes who talk fast and move faster. After all, there’s so much to do. Welcome to Vinyot."

The homeland of Vinyot sails fleets of trade ships to bring modern life and foreign goods throughout the world. It runs along the western and southern edges of the Beast World’s mainland, with cities at its river estuaries. Its eastern border follows the Allemagnian Bêtemère Mountains, with hilly and difficult terrain in its inland regions. Vinyot is smaller than Allemance, but its 8,000 miles of coastline has blessed it with a flourishing economy and unique identity. The climate is balmy most of the year. Sea winds carry humid weather and frequent summer rains.

5.5 million people live in Vinyot. The tradewind vulpine and human species make up most of its population. The majority of otter and ferret laetines, as well as the raccoon and possum tenebrines also call Vinyot their homeland.

Maritime Legacy
Vinyot is characterized by the numerous commercial port cities along its freshwater shores and saltwater coasts. The prevailing winds allow sea travel to and from Vinyot faster than anywhere else in the world. Its Trade League has dominated maritime trade throughout history.

From the smallest river village to the mercantile metropolis of Arloris, southern homes feature elaborate, ornate architecture erected to stand steadfast for centuries. A building’s legacy is a powerful idea in Vinyotian culture, and family heads live in the same houses their founding ancestors built. Over time, the homes merged with their families’ businesses to become the homeland’s great trade company headquarters.

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Connecting the Dots
The people of the Trade League see the value of things. Whenever an item changes hands, a Vinyotian considers its worth to both sides. Their minds live for arbitrage; they examine everything they see in terms of who might get the most use from it. This attitude makes the foxes of the Vinyotian trading companies a fortune. It drives urban laetines to innovate, and motivates efficient generosity from everyone in the homeland.

Debating the Details
Vinyotians pay unusual attention to subtlety and nuance. When they differ in perspective, they revel in the opportunity to make their case and debate the minutiae of each viewpoint. These debates could be about future business opportunities, philosophical matters, or even which wine to order with dinner. Cooler heads usually prevail, but when the conversation becomes circular, a southerner’s temper is legendary to behold.

Refined taste is also characteristic of southerners. Someone taught to appreciate value is better-equipped to recognize the best things that life offers. Vinyotians rarely complain about cheap food and entertainment, but their first recommendation is sure to be the best option possible.}}

Invention & Innovation
If one carries an unusual object through a port city, those watching it pass by will come up with a half-dozen ways it might be useful. Vinyotians love to figure out where things fit, whether they’re trade goods or loose gears. None are more attuned to this way of thinking than ferrets and otters.

Smart city planners carefully cordon off the laetine districts of Vinyotian cities. Their public laboratories tend to spill out into the street as projects become more complex. Southern ferrets immersed in the passion of a blueprint diagram often cast aside nuisances like “owned property” and “the need for horses to get by on the street.” Vinyot is uniquely tolerant of this general disregard for ownership and space. The marvels that spring forth from the chaos of laetine districts are well-worth a few traffic difficulties.

Invest & Wager
People from the southern coasts learn the value of financial patience from a young age. Vinyotians consider investing in the future to be financially wise, but also part of raising a thoughtful and discerning adult. By focusing on what something might become, one resists the allure of quick wealth and the moral failure that follows it. A cheeky saying goes, “Where you see one coin, a Vinyotian sees one-point-two in three months.”

And yet, the world’s flashiest luxury gambling houses are exclusive to Vinyot’s shores. Wagers and games of chance are immensely popular here, with dockworkers and company owners alike congregating to celebrate a happy return. The venerated Oric academic Sergey Volkov writes about the subject in his seminal work, The Homelander. “The Vinyotian psyche is soothed by the concrete and knowable stakes of a game of cards. To a southern fox or raccoon, a die’s six faces are a conquerable world.”

The Vinyotian rigger Angela Rossi once offered a rebuttal. “Cards are fun. Orians need to get out of the house more.”

Indiidualism & Ambition
The Vinyotian work ethic is centered on individual ambition and achievement. When mastering one’s career, craft, or hobby, southerners take special pride in climbing the ranks of their peers. Life is built on the questions “Where am I?”, “Where could I be?”, and “Where should I be?”

Some bristle at this self-centered aspiration, pointing toward Vinyotians driven by it to undermine and sabotage. An obsession with reaching some imagined peak consumes some Vinyotians, pushing them to cruelty. They lord their victories over fellow beasts and brethen, then forget about them once their challenge loses its bite.

However, most would argue that someone using cutthroat business tactics has abandoned a core part of the southern identity. A popular lesson is held sacred in most fox families: “generosity is an investment with good returns.” Personal ambition is a luxury one indulges only after ensuring everyone has what they need. An affluent Vinyotian’s surroundings are considered a reflection of their own worth, so if they’re rich while others are too poor to compete, then any victory is a lie.

Family Enterprise
Love and support come from the Vinyotian family, as well as a career. Successful elders take on children and nephews as apprentices, lifting them up by passing on their skills. Unlike in many Allemagnian farming households, workers in the family are paid the same as hired laborers. Businesses hire from within their relatives, and only seek outside help when no close relations are suitable.

Households also offer financial support in a young adult’s life. When a southerner comes of age and finishes their education, they purchase an ownership share in their first ship or start some other business venture. A substantial gift from their older relatives is an expected gesture to establish them on the path of adulthood.

These financial investments keep families close, but come with an expectation of respect and deference. The word spoken by the eldest is law in the Vinyotian home. Through smart living and achievement in their youth, patriarchs and matriarchs have earned the right to live in the family’s head house. When younger family members visit the elder’s home, proper attire and formal means of address are always observed. Their guidance in any matter is rarely ignored without consequences.

The Marriage Contract
Vinyotians seek romance while learning the family business. Lovers connect emotionally with one another, but also try to demonstrate they could provide for a family. To stay competitive, it’s crucial to pick a spouse with sharp wits. It’s popular for young Vinyotians to plan romantic engagements around work days. This way, they can gain insight into a partner’s wherewithal in love and trade all at once.

Engaged couples must earn the explicit approval of both their parents. This is more than tradition; marriage is only legally recognized if all the parents and the betrothed sign the contract. It contains language determining which side of the family they plan to work with. The side losing a member usually pays a dowry for partnership considerations with the newlyweds’ business. (At some point, they make time for a tremendous wedding party, too. It’s not all legalism.)

Fours and Twelves
Vinyotian music is beautifully elaborate. Twenty or more musicians perform together for family gatherings or public events. The compositions are magnificent hour-long masterpieces, which take years to compose. Even a smaller show for an intimate audience is a direct demonstration of a musician’s finest skills. A casual or halfhearted performance is unheard of.

Arithmetic is central to every aspect of a Vinyotian’s life, and music is how one learns it. Southerners count in fours and twelves, taking each group as a measure in one of many mnemonic songs learned in childhood. Ledgers and other written numbers are recorded in base 12, a duodecimal system.

Cross-homeland finances tend to involve a fox angrily singing a children’s song at a frustrated business partner, who is just trying to read records with two completely alien digits.

Pirhoua the Patron
When a Vinyotian devotes their life to art, they often enter the goddess Pirhoua’s service as well. In the south, the Beast Mother’s church educates bards, and their work centers more on religious faith. Thanks to the Pirhouan bards, southern bethels are the most elaborate and ornate of all, a showcase of painting, architecture, and other disciplines.

Among these breathtaking works of grandeur, one humbles all others: the Bethel of the Heartleaf. Perched on a quiet island hilltop, master artisans all contribute to this physical tribute to Pirhoua’s love for beasts and brethren.

Death
When a Vinyotian dies, their local bethel collects money from friends and relatives to fund a funeral trip. Working just after a family member’s death is immensely disrespectful, seen as a rush to move the world beyond their memory. If called to a funeral, they depart for at least two weeks.

Grieving is a personal and solitary affair for a Vinyotian. Immediate family and two or three close friends of the deceased travel to mourn in their favorite place. While at this remote destination, the mourners spend daytime looking back on memories with their loved one in seclusion. Every night, they gather to share these memories and stories. This helps them find closure, but also builds a new bond between friends of the departed and their family. Having their former friends in their lives helps the departed’s family keep a part of them.