The Ghielo Cantíke

Created by u/sayitjustsayit
=== GEOGRAPHY ===
The climate is icy and cold, with small mountain ranges and glaciers present. to the southern reaches the temperatures become more hospitable to plant life, and biodiversity increases vastly the further south you move through the Cantíke.
The Old One is the highest peak in the Cantíke and its cavernous cave system has allowed for the development of some plants and fungus. The abilities of the Ghielo have allowed some plant species to flourish despite the environment, mainly due to a lack of resource competition. It is not uncommon to see large settlements surrounded by snow flowers, which traditionally grew much more southerly.
High plateaus and glacial canyons exist far to the north of the territory with a grand frozen lake marking the northern most reaches of the territory.
=== BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY ===
The Ghielo are a humanoid race evolved from the Cervine species of the arctic. Externally they resemble humans, albeit with a bit more paunch and a stretched face. The hands are the main giveaway, with the two fingers and thumb confirming that this isn't just a worse for wear human. They still retain some of their fur but this has developed as a thick vellus coat, difficult to see atop their pale complexions. Young Ghielo also have small protruding antlers formed in the forehead but these tend to have shed by puberty. Facial dapples are present, caused by pigmentation development in the womb, and fade with age, usually disappearing after the 50th year. These vary depending on family line from greys to browns to blues.
They nature of their roots grants the Ghielo a strong sense of safety in numbers, and their prey instincts provide them with exceptional reflexes. The arctic origins similarly have allowed them to settle in the frigid climate.
Almost all Ghielo find a natural attunement with the ice of their homes. This attunement grants the Ghielo the power to alter ambient temperature to a tiny degree, but this ability is cumulative, and large groups of Ghielo are able to make their communities hospitable even through the darkest coldest winters. Those that possess greater affinities to the ice are named as Maeon, a pseudo class of the Ghielo Cantíke.
=== HISTORY ===
The origins of the Cantiké are obscured by the abstraction of song and story passed down through the generations, but for as long as written record has existed the Ghielo have straddled the arctic boundaries of the north. With increasing numbers choosing to move to the southern extent of the Cantikés ancestral lands.
The Grand Song sings of a time when the Ghielo were carved from ice and brought to life through the First Song. They danced across the tundra and became entranced by the scattered moonlight shining from the glaciers surrounding The Old One. The Old One helped the Ghielo to grow, and sing their own songs, bringing life into the world themselves. The Ghielo are nomadic by nature, but there are some large settlements, where Ghielo have decided to settle in the comforts of their own warmth.
=== SOCIETY ===
The Ghielo have nomadic communities that tend to roam in the summers, but when winter falls they return to the permanent settlements of the Ghielo. Over time, as the settlements have grown larger, more and more remain all year round, but the nomadic traditions still continue.
The political leaders of the Ghielo are the Maeon Chorus, a group that assembles once a season to discuss pertinent matters. The Maeon are able to shape the ice and snow and let it persist even in the collective heat of a large settlement. These settlements are called Gliss. The largest settlement of Ghielo is called Gliss Hyten.
Where a settlement is without a Maeon there are limits to it's size before noticeable changes to the environment occur (snow melting etc.). These are called Tierce Communities, a notable example being Tierce Folo.
Nomadic clusters, or Ferin, must answer to the Chorus when within the ancestral lands, but it is not unknown for Ferin to leave these boundaries where the rules of Chorus do not fall. There is however an expectation that Ghielo will abide by the established ethical and moral codes of the Cantíke, and should they return they are always welcomed back. Due to their distance from any settlement the Ferin will elect a leader from within their ranks. All responsibility is placed on this leader by the Ferin and they are expected to act in the best interests of the Ferin. With the increasingly complexity of the legal system and it's appointment of liability, along with the growing attraction of the lager settlements, Ferins have become less popular. Nomadic groups now tend towards settlers forging new Tierce Communities in the outerlands, hoping to attract a Maeon of their own.
Politically this creates a very decentralised structure, that relies on consensus and mutual support. The Maeon are arguably a class above the rest, but it is not known how this power is instilled in the Ghielo, as it does not seem to follow blood lines. Compliance to law is established largely through laws that chime with social mores along with vast community pressures. The braves who protect settlements from any wild creatures that may seek to ransack for food also hold a light policing duty, but this is very light handed. Those who spurn the community are usually aggressively ignored and made to live on the outskirts of the settlement, still in comfort though. The social nature of the Ghielo can make this unbearable and many leave to seek a new place to live. Tierce Resól is a settlement of a few hundred who were banished from their communities, and they welcome all who have lost their way.
The culture is based on strong community ties with large extended families created by complex marriage arrangements. It is thought improper to create isolated family units so polygamy is encouraged with a limit of 2 marriages for males, and 3 for females. As settlements can exist as chains of intermarriage, often a settlements of 500 can be seen as one family, the barter economy is practically non existent, with people providing for the settlements. Private property exists but usually only in the sense of personal trinkets or gifts. Property is built by the settlements and owned by the settlements. The cold makes metallurgic and timber based industry difficult on a large scale, although these are growing in the southern reaches, so the main above economic activity (above subsistence) consists of practicing artisanal crafts.
=== CULTURE ===
Great prestige is paid to a settlements artists and musicians. Music forms a central core of the Ghielos traditions, with songs playing an important part in the oral history of the people. The Maeon sing to the ice, as the creator once did in forming the Ghielo, and shape it with their song. This gives music a quality of physical presence and magic from the Ghielo perspective.
Clothing tends to be a mixture of cloth, animal skins and furs. Furs and animal skins are more common in the Ferin and Tierce Communities, with Gliss usually able to sustain an ambient temperature not requiring them for comfort.
Cultural ideals of beauty in the Cantíke tend to favour height and physical strength with an aesthetic tendancy in artisitic circles towards curved and smoothed materials. Although there are growing artistic movements that favour erratic and jutting shapes and textures, this is seen as an acquired taste. The largest artistic disciplines practiced is ice sculpture, with many Gliss and Tierce having great pride in their Sculpture gardens.
Music is seen as the greatest act of expression though. Although musicians are often vaunted for their playing abilities, the real superstars of Ghielo culture are those that write and form the music, rather than those who give it life. It is unusual for a Ghielo to have lived a full life without writing a piece of music or two.
Religion is deeply ambiguous with the Ghielo. An animistic tendency to see the force of life in everything permeates society strongly but there are some agreed core tenants to their woolly and vague belief system. The 5 Great Songs are taught to all, and they lay out the creation myth and ethical foundations of Ghielo society. Ultimately the Ghielo have a great respect for the physical, and believe that they were created from the abstract (like music) and given life through physical form. When they die they will return to this abstract, and then they will have time to debate the meanings and reasons for existence. Although Ghielo philosophers and scientists often explore the abstract, they are usually only celebrated for their applications.
"Like Ice" is a common phrase said by the Ghielo, and it means something is understandable and concrete. In contrast "Like Water" is meant to convey that something is unknowable and only once it is made solid can it become understood.
=== OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC ===
The Maeon are the main impressive magic users of the society. They have the ability to shape and control snow and ice with great precision. To a small degree this extends to water, but with most Maeon unable to exert anywhere near the level of control. The Maeon use song to project their will into the world. Magic can be used for many means, several of which are violent, and the Ghielo's passive manipulations can feed into this power. This leads to Maeon who tend to serve their people in a reciprocal relationship, as it is the peoples passive abilities that enhance their own. Ice shaping is most often used for defensive purposes and ceremonial acts. Several Maeon roam the wilds in Ferin, able to survive far to the north with their abilities, but these are not commonplace and little is known about them by the commonfolk.
When a Maeon is nearing the end of their life it is not uncommon for them to wrap their bodies in "Ice eternal", allowing their inate power to strengthen the settlement and mix with the low level magic auras of each Ghielo. In this way they work almost as a battery for the settlement, with their soul able to return to the abstract, but their physical bodies acting as a great source of power for other Maeon to harness.
=== MAJOR EXPORTS/IMPORTS ===
Major exports would likely be cultural, although there is not a huge amount of interaction between other cultures and the Cantíke. Surplus agriculture does exist in the southern reaches, although these focus on hardy root crops and dense grasses. The most valuable Ghielo product is Maeon Pressed Ice. Maeons can work together to produce a dense unmeltable ice that provides a transparent hardy material resistant to external temperature. It is often used in the southern forges and smitheries to protect Ghielo from the heat of molten metals. The Maeon find distaste in using their abilities for economic gain however, it is seen as a mark against their grace, so whether there would be any viability in trade over this is debateable.
Most of the northern settlements are largely self-sustaining, but the southern reaches have some experience with international trade.
=== Posts: ===
The Ghielo Cantíke
Ghielo Choral Music
Cantíke settlements: a context
International Request for Research Partnership - Ghielo Cantíke
Reviewing the Applications
A History of Ice: Research 1