Maan (culture)

The Maan are a culture found on the northern coast of the Trade Lake - while they originally populated much of the region of Sjøbredd they are now confined to the coastline between Jyltheim and Haselgard.
Maan culture is self-deprecating - for a culture that has spent most of its development under the heel of other peoples, the Maan have developed a collective dark sense of humour and tend to value cunning and trickery over more conventional values. 
Because of this, the Maan are respected in the countries they inhabit, even if out of necessity. The giant kingdom of Varhold, when it came into possession of the Maan lands in the early 400's, tried to enforce Varlish culture on the area, only to be faced with petty resistance. They found that the Maan found ways to resist for which they generally could not be punished - when asked to provide levies they played on Varholdian religion by sending sheep with helmets and daggers, and when asked to pay their taxes many melted the coins together and glued the mess to the chests they were paid in.
The Maan are responsible for several popular folk songs which are currently played excessively in the lands of the Sacred Coalition. One in particular, the Sjøbredd Polkka, is an elaborately-disguised jab directed at the warlord Jakub of Varhold - it effectively states 'You may have taken the Sjøbredd lands from us, but at least we have both bollocks', playing on the rumours that Jakub was infertile while playing down the effects of the Lingstrup Massacre.
The Maan are not farmers. Traditionally they are a hunter-gatherer culture, and generally subsist on deer and moose, supplemented by fruits and berries, though this diet changes slightly by region.
Category:Cultures