Jarovi

The ascetic people of Jarovi cover their faces with masks and blindfolds with the express intent to never see any of the world, for they believe that the world is an illusion and only by retreating inwards can they discern truth from lies. While this often goes hand-in-hand with faith and religion, it does not always -- the Jarovian way of life is a philosophy that happens to be compatible with religion, and the country itself does not have official faiths or widespread religious institutions. In older times, some hundreds of years before the Godbomb, the Jarovians would physically damage or even outright remove their eyes to avoid the temptation of looking upon the world. Now, they view willingly abstaining from viewing the world as the truest sign of devotion to a higher understanding and commitment to witnessing the world's "true form". Their seers and highest leaders are those fortunate enough to be born blind, for they will never witness even scraps of light or risk an accident causing them to see something. Written words that are not in braille or otherwise made readable by someone without sight are considered inherently conspiratorial in nature to the Jarovians, as "flat words" cannot be touched or listened to for discerning their true meaning.
Their extreme culture tends to drive the less devoted scrambling away from the mountains of Jarovi; in the foothills, people who see are not stigmatized quite as heavily, and there are some communities which consider "unseeing" to be something practiced more for specific holidays and times of inner reflection. In this sense, to see or not to see is a personal decision, although the ones who favor sight will likely contend with stereotypes that they rely too much on what they can see and not their own intuition or reasoning, and they might be pigeonholed into less glamorous jobs that are made much easier through sight. Even beyond the mountains, Jarovians tend to be focused on the intellectual and academic, finding truth in a world of lies, and their culture tends to avoid excess pleasures of life, especially in the higher reaches of the mountains where the "enlightened" dwell.
Category:Estvoled
Category:Ealdremen Nations
Category:No Spoilers