Perateca

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* Othari

## History

**- Secession from Ulyssa,** *3E 456*

The two nations of Peramul and Yucerta take advantage of the Second Border War and use this to secede from the empire of Ulyssa. The Imperial forces are too spread thin to have a war on two fronts, and the two nations manage to leave peacefully.

**- War Between Peramul and Yucerta,** *3E 715 - 720*

There had been tension between the two countries prior to the war, mostly due  to differences in their religions and cultural practices, since both  sides thought that their way was right and the other was wrong. None of it was enough to start a war, but it was enough to convince the Peratecas to conquer Yucerta and try to wipe out their culture when the opportunity presented itself.

Yucerta was a small country to the west of Peramul that existed four  hundred years ago, the border of the two countries being a long river,  Río Tlacoatl. In the past, the two countries had been at peace with each  other and shared a common festival, La Tomatina, but there came a time when a number of chieftains from Yucertano tribes decided that they wanted to expand east into Peramul. They sent out warriors to capture  several of Peramul’s outlying villages over a period of four years. On the fifth year, Peramul, being more advanced in warfare because of  repeated skirmishes Rune’Daathians, sent out the bulk of their military  into Yucerta to crush the opposing forces. They won the war after only a  year, but decided to continue on through Yucerta and conquer all of the  land, uniting the continent under the Perateca flag.

**- Yucertanos' Resistance,** *3E 753 - 789*

In the decades following the Perateca conquest of Yucerta, underground  resistance members would spread propaganda by slaughtering seagulls and pinning the corpse by the wings to the wall of a public building over the graffiti “Si no estás asustado, ¿por qué yo debería tener miedo?”  (Literally meaning: “If you aren't afraid, why should I have fear?”)

This graffiti was interpreted as a statement that the Peratecas are monsters that should have been driven away by the seagulls, but weren’t. The second part implies the resistance’s willingness to fight back as ruthlessly as Peramul.

Perateca soldiers swept through the cities, towns, and villages of Yucerta and located the meeting areas for resistance members. Caught  resistance members or sympathizers were imprisoned, interrogated, and  exiled. After seven years, there were not enough supporters of the  resistance remaining in the country, so the movement fell apart. Some  descendants of the Yucertanos saw the exile of their parents and  grandparents as an outrage, but many saw it as an act of mercy and so  did not feel the need to rebel. By this time, only the older generations  wished to be freed from Peramul, while younger generations had adjusted  to the change in lifestyle and no longer cared.

**- Battle of the Roses,** *3E 1031*

For hundreds of years, tensions between Peramul and Ulyssa have been high. Ulyssians wanted Peramul re-added to the Empire, while Peratecas sent raiding parties to attack Ulyssian villages and stake claim on valuable resources. As tensions continued to rise, Ulyssian soldiers began sending slavers through Perateca villages to capture and enslave their citizens. Finally, tensions reached a breaking point. Ulyssa sent a large division of soldiers to begin capturing and reclaiming Perateca land for the Empire. Perateca soldiers were sent in return and repelled the soldiers in a bloody battle. The Perateca believe that, because of the blood spilled, roses began to grow in the battlefield. Thus, the name of the battle. Ulyssa, realizing it could not reclaim the land, finally ended the attacks. Tensions remained high, but no more armed conflicts took place.

## Quirks

### **Practices**

#### Yucertanos

People of Yucertano descent are typically lower class citizens living in the slums (or the barrios, as they're called in Peramul), although some have moved up in the world through hard work in their trades or the military, marriage, or less legal manners. It is almost unheard of for a Yucertano to be a member of the higher classes, but it can happen, although they are typically disliked by both Peratecas and Yucertanos alike.

Grandparents, parents, siblings, and cousins of Yucertano families live together in large, tightly knit units. Their houses (given their usual social status) are typically small and very crowded, but that doesn't bother the families living there. They have little issue with personal space and enjoy being in close proximity to others. When someone expresses a desire to be alone or for space, it is often seen as strange and confusing.

The outside walls of Yucertano households are often painted with various designs, images, and landscapes, making them easy to discern from Perateca households. The insides of Yucertano houses are decorated with many paintings, sometimes made by the occupants of the house or, in higher status households, purchased from new artists at local markets. Yucertanos love art and will often go out of their ways to support artists and preserve works of art, even if it inconveniences them.

Although the Yucertano resistance against Peramul has died down in recent times, there is still a group called The Red Hand (La Mano Roja) who graffitis political propaganda on walls around cities with their hands in red paint, earning them the name. In some areas, however, The Red Hand is little more than a self-glorified street gang who prefers to paint their hands with the blood of rival gangs and Perateca soldiers in the name of the oppressed lower class. These two parts of The Red Hand, referred to as The Right (La Derecha) and The Left (La Izquierda), are often at odds with each other since The Right views The Left as lawless and detrimental to their political cause and The Left views The Right as timid and unwilling to take necessary actions to defend their territory. Perateca officials do not differentiate between the two and treat members of The Red Hand as if they were all Left.

#### Perateca

People of Perateca descent are typically middle and upper class citizens and pursue careers in trade or the military, but misfortune has caused Perateca individuals and families to fall to the lower class. They are often met with animosity from the largely Yucertano communities, but sometimes they are occasionally welcomed and treated kindly by more generous families.

Extended Perateca families (excluding cousins) often live together, similar to Yucertano familes, although they typically have larger homes and are more accustomed to having a degree of personal space, but still enjoy being near other people.

The outside of a Perateca home is often decorated with flowering vines climbing up walls and gardens or flower pots. The inside will sometimes have paintings and drawings from popular artists covering the walls, but Peratecas tend to prefer statues and clay pottery. Scented candles are placed all over to light the home.

#### Both

Wind chimes are hung by the front door of nearly every household.

El corazón vuela: Literally, the heart flies. A saying used to express happiness.

People  train cormorants to catch and bring back fish. Although it isn’t  necessary, given that most people will fish with nets in the ocean,  having a trained cormorant is considered a sign of status and a form of  recreation similar to falconry among the upper class.

Llamas are kept in pastures with sheep to protect them from predators. Each flock, depending on its size, will have about 2-4 llamas. When they encounter an intruder, llamas will go towards it to investigate and hopefully drive it off with its presence. If the intruder seems to be a threat, the llama will call the flock of sheep together and move to stand between them and the threat, spitting in warning. If the predator comes closer with the intent to attack, the llama will plow into it, shove, stomp, kick, and bite to scare it off, wound it, or even kill it. Llamas have been known to kill coyotes, mountain lions, and wolves who come too close. Its thick fur helps to protect it from predators' claws and teeth since it's likely that they will just hit fur and not flesh, so Peratecas see llamas as the perfect guard animal.

La Tomatina is a festival where people gather, take their boats out on  to the water, and throw tomatoes at each other in a mock war.  Traditionally, the festival takes place on Río Tlacoatl, but people living  on or near the coast will do it at sea. No side is ever declared as the  victor; the war is a game where everyone both wins and loses. People  have no qualms about tomatoes falling into the river because it is  believed that the tomatoes sink to the bottom where Tlacoatl sleeps and nourish him.

### **Appearances**

Brown skin, skin tone depends on lineage. Hair is black or dark brown. People of Yucertano descent can have muted yellow, brown, or blue eyes.

### **Naming Conventions**

Traditional names for those of Perateca and Yucertano descent are similar to Mayan and other indigenous Central American names: [1]

### **Clothing**

Both Perateca men and women wear brightly colored outfits, simply patterned and adorned with feathers. The women's skirts and dresses are ruffled.

### **Food**

Peratecas  have a diet of seafood, tropical fruit, citrus fruit (mostly limes and oranges), avocados, coconuts, tomatoes, squash, rice, corn, tortillas, and bread, due to these being the foods they grow and chiefly export. Other foods are harder to come by, and are not very widely liked. Due to their beliefs, eggs and birds are never eaten. Eating a bird is highly taboo among the Perateca.

Some traditional dishes include: lime soup, tamales, enchiladas, chiles rellenos, elotes, spiced mango, yuca frita, ceviche, gallo pinto, empanadas, pacalla, curtido, semita, pupusas, chilera, arroz con leche, agua dulche, and fruit smoothies.

### **Slavery**

Peramul does not engage in the world slave trade. However, their extreme dislike for Ulyssa pushes them to make an exception and take Ulyssian prisoners of war as slaves for their upper middle and higher class citizens, which they see as revenge for Ulyssa enslaving Peratecas. These Ulyssian slaves are kept within Peramul's borders.

### **Folklore**

It is believed that the cries of seagulls keep monsters at bay. The gulls get so loud at times, that it’s thought that the monsters believe  they are a larger, more terrible predator and stay away. People wear  seagull feathers as a charm to ward off monsters.

### **Death**

There are no cemeteries in Peramul. Instead, the deceased are buried within their family's home or the residence they lived in, about six feet under the floorboards. This is so that the spirit of the deceased can serve to look after the home and protect it from misfortune and thieves when the living occupants of the house aren't home. Altars are placed in the home to commemorate the deceased, and are decorated with tall, scented candles. Shallow bowls of water are left on these alters to quench the spirits' thirst as they guard the house and are refilled either in the morning before leaving the house or at night before going to sleep.

### **Magic**

Peratecas typically hate or fear magic and try to suppress it, killing or maiming anyone who practices magic within the country. However, in the slums, where the  descendants of the conquered Yucertanos have lived for  generations, water and air magic are still practiced in secret.  Peratecas believe that manipulating the natural state of the world and creatures is sacrilegious, especially with water and air magic. They refuse to allow even healers to use magic and see beings like werewolves and beastfolk as abominations.

The only active practitioners of magic in Peramul are descended from Yucertanos, and even among them the numbers are small.

Magical healing is met with skepticism since it is very uncommon in Peramul, so people tend to prefer other means and will not trust magic to heal them, believing that magic will take some toll on their immortal bodies to repair the mortal body.