Duil Early Life and Path to Adulthood

When growing up in Duilintinn, most young people mark at least three major milestones in their life: the day they receive their name, the day they turn 15 and come of age, and the day(s) they settle into their new place in the world with a Noble House, career, guild, The Watch, or other setting.

## Birth

### Danger

Even with the increased accessibility of magical healing and healthcare advancements in Duilintinn since the late 1500s, childbirth is still very dangerous. Less so than what it was, perhaps, but hospital births are not a thing in Duilintinn, so it still takes time for a nurse, doctor, or healer to get to the scene if something goes terribly wrong. Instead, most families give birth at home and rely on a local midwife, nurse, or other trusted figure to facilitate the process.

For a baby to die in childbirth or soon afterwards is considered the worst tragedy imaginable. Ideally, everyone above the age of one has had the opportunity to experience love, gentleness, family, and a home… but newborns who die in childbirth never will. There’s a special burial process and everything to reflect that. It’s super sad… the parents don’t even have a name to remember the child by. Unfortunately, that’s just life, and encouraging families to forget these small losses is almost a kindness. In a kingdom where finding one’s comfort place in the world is such a highly emphasized goal and quest, to remember and mourn a child who never got that would be absolutely soul-crushing.

### Naming Traditions

Most parents won’t name their baby until they are expected to survive their first few weeks of life. Those days of uncertainty don’t count towards the child’s birthday (called “Name Days” in Duilintinn) any more than the months of pregnancy and labor do in the real world.

Once a family can be certain that the child will live, they are given their name. In Duil tradition, this name consists of two parts: a first name, and a surname. The former is self-explanatory, and can be whatever the parents want it to be. The latter is the surname of the parents, which, in modern Duilintinn, is typically a hyphenated combination of their original surnames.

Depending on how many generations back the family decides to cut off their surname list, this could be quite an extensive list of names. As these surnames get progressively longer, the use of a “formal” and “informal” surname will likely become more common. Unlike intentionally removing a surname, choosing an informal surname is not a sign of rejection towards the rest of one’s family. Instead, it’s considered a unique honor for the family whose name was chosen, much like the honor of naming one’s child after a close friend or relative.

When the child is named, this full surname will be used in a naming ceremony, which, for most people, is a small, family affair. Some families also use this event to perform any rites done for infants in their culture or religion, such as baby dedications, Namakarana ceremonies (see this wikipedia page), etc. This event is significant in Duil culture because the kingdom’s cultural focus is on helping people to find their place in the world; surviving childbirth is the first step towards that. By giving the child a surname, the child has now been accepted into a family and a home; the setting where they will begin to find their place in the world, and where (ideally) a place will always remain for them. The date of this event will be celebrated annually as the child’s Name Day, which has its own post.

## Childhood

### Toys and Play

More than anything else, most home-grown forms of play in Duilintinn are games with rules and such that kids play together instead of activities with toys/props.

Wooden toys aren’t practical to produce in Duilintinn due to the deforestation in all but the westernmost regions of the kingdom. Instead, toys such as dolls, blocks, and small trinkets are made from resources produced in excess, such as stone, tall grasses (either from the plains, valley marsh, or leftover grain stalks), wax, some textiles, metals, plaster, and clay.

Wax toys are popular coming out of House Jameson. Kids peel away wax deposits leftover from the candles on the stone walls and shape them into little creations or marbles or whatever. Beeswax toys being used for small children, young enough to be wanting to put everything in their mouths. However, wax toys are still kind of expensive because you’ll be wanting to mostly use beeswax for candles. It’d probably be more of a reuse thing, with spare wax that isn’t enough to make another candle out of. Unless some clever soul realized that there are entirely too many people making candles and found their niche making little wax shapes with the candles to set themselves apart.

Metal trinkets would be a bit rarer than other toys and extremely simple. For example, a blacksmith might sell the small round metal deposits leftover from smelting to the kids to play with like marbles? They’d not be very complex, since forging toys is a whole other level of smithing, but small marbles or little metal shapes that kids collect might be a thing.

That being said, I’m willing to bet that toys are a very common purchase during the Trade Season for this same reason. Small wooden items like balls and hoops and figurines aren’t too expensive to make (at least compared to metal toys) if you live somewhere with lots of trees and the proper skills, so I bet a lot of toys in Duilintinn are actually imported from other nations during the trade season. Glass figurines or baubles are also commonly sold during the Trade Season, since glass is typically one of Duilintinn’s imports.

### Early Education

> *See more: Duil Education*
>
>

Noble Houses are required to provide early education of a certain national standard to children under the age of 15. This education is mandatory in theory, though loosely enforced, with no penalty for families who choose to homeschool or send their children to school at all.

Alternatively, despite not being allowed to do anything incredibly dangerous until they hit 15, some teens will join The Watch at an earlier age because of the rigor and experience it supposedly would provide. The actual truth of that belief is up for debate, but many ambitious students will still do it anyway, often in the form of a houseless gap year. That is because there is an official legal exception allowing young adults to use Watch experience as a replacement for the mandatory education all children in Duilintinn are expected to receive up until age 15.

## Coming of Age

### Age of Majority and Consent

Generally the age of majority is 15, although the age of consent is generally up to local law, and may be older. That said, the age of consent is no younger than 15 according to national law. You could theoretically get married at 15, but it is not seen as a good idea, due to people thinking that you wouldn’t have had time to find your place and find someone to be comfortable with.

That said, you’re not generally treated as an adult until your early 20’s, but that does also depend on an individual’s maturity. After 15 you’re more of an adult-in-training, when you’re free to explore and make mistakes and see what fits. How quickly you seem to settle during that time is when you start to be seen as more adult. Some take a while, some seem to get it in about a year or so, but until they reach that point they still recieve help, but you can’t be expected to improve without someone helping you.

Many folks don’t find their “Thing” by their early 20’s, and people start to assume you’ve found it, and after mid 20’s you have to specifically ask for guidance if you’re unfamiliar with something, as people won’t want to assume that you don’t know. That said, no one is looked down upon for asking, in fact they will be respected for continuing to pursue the cultural ideal of ‘finding your place’ after so much searching. The journey of 'finding your place’ is somewhat romanticized, despite the blow it can take on one’s self esteem if they’re a late bloomer.

### Later Education and House Switching

> *See more: Duil Education*
>
>

After the age of 15, the government of Duilintinn is no longer responsible for providing for a student’s education. However, there are a number of opportunities available for students who wish to further their studies. While Duilintinn’s government does not officially sponsor these opportunities, there are authorities within each Noble House specifically in charge of meeting with students who seek higher education and coordinating with authorities in other houses to find them places to live and work during this time.

Oftentimes, this involves moving to a new Noble House, whether temporarily (in location only) or officially (with paperwork). This transition usually takes place in June. Each House offers unique educational opportunities, either through established schools, guild programs, or a wide variety of apprenticeship opportunities. After an unspecified amount of time, students will eventually either switch again to explore other career options, continue study in a certain field, or begin working on their own.

Most of these apprenticeship opportunities in Duilintinn are managed by the kingdom’s guilds, who work with the local government to find apprentices for their members as needed. However, four of the guilds do not offer these programs, or else their program is very different from the norm:

* The Fellowship of Thieves stays away from most government-sanctioned programs and thus does not take apprentices in the usual sense.
* The Wander Legacy has no need for apprentices, who would likely only slow their mentors down. Besides, if you can ride a horse, read a map, and demonstrate an understanding of the cultural significance of messengers within Duilintinn, you’re good. Not a whole lot of training required.
* The Grand Troupe believes that all musicians are in a constant state of perfecting their art. Instead of drawing a distinction between apprentices and mentors, implying that the latter has outgrown their learning days, they provide the same type of classes and practice resources to all their members.
* Finally, while the Guard Coalition technically has apprentices in the form of squires, they function on an entirely different system compared to how apprenticeships work in the rest of Duilintinn.

Finally, there is the option of joining The Watch. Young people who join The Watch (either before or after coming of age) will be considered Recruits until they’ve found their niche in The Watch. Most young Watchers are automatically considered recruits until around the age of 18 to 20 since young, growing brains are unable to find their niche until they’ve matured into a better understanding of themselves. These younger Watchers are typically stationed at safer locations, such as garrisons and outposts, and are told to prioritize finding their role in the organization until they settle into being a full-fledged member.

Obviously, Duilintinn’s educational system isn’t perfect, especially in the career-based, house-switching stages. The biggest flaw is that, while there’s an element of bureaucratic oversight managing these programs, most of the actual implementation relies on ordinary, local people. And people sometimes screw other people over, especially when they are in a position of power over them.

## Trivia

One of the things that I struggle with as a worldbuilder is accepting that my world is not perfect. When I discover a potential weakness in these systems, I’m always tempted to see that as a failure on my part. The biggest example of this is how Duilintinn’s bureaucracy works, especially with the education system. Of course, there’s no such thing as a perfect system in real life either. Good worldbuilding isn’t about making a system that works, but about recognizing the flaws and actually writing them into the narrative.