Tyresian Culture

# Architecture

Most larger buildings or building complexes are built around enclosed open spaces such as courtyards or skywells. These assist with temperature regulation, ventilation and general aesthetic. Most buildings are single storey with only richer or especially built up areas having multiple floors within a single building.

Typical building materials are lacquered wood, brick and stone.

# Art

## Literature and Poetry

Prose is considered the lesser art in most parts of Tyresias with poetry heralded as the true art of the written word. Poetry is often intertwined with the other very popular art of calligraphy meaning that most poems are expected to be a visual delight as well as a wordy one. Traditional poetry tends to follow a seven syllables per line rule with use of rhyming couplets. Each stanza typically contains anywhere from four to sixteen couplets (so 8 to 32 lines of seven syllables) with most poems using between four and six stanzas. Due to influences from Lucleu, in modern times iambic tetrameter has become very popular along with alternating rhyming schemes.

Outside of academia, prose tends to be limited to either children or foreigners as they are expected to need extra help understanding the words. Within academia, prose is the most commonly used form with poetry used primarily for summaries and memorisation practices.

## Music and Dance

Wind or 'breath' instruments tend to be the most popular in traditional Tyresian music. Percussive instruments do also tend to be fairly popular though they are often built with the understanding that the player will have large claws with which to hit the notes with opposed to any additional tool. Stringed instruments have gained a small amount of traction, especially among non-dragonborn.

## Theatre

Traditional Tyresian theatre takes the form of a choir and orchestra narrating the story while either costumed actors or shadow puppets silently act it out. Wire work is incredibly common. Most plays involve a lot of singing and dancing. Some of the most popular Tyresian plays are;

* *Saiche Fēngbào* (Translated: The Running Storm); the story of a nameless man attempting to outrun a storm.
* *Yīngtáo Liànrén* (Translated: The Cherry Lovers); a very old, very popular story of a pair of dragons from warring nations who fall in love. It ends with them exchanging half their scales for the others, it is believed this is where the romantic tradition of scale exchange came from.

## Visual Arts

Aside from calligraphy, the most popular forms of visual art are sculptures and tapestry work. Sculptures tend to be made from lacquered/polished woods or rare and precious stones. Tapestry work involves the painting and embroidery of huge lengths of silk.

Extended calligraphy works are also produced on gargantuan sheets of paper.

# Clothing

## Traditional Dress

Traditional Tyresian dress is made of silks and hemp fabrics, it is generally very loose fitting and breathable. It is also traditionally designed for Dragonborn with wide spread adaptations made for non-dragonborns a newer invention.

Traditionally the outfits are worn thusly; first undergarments, then ku, then either a qun or a yi, a bixi then a shan. Shoes tend to be hemp cloth wraps to protect the soles of the feet but leave the claws of the feet free. For non-dragonborn, this was adapted into a type of sandal.

* *Ku*: an underskirt that is typically split into three parts with a front panel and two back panels designed to be attached around tails. Some variations of ku are a single piece of fabric that is just pinned around the tail and at the waist. Typically made of heavier silk with very little embroidery. Traditionally the ku stops at the knees and his hidden by the qun and bixi, however fashions often leave it longer and exposed.
* *Qun*: An overskirt, typically made from lighter silks, it is belted around the waist. Typically more heavily embroidered than the ku. Traditionally comes to the mid-calf but if often shorter.
* *Yi*: An overdress, very similar to the qun but it has long attachments of silk to the top that are pinned at the shoulders. There are single and double variants with the double variants crossing over (often favoured by females of species with secondary sex-characteristics).
* *Bixi*: A long length of heavily decorated silk that goes over the qun or yi, alternatively it is the name given to a collection of silk sashes or scarves worn as decoration,
* *Shan*: A billowing silk robe, heavily embroidered with long draping sleeves. Worn open and typically reaching ankle length.

It is traditional for a courting pair to exchange a bracelets that bears a scale from the other. In non-scaled races, this tradition tends to involve silk and beads plaited with their own hair. Married couples will turn the bracelet into matching necklaces.

## Modern Trends

One of the most prevalent modern trends is the shirt. Different from western variations, this is a collarless garment that uses silk cord or metal catches instead of buttons. They also tend to be heavily embroidered.

Qun and yi made of gauze that show off the ku, along with more heavily embroidered ku.

In modern times, shans have also become more fitted, cut closer to the body to give a more defined silhouette. They are often given catches to fasten closed over the rest of the outfit.

# Food

Foods tend to be heavily seasoned. Soups, noodles and rices tend to form the basis of most dishes though with many vegetables and meats filling out the meals. Dumplings tend to be quite common and come in many many flavours.

# Sports

The most popular sports (outside of boardgames) are Jianzi (hackey sack), Kite Flying (often played at a competitive level) and Cuju (kick ball, similar to football).