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+ | As citizens of one of the oldest nations in Avistan, whose bravery and martial prowess forged an empire | ||
+ | and whose canny wit helped them establish trade networks around the globe, Taldans are complex and | ||
+ | multifaceted. While the amusing illusion of stuffed-shirted wealthy elites harrumphing as they look | ||
+ | down their noses at downtrodden peasants makes for an easy laugh, a campaign in Taldor means much | ||
+ | more frequent contact with a vast array of citizens. To diversify your view of Taldor, here are 10 | ||
+ | interesting aspects of the Taldan people. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====10. Taldans Love Wordplay. ==== | ||
+ | As originators of the Taldane language, Taldans understand a considerable | ||
+ | breadth and depth of the Common tongue that even their former colonies don’t share, and fast-paced | ||
+ | banter and clever linguistic choices are proud parts of their heritage. Even the flintiest of farmers love | ||
+ | insightful plays on words, and a cleverly timed, crass pun can delight even the stodgiest of nobles. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====9. Taldans Love Board Games. ==== | ||
+ | Every Taldan fancies herself a general, and so board games, strategy | ||
+ | games, and war games are popular pastimes for everyone from gong farmers to emperors. While | ||
+ | gambling can be fun, it leaves victory in the hands of fate—something few Taldans can stomach—and | ||
+ | they prefer diversions that offer at least the illusion of control. While many board games—the | ||
+ | equivalents on Golarion of agon, backgammon, chess, Parcheesi, and rithmomachy—were eitherinvented or adopted by Taldor, just as popular are war games played out with wooden miniatures using | ||
+ | elaborate rules. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====8. First Emperor Taldaris Is the Man. ==== | ||
+ | Taldans are a people suffused in patriotism and a love of history, | ||
+ | but until we published Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, The First Empire, they lacked the sort of | ||
+ | founding myth typical of large (and especially old) nations. When we updated their history, we fleshed | ||
+ | out their origins as a First Taldaris, Taldor’s own | ||
+ | Romulus or George Washington | ||
+ | Like similar figures, he’s often invoked and exploited by residents: politicians insist they know what his | ||
+ | vision for Taldor really was; tutors place him in all sorts of parables for bravery, honesty, and other | ||
+ | virtues; and inns and estates advertise that “Taldaris slept here” to impress travelers—even though few, | ||
+ | if any, structures in modern Taldor have survived since the First Emperor’s day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====7. Taldan Hair Is a Big Deal.==== | ||
+ | Even poor households invest in quality brushes, sheers, and oils from the | ||
+ | tea tree and argan tree to keep themselves looking and smelling good, and every family has its own | ||
+ | secret recipe for shiny, healthy hair. Many outsiders consider this yet another example of Taldan vanity, | ||
+ | but the truth is more Taldans’ world travels have brought a wide array of parasites home over the | ||
+ | centuries; clean hair is a simple comfort that also promotes health. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====6. Taldans Will Eat Anything.==== | ||
+ | You can’t be a refugee or a soldier on the march and still be a picky eater. | ||
+ | Since the founding of their nation, Taldans have embraced a philosophy of “whatever doesn’t kill me | ||
+ | makes me stronger, | ||
+ | nobles, this translates to eating almost anything that walks, crawls, flies, slithers, or swims, while for | ||
+ | commoners it more often means making a meal out of whatever parts the rich won’t eat. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====5. Taldans Are Creative.==== | ||
+ | Shelyn began as a Taldan god, and Taldor still reveres the arts in every form. | ||
+ | “Anything worth doing is worth doing with a flourish, | ||
+ | of the empire pursues an art in her spare time, especially music and dance. Most families have a long | ||
+ | tradition associated with a particular skill they may turn into a business— such as painting, weaving, or | ||
+ | woodcarving—but just as many are farmers who pluck away at their lyres after work or sing reprises | ||
+ | from their favorite operas to make the harvest pass more quickly. Illustrated or illuminated books are | ||
+ | especially popular, and many families record their history in books passed down and doodled in over | ||
+ | generations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====4. Taldans Love Dogs. ==== | ||
+ | Taldor claims it domesticated the first dog, but then again, Taldans claim to be the | ||
+ | first to do a lot of things. Realistically, | ||
+ | the Kellid and Garundi societies that early Taldans filtered themselves through, and dogs became | ||
+ | companions and workers in a culture hard up for extra hands. In those first unstable centuries, Taldor | ||
+ | bred a hundred specialty dog breeds to assist with herding, pest control, physical labor, warfare, and | ||
+ | even kitchen work, and as the Taldans’ fortunes rose, they also bred dogs to serve purely as | ||
+ | companions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====3. Taldans Love Pie.==== | ||
+ | Since before the first Army of Exploration, | ||
+ | treasures—and especially leftovers—inside pie shells to help preserve them, and that trend continues to | ||
+ | this day. Sweet pies are the traditional breakfast, while farmers and laborers carry a savory hand pie or | ||
+ | two with them for a midday snack. Taldans particularly love blending the sweet and the savory into pies, | ||
+ | event. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====2. Taldans Are Very Polite—Until They’re Not.==== | ||
+ | | ||
+ | cooperation. Sometimes that means smiling politely and shaking the hand of the man who tried to kill | ||
+ | you. They instead couch insults in careful language, usually as unhelpful critiques and backhanded | ||
+ | compliments, | ||
+ | stop being polite, they take their outrage and insults up to 11, insulting, scolding, threatening, | ||
+ | yelling in tirades that usually end in duels. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====1. Taldans Never Quit.==== | ||
+ | While most of Azlant sank, the ancestors of modern Taldor dragged themselves | ||
+ | onto a foreign shore and pulled their lives back together. Orcs attacked and they rebuilt. Kellids | ||
+ | plundered them and they rebuilt. They founded a kingdom and ran into one natural barrier after | ||
+ | another—from rivers to forests to deserts to more orcs—and every time they pushed forward again. | ||
+ | Taldor’s glories stem from bravery and skill, to be sure, but more than anything they come from the fact | ||
+ | that Taldans never look at a challenge and say, “maybe not this time". | ||
+ | |||