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game_systems:pathfinder:crown:10_things [2020/11/14 13:21] – created Bryan Stephensgame_systems:pathfinder:crown:10_things [2020/11/14 13:23] (current) Bryan Stephens
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 {{:game_systems:pathfinder:crown:birdsong_palance.png?nolink|}} {{:game_systems:pathfinder:crown:birdsong_palance.png?nolink|}}
 +
 +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,” and that very much extends to their embracing of unusual and exotic foods. For
 +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,” the Taldan saying goes, and almost every citizen
 +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, while dogs were rare in Azlanti society, they were common among
 +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, Taldans have been sealing their tastiest
 +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,creating treats such as jubilee pie, a rich mix of currants, cherries, and fowl served at almost every major
 +event.
 +
 +====2. Taldans Are Very Polite—Until They’re Not.====
 + Taldans live by their politics and succeed through
 +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, most notably the cold Taldan “Well, aren’t you a treasure.” Once Taldans decide to
 +stop being polite, they take their outrage and insults up to 11, insulting, scolding, threatening, and
 +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".
 +
  
  
game_systems/pathfinder/crown/10_things.1605378092.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/11/14 13:21 by Bryan Stephens