Codex Discussion Thread

[Colt]

In response to Naiya:

I believe that the biggest meal would probably be dinner, since lunch is in the middle of the day and could post an inconvenience for pavilion members that have long-lasting jobs. I'm thinking of hunters in particular, since a hunt could very easily begin before dawn and not end until evening. Other time-consuming jobs like herding and scouting, etc., could likewise be very difficult to carry out if someone was to suddenly stop in the middle of the day and go have lunch.

Dinner, however, is at the end of the day, which would be a far easier time in which workers could finish up their tasks and come home. Particularly if there was some sort of custom stating that people should be home by sundown, making the mealtime take place just before dark. In addition, humans are more inclined to sleep after a large meal, so it would make more sense for the biggest meal to be at the end of the day instead of the middle.

In response to Amunet:

Hard cheese does take a long time, and for that reason I believe hard cheese would be less common. However, I believe that Naiya is correct in saying that cheese as a whole is an important staple in the Drykas diet. The reason for this is that, to my knowledge, you cannot be a "proper" pavilion unless you have dairy animals. Every pavilion has something that provides them with milk, and the larger ones might very well have many gallons coming in every day, to the point that it simply isn't feasible for the pavilion members to simply drink it all. With so much milk, it becomes absolutely necessary to process it into different forms of food simply because milk is liquid, and therefore cumbersome and awkward to carry. I feel like soft farmer's cheese would be very common for the simple reason that it is a solid dairy product, and therefore far easier to transport. A warrior riding out in the Sea of Grass would find it far easier to bring along a hunk of cheese than a container of milk.

With that said, there are certainly far more things to do with milk than just cheese. I once came across an article detailing Mongolian cuisine that detailed a sort of dried cheese-milk ball, but I'll have to go digging for it.

In general, when talking about Drykas food, I tend to use Mongolian nomadic foods as a point of reference, while also keeping in mind the assumption that the Drykas probably have access to more vegetables and plant matter than Mongolians do. With that said, the Mongolians, who are a very horse-based culture that rely upon their livestock to survive, have two "food pillars" that define their diet: the "red foods" and the "white foods." The red foods are, of course, meat-based, but the white foods are entirely based on dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, airag, etc., which every family is able to produce by themselves despite being entirely nomadic.

Also keep in mind that Endrykas is a massive trade hub. While a pavilion out on the Sea of Grass will only have access to what it makes and gathers on its own, many different pavilions move in and out of Endrykas regularly. Therefore, it is logical to assume that people in Endrykas have access to things that they otherwise wouldn't. While hard cheeses might very well be rare, that rarity could also make them very valuable as trade goods. A pavilion might make and age hard cheeses in very small quantities as luxury foods, and if this is the case, then Endrykas would be the best place to get them. In Mongolia, airag is a fermented milk drink that is highly prized; every family knows how to make it, and they enjoy improving and comparing their product to those of other families. Maybe the same thing could be done with hard cheese, on a lesser scale; though rare and time-consuming to make, a pavilion's aged hard cheese could be as unique to them as their family windmarks, and therefore add a culturally-charged layer of importance to using them as trade goods.

[Amunet]

i take a native american approach to Drykas living and eating cultures. though i can see mongolian methods in touches.

i'm not disagreeing the presence of cheese in the diet, just pointing possibilities.

I am not saying anyone inferred or said anything. I am making points of reference only for the discussion. I lived grew up in the backwoods of texas. Foraged, hunted and fished in those meadows and woods. Just offering my perspective on what would logically be in place for realistic fantasy.

[Colt]

Hey, no problem. Also, another native Texan?! Cool!

I think it's important to include Native American diets when looking at Drykas culture, since Goss herself has said that the Sea of Grass is very similar to the American Great Plains, with a bit of Mongolian steppe and a bit of African savannah mixed in. However, the biggest differences to consider are, A) for the majority of their history, Native Americans did not have horses, and B) to my knowledge, they did not herd livestock on such a large scale as the Drykas do, which feels much closer to Mongolian habits. That's why I think that the Drykas would have a combination, perhaps three food pillars instead of two: red foods(meat), white foods(milk), and green foods(brown foods? Not sure on the color, but plant-based foods that includes greens, roots, nuts, etc.) Because the Sea of Grass sure as heck has more edible plant life and animal variety than the Mongolian steppe, which is part-desert for a hefty chunk.

[Amunet]

Not disagreeing in the slightest.

no the native american were primarily hunters first. Hunting became easier when horses came in the mix and the spiritual aspects of bonding with their horse was very strong. How many horses a warrior had won in combat spoke of their status in the tribe. They might not have had horses long in their culture but it quickly became mainstream when they did get them.

Herding animals though are for the larger pavilions. unfortunately Amunet is a small tent family not a pavilion. how many other small tent families live dotted between the large pavilion tents? Everyone may not have access to the large amount of dairy product that the drykas produce.

though it does come up that a lot of fermented milk products would preserve that large food supply. its some interesting perspective.

I like to talk about spiritual and magical sides of the drykas though.

[Prophet]

We have enough input for cuisine. Please move on to other topics.

[Amunet]

i think since they live in the middle of the Sea of Grass. the Grass should be part of their culture. there should be a lot of woven materials from the grasses. from medicines to home goods to soft goods to utility. There is probably hundreds of varieties of grasses that could be utilized in a hundred ways. This aspect is seldom played up very much.

[Prophet]

Good idea. Let's focus on this. Someone find me a recipe for grass wine.

[Amunet]

no problem.

Dandelion Wine

Early in the morning when the dew is on the flowers, pick one gallon of perfect, open dandelion blossoms.

Put the flowers in a two gallon or larger open crock and pour boiling water over them. Cover the crock with cheesecloth and let it sit at room temperature for three days. Then squeeze all the juice outta the flowers, throw them away and save the liquid.

Put the liquid into a big pot and add:

3 lbs. sugar (we used brown raw sugar for healthiness but next time we'll try honey for healthierness. The nice lady used white (ugh) sugar.)
3 or 4 lemons, juice, skin, seeds, etc., all chopped up.
3 or 4 oranges, chopped

Boil mixture for 30 minutes with top on pot, cool to lukewarm, pour into crock and add 1 1/2 or 2 packages or tablespoons of yeast. Cover with cheesecloth and let brew sit for two or three weeks 'til the bubbling stops and — whammy!

Filter through cheesecloth to strain out chunks and save vitamins. Bottle.
This would need to be tweaked for mizahar.

Barly Wine (which is more along the lines of an Ale but barley is in the grass family as is a lot of the grains are in the grass family) This would need to be tweaked for Mizahar but is a viable recipe.

(2.5 gallons, all-grain)
Brew two batches to obtain 5 gallons
OG = 1.128 FG = 1.020–1.032
IBU = 50–70 SRM = 27 ABV = 12.3%

Ingredients
13.66 lbs. (6.2 kg) pale ale malt such as Hugh Baird, Crisp or Briess (2.5–3.5 °L)
3 lbs. (1.4 kg) light Munich malt such as Weyermann Munich Type 1 (5–7 °L)
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) crystal malt such as Hugh Baird, Crisp or Briess (approx. 60 °L)
7.5 AAU Galena hops (bittering) (0.7 oz./20 g of 11% alpha acid)
0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hops (flavor/aroma)
1 tsp Irish moss
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) plus White Labs WLP007 (High Gravity English Ale), White Labs WLP099 (Super High Gravity Ale) and Wyeast 3347 (Eau de Vie) yeast
1 cup DME or corn sugar (for priming) (for both batches combined)

Step by Step
This recipe has been developed for a system that will yield 2.5 gallons of wort at an extract efficiency of about 50%, which may still be a bit optimistic. Make two batches no more than two days apart to make 5 gallons (19 L) of beer. (Optimally, you should make the second batch 16–24 hours after the first batch.) Mash in at 149 °F (65 °C). Recirculate for about an hour, heating samples of wort to 190 °F (88 °C) to maintain the grain bed temperature. Run off wort and sparge to collect around 5 gallons (19 L) of wort. During the sparge, check the mash temperature periodically, and make sure it does not exceed 170 °F (77 °C). Boil for 2– 3 hours to reduce volume to just over 3 gallons (11 L). Add the bittering hops for the final 60 minutes of the boil and the flavor/aroma hops, as well as the Irish moss, about 10 minutes before shutdown. (Alternately, collect about 3.5 gallons of wort and stir in malt extract until you reach the target gravity. You will likely need around 2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) of dried malt extract or 3–3.5 (1.4–1.6 kg) of liquid malt extract to do this, but measure the gravity rather than relying on these estimates.)

Cool the wort to a fermentation temperature of 66–70 °F (19–21 °C) , aerate well and pitch all four tubes of yeast. Rack the beer after primary fermentation ceases. After another four weeks, rack again very carefully so as not to disturb the thick layer of yeast debris. Prime and package in bottles or in a Cornelius keg. If all went well, the beer's FG should be in the 1.030s, although the addition of the Eau de Vie yeast may cause it finish lower, optimally, in the low 1.020s. If the FG is lower, your barleywine will be drier and more alcoholic. If it is higher, your barleywine will likely be too sweet. Age at least four months, but reserve some for extended aging.


the following are also in the grass family:
Wheat
rice
rye,
oats,
barley,
sorghum,
sugar cane,
corn,
bamboo,
pampas grass,

[Prophet]

The 'So Far...' Update

Food - cashed. I will write something up and run it by the bosses. Thanks for all your input, gang.

Music/Dancing - Colt, I like the concept you have about Pavi being used in dance. I may add a line or two about it in the Pavi section but I'll leave the detail to your article. I am sure the Scribes will get to it soon but you should bump it so it shows up freshy fresh for them.

World Magic - I have a general list in my notes of what is and is not acceptable. Most magics will be unknown to the Drykas and anything requiring a lab will be either unknown or pointless. Leeching is clearly a no-no since the lore states a Leecher will be killed on site. Webbing is king. I will dig through my files and post more on this later but feel free to chime in at any time with thoughts.

Religion - Like most things in Drykas culture, I believe that pavilions are responsible for their own forms of worship. That being said, many gods and goddesses are worshiped among the SoG because the Drykas absorb people from many different cultures and backgrounds. Small idols may be family heirlooms but I think that most of the contact would be stories/lore about the deities which would be used as training lessons but also as markers for certain things among individual pavilions. I like to compare it to the small cupboard that Maximus had at the beginning of Gladiator. Several wooden idols arranged with some incense and candles where he would kneel and pray but it was easily transported. That would be a luxurious example whereas most might have a small carving or two that was stashed with a bedroll much like later in the movie where he had only his wife and son's images. Also, Broc, in regards to cultivation, I see where you're going with it but the Drykas move to much to be farmers. We are hunters and gatherers. I can certainly see Aquiras being something a focal point for many in the horseclans and he was not one I had previously considered.

Q &A - Tribal started a Q&A thread which I think is useful but some of his info is abit off and I think it should address things not in the lore or even related to the application of things for players as opposed to how things work IC.

Grass - Amunet brought up a huge section...CRAFTS!!! What do Drykas make? How? Where? We're supposed to be self-sufficient. Let's fill this section up too!

Weigh in, folks. Please remember that this thread is an information gathering tool. You do not need to convince another writer of your argument being more accurate than his or her own. The purpose of general statements is to form a sandbox where people can write their own stories. Too much detail creates a blueprint which MUST be conformed to and that steals the fun. Many of the ideas and things that have been shared would be excellent additions to pavilion sheets or family history lore but would be far too restricting for the Drykas as a whole.

Thanks again for your contributions and I look forward to hashing out more sections so that we can make this Codex a one stop shop for players.

An Elysium Template

[Naiya]

I think dancing is a great idea, both as a festival ritual and as a form of prose. I think just as there would be traditional stories told at different festivals, there would be dances as well.

A dance of welcoming at birth festivals, a farewell dance at funerals.

It seems appropriate and like a beautiful art to incorporate into the city.

However I know nothing about dancing, so I don't have a lot to add to this, but I look forward to being helpful about it in the future if I'm able.

I do agree that religion would be a large part of the culture, but I don't believe it would commonly be more than shown through behavior. While some people may have an altar, I don't believe it would be common. It just doesn't make sense, especially when it was just pointed out that it doesn't even really make sense to have even (hard) cheese making accouterments.

Rather I think commonly worshiped god or goddess might have a single location in the city, perhaps a pavilion specific to religion, with altars dedicated to each of the most prevalent gods. Then people who were religious, and felt the desire to make gifts or sped time in prayer have somewhere to do so without each person having to lug about an altar.

People who desire more would of course be able to have an altar, but again, I think that would be quite uncommon. So I like your idea that perhaps there is a tent in the Sapphire district that houses a number of altars.

Gods, of course, have associated materials and symbols, I believe that altars would have those things. I also think that a house particularly devout to a specific god or goddess might paint their symbol on their pavilion, or if a person is simply very devout, they might get it tattooed. Neat idea you had there.

In lieu of Prophet's post... did you mean altars to honor the dead? I didn't go there at all because the Drykas just don't work like that in my mind. Bodies are eft in the grass or burned, and their spirits join the web, beyond that I don't believe there would be altars to honor them, doesn't fit in my mind.

Crafting! Jewelry. Drykas favor jewelry that is sturdy, knotwork and the like, so someone must be making that. I thing a lot of adornments would be wood or bone. On a similar note, metal charms are likely common.

Hair is everywhere in the city, so someone must craft things for hair. I've had Naiya sew headbands before, and hair ornaments, but I imagine scarves and the like are about too. With wild women who don't have short hair, there has got to be something to keep it out of the way.

Alcohol. While I don't think drinking would be common, it certainly would be at celebrations, and I imagine the Drykas have a number of fancy grass based recipes. Amunet had two neat ones, but I'm sure there are more.

Prophet, I don't know where you're trying to steer us in regards to the FAQ, we don't get asked questions, and most of us have been here so long that we just make up things... Give me a bit more direction and maybe I can help.