Selka

STUB

"Sefra's Winds, this article is incomplete! Maybe you can fill the gaps if you have an idea from your travels, Sehm."

The Selka people are not from Braided Shore but invaded it several generations ago. However for the most part, Selka-Asken contact occurs primarily by trade.

They are a race of small stature and usually wears a Marble gown with the patterns of snakes or flowers. They may also have pale cinnabar eyes. Although there is at least some perception by Asken people that the Selka do not like cinnabar objects. The Selka usually mask this with gloves, but their ungloved hands are cold and rigid to the touch, suggesting that their biology is quite different from that of the Asken.

The Selka are polite but studiously avoid discussing the island of Selka.

According to hints that Selka travellers drop, the Selka have different familial structures. They do not reproduce by sexual reproduction and but do group themselves in familial units according to social status and common goals. Their settlement may be called The Hive.

Selka do perform plays and some of these scenes make their way onto pieces of clothing sold in Braided Shore.

History and Economy

By the Selka's own account, they are a people who were once held in bondage to another race, but have since freed themselves.

Little is known about their government which may be called the Golden Ledger based out of Goldenglass Harbor. However a separatist group called the Amrusian Covenant stands in opposition to the Selkan government.

The Selka largely trade with Asken traders in person in the remote eastern archipelago of Marble Mist Peninsula where they have created a small trade outpost, erected an obelisk for their own unknown reasons and cultivate herbs from their homeland. However, the racist Asken League has been complaining about the Marble Mist Peninsula settlement, prompting a diplomatic visit to be sent by one of the Councils.

Trade Commodities

The Selka are also known for making industrially produced and exported goods of rare and high value such as glass, silks, cheese, and marble soled shoes. Orchid dye is very rare in Selka.

Glass

The Selka excel at large scale production and their land has sand that can produce glass of an extremely high quality, an extremely high value commodity as Braided Shore sand lacks those qualities and cannot be made into glass. Understandably, The Golden Ledger has strict laws governing the export of both Selkan glass to protect their trade. The export of raw Selkan sand is banned by the Golden Ledger although smuggling of sand samples does occur.

Selkan glass is almost exclusively available through a designated Asken Representative of the Selka.

Selkan glassblowers strive for the ideal of liquid glass and there are some Selka who believe that the oceans are a successful example of liquid glass.

Wood

The Selka are less well known for their skillful woodcarving carving wood with glass tools.

Food and Drink

The sensory perceptions of the Selka appear to be different than those of the Asken. They have a strong attachment to the scent of cedarwood. Their cedar trees also produce apples suggesting that Selkan plants differ from those of the Braided Shore, but these apples are not palatable to the Asken.

In the Marble Mist Peninsula, the Selka grow herbs from their native land in small domes, suggesting that the climate of their homeland is significantly different from that of Braided Shore. One such herb is the singing herb which will alter a person's speaking voice by making it lower or higher if placed on the top or bottom of the person's tongue.

Rice Cider

They are also known for producing rice cider from low quality bits of broken rice, the cider is also very culturally important and drinking a cup is crucial for finalizing a business deal. While their rice cider is sold and consumed widely throughout Braided Shore, disparaging remarks have been made about its taste and as a result new versions with more appealing seasoning for Asken people have been made. Some Asken brewers have tried to replicate Selka made rice cider, but these beverages have not caught on.

The Selka also use the rice cider they make to make bread.

Cheese

The Selka make and sell cheese.

Counterfeits

Despite Selka saying that they have no sense of originality, Asken traders attempt to replicate Selka goods with variable success. Counterfeit Selkan silks are occasionally available for trade and Asken brewers by the Fumes once attempted to replicate Selkan rice cider but were unsuccessful.

Mysteries

A ring of Selka can be seen if you are fortunate enough to see a Living Door and cast Unveil.

Selka of all sorts undertake rituals the nature and purpose of which are unknown to the Asken. Golden ritual masks can have prisms of glass over the eyes can be found for trade in Braided Shore occasionally.

Singing herbs are rumored to be used in Selkan rituals as a way to sing hymns.

Sorcery

The Selka practice their own form of magic which is unsurprisingly almost completely unknown in the Braided Shore. Lightning crystals, formed when lightning strikes Selkan sand, are important and powerful items in Selkan magic.

The Rivenleaf researcher Legram Lianos claimed that he had created reflective clothing that had cracked the secrets of Selkan sorcery but mysteriously disappeared the night before he intended to reveal it.

Miscellaneous

In earlier Kickstarter posts and development, it is said that Eskeni was a language originated from the cultures of the Malku and Selka. It became popular in Braided Shore during The Age of Dynasty and is used as the main spoken language for them today. It is unclear if the lore still holds true and is brought over to the language we know today: Vellan