Nibenese Identity: A Guide for Lore, RP, and Writing, part 1: Culture

Links:

Colovia: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/43q46q/colovian_identity_a_guide_for_lore_rp_and_writing/ (going to rewrite this at some point)

Heartland: Coming Soon

Hey there! Zinitrad again, and after a full 5 or 6 days after I said it would be done, I bring you part two of the Cyrodiilic Identity series. In this one we're going to be exploring the Nibenese, or at least how I like to imagine them, using a combination of the in game lore and events, forum things I remember, and my own stupid nonsense.

You may notice that this one is far longer than the Colovian Identity piece. I recognize this and intend on revising the Colovia doc, because looking back there's plenty more I could have done to describe my image of it.

Expect lots of PGE1 style. Jungles ahoy!

The Nibenese

Who are Nibenese?

Nibenese are the inhabitants of eastern and (in a sense, as the Nords and Cyro-Nords of the regions have in many ways picked up the systems of the easterners) northern Cyrodiil. The Nibenese are hard to define as a people, mainly because of the fact that trying to group them into categories is nearly useless- The Nibenese divide into hundreds if not thousands of diverse tribes and ethnicities. They are the dominant population of the cities of Cheydinhal, Bruma, Bravil, Mir Corrup, and Leyawiin. Ethnically their very earliest roots are identical to those of the Colovians, coming from the myriad nedic peoples captured from across Cyrod, Black Marsh, southern Skyrim, and the Deadland edges. Under Ayleid slavery their old tribes were mixed and purposefully broken, destroying what old ties might have been known to them and breeding with other nedes with an interest lying solely in the production of new generations of slaves. Thus the peoples of those regions mixed and over times became a more or less similar ethnicity of post-slave nedics. After these nedics were freed in the revolution of Alessia, they migrated out across the eastern river valley of Cyrodiil, settling down on the rivers and continuing the trades many of them were forced to perform under those ayleids who did not own slaves solely for torture or sacrifice, including river agriculture and the production of silk. The Niben character of diversity in religion and society was established early on as the tribes and villages acted mostly independent of each other, the early emperors maintaining very loose decentralized states. Under the Marukhati these religions transformed, being regulated and organized as saintly entities rather than full fledged gods as the Marukhati attempted to unite the tribes under a singular god. Though infamous and often monstrous, the marukhati greatly shaped the lives of the Nibenese, bringing many of the tribes together under more rigid organization of merchant nobility and village identity, and the shape of the greater temple of the nine divines. One of the most significant later influences would be the Akaviri, whose presence was lent to many Nibenese architectural styles and cults. Their weaponry, most famously the katana, were also adopted by the easterners, and the highest nobility interbred often with the people of the far east. The Deep Niben and many of the river villages are wholly post-Nedic in population, but the larger towns and cities are all incredibly racially diverse, featuring peoples from all over Tamriel, both those who have lived there for generations and nibenized, and those who retain their home culture and settled within their lifetimes.

If we do wish to divide the Nibenese into categories, we can only really divide them into very large and encompassing subgroups that often internally divide a hundred times once more. However, for the purposes of understanding the people generally, these divisions are useful.

Civilized Nibenese-The Nibenese people who reside in the thinner jungles and swamps closer to the Niben's eastern edge, the sparser western wetlands and hills, and the floodplains of the northern Niben. They identify by village more than by tribe; Though many still record and remember the peoples from which they came, if asked what they are they will more likely declare what village they are from than what tribe their ancestors belonged to. The majority of their names are heartlandizations and pseudo-heartlandizations of old tribal names. For example; Tribal Nibenese: Soku-Shuzi. Civilized Nibenese versions: Socucius, Socucio, Sokuce.

Nibenized Cyro-Nords- These Nibenese people are the ones who reside in the lower parts of the Brumath highlands and in the Cheydin highlands. These regions began their histories as territories conquered from the ayleids by Nords before Alessia's revolution, and it was from these lands that the Nordic mercenary lords of Colovia were hired. The freedslaves in these regions did not tribalize as directly as their southern neighbors, and were civilized in the ways of the Nords. When the Nordic Empire collapsed, the majority of the Nords fled their colonies of Bruma and Cheydinhal to return home to their families, leaving behind the Cyro-Nords who were quickly claimed by the at the time Marukhati Alessian Empire. Though their language is different from the southerners and their society less tribal, they more or less have joined in the lifestyle of the south long ago, governed in the same fashion as the civilized Nibenese and adopting many of their names. Still though their names can be mistaken for the more gentle of Colovian names, houses like Tharn and Krately.

Tribal Nibenese- These nibenese people are the ones who reside in the deep jungles of the Niben, distant from the thinner jungles of the Niben banks and mostly off of the three main delta offshoots of the Corbolo, Silverfish, and Panther, along the smaller deep Niben rivers. They can also be found throughout the Blackwood alongside argonians, and in the Cheydin highlands closer to the Valus and within the Valus themselves. These Nibenese are the ones who have not transitioned into the more pseudo-feudal lifestyle of the civilized Nibenese, and bound themselves more by identities of tribes and tribal confederations rather than villages or the lords they serve. They are historically difficult for the empire to work with, the deep jungles hard to traverse making reliable collection of taxes and enforcement of laws impossible. Often times because of this the job of ruling them is often ignored, and the tribals are allowed to do their own thing while being pushed as far away from Nibenese society as possible, and only intruded upon (violently) when particularly annoying, such as when they raid the interests of the merchant nobility. They are similar to the ashlanders in that they are tribal individuals who live the old ways of their people, and for it are ostracized and made to live in the most inhospitable and unusable region.

Nibenese Culture: The culture of the Nibenese is difficult to define due to its vast differences, so its perhaps best to first look at the most basic overlying features. The Nibenese value philosophy, piety, learning, mercantilism, ceremony, and intrigue. The method by which their society moves is far different from Colovia, operating on intrigue, subterfuge, and money. The disputes of the nobility are often fought amongst themselves, not by open bloodshed or war but by plotting and working behind each others backs, utilizing their schemes and spies and the assets under their authority to either subvert the will of their opponent or enforce their will on their opponent. Open bloodshed (not counting assassination, which while fairly common is highly frowned upon and seen as tasteless) is seen as a very last resort for only the most dire of confrontations.

The Nibenese are governed under a pseudo-feudal system of merchant nobility and battlemage aristocracy. Seeing as these aren't exactly super familiar entities or ideas, compared to the relatively simple feudalism of Colovia, I'll take a moment to explain them and their history. The merchant nobility dates back to the days pre-Marukhati, and the battlemage aristocracy date back to the years following the War of Righteousness. The merchant nobility were established early on as enterprising Nibenfolk who maintained and arranged trade along river systems, ensuring the survival of villages while pulling a profit for themselves. By the days of Ami-El these merchant Nibenfolk had become an institution often valued by the commoners, who not only oversaw and ran the trade of stretches of riverlands but often funded and supplied the infastructure and defense of many of the villages. As the Marukhati came into force they made these merchants into official facets of their far more centralized government, the services they often provided becoming official while cementing and justifying their authority over the river tribals and peoples.

When the Alessians fell for good following the War of Righteousness, the battlemage aristocracy were those who rushed into the fold to fill the gaps in power. Unlike Colovia or the Nords, the use of magic is central to Nibenese combat as well as practiced and studied by many individuals in ceremony and esoteric ritual. The most powerful of the warlords following the fall were all battlemages, many of whom were previously battlemages or court ritualists in service of the merchants or the now defunct high class of alessian priess. They used their strategic education, sheer magical force, silver tongues, and ceremonial and ritualistic piety and intrigue to woo and conquer the many merchant lords, becoming kings and queens of the rivers, hills, and floodplains, holding domain over the merchants below them. This system continues to the modern day, their descendants tutored from youth by master elven mages, Colovian strategists, court spies, and their parents in order to eventually replace them and continue their dynasty among the battlemage aristocracy. It is altered under the Septims, though, with one of the families of any county ruling over all the others and the merchants beneath them from their county seat. Those that hold these seats fight a vicious and sly game, secret and quiet but lethal with the other battlemages, who all yearn for their position of power and their regional dominance. Because of this the Nibenese rulers tend to be powerful and seemingly unknowable, as only the greatest among them at this game ever stay in power for long. Famous Battlemage Aristocratic families include the infamous Tharn, the ancient Caro, and the fair but ruthless Carvain.

Nibenese commoners rarely involve themselves in the intrigue and sneaky dealings of their lords and ladies, though influential and powerful secret societies and citizen conspiracies have been known to exist and should always be assumed to exist somewhere in the Niben. The majority of these Nibenese make their livings directly in the service of the merchant lord, tending to fields of crops or gathering silk or turning said silk into wearable clothing or producing dyes or etc. etc. The Nibenese of the cities have a great deal more options in employment, many of them operating businesses entirely independent of the palace.

The Nibenese are known for their religious fervor and awe, described as pious, numinous, and by Colovians, superstitious. The wide range of entities worshipped by the Nibenfolk, both civilized and tribal, ranges in the hundreds upon hundreds, and are all different and varied. The only common unifying feature between the Nibenese is that regardless of who or what they worship, they also revere the Nine/Eight Divines, and hold them above all else. In this the Nine are viewed as major but distant gods, who protect us in the long term and provide us with the standard by which to live, but do not intervene in every day affairs. All the other worshipped entities are viewed as minor gods, much less powerful but so much closer and involved with the every day affairs. These gods are house gods, personally worshipped entities you go to for your more 'petty' (though in this case petty includes things up to your personal survival) prayers and needs. Most Nibenese will hold three of the Nine in especially high regard and then hold membership in another half-dozen cults to minor gods. Though too numerous to list here, the general categories of minor gods include saints, who are outright worshipped and painted into the most mythic light, daedra, the cults of which are strictly regulated by the Imperial crown and subject to lawful search and siezure at all times, totem animals, whose upper cult echelons are strange and secretive societies, animism, widely practiced by the working Nibenese, strange reverence, including the worship of things like concept-spirits or the veneration of a spirit that represents the act of living in your home, and finally, foreign gods. Yes, foreign gods. The Nibenese view on the existence and importance of minor spirits and deities leaves them in the position to be completely acceptant of the validity of other's pantheons, with cults holding worship to these foreign deities with common interpretations being that they are attendant to the more familiar Nine. This acceptance of foreign gods counterintuitively makes them the ideal missionaries for the Imperial Cult of the Nine: Their message is sweeter and less hard to swallow: Your gods are fine and worth worshipping, but these gods are greater, and love you.

(SHAMELESS PLUG) If you want to know more about Nibenese religion, I'd suggest continuing your reading here: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/3w9anx/cults_within_nibenese_society/

The temples of the Nibenay are numerous and dot the landscape, housing various cults or shrines. The architecture varies wildly, coming from the styles of different tribes and periods, including tall pagodas, northern chapels, Colovian inspired cathedrals, domed temples in the image of the great Temple of the One, pillared Heartland godshouses, colorful decorated temples in the image of those used by the akaviri, ancient repurposed marukhati ziggurats, and great galeried temples. Shrines also dot the roads through the thinner jungles and the edges of the rivers, small statues and pedestals and obelisks honoring saints and spirits. The religious ceremonies of the Nibenese across the landscape are emotional and colorful, ranging from the fervid to the solemn to the joyous and everything in between, bearing bizarre rituals, glorious feasts, and colorful and varied dance, among other things. There are few official universally recognized holidays in the Niben, but rather dozens of regional festivals, ceremonies, celebrations, and days of blessing and prayer.

In general the Nibenese commoners prefer to embrace the mythic and wondrous side of history, recounting the events of the world and the exploits of ancients in grandoise terms and scenarios, frequently involving the impossible, wondrous, or divine, with things like conversation or assistance from animist spirits being common, as well as superhuman feats and jocular narrative when in appropriate audiences. They often find Colovian insistence on accuracy boring, prefering a good story, inspiring heroism, and encounters with the awe-inspiring to glorified tales of martial conflicts.

The Nibenese fashion comes in a variety of flavors, that like all other aspects of their myriad culture can only be broken down in simple terms by their large subgroups, as any further attempt to differentiate would require pages upon pages of text. In the lands of the civilized Nibenese, the common styling within the cities, the many villages, and the palaces of nobles are the extravagant and colorful garb they are famous for, brightly colored and often extravagantly patterned outfits made from flowing billowing silk of the highest quality and arranged in dozens of styles, from sarees and kimonos to multilayered tunics, and can be as simple as a mono-colored blue toga or a sleek patterned silk vest and as complex as garb made from dozens of sashes and layered cloaks. Still yet there are those that go nearly nude, preferring to wear little in light of the heat and humidity, wearing no clothing but loinclothes and sandals, and sometimes silken sashes. This sparse way of dress is very common among those whose occupations involve hard and frequent labor, such as stoneworkers and carpenters and often farmers, for whom the clothes could become unbearable, and not only that but would deteriorate and degrade under the sweat of their body and the wetness of the air. Many decorate themselves in jewelry and trinkets covered in and made of things like shells, small coins, beads of wood, beads of glass, beads of stone, and beads of bone, feathers, the bones of fish, and other small totems and shiny items. The Cyro Nords, while a slight bit more reserved, also dress colorfully, wearing layered and attractively tailored outfits of cotton and silk and imported Colovian furs to keep themselves warm in the cool highlands and during the chilly and sometimes snowy winters, and in the case of the Brumath, definitely snowy winters.

All of the Nibenese peoples are know to extensively engage in bodily modification at a level not approached by any other human group. While there are some Nibenfolk who do not make religious and tribal art of their body, a great number do. Tattoos are very common, inked in patterns that range from the strange and complex to the highly simple. These tattoos serve all sorts of purposes- some cults necessitate certain markings to distinguish them as members, many of the ethnicities have traditional patterns they bear, and others bear tattoos to detail their status or living. A rare few individuals are utterly covered in tattoos, images of holy patterns and symbols and the markings of their tribe covering every inch of skin. Some Nibenese cults and ethnicities engage in the older art of scarification- the act of producing raised patterns on the skin through purposeful and directed mutilation and letting the tissue become scars, as well as the use of brands to produce images on the skin through permanent burns. It is not uncommon, for example, to come across a Niben man with odd raised bumps that form an equally spaced line across his brow; This is the result of scarification. Also practiced is bodily piercing, and while it may not sound odd at first it becomes so once the level to which it is practiced is realized. A few tribal groups utilize plugs, and it is not uncommon to see a Niben man or woman with an ear utterly perforated with a dozen rings and objects all of varying size.

Ornate masks are common ritualist and ceremonial garb, and several of the battlemages, priests, and esoteric organizations can be found with strange masks. Some tribes in the deep Niben wear their masks constantly, as part of some tradition or religious obligation.

The tattoos and scars are notable amongst the battlemages, who have magically altered themselves and bound charms and power to their person through the ritualistic application of their markings.

A very excellent place to look for reference on Nibenese clothes, tattoos, and piercings would be this gallery, put together by the talented LadyNerevar: http://imgur.com/a/Wu1iS . I highly suggest you take the time to look through it, as it does a wonderful job of showing the variety that would be present among the civilized Nibens. Additionally, also by LadyN, http://img15.deviantart.net/ee50/i/2011/041/b/0/character_thumbnails_by_lady_nerevar-d397m1f.jpg does a good job with additional Nibenfolk, of the more village or tribal dwelling variety. For additional sources to immerse yourself in, try this link: https://www.google.com/search?q=India+tribes&safe=off&rlz=1C1TSNP_enUS555US555&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBmauLieHKAhVHrB4KHSxYDJMQ_AUIBygB&biw=1366&bih=643 and this one:
https://www.google.com/search?q=burmese+tribes&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC5pe1ieHKAhVBqh4KHdeqCvcQ_AUIBygB&biw=1366&bih=643

Nibenese agriculture revolves almost entirely on plant products, the jungles not suited for the husbandry of larger animals. Rice and a wide variety of other crops both exotic and common are grown all along the rivers, the western bank, floodplains, lower Brumath, and Cheydin highland, nearly all of it gathered by the merchant lords and distributed. Moths are also kept in large plantations devoted to silk, and chickens are kept as well in many villages. Cows and pigs are kept in the more expansive regions, like the Western Bank and the Cheydin Highlands, but are otherwise a fairly uncommon sight, outside of oxen occasionally used to help haul goods over overland portions. More exotic animals can be found in places like the deep Niben, most notably the giant Cyrodiilic newts from which the crocodile leather-esque material referred to as newtscale is made. Common varieties of Nibenese farms include mountain terraces, which are popular in the Cheydin and Brumath, flooding fields like those found in the floodplains and occasionally on the western bank, and cleared jungle, where during the proper season patches of jungle are cut down and burned and used for farmland, and once the season ends the space is allowed to be reclaimed by jungle. Fishing is a common proffession (whether primary or secondary) among the villages directly upon rivers (that is to say, the majority). These fishermen harvest the natural bounty of the rivers, bringing back the many varieties of plentiful fish, as well as shellfish like snails, shrimp, crayfish, and mudcrab. Seafood and vegetation is the primary diet of the majority of Niben people south of the highlands.

It is hard to list all the things grown, primarily because there is just so much. A few notable crops out of the vast many include things like rice, coffee, melons, tea, beans of different varieties, raddish, sugarcane, and regional species of cabbage. Cocoa plantations also exist, but little of it is used by the Nibens themselves; most is exported to Nords, who have had a love for the bitter plant ever since they first found it when they controlled the highlands. The Nords refine the cocoa into fine Nordic chocolate, a treat that is beloved across Tamriel, even begrudgingly by many elves.

The eastern peoples have a deep and heartfelt love for the arts and music, the most famous of Cyrodiil's painters, poets, virtuosos, and playwrights coming from the rivers and the villages and towns that dot them. All of the cities have great ampitheatres and playhouses, and even the smaller villages are known to play out shows in local clearings.

Some cults are known to use mind altering substances to commune with their deities and to have religious experiences, though the majority of these are highly regulated by imperial authority, with only a select few communities being permitted to produce the substances then exported to these cults.

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Regions of Nibenay

Blackwood

The Blackwood is often described as the least inhabitable portion of Nibenay, and yet tribal peoples still live deep within it and many Nibens call the lands closer to the river home. The Blackwood is bounded traditionally as the lands south of the Panther river and east of the great Niben, all the way to the border with Black Marsh, losely and tenuously defined by a long stretch of hills branching off the tip of the Valus down to the coast. Its climate is boggy and hot, and a great majority of the whole region is almost consistently flooded with at least a foot of Niben water, spilling out from both the many small delta rivers that branch off, and from the actual waters of the great Niben river itself. Though the edges are often sparse enough or high enough that numerous villages, towns, and palaces of the civilized Nibens dot them, the inner depths are horrendous swampland. These flooded mires are full of mosquitoes, great spiders, swamp trolls, mantraps and great pitchers, crocodiles both normal and giant, and most gravely, many of the numerous diseases and parasites that also call Black Marsh home. As you aproach the southern edge the Blackwood becomes more hospitable, the pleasant tropical jungle of the Topal Bay taking over and covering the landscape in ferns and palms, hiding the wretched landscape further inland from the eyes of those approaching. Overgrown ruins unrelated to those common to most of Cyrodiil, built by who knows what peoples fill the bogs and swamps- perhaps constructions of the nedes who once inhabited these lands, or ancient argonian palaces. The primary inhabitants of the wild swampy Blackwood are tribal Nibenese like traditionalist Keptu, alongside tribes of Argonians that spill out from neighboring Black Marsh. The river's edge bears the standard diversity of the Niben, with dozens of villages dominated in population by the civilized Nibens and towns that bear sizeable minorities of all the Tamrielic peoples. Argonians make up a notably large portion of the population, perhaps around 30-35%, living amongst the towns and within their own villages. The majority of these Argonians are more or less Nibenized by necessity, though many villages along the river's edge are tribal in their society. One of the major riverside crops native to the region harvested by both Nibenfolk and Argonians are cyrodiilic sugar palms, the harvesting of which was the initial purpose of the ayleid plantation atop which Leyawiin was built.

reference pictures

http://i.imgur.com/urzbl2P.jpg small branching river in southern Blackwood

http://i.imgur.com/nC4KfB0.jpg swamp canopy often thick and obscuring

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Bald_Cypress.JPG majority flooded in knee deep water

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/11723193.jpg marshland everywhere

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u4ohmhAY6mw/UWy0K34j4_I/AAAAAAAAAo0/IFAKtjK2UQU/s1600/IMG_0184.JPG ground can be deceptive

http://thanjaitours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ta-prohm-temple-cambodia.jpg an unknown ruin

http://i.imgur.com/V3edHok.jpg Cypress dominates

West Niben Banks or Trans-Niben

Almost opposite in nature to the Blackwood it lies across from, the West Niben Banks are idyllic. It is often seen as the driest portion of the southern Nibenay, which in the end is a rather meaningless statement to make, the non-jungled lands still rainy and dotted by marshes. The West Niben Banks stretch all the way from the inland sea of the Niben Bay all the way down to the western side of the Topal, and is inhabited the whole way down by a wide variety of peoples. The landscape and geography is more or less similar with some climatic variation by latitude. On the southern shores the tropical and comfortable climate of the Topal Bay can be found, though only a few miles inland much of it fades away, the palms only continuing a small distance along the river's edge. Where this tropical climate and the mildly forested plains of the rest of the bank meet lies Leyawiin, one of the Nibenay's ancient cities and a site of racial tension even into the modern day. The majority of the West Banks are fertile plains thinly covered in forest and filled with small rivers branching from the Niben, from Leyawiin all the way to the vicinity of the river Sarto at the southern end of the Niben Bay. The border to Elsweyr, which runs all along the thin strip, is marked by great rolling mountain hills, that in some places extend out across the plains haphazardly to near the river's edge. Much of the plains and these hills are contested by the Khajiit and the Nibenese peoples, the claims held by nobles on both sides frequently called against each other in vicious and petty feuds. These lands are among the few in Nibenay that can sufficiently support animal husbandry, cows and pigs both being raised for the purpose of consumption alongside the standard of river life and the yields of plantations. As the river Sarto is approached the West Banks lose their plain countenance and become more thickly forested, the hills pushing out past the border and forming river valleys where the Niben Bay leaks in, a situation which covers all the lands between the Sarto and the Larsius, and past the Larsius until the mangrove swamps of the southern Heartlands are reached, and then westward until it merges with the wetlands of the Eastern Weald. In the middle of this space on the edge of the Niben Bay lies the city of Bravil, a once beautiful hub of society, fallen under squalid conditions since the late second era. The city of Leyawiin was founded early in the first era by Nedic freedslaves, building a community on an island just off the shore from which Ayleids once commanded their fellow men to harvest the sugar palms lest they be put in their master's gruesome galleries. Like Bravil in the North it was among the first of the strongholds of the Marukhati faith, the rivermen fearful and hateful toward the remaining living former masters. Today many elves live here, as with the rest of the Niben, the ancient hatreds mostly forgotten except for by the most emotionally charged cults of Shezarr and Pelinal, and on occasion during periods of confrontation. In modern times the city is home to a much different kind of racial tension, one between the Nibenfolk and the Khajiit and Argonians who both also call the region home, very vocal and in some cases violent minorities of both claiming that the whole of the south Niben belongs to their peoples, citing the ancient merethic pre-Ayleid days when there civilizations dominated the region. The Empire acknowledges none of it, even going as far as to claim more territory from Elsweyr- miles of hills and plains once part of Elsweyr have been negotiated away from the Mane and into Niben authority. The Counts of the Trans-Niben, the Caro family - whose history as rulers date back to Righteousness- frequently sends soldiers to pacify or combat Khajiiti and Argonian insurgents alike who demand relinquishment. Much of the few patches of jungle that exist in the area have been destroyed, denying potential guerillas the ability to fight from within them. In modern days Leyawiin extends past the original isle onto the West Bank, where the majority of the city lies. The city's economy revolves around both its great sugar palm plantations and its status as the gateway to Cyrodiil- Many a tired traveler makes brief port in Leyawiin, exhausted from weeks or months at sea traversing the Topal Bay and other southern waters, as well as those who are preparing to set out into the oceans after their business was done in the Niben Bay or the Rumare. Inns and resorts (for the more important travelers) abound, and the dock markets are full of small merchants peddling trinkets and curios and souvenirs, dishware showcasing landmarks of Cyrodiil or wax figurines of the more beloved emperors.
On the Bay in the more deeply forested regions lies Bravil, founded upon the mouth of the Larsius during the reign of Alessia, after the pacification of the last openly hostile post-slavery Ayleid by the myrmidon centurion Tehau Tash, or as he is known in modern Nibennic, Teo Tasus. It was in Bravil and the lands around it that the Marukhati's faith first took hold late in the reign of Ami-El, the Prophet Most Simian having traveled there all the way from the Gold Coast via the roads established during the reign of Belharza Man-Bull. After this it spread rapidly among the working folk of the Niben, the upper echelons of the quickly forming cult becoming a powerful group that performed a silent coup upon the balance of power, making its beliefs the official faith of the Empire and completely remaking the political structure, and most infamously performing horrific pogroms upon the remaining Ayleid peoples. During these days and after the war of the Righteousness and even the reign of Reman, Bravil was one of Nibenay's greatest cities, the river city of the Niben Bay wreathed in splendor and great manors and having a thriving culture of art and expression. The Interregnum following the deaths of the potentates ruined Bravil, the lawlessness and many wars by foreigners that were waged across Cyrodiil taking their toll. By the time of Tiber and onwards to the present day, Bravil is but a ghost of its former self, the majority of its old manor palaces long burned down and replaced by squalid huts and shacks as a population too large for the city is forced into a tiny space. Wooden shacks lie sunken inches in the mud and pressed close together and atop each other, frequently flooding and in some places requiring elevation by stilts to keep from flooding with sewage and Niben water during the rains. Nice portions of the city remain, closer to the fortress Palace from which the aristocracy reign, orderly and neat manors on drier grounds inhabited by wealthy Nibenfolk, their yards and estates within the walls decorated with the tropical plants from further south. Part of the inability to recover lies in the seemingly permanent ineffectiveness of the Battlemages under domain of county Bravil; none have been able to last long before they were torn down and replaced by a peer. The countryside's dominant peoples are the Khajiit and the Nibenese, villages composed almost exclusively of either scattered all across the west bank. One of the more famous wholly Khajiit towns would be Trariraj, also known as Border Watch, though which border it watches has changed with the years. The towns throughout bring about more ethnic diversity, with Bretons settled down from days on merchant ships and the descendants of Colovian migrants creating large and significant minorities. The city of Leyawiin is strangely populated, the Khajiit and Argonians forming a third of the population alongside the ethnic southern Nibenese, who make another whole third. Bravil similarly has many beastfolk alongside its Nibenese, though not quite as much. The populace of Bravil contains large minorities of nearly every race, all equally living in squalor, whether its the city's large Breton population or its significant number of High and Dark Elves, brought to the region often due to exile from their homelands or to find employ or tuition among the many magical schools and colleges of the Nibenay. The Altmer of Nibenay in particular are frequently the victims of (sometimes self-imposed) exile, cast out of their homelands for the breaking of traditions in ways viewed almost heretical. Some are the descendants of those cast out centuries ago, themselves fully Nibenized.

reference pictures

http://i.imgur.com/LY5NrOw.jpg sandy Topal beach

http://i.imgur.com/bfDiejR.jpg Topal Mouth on horizon

http://i.imgur.com/9w7xjxo.jpg manor in Leyawiin

http://i.imgur.com/I5UtBkP.jpg intricate metalwork and balconied buildings up to three stories tall common in the city

http://i.imgur.com/hF6gv3V.jpg Leyawiin wall

http://i.imgur.com/vZP7fbC.jpg Atop fortification in hills

http://www.tierratravels.com/admin/upload/Cambodia-14.jpg Fertile and verdant plains

http://i.imgur.com/nRzYydq.jpg River Sarto

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oGIfSxClVfU/VPTvxgckKUI/AAAAAAAAXPQ/fM-eyGTAmEM/s1600/beauty%2Bof%2Bwoodwn%2Bhouse%2B6.jpg nicer home on Bravil outskirts

http://i.imgur.com/yKSuz0D.jpg Deeper Larsius villages

http://thumbs.trulia-cdn.com/pictures/thumbs_6/ps.79/9/3/7/9/picture-uh=7a78f617cf5d17d81025c5eec99d1ca0-ps=9379270297997da2f10b3f0bfac8935-2579-Spanish-River-Rd-Boca-Raton-FL-33432.jpg Bravil manors seem so distant from squalor

https://www.colourbox.com/preview/8104097-slum-on-dirty-canal.jpg wooden shacks upon stilts avoid constant floods

http://s3.amazonaws.com/estock/fspid2/127700/slums-thailand-urban-127713-o.jpg structures haphazard, decayed, and waterlogged in the city

http://www.waterandmegacities.org/wp-content/uploads/varanasi-river-ganges-21-620x200.jpg large town upon the river

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Regions Continued in Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/45ugx0/nibenese_identity_a_guide_for_lore_rp_and_writing/