THE VORSE FAMILY
Responsibility for running the family is shared equally by the eldest, capable married couple.  Children are loved and cared-for, the elderly are venerated and cherished.  Education of the young is done in the home, by the family, and is informal.  Other than some basic cultural runes, the average Vorseman is illiterate, and books and paper are almost unheard-of.  Skills and trades are passed along this way, from sheep shearing to archery, pottery making to axe throwing.  Everyone learns to ride, and even the poorest household will have a couple of horses.  Children start working and contributing to the family at a young age.  Boys and girls who show an aptitude for the way of arms are guided in that direction.  Although some girls follow the way of Horse and Sword, it is usually the males who take this path.  Females are most always shown to the way of Druidism, usually by their mothers and grandmothers.

Marriages are free will unions and are not arranged without consent.  There are no dowries.
           
Leisure time around every home involves storytelling (myths & legends of the Vorsemen, and fables told to teach life lessons), playing with family pets, wood carving and falconry.  Young children with wooden swords and staves play at being warriors and druids, as well as playing “Goblin Skull,” an outdoor activity similar to croquet.  Adults enjoy playing “Saddles,” which is similar to chess.

THE HORSE in VORSEMAN LIFE
At the center of the culture is the horse, the primary weapon of war.  From an early age Vorsemen are taught not only to ride and care for these animals, but to respect them in a mythical and spiritual sense.  The figure of the horse is widely represented in their art, lore and adornments.  Carvings of horses decorate doors and doorframes, mantles, chests and furniture, are mounted at the peaks of houses and halls, show up on armor, shields and weapons, and figure into the family crest of each of the seven clans.  Horses are sheltered from the harsh elements as well as the family is, and the loss of a horse is cause for mourning.

ANGMIR FIERHOVEN
In Vorse legend, the great hero Angmir Fierhoven was alone in Fehirmoor, on a quest to slay the Frost Giant King J’Aarnik, but without a way to cross the frozen wastes to his castle.  After much prayer and sacrifice, Angmir was visited by Dagmar.  The Vorse god presented the hero with “T’aas,” a wondrous and powerful beast called a Horse.  T’aas not only helped Angmir complete his quest to slay the giant, but became his constant companion and ally through Angmir’s long life and many adventures.  It is said that all horses flow from T’aas’s bloodline, and that original horse has been raised to the status of a deity. 

The intentional destruction of a horse, other than a mercy killing, is as serious as slaying another Vorseman.  In the Westvahl, horses are not used for common labor.  Wooly oxen and men fill that role.

RELIGION
The Vorsemen follow a pagan, druidic path.  Their high god, “Dagmar,” is the God of War, Wind and Nature.  He is a powerful human figure with fiery eyes and elk antlers.  Beneath him on an equal level with each other are “T’aas” (God of Horses), “Midea” (Goddess of Light), Wulf (God of the Hunt), “Graava” (the 4-faced Goddess of the Seasons), “Moon” (Goddess of Night & Death) and “Enoch” (God of the Earth.)  All are depicted in their art, and sacrifices of food, beer, furs and silver are burned in honor of them.  All religious practices are nature-based.
DRUIDS

With only a few exceptions, Vorsemen druids are female.  Their organization is called “The Dansk.”  Girls receive the calling at an early age, and those who do not, turn to the way of Horse and Sword.  This calling is guided and encouraged by the older females of the house and clan, and a young girl’s discovery of her druidic talent (her Coming of Age) is cause for great rejoicing.  In any Vorseman settlement, consider that 90% of all females over the age of 10 will be a druid of some level (the other 10% will be warriors) and the older the female, the more powerful a druid she is.

Vorsemen druids are not adverse to the harvesting of trees like their fellows in other parts of the world.  They understand wood is vital to their culture and necessary for survival.  They do, however, insist that due respect be given to every tree before harvesting (prayers to Dagmar, expressing gratitude to the tree, and sacrifices.)  They also oversee the process of planting three trees for every one harvested.

Although some druidic gatherings and ceremonies are conducted in sacred groves, as the Westvahl is more plains than anything else, this is not always feasible.  Therefore each Coven of druids will have a sacred site close to a clan holding which has great stones planted vertically in the earth, with other massive stones crossing them like archways (ie, Stonehenge.)  The archways represent the gates from this world to the next.  These locations are called “Bone Groves,” for the bones of the earth, and are watched over by the god Enoch.  In some communities these may involve only a few archways.  In the case of the bone grove at the clan holding of Clan Hamerskrieg, it involves a large, complete circle of three-dozen vertical stones.  There is great, vibrant power within these circles which even a non-druid can feel.

Like most druids, excessive metal interferes with their oaths and the practice of divine magic, so their armor and adornments will be fashioned from such natural elements as horn, bone, wood, leather, fur and hemp (although a single, slender steel blade does not seem to interfere.)

Vorsemen druids revere the horse as a power animal, along with the eagle and the wolf.  They are fairly strong fighters, and serve as good back-up to their warrior men.  Animal companions are everywhere, and wolves within a Vorse community are so common they do not even raise an eyebrow.

WAR and COMBAT
At the core of the Vorsemen battle strategy is the mounted warrior, a barbarian or fighter skilled in the Ride skill and all related mounted feats and skills.  (Vorse warriors get a natural +6 to their Ride skill.)  Operating in disciplined formations, they are terrifying and unstoppable, fast as the wind.  On foot these warriors are just as deadly, for it is here they may fly into a barbarian rage (though never while on horseback.)

Supporting the mounted Vorse are two key elements;  Rangers (also mounted) serve as scouts, ambush parties and snipers.  Their bows are unmatched.  Druids (mounted as well) provide powerful spell backup and limited healing.

Commoners in Combat
The Volk learn the ways of combat as well, and are capable of not only defending themselves and their homes, but of assembling for wall defense and even field formations.  Men and women alike fill this role, and even children as young as 10 have a part to play; carrying arrows, dragging off and stabilizing the wounded, holding mounts or even attacking with slings.  A Volk in battle will usually have an axe or family sword, and always a bow.  A storm of arrows fired into the sky by common Volk kills just as certainly as those fired by a trained warrior.  They do not consider their participation in battle particularly heroic – it is simply their duty, and part of the clan’s survival.

Vorsemen of all clans patrol their lands, ever watchful for incursion by the Urikai.  In many places across the Westvahl one will find high, isolated watchtowers of stone and timber with endless views, manned by alert Vorsemen, their horses waiting under shelter below.  The average warrior might spend one week of every month on watchtower duty, another on mounted patrol, and the remaining two within the clan holding.

Most of the time the warriors of a single clan are enough to deal with Urikai attacks in their area.  When the goblins mass in greater numbers, neighboring clans will immediately send forces in support.  There is no dishonor for the clan which receives such help.  They are all Vorsemen, after all.

ENEMIES
The Vorsemen have (3) primary enemies.

1. The “Urikai,” a generic term which applies to any goblin.  Those in the north (the raiding V’Jaadsonn of the Hacksling Clan) are called “Big Urikai,” and the smaller Razorfangs in the south are called “Little Urikai.”  The V’Jaadsonn are a regular threat to the northern fishing villages and Clan Holdings, and Clan Rooste has the honor and responsibility of dealing with them.
2. The Giants, either Hill or Frost, which raid down into the northern Westvahl, crossing D’Ark V’Jaada in great oared ships from Fehirmoor to plunder and burn.  Fortunately, these raids are infrequent.
3. The “Arachna,” a generic term to describe any wild or sentient spider-being from the Shadowfahl.  Those Vorsemen who seek to harvest exotic hardwoods or hemp from that dark forest must contend with this threat, and the Arachna have even been known to raid into the Westvahl, though never in large, organized groups.  *(Vorsemen do not venture deeper into the Shadowfahl than they have to, and for them the region is unexplored.) 

Among the Arachna have been identified two primary threats.  The first is female, “Fly Queens,” a half humanoid / half spider being with arcane powers, often hunting alone, very dangerous and intelligent.  The second are male, “Uulvas,” more spider-like than the females, extremely aggressive, predatory and dangerous, almost always in command of an assortment of spider horrors.

CELEBRATIONS
Vorsemen holidays and celebrations are times of great entertainment and rejoicing.  Feasts, drinking, dancing, games, tests of strength, running, horsemanship and arms are all part of it.  In addition, it is a time for households to proudly display their best wood carvings, for children to play with one another, for women to gather and gossip and exchange food, for men to transact business for goods or livestock, and for young men and women approaching marrying age to get to know one another.  It is a time for storytelling and celebration of victory and life, for bonding with one’s clansmen, and for giving thanks to the gods.

Common celebrations include Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, the Harvest, the Day of Taas (a time of racing and breeding), Spring Foaling, the Hunt of Dagmar, and The Remembering (three days of respect for those who have fallen in the ongoing war with the Urikai, where Angmir’s Horn is sounded three times to call the fallen home to Dagmar’s great hall.)

Smaller festivals involve celebrating an individual clan’s prosperity, rejoicing over a particularly good hunt or successful battle, weddings, and Coming of Age ceremonies for young men and women.

Funerals are solemn times with much ceremony, and the bodies of the deceased are first burned on pyres, then the remains are entombed in great barrow mounds.  For a Vorseman, the best way to die is during battle, preferably against the Urikai.

CELTS in the WESTVAHL
West across the waters of D’Ark V’Jaada and Mother’s Trench lies the Forgotten Sea, and beyond that is the Celtic Isle.  The people of the Westvahl are not unknown to the Celts, who at times send peaceful missionaries of Cuthbert and St. George to spread the word.  Being tolerant of diversity, the Vorsemen accept these strange foreigners and grant them hospitality, though consider them oddities, and their religion odder still.  Conversions are few.

These Celt missionaries are called “Clovermen,” and anywhere from one to half a dozen might be found living in their own housing within a Clan Holding.  They are quiet and unobtrusive, respecting the ways of their hosts and (when clerical) offering healing spells to the wounded.