#cassiterides

A small archipelago to the south of Albion, it is a minor player in the affairs of the world, but still worth mentioning.

The locals spoke a dialect similar to Bresaeli, a Gaelic language mixed with Atlantean influences from the nobility. When the mirroring occurred, the proximity to Albion made it "barely a bolts light" as the locals would describe the short distance. And when the White storm defences were initiated, the cassiteridies were battered by them, not being considered in the original calculations.

However, in the subsequent solstice, they had been actively accounted for, and parties had gone forth to attempt to claim the islands, for these islands had a great value. they were one of a few sources of Caelean flint and harmonic tin, zinc, lead and other soft metal deposits, potent resources for crafting enchanted materials.

Some early examples of orichalcum trade goods are able to be found on this island, though most have been claimed by one private collection or another, with the largest public collection being in the Atlantis museum of natural history.

The native population were matriarchal, with the women holding a coming of age ritual at reach to top of the volcano of one of the islands. There they demanded the blessing of the local volcano deity to grant them the wisdom of fire and stone. Then they had to live upon the island without speaking to anyone until they had made fire and crafted a traditional hooked blade which she carries until she is an elder. After then she is not seen as needing the blade any more, having shown her ability to live this long and possibly also able to put curses and channel the complaints she hears into sicknesses.

Not all manage the ritual, and those who fail sometimes commited ritual suicide to the volcano, leaving her body among the many unsettlingly preserved bodies at the crater, but those who choose to turn back are permitted to live, but must always live under the Dominion of the next who passes.

The men are the ones who do the mining (except where necessary for a womans ritual) and farming, seen as tedious work. Women control the herds of small wooly cattle, driving them across the islands to graze on suitable lands and distributing them across farms as needed across the year, as well as crafting goods. Inability to raise a child, especially a daughter, well, was seen as a grave slight on the mother.

These practices are no longer however. All that remains is a strong tradition of matriarchal families among the island, curved Caelean flint knives, oft hidden, and waryness of complaining about ones elders.

At first the light but firm control by Atlantis with local marriages and where necessary, public examples only lightly changed the culture, but when Albion, then known as the kingdoms of "England" and "Scotland" and the lordship of "Ireland" and "the Celtic bridges" seized control, the behaviour was seen as affront to God, and significant changes was enforced all the while the resources were still extracted. When finally Atlantis took it back, it was with an iron fist, though less direct, as the locals disliked Albion more than Atlantis.

Of course, with mass manufacturing and the various wars, many of the easily extracted resources of the cassiteridies had been exhausted, and all that was left was a small archipelago that has few dues left to pay or ability to do so, but still under the dominion of Altantis.