#sun keep

The Shandar are mainly nomadic tribes scattered through their lands, except for the winter solstice when they gather in the Sun Keep for anything between 2 to 6 months. Their children are all taught by tribe elders the months they are away from the Keep, but taught communally while they are in the Keep. This helps make sure the tribes all have access to the same knowledge, and the friendships the children form of course makes the bonds between the tribes stronger. Knowledge is taught largely through practice when possible and no area is considered of limits. Magic is taught to anyone with the gift and if someone wishes to learn about it, they are welcome, gift or not. Poverty is not something present in the tribes, neither are orphans, which means every child is taught.

The Enniate are farmers and settlers. Their society system is much more segregated and school is not available nor affordable everywhere. The Order controls, under the King’s decree, what is and isn’t taught, and magic is considered both a privilege and a threat. A child showing an aptitude for magic or even demonstrations of a gift, will be given or taken to the Order for schooling.

The Shandar begin teaching their children from the earliest years, around 3 to 4 years old, whereas the Enniate schools start at 6 to 7 years old (but only if the parents pay for it).

The length and content/scope of education differs greatly.

Enniate civilians are typically taught for 5 to 7 years, with the primary focus on the fundamentals of reading, writing and counting, and their myths and legends and the deities. After these years most are expected to work at around 13 years old, unless exceptional ability is shown in some area. Then they are taken for further schooling in the capital. Skills such as farming, cooking, crafting, or any other trade, are expected to be learnt at home or under the tutelage of a master artisan. The Enniate (more specifically the nobility and the Order) believe nature is a wild-thing that must be tamed and controlled and that their villages and towns are safe havens from natural chaos.

The Shandar believe that learning is never over and a life-long experience. However, expected schooling is finished whenever a student/child can prove they have grasped the fundamentals of reading, writing, and counting; have an adequate knowledge of their body and of nature; have the specific knowledge of how to survive in their tribe’s primary living area, including cooking and mending skills as well as general way-finding; and finally, are well-versed in their myths and legends, the deities, and why they live like they do (structure of society).

Both societies have doctors and masters in counting or writing or smithy or horsemanship, but any Shandar would be able to read or tell you how to live with nature or help you set a fracture.

Coolest plant

Ohh, tough one! I would say that the moon-nest, a messy vine that stores the beams of the moon and always glows faintly silver. It is poisonous at it is, but has incredibly potent healing properties if you know how to handle it.

Food supply process

The Enniate are farmers, mainly. They grow all kinds of crops, from sweet sugar beets and fruits in the suit, to hardy rye and potatoes in the north. There is active trade between farmers, various villages, and towns. A farm is expected to be able to carry itself if necessary.

The Shandar are mostly gatherer-hunters, but they also keep livestock. They rely on the lands and move around as nomads, and trade whenever they cross paths or during the winter gatherings. Any overabundance is stored for the winter months at the Sun Keep.

There are elements of either tribe in the other, but these are their main ways.