Silik Culture

• Membership: Denizens of Silkiirath Region, Kashaskans.
• Language: Silik.
• Lifestyle:
  
  • Home/Family Unit: Largely inexistent. Occasional close relations between cooperative people of same status. No family units or familial bonds.
  • Social Structure: Caste system derived from power struggles and authorities. Slavery present and common.
  • Religion: None.
• Culture:
  
  • Art: Carved sculptures from monster parts, combat performance arts.
  • Themes: Violence, competition, hunting, powerful creatures and monsters.
  • Fashion: Simplistic, often made from animal products, particularly hunted megafauna. 'Jewellery' replaced by trophies of powerful creatures.
  • Cuisine: Meat.
• Quirks:
  
  • Cannibalism: Common in some societies, typically those with more restricted food sources.

In Detail

Silkiirath's vast, rocky deserts are rife with creatures most would never deign to tangle with, and food is scarce. For those that reside there, including their origin species the Kashaskans, survival of the fittest has been a long-standing rule.

The primary cultures of those from Silkiirath reflect their scaled origins heavily — callous and merciless, only the sure deserve to succeed, and only the strong deserve to thrive. The primary cultures rapidly formed into caste systems, with the majority of individuals falling into the lowest rungs where names are optional, and titles such as 'meat' are common. Power struggles are the norm, and food is used equally as a symbol of power as it is a resource to be bargained and scrapped for.

Extending from their natural power struggles is a consistent prevalence of violence and personal superiority in some form. Their most consistent forms of arts take the form of trophies — either morbid, or in paintings or even artificial scale markings that tell of their successes and victories, or unwilling brands they've received in losses. A martial art known as Kikiko has been a central form of resolving conflicts non-lethally — an exceptionally technical martial art of wrestling, where victory is determined by the first person to successfully bite and hold the other.

However, it is important to understand that much of these structures result from the combination of a lack of food, a reduced empathic response, and perpetual hunger. Removed of any of these, divergences occur — Silik hunting communities can almost be considered peaceful, if highly competitive, seeking out megafauna and beasts for the challenge and food alike; while modern Silik societies can often satiate the psychological need for hunger with frequency of snacking to supplement their dietary needs.

Most Silik are Kashaskan, who reproduce in large clutches of eggs. Traditional family values are often inexistent — individuals rarely obtain a name until they've earned one, and the notion of parental bonds is long forgotten. Those that survive amidst needs for food, resources, and the like are those that succeed.