Benter Ideas

Traditions
-10% Development Cost
-10% Stability Cost Modifier

The Singing ForestsLike many tribes in Haraf, our masks and our bodies are always on the move, keeping an eye out for the dreaded Silent Watchers.\n\nIn our regular migration from one gathering site to another, individual parties of Kalun rely on horns, whistles, and calls to keep track of each other in the jungles and hills, a system that enabled easy living off the land during our migration. Over time, this evolved into a full musical style and form of communication in its own right, and visitors to Benter will often comment on the ever-present "Benter Mtzac", or "the sound of the Benter" that echoes across the land.
+1 Diplomatic Reputation
-5% Land Maintenance Modifier

Trickster MasksThough we lack the prestige of Mayte’s King Mask and the many other powerful Kalun that swear allegiance to him ever since we left them for eastern Haraf, we are not without our own resources. The Trickster Masks, ancient and venerable in their own right, are some of our most dedicated warriors and storytellers, and though they are hard to reason with, no Kalun can deny their ability to strike at the most inconvenient moment for our enemies.
+1 Land Leader Shock

Mountain PatronsOver the past centuries, all of the Kalun Masks of Haraf have continuously sought to drive back the abhorrent Silent Watchers, losing hundreds of bodies in the cause of claiming these lands as our own, and recently, that goal has been progressed even further. Beginning in the 1400’s, several expeditions from both Benter and Mayte territory have pushed the Watchers away from the jungles and savanna on the eastern border of Haraf, establishing new communities on the mountain slopes while further confining our ancient enemy.\n\nOf course, given the uniquely aggressive and fierce Watchers originating from the flat-top mountains of Topetl Icuailoluh who have limited Mayte’s eastward reach for centuries, the King Mask’s influence over these expeditions was rather short-lived, leaving us to actually manage and supply many of the new communities, with the last ones being secured as recently as 1435. Their loyalty is first and foremost to themselves, but they all hold a special place in their souls for our people, and all of Haraf will be thinking of our good deed for a long while.
+25% Native Assimilation
+0.5 Yearly Prestige

Beyond the RimThough the Cheshosh-worshiping heathens of the Tameter are largely treated as outcasts by the other Mayte, we mostly do not mind the religion of our fellow elves as long as they don't cause issues in our clan. This religious tolerance extends to most Cheshoshi, who are accepted in our tribe as soon as they stop sacrificing living beings to their god of death. Due to the relative richness of our lands compared to the Tameter, we have received many Cheshoshi migrants throughout the years, forming a true community inside our territory, whose members are as part of the Benter as any Mayte would.
+2 Tolerance of Heathens

Mixed Architectural HeritageAlongside the Cheshoshi, new travellers have arrived in Haraf. Their appearances and mannerisms vary, but they all speak of gold and machines as if it were their lifeblood. They will undoubtedly prove a problem in the future, as their greed and recklessness will cause far more problems than they solve, but we might as well gain information on how they construct their strange smoking cities before we drive them off, as we get into the business of building cities ourselves.
-10% Construction Cost

Not Just ClubsNow that we seem to be surrounded by more and more new maskless and thus soulless beings, most of them hostile, we find ourselves under more and more pressure and ridicule by these "Cannorians". Most of these jabs at our pride are simple jokes that rarely infringe upon our sovereignty, but recently we have found that even our allies view our choice of equipping our war-masks with our traditional war-staffs as barbaric, with some even going to far as to suggest that we are arming our soldiers with simple sticks to fight with. Clearly, this insult cannot be ignored, and our craftspeople masks, as well as our new community of artificer masks, have resolved to prove these Cannorians wrong.\n\nNow, anyone who thinks that our staffs are crude would be dissuaded by the worktime of months that goes into carving, engraving, and smoothing our so-called "clubs"… as well as the gun barrel and trigger that our artificers have carefully built within the club. Those who question their effectiveness in combat shall find themselves on the receiving end of a gunshot to the chest, followed by 25 pounds of Steelwood, chopped from the mightiest trees in Haraf before being magically treated by our artificers, leaving them harder, stronger and more capable of giving a devastating blow to a maskless than any of their swords.
+15% Infantry Combat Ability

Peers to the King MaskWith the invasion of the Cannorians, life in Haraf had largely worsened for both the Mayte and the Benter, but the Benter at least had one bright spot. Between the Mayte’s loss of their homeland and the Benter’s increased centralization, the eldest Kaluns of Benter would declare themselves the Republic of Benter in 1754, establishing themselves as an equal authority to their Mayte cousins led by the King Mask. Though no one outside Haraf would notice this or care, this event was a great triumph for the Benter that cemented their identity as a nation state before their annexation in 1789 by the Cannorians.
+1 Yearly Devotion
+1 Yearly Horde Unity
+1 Yearly Legitimacy
+0.3 Yearly Republican Tradition

Ambition
+20% Land Force Limit Modifier