Tir - Overview
The Tir are an unusual, gypsy-like, nomadic race. They are seen as flamboyant; energetic, playful, colourful, and artistic. They are a rather musical group as a whole, which is evidenced by the lilting, musical tones of their spoken language. Throughout history, they have typically travelled in caravans of loosely related family groups and were rarely known to settle in one place for longer than a year, often moving with the seasons in a migratory pattern.
Their nomadic and gypsy-like traditions and behaviour have often resulted in misunderstandings with other races in the past, leading to mistrust and even, in some cases, intense discrimination against the Tir. Their wandering lifestyle was often seen as a disguise for deviant and criminal behaviour, and they were quite regularly the first to be accused when a crime was committed. The Tyeni were responsible for the worst of this discrimination, and across Aagos the Tir were often enslaved by the Tyeni and those under their rule.
While slavery has since been eradicated, the centuries of repetitive subjugation of the Tirrish people have resulted in a distinct division between their public persona and their private or ‘true’ selves. Publicly, the Tir are stoic, despite their often flamboyant dress and behaviour, for the most part calmly accepting circumstances, and rarely, if ever, expressing any negative emotion. Their internal, true selves, consisting of their emotions, dreams, and goals, are typically only known to those closest to them, and rarely exhibited outside of the home.
Discrimination against the Tir by established governments, along with the nomadic lifestyle which some still maintain, has resulted in an inherent distrust of those in leadership positions, and a tendency for the Tir to rebel against any defined form of authority. This has become so cultural that very few Tir maintain a surname or patronym, and titles or political rankings within the Tirrish race are unheard of.
The carefree lifestyle, which is heartily embraced by many Tir, has resulted in very loose family ties at best. Tirrish caravans are usually composed of individuals with compatible personalities or similar interests, rather than blood ties. Monogamy is restrictive, and is therefore not a trait that is particularly valued by the Tir. While they do value their heritage, they are light-hearted about it, and taking lovers from other races is quite acceptable, and does occur. When these relationships result in half-breed offspring, the children are accepted as equals with all full-blooded Tir, with the only exception to this being, for obvious reasons, the Tyeni, or any with mixed Tyeni blood. Those caught taking a Tyeni as a lover are treated as if they were Tyeni themselves, or worse, and have on occasion been attacked or even executed for this ‘crime’ against their people.
The Tir have no official written language of their own, and though they have borrowed the human alphabet to create a make-shift written language, it is bare-bones and often used for little more than brief communication and trade. Tirrish history therefore, has been passed down via oral traditions, with storytellers highly valued within the caravans. Because of this, stories have changed from telling to retelling, and from group to group, becoming quickly about the aesthetic value of the story, rather than the facts. Even to the present day, a Tir will often embellish a retelling of an event, to make it more interesting. This is not typically an intentional deception. To the Tir, the facts are secondary to the entertainment of telling and hearing the story.