Culture
The gnorri live relatively simple lives, despite the size
of their society. With matters of family not being
an issue and merit in society being determined by
personal accomplishment, each gnorri swiftly settles
into a chosen specialty without the expectations and
pressures of raising more gnorri. This is all with the aim
of doing the best an individual gnorri can in order to
ensure greater personal prestige while simultaneously
bolstering the society as a whole. Although the gnorri
gnorri druids have adopted the secret Druidic language.
aren’t particularly interested in the deep history of their
Although they rarely write in Druidic themselves, they
species, they value other aspects of their history and
are capable of reading and writing in Druidic.
culture, along with faith and science. They are far from
A gnorri druid can have animal companions from
a primitive society, but their underwater environs have
any environment that can support that type of animal.
resulted in their written language following a different
While ocean herders always have animal companions
path from those of surface dwellers, who utilize paper
with a swim speed, the gnorri druid who travels the land
and ink to write. Traditional gnorri writings have
will ceremoniously summon an animal companion
been carved on stone surfaces or tablets using metal
best suited for that environment.
tools scavenged or traded from surface folk or magical
Other gnorri divine spellcasters do exist beyond just
methods of inscription. As their culture has grown,
druids. Gnorri oracles focus on ideals and virtues often
other, less cumbersome and less expensive methods of
find collaboration with deities (but still do not worship
writing have developed.
them). Gnorri society view an oracle with powers and
Gnorri invented a method of preserving kelp
curses naturally born that way. They see no cause for
in parchment-like strips and pioneered the use of
concern as to how or why that particular gnorri is
alchemically treated urchin spines as writing styluses.
an oracle.
With a treated urchin spine, the natural toxins in the
Clerics are not part of typical gnorri culture; in
spine are augmented so that using a spine to scratch the
fact, most gnorri cannot comprehend the attraction to
surface of a strip of kelp causes an immediate change
worshiping a god. While not outcasts, clerics and other
in coloration, bleaching the kelp white and leaving
gnorri that are followers of a god or pantheon operate
a permanent and indelible mark. With this method,
outside the grottos that house gnorri communities
any gnorri can use strips of kelp and a collection of
as there is literally no place for them to gather and
spines to write whatever comes to mind. The gnorri
worship. This holds true regardless of whether the
language uses an alphabet composed primarily of dots
cleric and followers worship a virtuous god or a Great
and straight cuts rather than curves since it’s easier
Old One.
to inscribe dots and slashes with chisels in stone or
spines in seaweed. This method of kelp writing has
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