Papin: The swan touched
Parent Constellation: Cygnus
Pronunciation: Pay-Pin

Despite their wanderlust, the Papin do have a settlement that has become a more permanent home. The city of Eala lies in the west island's river region known as Maraala. The grounds of this area are rich and fertile, giving them the ability to live, for the most part, to live away from other societies which threaten their peaceful view of things. The lands are lush enough to grow vegetation and they are near a water source for drinking and fishing purposes. Their lands are bordered only by the ocean, neutral territory, and the Melalo at the very edge. Thankfully, the Melalo tend to keep to themselves and there are no true hubs of activity within the common held area that they border.

This city holds more permanent homes and has very little industry of its own. Anything that is needed that they cannot somehow forage is traded between the Rikono of Zurla or from the smaller settlements in the mountainous regions that the Rikono inhabit to the east.

Papin are a community living people, freely sharing dwellings and responsibilities of parenting. It's not an uncommon practice for a child to be raised by foster-parents who have the chosen qualities to provide the offspring of opportunities to master their inherent attributes. This freely shared parenthood makes finding ones true parents fairly difficult. However, it's simply not needed. Gender roles are split 50/50 between men and women. They have come to the conclusion that both genders have their strengths and weaknesses and are supplemental to the other. Should a woman's strength lay in providing, her partner would likely be more than supportive enough to stay home with children and the opposite holds true as well. As a rule, though, Papin women have a better head for structure and business while the men seem to have a more laid back view of life and their surroundings.

With their laid back views, the structure of normal society doesn't usually hold very true to the Papin. What is looked down upon by other races within the world will not necessarily be a taboo subject for them. Homosexuality, while not openly embraced, is not a crime punishable by their kind as it is in just about every other society in existence within the realm of Svatura. It is seen as a weakness (as it does not lead to procreation and the continuation of a race) and a liability but they do not deem it fit to judge another person's heart. As such, Papin are free to take a mate of any gender they so see fit to take. However, they are not blinded nor secluded enough from the rest of society to know the dangers of that choice which leads to their relationships only being public within the folds of home. Homosexual mate pairs will often masquerade as friends or siblings to the outside world.

In much of the same vein, the Papin aren't extremely prejudice. They find responsibility in taking care of the weaker people within their society though they do it grudgingly. While those with deformities are never treated badly, per se, there is always a mild feeling of 'you do not belong here' attached to the actions of the group as a whole. This is mostly seen with those Papin who are born mute, but can apply to other things outside of their social view of 'normal' as well.

These people have superior comprehensive knowledge of the property of herbs which they use extensively for healing sickness, curing fatal wounds, and for spells. The magic they practice is a form of shamanic Druidism that far surpasses the modern-day sciences. However, it is usually the men who possess the ability of healing and there is no magic cure all that comes from nowhere. As stated, this magic comes from herbs and while there is a magic element, one cannot lay a hand on someone and heal them wholly and completely. There is also a large energy exchange of equal value, and the larger the wound to heal, the larger toll it takes on the healer. For this, Tiya is not exceedingly strong, and they must rely on what they have at hand.

Rarer magics include the ability of simple illusion, music magic, and various others that have pure entertainment value.

Papin are extremely accomplished musicians, singers and poets, and are a generally happy-go-lucky race - though in battle, they can easily surpass the Rikono in ferocity. It is because of this that the Papin have formed an unofficial alliance with the Rikono, often times helping their friends in battle. While they do not have the same structure, strict moral values, and training that their allies have they make up for it with their loyalty both to their partners on the field and the task at hand and the ferocity at which they will protect either.

They are a fair complexioned race, with fair hair; either golden-blond or reddish, though every now and then you can find a dark haired Papin. Many have freckled skin. Their eye color is in the normal human palette and their swan features can range from feathering in various places of the body, the swan like mask over the face (though this is rare), and small unusable wings that are obviously too small for flight. They may have longer, more graceful necks and more delicate body structure, as well as take on the near pure white skin color that a swan's feathers possess. There is also a 10% chance for Papin to be born mute.

The women wear long robes, or long loose-fitting garments of ankle length. The clothing of the men consists of a knee-length tunic, and a shawl or cloak, fastened at the shoulder with a brooch. The cloak that barely covers the shoulders is made of a thick felt or of coarse-woven cloth dyed with various brilliant colors. The men alone wear hats, or head-coverings, which are a soft felt.

In times of battle they dispense with any head-covering, brushing their long abundant hair forward into a thick mass, and dyeing it a striking red with a soap made of animal fat and beech ashes: their faces are also painted with this dye in a variety of patterns, which causes them to look more like wild creatures of the woods than men.