You Know You're Yurha If

This is based on the culture tests featured on Mark Rosenfelder's website, zompist.com. 

If you are of the Yurha tribe . . .

You are a shapeshifter, and can turn into a wolf at will.  Other magic is an everyday part of life, and there’s a good chance you either possess some other magical abilities or know someone who does. 

You love to hear and tell stories.  You enjoy stories about Sharakot (The Bear Woman),  Tuavo (The Giant),  Gwaku (The Trickster Fox) and Sarka (The Whistling Girl).

You work very hard, seven days a week.  The only exception is holidays, which come six times a year.  You also party hard, and love feasting, dancing and singing.

You probably don’t drink much alcohol, because there isn’t much alcohol to drink.  Now and then there might be enough barley from the harvest to make whiskey, which is shared by your entire pack, including the children.  The next day, everyone swears they will never drink again. 

Dance, sing, play and be merry

Entertainment to you is storytelling, either formal or informal, music and dancing.  There will be more organized music and dancing on holidays, and the pack karak, or storyteller, will recite the old legends that you’ve heard since you were a child.

You're familiar with gwekre and kruovee.  If you're male you can argue intricate points about their rules, especially kruovee.   If you're female you probably don't give a toss about either of these sports, but you enjoy watching boys make fools of themselves.  You'll happily play, riakar, toss an inflated bladder around, or something else that doesn't involve injury. 

Everyone knows that

Your education came from life, working alongside your mother, father and other relatives.  You cannot fathom sitting indoors for long hours learning from books as you’ve heard is done in the South. 

You can do basic math but you most likely do not know how to read, nor will you have learned any history about other kingdoms.  You’ll have learned the history of your people through stories.  These same stories are also meant to impart lessons about morality, and common sense. 

You’ve never held a book in your life, though you may have seen some of the tablets that the Old Word runes and laws are written on. 

Sure there are other countries, but who thinks about them

You're probably familiar with the kingdoms of Nietza and Yois, but you can't name their capitals or leaders. 

You think of Nietza as a good neighbor and perhaps ally and trading partner.   

Your attitude toward Yois depends on what part of Yurha territory you live in.  If you live toward the eastern edge of Yurha territory, you likely think of Yois as a misguided kingdom, but then you don't think of them much at all.  If you live in the central or western territories you might have ancestors who fought in the War Upon the Veil, and you most likely think of the Yois as either pathetic or a looming threat, depending on the attitude of your pack as a whole.  

A foreign nation once attempted to conquer your territory.

Jokes about other nationalities and races are rare.  You're more likely to have inside jokes about your own family and friends.  

The best people are the ones in my pack

Once you're introduced to someone you call them by their first name, including pack leaders.

You expect marriages to be made for love and not arranged by third parties.  Your marriage will involve a ceremony in which your entire pack is involved.  Man or woman, you get only one spouse at a time, and more than likely, only one in your lifetime. 

You don't really care at all what family or pack someone is from, unless they happen to be in conflict with your pack at the moment. 

If a man is attracted to other men, or a woman to other women, you would consider it very strange and even abhorrent.  Certainly not something to be acted upon, after all, men and women were clearly made to fit together. 

You would never expect to need an invitation to go to the home of someone in your pack.  All of your pack is your family.  If you were to travel to another pack’s territory, you would be expected to bring a tribute of food, or other supplies.  

The race you are most familiar with is your own.   Unless you live on the border of Nietza or Yois, you've probably never seen someone who didn't have dark brown skin and black or dark brown hair.  

There’s the right way, and there’s everyone else’s way

You measure things however you please and you and anyone you grew up with will know what you mean when you say a handful, or a foot's length.  You know the current date according to your pack’s calendar, but you've never needed to write such things down. 

You probably live in a longhouse, with a dirt floor.  If you're nomadic, you sleep in a tent made from deer or bear hide or in a cave.  You do laundry by hand. 

The bathroom is anywhere outside, as long as you steer clear of the gardens and crop fields, and the fresh water sources. 

Summer is rather temperate and winter is bitterly cold.  You can expect at least a foot of snow to be on the ground for about four months out of the year. 

You haven't used any form of transportation but your own two feet since you stopped being carried by your relatives. 

Work never stops

You might not chiefly be a farmer, but you've certainly done your share of work in the fields since the age of ten or so.  Most of your food comes from farming.  Aside from field work, you either work in leatherwork, wood and metal smithing (men's work) or with cloth and food preparation (woman's work). 

You might be either a ruka, (a priestess) or karak (Storyteller), but you're still expected to do other work. 

Say what?

You likely one speak one language fluently, enough to get by of one or two other nearby dialects/languages and a pidgin if you've attended a Harot (a gathering of many packs to trade and discuss important issues).  Drayow territory is vast and it's unlikely you'll ever travel extensively enough to need more than those few languages.  

If you live near the Nietza border, you will have learned enough Bok Sa to trade. 

When talking to someone you know, you would expect to stand close enough to put your arms around each other.  You might get uncomfortable if a stranger stands this close, but, really, what's the big deal.  We all breathe the same air anyway. 

The gods might be listening, but they probably aren’t interested 

You're very likely to believe in the Old Ones and in Rhua and Ryees as actual, living beings who simply exist in another world.  A world distant enough that they really don’t care much what those on Earth are doing. 

Since the higher gods are a bit busy making sure the world is turning to be bothered with petty things, best to take your problems to the Whispers, spirits of the four elements. 

You celebrate the Evens, Trega and Long Day.  The Evens are fun holidays spent dancing, playing music and eating.  Trega is a somber holiday, no music or dancing, but still plenty of food.  Long Day is a lover's night, and a popular time for couples to declare devotion to each other. 

Why keep animals in a pen when they can take care of themselves much better

You routinely kill your own food and the only way you'll get any meat in your diet is to hunt for it.

You won't likely eat insects unless you're starving but everything else is fair game. 

You sit on the ground, around the fire to eat. 

The biggest meal of the day is in the morning. 

You’re food is flavored with only a few herbs and sugars such as honey or maple syrup.  You've never tried milk unless you live near the Nietza border and, if you did, you regretted it later.

Everyone is responsible for their actions

Matters of law and civil unrest are handled by your pack gresi (chief) and soragav (chief's advisors) and you likely trust their ability to discern the truth and pass judgment.

You don't fear going anywhere at night unless you've been separated from or banished by your pack. 

If a chief cheated on his mate, he would mostly likely be attacked en mass and chased from the pack settlement if not killed outright because that's the only way to get rid of him.  It's not that you question his ability to govern, but that sort of thing just can't be tolerated.   

Every able-bodied adult male is part of the military such as it is, and you expect them all to rise in defense of the pack if they were needed.

I’ll trade you six carrots for a pair of shoes

Unless you live on the Nietza border, you've never bought anything.  You're used to eating the same foods and using the same tools you've always used.  You trade among your pack members, or with other packs, for what you need or you make it yourself.  

Everything has an end and a beginning

If your pack has a healer with magic you can count on excellent medical treatment.  In any case, the shifting magic all the Yurha possess allows them to heal pretty quickly, so you'll likely recover from any injury or illness that doesn't kill you outright.  You think dying at 85 would be a good, long life. 

When someone dies, their body is adorned with trinkets, and buried near the settlement.  Once the farewell ceremony is held, no one is permitted to speak with sorrow about the deceased.  Such actions will drag their soul back to Earth, where it might become a dangerous shade.  

The normal thing when someone dies is for their possessions, clothes, tools and other knick-knacks to be divided up among their family.  The chief may step in if things get over-heated.