Lirë
The Lirë are the indigenous people of the Duchy of Lightning.
History
While their origins are unknown, it is clear that the Lire have occupied the islands for generations. Their oral history states that two brothers, Arbnor and Fisnik, landed after their fishing boat was shipwrecked on a small island. They married women of the sea and had great families, but found their islands to be lacking. Fisnik honourably drowned himself and allowed his body to be added to the land. This act was the First Gift, establishing Arbnor’s debt to his fallen brother. Arbnor would repeat this act as an old man, fulfilling his debt but establishing a new one for his sons. This is seen as an explanation for the origin of Lire ancestor worship as well as the cyclical gift economy. Over time, more ancestors gave their lives to contribute to the islands, until eventually the current landmass as it is today was formed. Two families today claim the lineage of Arbnor and Fisnik, known as the Arbnoreshe and the Fisnikja. Other powerful families include the Lepuroshi, the Samu, the Mazreku, and the Myzaqe.
Culture
The Lire use a system of gift giving to determine social value. Those who give out a lot of gifts and don’t take very many are seen as powerful, while those who take a lot and don’t give are seen as weak. Those who only give are seen as “kings” and those who only take are seen as “untouchable”. The main reason this has taken root, rather than using martial prowess or land as a method of showing power, is because of the very fragmentary nature of a river-dominated environment. A landlord’s serfs will simply sail downstream, and it’s very hard to destroy an enemy army when they can easily retreat. With such a naturally fluid geography, the social order keeps up through the most basic component of interaction - literal transactions - rather than through assets. By establishing debts, either as giver or taker, people can establish long-distance relationships that can last across generations of a discrete act while losing monetary notions of appreciation or interest.
Religion
Ancestor worship is the predominant indigenous faith, in particular with a view of the ancestors as contributing to the health of the land. The many rivers of Lire country change course often, and erosion is a well-known phenomenon. Ancestors are seen as not just metaphorical pillars to stand on, but quite literally the land that they reside on. By contrast to the riverine islands, the relatively flat mainland to the north and south is perceived as the ancestors of more numerous non-Lire peoples. This has kept the local culture and pantheon of deities relatively cohesive, as a relatively low number of ancestors from the Lire forces them to stay mostly still for fear of leaving the support of their ancestors behind - this is also a reason why Lire polities have rarely imitated the methods of foreign governments.
It is important to recognise here that specific ancestors do not match up to specific islands or have a direct pairing of any kind. Rather, ancestors are seen as the composite force that constitutes islands as a whole as they act to affirm the ground. This is often read in a literary manner by practitioners - while the waters turn and move constantly, breaking and moving lands apart, the true land of the ancestors stays firm in a manner much like how the world can twist and turn while family stands together.