I realized that, for all the culture-building I've done for the Volk, I never really defined who they are. In the shortest terms, the Volk is the people group that inhabits the bulk of the south, most notably the southwest. The Federated, a union of landlords in the southwest, is the pinnacle of Volk culture, and all the Volk world-building articles are written with the Federated as the focus.

The people that lived in the southeast, which have now largely relocated to the east-central regions because of a natural disaster, are Volk as well. While they have a similar culture, they may get more specific development at a later date. The tribes that have since moved into the southwest after the natural disaster are NOT Volk and will get developed separately.

This thread is for articles that pertain to the Volk as a people - their appearance, their family structure, and so forth. Culture and government and the like can be found in the other Volk-related threads.

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 Genetics
 Hairstyles
 Marriage and Courtship
 Death and Funerals
 Family Structure

Genetics
The Volk are white-skinned humans of mixed descent. Their skin tends to be on the slightly pale side; despite the fact that the Volk spend a lot of time outdoors, Erde’s indirect light source prevents them from tanning. Freckles, moles, and other markings are rare, so much so that such markings are believed to be a sign of an underlying medical problem. Society regards them as unattractive, while some people are superstitiously afraid of them and consider them a sign of “bad luck.”

Volk hair color varies wildly in the range between blond and medium brown. Dark brown and black are rare, as are curls, making wavy and curly hair prized for its beauty. People with curly hair are often preferred for jobs because society views them as “gifted.” No such preference is given to the rare colors of hair.

The most common eye color among the Volk is brown. Blue, particularly a dark or gray-blue, is not unheard of, but green is very rare. The Volk prefer eye color that is “unobtrusive” and “normal,” so they generally consider dark or dull colors to be the most attractive. Eye color that is unusual or extremely bright may be regarded with suspicion.

Volk men average at 5 1/2’ in height, with women generally measuring only an inch or two shorter. They are built rather thin and somewhat lanky and aim for lean builds. While they are small in the grand scheme of things, the Volk use this to their advantage. They play quick and hard to catch, using their small size to slip out of their enemy’s grasp, particularly their lumbering giant neighbors.

Hairstyles
In Volk culture, hair is the most important part of a person’s physical appearance. The Volk judge a person’s character by their hair, and a woman’s beauty is primarily measured by her hairstyle. Hair even plays a factor in the workplace – people with good-looking hair are more likely to be hired, promoted, and kept. As a result, hair is the one area of physical appearance that the Volk will spend significant time on, and it is the only area that they will “artificially” enhance, primarily by curling.

Curly hair, which rarely occurs naturally amongst the Volk, is prized for its beauty and is considered a sign of a “gifted” person. Consequently, both men and women have experimented with ways to curl hair. Women will often leave their hair braided or knotted for days, frequently coating it with creams, in hopes of setting temporary curls. Because they cannot wash their hair during this process, they cover it with scarves to keep it from getting dirty. Society considers this acceptable for women, but it is extremely distasteful for a man to leave the house with anything in his hair. As a result, men typically use the faster – but more dangerous – method of curling irons heated on the stove.

Interestingly, the Volk do not use hairstyle to determine social standing. Volk of all ranks adhere to the same basic styles. Because hair is the only area the Volk obsess over, a person’s hair is often better kept than the rest of their appearance. For example, it is not considered unusual or ostentatious for a girl in rags to have her hair done in an elaborate up-do with decorative combs.

Men strive to keep their hair clean and unadorned. They do not wear hats and rarely use hooded clothing. They wash their hair obsessively – often multiple times during the day if their work is particularly dirty – and keep it well trimmed. It is considered distasteful for a man’s hair to grow past his ears, but straight-haired men will occasionally risk it with the intent of curling. On the other hand, shaving a man’s hair too short is considered sloppy and uncultured. Criminals are often shaved to shame them, and shaving may also be used as a sign of mourning.

For facial hair, clean-shaven is the preferred style, and is obligatory for unmarried men of working age. Married men will sometimes grow facial hair in various styles, but they keep it trimmed short – a long beard would be viewed with contempt. The elderly and men in power are the classes who will most often grow facial hair, as a sign of their position of authority and respect.

Women, on the other hand, are encouraged to do their hair in any number of wondrous styles. Victorian-esque up-dos are considered extremely beautiful, but elaborate braids are popular because they are somewhat practical. When practicality prevents them from doing an elaborate style, women will often wear gorgeous scarves and kerchiefs. Married women are allowed to accent their hairstyle with jewels, decorative combs, and any number of embellishments. Whereas jewelry is considered wasteful, a woman with embellishments in her hair is respected, while a woman with plain hair is despised as poor.

Women grow their hair long and rarely trim it; a woman with hair that did not fall past her shoulder blades would be mocked. The only occasion in which a woman trims her hair short is if her husband dies; after his funeral, she trims it to just above the shoulders and will not court until it is grown past her shoulder blades again. In other situations, women express mourning by leaving their hair down without any adornment at all.

The Volk’s traditions for courtship stem from these cultural standards regarding hair. Young girls embellish their hair with ribbons and flowers as a sign of their youth. When a girl comes of age, she wears her hair without any embellishments (except scarves and kerchiefs) as a sign of her availability. If a father does not want a woman to get married, he may force her to wear flowers and ribbons as long as he desires.

When a man wishes to court a woman, he sends an “adult” hair accessory (made of wood, metal, or jewels) to the girl’s father. This accessory is sent by the hand of a messenger with a simple letter indicating which daughter the man is interested in; the man is not permitted to approach the father or the girl in person beforehand. If the girl is interested, she will start wearing the accessory in her hair; if she is not interested, she will either return the accessory or give it to someone else as a suggestion. Once the man sees the girl wearing the accessory in public, he can then approach the girl and her family and begin the courting process. The man will continue to give accessories to the girl during courtship. When the girl accepts his proposal he will give her a tiara, which may be as simple as a ring of braided ribbon or as elaborate as a jeweled crown. The bride wears her hair down with only the tiara until her wedding day, and uses the same during the ceremony. After the wedding day, the bride never wears the tiara again, but she saves it until her husband’s death as a sign of their relationship. If her husband dies before she does, the tiara is destroyed at his funeral.

Marriage and Courtship
Like all other relationships, marriages are viewed as business transactions in Volk culture. The primary goal of a marriage is to advance one in society or help one earn a more stable living. Fathers seek to marry their daughters to men with stable jobs, while men marry women that will help provide the family with a better life.

Unfortunately, this focus on advancement causes society to look at marriage as a liability. Unless a woman can help a man with his profession, a wife may be little more a dependant and a distraction. Therefore, it is not unusual for men to wait to marry until later in life, when they are past their working prime and have an established job. Many men do not marry until their 30s or even 40s. As a result, women are often married to men that are twice their age.

A woman comes of age whenever her father declares her available for marriage. Because the Volk do not count years or days, the age at which a girl becomes available is relative and is usually based on physical appearance, though it averages at 16-18 our-world years. Most fathers attempt to marry their daughters off young so that the girls will be well-provided for – and so that they will no longer be a liability in their father’s home.

There are two things a woman can do to make herself desirable – develop useful skills, or get a job. If a woman is an expert homemaker, she can actually make her husband’s life easier by giving him more time to focus on his job. Alternately, if a woman is gainfully employed with a job of her own, she is no longer a liability and expense. Some women also successfully work from home by producing a good that can be traded for extra income. A profitable woman can often successfully marry a man of a higher social status than she is, though rarely do women marry someone below them in status.

Because of rising living expenses, employment is becoming increasingly expected of women. There is even a trend for women to remained unmarried, supporting their father’s house with their employment. While this trend allows some families to raise more children with the assistance of grown daughters, it also makes jobs even scarcer. In some cases, men are competing against women for jobs as landlords hire more women, who generally work for less. Women are even beginning to take up professions that were previously open only to men.

As a result of this austere mentality, romance is optional in a marriage. Men typically look for women based on practicality first and then chose which woman they like best out of the eligible individuals. To be married for purely love’s sake is an indulgence, a sign of success or confidence. This is yet another reason why honest-hearted men will wait until they are older to marry; they will not take the wife they love until they are sure they can provide for her consistently. On the contrary, rich men will marry young on whims of passion, using their position in life to buy the luxury of romance.

Despite this, the Volk consider marriage to be a life-long commitment. Divorce and polygamy are unheard of, and sins such as adultery and domestic abuse are greatly despised. A family is a man’s commitment; if he is not faithful at home, he will not be trusted in the workplace. While fathers are often very influential in picking a husband for their daughters, strictly arranged marriages are not allowed. A father may prevent a woman from marrying, but he may not force her into a marriage. Only women convicted of crimes lose this liberty.

Regardless of the status of the couple, all marriages are initiated through a courtship. A man makes his intent known by sending a hair accessory as a gift to his chosen. If the girl wears the accessory in public, the man knows he has been given permission to approach the girl and begin the courtship process. There is no standard for courtships; often times they are short, primarily consisting of discussions between the husband and the girl’s father. The husband continues to give hair accessories to the girl during the process; if the girl continues to wear them, she is signifying that she is still interested. Courtships are not considered to be serious commitments; a girl may stop the relationship at any time by ceasing to wear the hair accessories. She may also court more than one man at once, which she signifies by wearing at least one accessory from each man.

Engagements, however, are considered final. A man proposes to a woman whenever he is ready to commit to a serious relationship; he does this by sending the final gift, a tiara, to the girl. If a man decides to back out of a courtship, he simply never proposes; once he has proposed, he cannot recant or court another woman unless his proposal is refused. A girl may hold onto the tiara without making a decision as long as she likes, and she may continue to court other men during this time. Once a girl accepts a proposal by wearing the tiara in public, however, she stops courting other men, destroying or returning their gifts, and is legally obliged to marry her fiancée. If a woman wishes to refuse a proposal, she must return the tiara to the man. If a woman dies while engaged or before accepting a proposal, the tiara is destroyed at her funeral.

The marriage celebration varies drastically between the various social ranks. If a marriage is conducted primarily for business, or the couple is poor, there may be no ceremony at all; the couple simply signs the appropriate papers and files them with the estate’s scribe. Often times taking a few precious days off of work is considered enough of a celebration. If a marriage is romantic in nature, or the couple has the means, the ceremony may be accompanied by pomp and circumstance. Fathers are more likely than husbands to throw elaborate celebrations, as a way of boasting about their daughter’s profitable match.

Death and Funerals
The Volk practice cremation exclusively. Burial requires land, a luxury the Volk cannot afford to spare. Most estates have a pyre on the outskirts of the property that the rich and poor alike use. The deceased is burned with spices if the family can afford it, but the ashes are not kept or disposed of ceremoniously. No kind of memorial is erected in honor of the deceased no matter how rich. Death is the end of one’s days, and like the birth at the beginning, no record is kept of the date.

Human flesh produces purple fire – instead of the normal blue – when burning. As a result, the Volk associate purple – not black – with mourning and ill fortune. The color purple is avoided in everyday life and only worn to express mourning or protest. The Volk do not use purple fire for any other purpose and are superstitiously afraid of it; it is considered bad luck to burn something that produces purple fire.

Because purple fire is the coldest shade of fire, cremation is a slow process. The primary way people show respect to the dead is by watching the entire burning. In the days before and after the funeral, devoted friends and family members will take precious time off of work to mourn or comfort the deceased’s family. To not watch the burning, or to not take any time off of work, is a sign of contempt for the dead. Even after returning to work, people may continue to express their grief by wearing purple. Men will shave their heads as an extreme sign of mourning; in lesser situations, they will let their hair go unwashed for days. Women will wear their hair down without any adornment, except a purple kerchief, as a sign of mourning.

The rich or popular may have elaborate ceremonies surrounding their burning, but there is no organized funeral or visitation before or afterwards, regardless of the deceased’s social class. The deceased are burned as quickly as possible; the burning is only delayed if time is needed to organize the deceased’s business contracts.

Deaths are viewed as the ultimate end to business transactions, and more ceremony is made over organizing these loose ends than over the burning itself. If the deceased had any commitments – including marriages – that automatically terminated at their death, the contracts or tokens are burned with them. By law, surviving family cannot be obliged to fulfill their deceased’s unfinished commitments. If the family wishes to terminate any commitment, the related evidence must be burned at the funeral. This includes wills left by the deceased; the family is not obliged to fulfill any wills if they prefer to destroy them. Any contracts which survive the funeral pass to the deceased’s nearest kin, unless the contract states otherwise, and the new holder becomes legally obliged to fulfill the commitment.

Marriages officially terminate during the burning, when the surviving spouse destroys the engagement tiara. Afterwards, as far as society is concerned, the widow or widower is as if they were never married. At her husband’s burning, a widow cuts her hair to just above her shoulders; as soon as it has grown past her shoulder blades, she becomes eligible again regardless of her age. A widow returns to her father’s house, unless another relative such as a son takes her in, while her husband’s wealth passes to his nearest male kin.

In Volk culture, a person is not officially dead until he has been burned. If a death must be proved, only the ashes or a witness certifying that he saw the burning is considered sufficient evidence. If a death cannot be proved, legally the person is still alive and their contracts continue. For this reason, the Volk are very careful about retrieving the bodies of those that die abroad or in battle, burning them on site if need be. To go missing alive is considered the most horrific fate; running away is the most rebellious thing a person can do; and keeping prisoners of war, kidnapping, or selling slaves is barbaric. When warring with each other, self-respecting Volk will not take people alive; if they wish to kill, they return the bodies to the family. However, the unscrupulous Volk – and the Volk’s enemies – have no such reservations.

Family Structure
In Volk society, children are viewed as a liability even more than marriages are. Children are expensive and require constant care, usually by that of a stay-at-home parent. With rising living costs and an increasing number of women working outside the home, many Volk couples believe they cannot “afford” to have children. The average family has only one or two children, and they often wait until later in life to have them.

In recent years it has even become acceptable for couples to have no children at all. This abstinence is viewed by society as a conservative and wise measure; if one cannot afford to care for children properly, one shouldn’t have children. Some cite the overpopulation in estates as a good reason not to have children. This mentality has led to the unscrupulous practice of designing drugs that prevent pregnancy, an idea that is unheard of in the rest of the world. However, abortion of any kind is still equated with murder.

In spite of this, having children is not discouraged in Volk culture. If one has the means to have children, they should by all means raise some. Many of the rich take pride in having a stay-at-home wife that can raise many children, using their large families as a sign of wealth. A few families in the lower classes still view children as a blessing and will raise as many as possible.

The children themselves are always treated well with the best life their family can provide. Children, like marriages, are viewed as serious commitments; if a man failed to care for his children, he would be ostracized in society. Child abuse is virtually nonexistent. Because most people do not care what happens to their name or their wealth after their death, both girls and boys are loved. In some circles, girls are rising in popularity because they can remain unmarried, supporting their father’s household with their employment.

Society has loose standards for how families should be structured. It is considered compulsory that the husband and wife live together, and that minors stay with their parents until they come of age. Unmarried women are also generally expected to remain under their father’s authority regardless of age. Beyond that, each family is structured differently depending on their needs and living spaces. Multiple generations will often live together if it is most economical, and many unmarried men will remain in their father’s house until their 30s or 40s.

Family bonds have little significance outside of a given household. Society does not record genealogies, and people rarely care for their relations outside of their immediate circle. When a man moves out of his father’s house, he starts a new household. In society’s eyes, the new household is now a separate entity that has no family or financial connections with any other household. As long as people are living together, they are expected to share finances, but they have absolutely no obligations to support anyone outside of their household.

As a result, family bonds tend to be very loose. Many people do not know their extended relations such as aunts and cousins; even if these relatives live nearby, there is no special affection reserved for them. In fact, the Volk do have terms like “aunt” and “cousin” in their vocabulary, but rather use descriptive phrases like “mother’s sister” or “mother’s sister’s son.” It is not unusual for grown children to drift away from their parents and siblings. This separation causes problems when the elderly become unable to work and find that their children are unwilling to take them in, or if sudden death leaves a spouse or child without a family.