What do the Tomarrans value in people?
The bonds they make matter to the Tomarrans. Freedom is not found in having no bonds to anything else — it lies in choosing the things that bind you. Your Kith and Clan of birth can be changed, if you believe that you cannot fit with their traditions, but the bonds you choose to make with others should be honored above all else besides the Clan. The Tomarrans hold fast to the relationships they make, swearing oaths (of friendship, alliance, enmity, and more) to cement them, and view betrayal of those bonds as being just as much of a sacrilege as betrayal of the Clan.
To protect your loved ones, your people, your way of life, you must be willing to face the threats against them. It’s this kind of bone-deep courage that sees someone pick up a kitchen knife to gut an intruder in their home, or take up an old and rusty spear and ride off to join a warband when their Hipparch calls for aid. The Tomarrans don’t favor performative courage or wasteful risks, but there’s a deep-seated unwillingness to turn away or run from threats to that which they hold dear that runs through their entire culture.
In the eyes of Tomarrans, wisdom is an understanding of your place in the world, in the movement of the Clans and the peoples of the Steppe, and within the Great Balance as a whole. It is a knowledge of the Clans’ histories, of the why and when and how of the traditions that have been followed since days immemorial. It is an unbroken chain of lore and perspective that has held the Kith and Clans together and kept them strong, even in the worst times of the Age of Thunder or the Vauldan Empire’s occupation of the Steppe. Most importantly, wisdom lies in knowing when to hold fast to that tradition, and when it is right and necessary to change a tradition to guide the Clans into the future.
The Steppe is not a place where the weak survive for long. Worse yet, weakness brings down those around you, as you take up resources that could have gone to making the Clan stronger. In the early days of the Clans, physical might and prowess were what determined whether a Clan could survive a winter, whether through raiding or hunting. In modern times, however, this has shifted to one of general capability — the Tomarrans consider someone’s ability to contribute as the key factor in how “strong” or “weak” they are, not simply their physical fitness. Failure or unwillingness to help the Clan is seen as weakness, and viewed as a hollowing out of your worth as a person.
There is not enough of anything except for empty space on the Steppe. The Tomarrans have long since adopted a stance of never letting any resource go to waste, husbanding and tending to whatever renewable resources they have with near-fanatical care, and carefully conserving any finite resources they have in their possession. They are careful shepherds of their herds and the hunting grounds across the Steppe, and religiously maintain and repair their equipment and buildings. They view garments, tools, and weapons that have been repurposed from their original form as being of higher inherent value than something freshly-crafted, seeing the wear and tear on something that is still useful as making it more beautiful, rather than less.
Risks are only worth taking if you have a plan to deal with their failure. Tomarrans aren’t risk-averse, per se, but they view casual recklessness such as the Jadefang corsairs often engage in as rank foolishness that puts not just the person engaging in it at risk but also those closest to them. Even the calculated gambles of the Skaldings and Sundalfolk are viewed with skepticism — the Tomarrans see that kind of risk-taking as unnecessary except in the direst of circumstances, vastly preferring to find means to an end that are more assured, rather than risking failure with no plan to deal with the consequences.
Tomarran names take the form of a personal first name, a matronymic middle name, and a familial last name that is identical to the name of their Kith. Their names have a Slavic feel to them, and can be adapted from any Slavic-sounding name generator. There is also a sizable Dwarven population amongst the Clans, and so Dwarven first and middle names are fairly common as well.
There are three rules for creating a Tomarran name:
So, for example, Iryna, daughter of Hana, of the Karpenke Kith, would be named Iryna Hanavna Karpenke; Damir, son of Zlata, of the Rashozve Kith, would be named Damir Zlatavich Rashozve.
Many Tomarrans leave off their middle names when doing business or introducing themselves; those names tend to be used only when reciting someone’s full name for formal or familial occasions or for telling apart two people from the same Kith who have the same first name.
The Dwarven Clans are a major political power in Tomarr, functioning as massive Kiths of their own. As such, many Dwarven Tomarrans who choose to work primarily for their Dwarven Clan rather than a mixed-Lineage Kith frequently use their Clan’s name (with the usual “do’” prefix) as their last name in place of their Kith name.
Orphans and children who for whatever reason do not know their mother's name are usually given the matronymic “Levovych” or “Levivna,” from the Skytongue word for “lion.”