[12:57]Atiye: Apropos of nothing in particular, the ethnic makeup of Vaneha is majority human, but there is a significant minority of various beastfolk growing in number towards the east, where a number of beastfolk populations hang out in the so-called scantling territories beyond the palisade, such as the vulture-warriors of Lot. As the palisade might clue one in, these cultures and Vaneha are historically not on great terms, and beastfolk living in Vaneha may face varying amounts of discrimination by time and place, though on paper they’re as much citizens and members of their clans as someone who doesn’t happen to have fur or feathers. Calling a vanehan beastfolk a scantling is almost certainly a vicious slur
[13:04]Atiye: Military service tends to be an avenue for social mobility and Vaneha is going to war so a considerable number of beastfolk are volunteering, and the Sword Prince is at least somewhat interested in keeping them happy, so he’s made at least a few token attempts at decrees to improve their lot across the empire. The gods also don’t particularly care so there might be a handful of beastfolk-dominated clans too
[13:07]Atiye: I think divine blood is relatively rare in spite of the close partnership with deities, and I make this decision in part extra-diegetically because Nechara, whose big thing is mortals intermarrying with spirits and weird shit, is a stone’s throw away from Vaneha up the Maruto River
[13:10]Atiye: I’m sure godbloods happen every so often and different deities have different attitudes about it, but many have come to genuinely buy into the spiritual parent narrative over the centuries and regard their cult as surrogate children and grandchildren to some extent, and while cousin marriage is probably a thing that happens in Creation you’d be hard pressed to find a grandparent looking to sire offspring with their grandkids
[13:11]Atiye: Maybe they think their neighbors to the southeast are weird for doing it, idk
[13:17]Atiye: (Beastfolk are also humans in exalted but I needed some distinguishing qualifier other than furry and non-furry)
[15:02]Atiye: Other demographics are broadly as represented in vaneha as anywhere else, and still being in the scavenger lands and right across from the hundred kingdoms I imagine vanehans come in all shapes and sizes