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AABN:  48726
Title: a book entitled, 'The Island of Zulia, volume 2'

The Island of Zulia, by Don Milano Juan-Pedro Gonzales Andorra 

Volume Two

The Island of Sloe was once known by another name, and that name was
"Zulia".  The people that lived there were called "Zulians".

PHENOTYPE 

Modern Zulians are generally a bit shorter than Ralnothians.  The majority
of them have black hair and brown eyes and skin, although  exceptions are
common.  For example, the Zulians of Barquisimeto descent have very dark
skin and blue, green or even purple eyes,  while a greater portion of the
descendants of Gocholandia has light skin, blond hair and blue eyes.  This
great deal of variance is  well-accepted as a part of being a Zulian. 
Amongst them, there is a saying: "The Zulian race is one of many colors." 

MAGIC AND RELIGION 

Modern Zulian spellcasters categorize all magic into two groups: arcane and
divine.  The arcane magic of Zulians has been practiced  since antiquity
and is primarily of the mage variety, although there is some druidism and a
little bit of necromancy present, as  well.  Zulians do not make the
distinction between the different classes of magic as others do, so Zulian
arcanists study mage,  druid, and necromancer spells side-by-side as a
single class of magic.  Arcane magic focuses on illusion, transmutation,
force  manipulation, phytomancy, and spiritualism. 

Before contact with Atmir, Zulians were without any religion at all, and
therefore had no clerics.  Zulians have since been converted  to the High
Pantheon of Dentin, and they refer to the low-level cleric spells that
their priests practice as divine magic. 

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 

The native tongue of Zulian has changed dramatically throughout the ages. 
In its modern form, it is a syllabic, tonal language that  flows rapidly
and avoids hard consonants.  It is also a highly lingual language (as
opposed to gutteral).  Zulian nouns are  gendered, and verbs have several
conjugations in order to convey actions and tense with precision. 

Zulians typically have four names: a first name, a middle name, a paternal
last name, and a maternal or married last  name.  Zulian men bear their
mother's last name as their final name, as do women until they married.  A
married woman uses the  paternal last name of her husband as her first last
name and moves her own paternal last name to the last position.  A married 
woman who survives her husband and re-marries uses his paternal last name
as her first last name and moves her first husband's last  name to the last
position.  Possessing and using all four names is very important to the
pride of a Zulian.  Bastards only carry the  last name of their mother, and
the lack of a paternal last name is a mark of shame in Zulian society. 

Among Zulians, marriage was usually preceded by a formal betrothal.  Such a
betrothal, once entered into, is considered absolutely  binding.  On the
marriage day, at high noon, the bride is escorted by the wedding party to
the home of the groom, where wedding  vows are exchanged.  Once the wedding
contract is signed, only death can break it.  Both genders typically wed
before the age of  twelve. 

Zulian society could probably be described as patriarchal.  All of the
rulers are men, and fathers are expected to lead and supply  sustenance for
their families.  Unwed men court women (never the other way around). 

The frequent battles between the villages often deprived generations of
Zulians of many of their men, so polygyny is the matter of  course in
Zulian life.  The practice of polygyny is believed by Zulians to provide
stability in marriages because it robs men of  their desire to be
unfaithful.  More certainly, this has allowed the population of Zulia to
repeatedly rebound after some of the  worse inter-village wars, but it also
has contributed to overpopulation and more conflicts over resources.