Cultural Information: Malvanians

Physical Appearance: Most Malvanians are tall and slender in build.  They all have pale skins and their eye colour tends to be pale blue, pale green or grey.  Like the Mondians, they have ridges above their eyebrows.  Their hair is either white or blue-black and is traditionally worn long, either loose or bound back in a tail, depending on personal preference.  Their facial features are very delicate and to a non-Malvanian, they do not appear to have much variation in their facial expressions. There is little variation in Malvanian clothing.  Mostly it consists of tunics and leggings in pastel colours for both genders.  Priests and academics prefer to wear long robes over their tunics and leggings.  Heavy coats are a necessity for going outdoors, particularly in the extremely cold Northern region.  The coats are usually made of wool or fur and in neutral shades.

Society: Malvanians have strict and rigid standards of behaviour in public, although they can be surprisingly libertarian in their private lives.  There are relatively few cities and larger towns.  Priests and academics live in enclaves while most other citizens live in small villages.  Many of these villages do not even have names.  Marriage is usually by choice and Malvanian marriage ceremonies last for many hours, including several complex and uncomfortable rituals before the joining ceremony takes place.

Lifestyle: In bygone days, Malvanians were isolationist and abstemious by nature, however they are gradually becoming more tolerant of other races and cultures.  The acquisition of knowledge is still valued above everything else but in more recent times, they have become more willing to share and exchange that knowledge with other worlds.  They consider any outward displays of wealth to be in bad taste and do not like to adorn themselves with jewellery or cosmetics.

Beliefs: Most Malvanians worship Malvanis, the God of Knowledge.  The prevailing belief is that enlightenment and personal growth can only come from the acquisition of knowledge.  Priests and sorcerers also worship Minestria.  In some remote communities, the elemental deities are worshipped in addition to Malvanis.

Art and Culture: Although Malvanians tend to be more reticent and reserved in their ways, they still have a rich cultural life encompassing everything from spoken folk-tales to works of art and literature to plays and movies.  They place more emphasis on the type of language used rather than physical expressions.  Thus Malvanians are wrongly thought to be lacking in emotion and humour.  Their literature and drama place a great deal of emphasis on spiritual and moral issues.  Most of their humour is based around morals and can be difficult for non-Malvanians to understand.  They excel at the graphic arts and skills such as sculpting, tailoring and dressmaking.

Malvanian music is all about creating moods and atmospheres rather than energetic rhythms or telling stories.  Much of their music is minimalist and subtle.  It is more geared towards listening rather than dancing.