Customs, Gestures and Manners
of the Nobles of Rinliddi
by Paul Reilly and Finula McCaul (1994),
adapted by Nick Brooke (2003)
The Rinliddi are Proud. Remember your place in the pecking order: you are one of the Bird People, descendents of Vrimak, the High Flyer. Other people have humbler ancestry: groundlings who farm your quail-flocks, servants who feather your nests, and foreigners who provide you with triumph and conquests. Bear yourself accordingly.
The Rinliddi are Beautiful. Wear bright and beautiful colours, shake your tail-feathers and strut your stuff. Beauty is pleasing to the All-Seeing Eye of Vrimak. The opposite sex will be attracted by your bright, colourful plumage and courtly, confident gait.
The Rinliddi are Musical. You enjoy music and singing, and love to participate in group or individual song. Those of the opposite sex will admire your beautiful voice, and will join you in courtship dances. Those of the same sex should envy you for these reasons.
The Rinliddi are Vivacious. Yelm gave you a greater measure of the Celestial Fire than he gave to any other beings, save only sacred birds. Your energy is boundless and you should not fear to display it. Vrimak is pleased to roost atop the sacred Addi and observe as His people swiftly fly about.
The Rinliddi are Courteous. Our people are mighty in battle and very proud, and we have developed elaborate manners to avoid killing each other. Do not omit a fellow noble’s title when addressing him, or they may well take offence. Our manners are like a beautiful, never-ending song and dance, and their beauty pleases the Paradisal Aviator. Neglect them at your own peril.
The Rinliddi are Refined. The loud, booming voices of foreigners can never match the beauty of our piping voices, and we should never sink to their level of ugliness, no matter the provocation. Maintain courtesy with foreigners; if you must kill them, do so in a polite way.
The Rinliddi are Graceful. Our body movements are patterned after the light and graceful birds, not after the heavy and clumsy beasts of the field that the stolid, oxlike foreigners so resemble. If you are frightened, leap gracefully away from the danger while fluttering your arms to warn your friends; if amorous, coo and bob your head, as all refined persons do.
Never let the foreigners teach you their degenerate customs; instead, present them with the proud picture of Rinliddi nobility as it was meant to be, and soon they will feel that they are but grotesque and clumsy inferiors, overshadowed by our high-flying nobility… as indeed they are.
