Editing Sigil:Merant (section)

== The Meranti ==

The people of Merant are generally lean, hardy, and accustomed to cold winds, thin air, and steep country. Their settlements tend toward whitewashed stone houses roofed in dark slate, with narrow windows, enclosed courtyards, and deep hearths. Decoration is rarely gaudy, but workmanship is meticulous. Door lintels carry blessings; bridges bear carved invocations; fountains commemorate saints, healers, judges, or acts of mercy; and even common household objects may display the interlocking signs of the Three.

Meranti manners are formal without necessarily being courtly. Speech favors ritual phrases, old blessings, and careful promises. The common greeting '''“Light upon your path”''' carries both ordinary courtesy and religious meaning, while an oath given before witnesses is regarded as a moral act rather than merely a legal one.

Their reputation for solemnity is deserved, although foreigners sometimes mistake it for joylessness. Meranti culture distrusts frivolity more than happiness. Weddings, harvest meals, pilgrim festivals, and family celebrations can be warm and exuberant, but joy is expected to have substance behind it: reunion, accomplishment, gratitude, fulfilled duty, answered mercy.

Children learn the moral teachings of the Triad alongside ordinary household instruction. The old source refers to the '''Nine Sayings of the Triad''', though only part of that body is summarized there: speak truth, keep faith, stand for justice, honor mercy, forgive seldom, endure always. Whatever their final canonical formulation, the Sayings form the basic moral vocabulary through which Meranti discuss duty and character.