Clan Estremont

General Information

Clan Estremont hails from the mountains of the same name, high in the upper reaches of Ishgard. The Clan, strongly patriarchal, consists mostly of a small nobility, whose responsibility is leadership both political and military, and otherwise miners and traders.

Little is known about the Clan, as they are among the more reclusive of the Duskwight Elezen; what little is known comes from interaction through trade, which they ply almost exclusively with their Wildwood Elezen cousins in Coerthas. Indeed, it is extremely rare to see an Estremont (or a d'Estremont, hereinafter also referred to simply as Estremont, but see below) any further south than Camp Dragonbone.

History and Traditions

Naming

Due to the unstable nature of the underlying rock formations of the Estremont [range], miners (or Miners, as Estremonts will use the honorific capital) are regarded extremely highly within the Clan. Indeed, they are the only ones allowed traditionally to take on directly the name of the very range they carve into the Clan's shelter - and transform into its main source of income, in the form of cut stone, precious stones, and metal ores.

Other Clan members either have a typical Elezen last name or, if the family is either old enough in the Clan, or closely-related to a Miner, will take the name d'Estremont, meaning "of the Estremont".

First names are freely chosen, but tend to the traditional also. Second given names usually follow the paternal or maternal sides, depending on the gender of the child, but may diverge in some cases.

Estremonts among themselves will know each other by their first names, or possibly first and second where this is needed to avoid confusion.

Appearance

As Estremonts live mostly underground, they tend toward the pale, often showing a bluish or greyish hue, with usually light-coloured hair and eyes. Being overly-tall is often a disadvantage in the narrow confines of mining shafts and narrowly-dug corridors, and the Clan tends to be short, with most Estremonts being 6 and a half falms or shorter.

Character

Estremonts tend to exhibit the stubbornness and taciturnity usually attributed to Duskwights. However, in their trading, they are unfailingly honest, if inflexible and ruthless in their negotiations. They will not hesitate to cut off trade talks and walk away from a deal if they feel that a fair agreement cannot be reached.

Their stonework is usually scrupulously meticulous, and they will often delay an order, or even re-do it completely, should it not meet their own standards, rather than deliver a sub-par product to their customers. This tendency blithely to ignore delivery deadlines drives some lowlander merchants (as they think of anyone living where their breath doesn't freeze) to madness. But the patient merchant will find much profit in waiting for an Estremont delivery.

Estremonts Abroad

It is extremely rare to see an Estremont where they wouldn't have ice on their boots, and they usually complete their trades and return home without lingering. The only documented case of an Estremont living apparently permanently "outside" is the Free Paladin Ysobel Estremont, about whom a little more is known, if not much.