Sparri Culture

Homeworld:
Sparr is, to say the least, a hostile planet. Only the Force knows why the first settlers decided to stay there so many years ago, but Mandalorians are nothing if not annoyingly stubborn. It’s cold, with nearly all of the planet covered in a layer of snow at least 9 months a year.

To go along with that, the native fauna isn’t much better. Named Vast, the largest animal in the ecosystem can tower as high as a building. They’re known to live for nearly a century and they never stop growing as they age. They have dense white fur and several blue-tinged eyes. They have sharp teeth and claws, adapted for territorial fighting but deadly against humans nonetheless.

The terrain ranges from rocky peaks, valleys, and plateaus to snowy forested Taigas, and smaller fauna can be found in the forests, but they often fall prey to the dominant Vast.

Society and Culture:
Descended from Mandalorian settlers that first landed on Sparr and for some reason decided to stay, the Sparri are a hardy and stoic but still altogether warm people. They are hard workers whose ancestors have adapted Mandalorian culture to the harsh climate they found themselves in.

Atlas Armor:
The first eccentricity is their armor. Mandalorians, historically, wear Beskar armor, but Sparr has no Beskar veins. In addition, to keep the Vast away from settlements, the warriors would need more than just regular protective armor plating. So they developed Atlas Armor. Mechanically enhanced armor that has an integrated neural net that learns from its user. It allows its user to perform superhuman physical feats of strength and agility, making it perfect for warriors and hunters in this hostile environment. It also has a low-level connection to the user’s brainwaves, allowing it to, to a certain very limited extent, begin preparing for certain intensive moves before the user begins moving.

Ancestral Worship:
Given the Atlas Armor’s ability to learn from its user, it spawned a tradition of ancestor worship within the Sparri, seeing the imprints of ancestors within heirloom armor to be the spirit of their ancestors aiding them in battle.

As part of this, many Sparri families build icons called Saga Discs that represent the different deceased members of their family and what they accomplished during their lives. Each disc accommodates about five different Sagas, and you can find lines of discs hanging in most traditional Sparri homes. Temporary decorations are sometimes added to Saga displays to represent living family members, which are then pressed into clay discs and fired to create their Saga on the event of their death.

In these two ways, Sparri often believe that the spirits of their ancestors never truly leave them, and are simply guiding and watching the living generation.

Weaponry:
Now, like their Mandalorian ancestors, there is still a level of reverence with regard to weapons in Sparri culture. There is a specific ore on Sparr, not suited for large plates but especially effective when shaped into blades. This spawned a specific style of sword, called the Terashima, that Sparri warriors and especially Atlas wearers carry and use.

There are several fighting styles specialized for the Terashima, and they can be learned at various schools across Sparr, where their respective masters reside.

Additionally, their Kraul rifles which are essentially high-power grapple cords were originally built to aid in their hunting pursuits but can be used in combat as well.

Modern Culture:
As one might guess, modern culture deviates slightly from the original norms of Sparri culture. For one thing, physical security is a lot easier to amplify now, and risks of Vast attacks on even the most remote of Sparri settlements has plummeted in recent years.

For another… Sparri people have simply been dispersing throughout the galaxy. It’s as simple as that. A culture designed for survival on a harsh planet changes when it leaves that planet.

There’s a few ways in which Sparri culture has changed, and they’re not as intense as you might think. The most notable one is how precious hunting traditions have been adapted. Where previously there was a need for strong hunters and warriors to protect settlements and villages, there is no such need anymore, but several of those traditions remain. Hunting expeditions are performed, but they’re done in groups to take down Elder Vast, old Vast that are too large to be healthy and often have trouble moving due to their increased size and weight.

The other way in that these traditions have been adapted is in the form of Sparri daredevils. Men and women descended from hunters and warriors that use their skills and more notably their enhanced armor to perform acrobatic stunts instead of combat tricks. Sometimes young Sparri adults are caught leaping across rooftops in their newly-inherited Atlas Armor.