The Keleta-Ru (pronounced keh-LEH-tah-ROO) are the gnomish sea-nomads of the Wounds, intrepid explorers and traders who wander the waves endlessly. Even if some choose to settle in one of their many island communities for a time, they inevitably find themselves called to the sea once again, venturing between the many archipelagos, underwater settlements, and turtle-villages of the Wounds.
Geography
Many archipelagoes and islands across the Wounds are frequented by the Keleta-Ru, but the majority of their settlements are located in Ha-Rase-Metu, the Chain, and the Wisps. The gnomes regularly wander far and wide across the Na-Gaesa Ocean, however, and may be found at sea near places as far apart as the Protectors, Phersu, and the Salt Spring Archipelago. Of all the peoples of the Wounds, the Keleta-Ru are the most likely to travel to other parts of Kishar.
Demographics
The Keleta-Ru are effectively entirely gnomish, though sometimes individuals of other ancestries join Keleta-Ru groups in their travels, occasionally even for extended durations.
Culture
Religion
Society
Traditions
Seafaring and travel
Languages
Arts
Architecture, urbanization, and migration
Food and cuisine
The diet of the Keleta-Ru is overwhelmingly seafood. Though they have a particular taste for mollusks, especially sea snails, oysters, clams, and squid, they also eat large amounts of fish, crab, and turtle. Some Keleta-Ru dishes are prepared from raw seafood, while others involve the use of reflective mirror-ovens to cook while at sea. Dried fish is a staple, often hung from ropes tied between the tops of their masts and the hulls of their ships to bake in the sun. While the Keleta-Ru do not eschew eating plant-based foods, and in fact make use of many different varieties of seaweed, their diets are very meat-heavy.
Nearly all Keleta-Ru are hunter-gatherer-fishers; use of agriculture amongst the gnomes is very uncommon, even in their settlements.
Names
Keleta-Ru gnomes almost always use mononyms, with no surname indicating familial relations. The first name by which any individual is known is usually given by their parents and band, but they are not necessarily bound by this, for they are able, and encouraged, to change their name throughout their life if they find another that fits them better.
Burial practices
Sea burial is the most widespread burial practice amongst the Keleta-Ru, a tradition kept by all except for those who worship the Ta-Lasau-Kori trees, who instead inter the deceased in shallow graves around their sacred trees' roots.