> This process is one of seeking and emphasising similarities in culture
> and ignoring parts that are different. In the end you are left with a
> widely distributed Theyalan culture that has effectively wiped out
> many of the more divergent cultural values and practices.
>
It clearly seems to supercede the previous values and practices but it is not so clear that they are lost. The people would retain folk tales, local habits and the ways of their ancestors. The place to look for these remnants in the 3rd age would probably be in the common magic religions of the region and in the folk tales told to children and largely disregarded by the powerful and pious. Some of these lessons will suddenly prove valuable again when Whitewall falls.
The article prompted me to start work on writeup of a widespread network of ordinary people who keep these old traditions going through collecting and telling folktales, operating as a dispersed heroband.
-- Nic
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