Newtling material culture is primitive. Their wetland dwelling places provide ample food and building material for a hunter-gatherer culture but are limited in resources otherwise.
Their oral culture is extremely rich. The bachelor newtlings roam across the continent bringing back tales of the world and their own adventures. They may well be among the most well-informed peoples in Genertela concerning the doings of other peoples. (Of course it is probably 30 years out of date, but at least they know the history of other regions.)
The bachelors are forced out into the world by population pressure in their home breeding-pools. They must eventually return when they reach maturity. They need to learn enough in the outside world to hope to gain access to a breeding pool of their own when the return. Thus they will seek out useful skills (martial, magical, and inter-personal) and artifacts (weapons, magic items) that will help them compete for space as adults.
Many bachelors just try to survive, hoping that the harsh outer world will thin out the competition enough that they can get a breeding pool without much struggle. Others prepare diligently for the contest (and frequently die prematurely as they tackle something they weren't ready for, thus proving the first lot to be wiser).
The nature of the struggle back in the breeding areas can take almost any form depending on location and time. With all the bachelors coming back from many different locations, having been exposed to strange customs, new ideas on how to settle disputes can come and go rapidly. A bachelor knows what the customs of his home pools are when he leaves, but can't be sure it will be the same when she returns.
A returnee may seek out an aging adult and solicit his patronage. The young returnee helps the oldster to hang on for a few years against other young ones in exchange for getting to breed a few young and eventually inheriting the breeding site.
Or a returnee may fight have to fight for a territory against an established adult.
Or a gang of returnees may team up to seize territory and hold it against others.
Of course, the established adults may form a coalition to thwart the returnees or at least to enforce more peaceful means of succession. Or, they may allow natural selection to do its work.
Or, ... you get the idea. Almost any scheme for competition and succession is probably in use by some group of newtlings at any one time. Tune in your favourite nature documentary discussing breeding competition among any sort of animals, and then figure out what an intelligent species might do if they adopted that strategy.
Ashley,
You seem to have not read or have forgotten that the bachelor phase
newtlings are well-adapted for their wanderings. Their skin becomes thick
and dry, and they gain the ability to store water in the tissues of their
tail. Thus they can walk across the plains of Prax to the River of Cradles
rather more easily than humans could. Tadpoles and adults need to keep their
skins moist, they apparently do resort to skin-breathing.
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