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Lodriland - Overview |
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| Back to Oliver's Web Site Back to Lodriland Under the crushing weight of Valind’s Glacier lies the caverns of Lodriland. Long ago before the Gods War there was at least one Dara Happan city in the lands now covered by ice. When Yelm died at Rebellius Terminus’ hands Valind and Himile led their forces southward, extending the the ice much farther south than it does now. Only the magic of Lodril managed to protect the city of Badrul from being crushed beneath the ice. His fiery blood drove it off then and keeps the ice at bay to this day. Two hitherto separated cultural groups were trapped together in the ice dome, the remnants of a Dara Happan city and some of the surrounding farmers and craftspeople (Lodrili), plus a group of nomadic reindeer herders (Rangini). The Lodrili The people live in Badrul, four towns, Oria's Love, Horizon, Watchpost and Victory, and eight villages, Isten, Sina, Salas, Erbe, Hamis, Sedis, Sebe, and Samane. They eat the meat of the captive herds of reindeer their fellow prisoners, the Rangini keep, the fish found in the water canal and that of the puffins who feed on the fish, as well as the crops they grow in pits hacked out of bedrock and filled with soil painstakingly created from composted waste. They send their dead to Lodril and Oria in coffins of stone set afloat on the ring of lava that flows in the cavern. They use bone, leather, and stone to make their equipment as they have no metal (other than a few ancient artifacts). Some plants are grown for baskets but these are at a premium and skin bags are far more common. They live in square stone huts made of blocks cut from the rocky floor of the cavern. No one digs too deep as deep holes tend to break into the lava underlying the cavern proving fatal to the miners and the surrounding terrain. The Rangini The Rangini were a nomadic group of reindeer herders who were trapped in Lodriland along with the Lodrili. They follow their herds of reindeer as they circle the outskirts of the cavern feeding off the reindeer moss that grows on the stone. They mark the four cardinal directions by means of four large sculptures made of piled stone. These stones were painstakingly hacked out of the bedrock in the shape of a man. They have religious significance to the Rangini and are very similar to Inuit inukshuks see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuksuk). They carefully monitor their numbers and those of their reindeer so as to not strain the few natural resources that are available. They are subservient to the Lodrili due to a number of factors. First they have always been badly outnumbered. Secondly they were so taken aback at being trapped that it took them much longer to adapt to the situation than it did for the Lodrili. Before they realized it they were in the subordinate position they presently occupy. The Lodrili probably would have slaughtered them to the last infant as godless heretics if the Lodrili hero Damuzi had not identified their spirit Rangifer with Lodril's Lost Son. This allowed the two groups to live in an uneasy peace. Besides which the Lodrili were perfectly happy to keep as far as possible from the ice wall which is where the Rangini are the happiest. They are important to the Lodrili in that they provide much needed and highly desired food stuffs plus lots of raw materials. They also serve as a first line of defense versus enemy attacks from the ice. Unfortunately they are usually too far away from the Priest-King's guard to benefit from their skills so they usually bear the brunt of any attack. Many of their members join the Tunnel Scouts and are considered valued equals by them. A group of priests are put "in charge" of the Rangini groups and keep watch on them for signs of collusion with the enemy or unforgivable heresy. These priests are rotated on a regular basis to avoid them "going native". A fair number of the Tunnel Scouts are the product of matings between these priests and the Rangini. The Ranginin live in four tribes that each has it's own chieftain and head shaman. The Tunnel Scouts The Tunnel Scouts are the result of the fusion of elements of the Lodrili and the Rangini. They were formed by the great hero Damuzi who was so holy that his stone coffin still circles the Ring of Fire 1500 years after his death. (How long it takes an individual's stone coffin to sink into the lava is considered to be a sign of holiness by the Lodrili. It was a great scandal when the most recently deceased Priest-King's coffin sunk right uponr launching). The Tunnel Scouts are made up from the malcontents and misfits of both Lodrili and Rangini society. They worship Rangifer either as a spirit or a god without penalty and perform the extremely important tasks of guarding the Ring of Ice and investigating any tunnels that appear. Their commanding officers are drawn from the Priest-King's guard and from among their own numbers only corporals and sargeants are drawn.
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