Hello my lovely darlings, after far too long I have finally managed to complete the next instalment of the Hestia Locator. Yes I know, far too late, what comes of having seven and a half full time jobs. That being said, shall we begin?
Shulmi - Of the Great Depression
Sometimes called Wild Elves, Shulmi are not actually part of the main elf lands.
From the Guardiao Mountains, along the Northern edge of the Althulas Mountains the elf lands stretch, claiming the western end of the Chasyl Alu Mountains and the northern shore of the Calen Gaer land locked sea. It is at the north to south running Lug Anc Mountains that the lands of the old world elves comes to its most easterly border. Beyond this range of mountains the land is parched, cast within the rain shadow of the Lug Anc Mountains. As such the terrain ranges from super arid to arid to semi-arid. The areas of semi-arid land are fed by rain very rarely, a once in a life time storm sometimes rolling down from the north to bathe the land in the life giving water. Instead they are more often watered by flash floods and trickling inundations that flow down from the northern coast as the storms of winter lash the coast and the snow melt of spring runs off into the depression that forms much of the land of the eastern proportion of the continent between the Lug Anc Mountains and the eastern most coast. These seasonal inundations provide just enough water to support a patch work of ranches, homesteads and wild up lands. There are few towns and fewer cities, as such there is little centralised power, with most folks having to provide their own protection and own justice. These settlers are mostly human with some gnomes, some human blooded elves and a few dragonkin mixed in.
Because of the parching heat of summer and the intermittent rain fall of the autumnal months regular agriculture as practised in the rest of the world is not possible. Instead there is an abundance of drought resistant crops that are either hand planted or perennials that return year after year. As such it is always a balance between the number of people needed to plant the crops and the number of people said crops can support. Honeyberry trees are common for their ability to withstand blistering heat and freezing cold. Dessert olive is also common and moringa provides folige edible by both man and beast as well as oil for lamps and tool maintenance. In the shade below them black current and tamirillo grow. For the staple starch sources that fuel a culture both lambs quarters and a plant called sweet potato are favoured. Both of these crops are beneficial for the fact that they are double producers. The leaves of both lambs quarters and sweet potato are highly nutritious preventing the July hunger that can plague cultures reliant on a starch staple alone. The seed of lambs quarters can be boiled for porridge or used a flour while the tubers of sweet potato are excellent for storage in a hot, dry climate and can be used for any purpose the regular potato can be used for, although their skins cannot be eaten. Water melons, being a desert plant, are a regular sweet treat favoured by many for their refreshing water content.
On ranches where water can be harvested and retained in a large enough amount some corn and regular potatoes are grown. Water harvesting is practised on just about all ranches in various ways. Most trees are planted in shallow depressions called half moon basins whilst others chequers their fields with deep, short trenches called dirt bath tubs. Most build check dams within the gulleys and washes, some going so far as to dig entire networks of diversion channels and interlinking ponds to retain water on their lands and prevent soil erosion. Those that have access to reeds or, in a few cases, willow braid structures called gabion cages to build walls across washes and retain both soil and moisture on the land.
Most ranches and homesteads have their lands boarder by thick hedges of hedge orange trees, also know as bodock wood. The timber of these trees is bright orange and highly rot resistant, the main upright timbers of ranch houses and barns often harvested from it. Granted these timbers are usually the only pieces of the building made from hedge orange as the wood has to be split and plained by hand and the tools sharpened every few minutes as hedge orange wood stripes the edge off of even steel tools in a matter of only a few strokes. Often the workshops handling hedge orange have craftsmen working in pairs and double the usual amount of tools so that one can work the wood while the other sits and sharpens the tools over and over again. It is the only way to maintain any speed when working with hedge orange.
The ranches of the Great Depression tend to be clustered along the southern edge of the land where the gap between the Chasyl Alu Mountains to the West and the Hemodos Mountains to the East allowed seasoned rainfall from the ocean to come North. Here Bighorn Sheep graze on semi-arid scrub land while small herds of long horn cattle are also kept in rotational grazing patterns to avoid over grazing and soil degradation.
Beyond the hedged boarders of the ranchers and homesteads, the land is untamed and wild. It is here that the Shulmi roam in their tents that are shaped like wheels laid flat upon the ground, their rims made of thick cloth. Many of these are collapsible and are transported by pack animal, some however are mounted on platforms suspended between truly massive wheels and pulled by teams of hardly, stout bodied horses that roam the land with the Shulmi elves. Shulmi elves are the shortest of the elvish races, though still tall for humans, with broad faces, high foreheads that continue into the line of the nose without interruption and copper to bronze skin tones. Their eyes are dark and their hair is nearly universally black, usually worn as a tight braid in both men and women and threaded with feathers. They wear clothes that are usually trousers and a calf length tunic buttoned high on the right shoulder, the wide sleeves can either be pushed back to be out of the way or pulled down over the fingers to protect the hands. The toes of their boots are usually upturned to facilitate stepping in and out of the stirrup. Shulmi elves spend almost more time in the saddle than they do on their feet.
They do not farming but instead hunt the herds of pronghorn and mourning deer, carefully culling their numbers to maintain the health of the herds. They also trap rabbit, prairie hamsters, grouse, pigeons and bush turkey. They have learnt to take the animals the ranchers and homesteaders consider pests and to leave the hedges of bodock wood alone, foraging for wild sweet potato, ground nut, bitter root and Muldwa Articokes as well as chokeberries, hawthorn berries and tomatoes, a fruit that many homesteaders still believe to be poisonous.
Although this unspoken law is not perfect and there have been authorities who have tried to force the Shulmi to settle it has, for the most part, prevent the mass persecution that marked the time of the Shulmi elves on the Far Continent. For that they are truly grateful and they hold fast to their friends and allies among the settled folk. It is rumoured that one of these is a being named Louis Mahroe.
It is difficult to separate fact from fiction in the case of Louis Mahroe for he is something unlike any other of the major races of Hestia. Some say he is a creation of a dark wizard got free of his master, others say he is a wizard who’s spells and experiments left him dreadfully disfigured and warped while others yet claim he is a Locutian Apostate cast out from his Hive and managing to survive in a land the rest of his kind cannot tolerate. No matter what the case he has proven to be an unbiased and thorough investigator and a tireless pursuer of criminals, skills that have seen him gain a place in his community as Sheriff and defender. He is also an arbiter between the Settlers and the Shulmi and is one of the rare band of outsiders who has full access to the Motherlodge and all their wisdom. If you are travelling in the great depression it is a good idea to see if you can adapt your route to make contact with him, though it is polite to not stare too much and it is a good idea to remember, if you are of the law breaking bent, that criminals in Louis Mahroe’s territory don’t often turn up on the block before the circuit judge, disappearing some where in the wilds instead.
The marked difference between the Shulmi elves and their cousins are the result of the fact that the Shulmi elves are a refugee race. The Shulmi elves are originally from the Burning Continent, their forbearers only just escaping ahead of the Day of Destruction, warned of the coming disaster by the greatest hero of their race. Their numbers were still decimated by the natural disaster that rendered the Burning Continent inhabitable and it is only because their birth rate is slightly higher than their cousins that they have managed to recover at all. This is another reason for their nomadic lifestyle, they would rather flee from a confrontation than risk the lives of their women and children. However, if pushed to a fight, they are vicious and fight with no apparent fear. "It is a good day to live, it is a good day for you to die!" is a common battle cry among the Shulmi Elves. Very often it is their enemies who die, the Shulmi elves being masters of light horse cavalry tactics, trampling up dust clouds to hide their movements and then swirling round their enemies to rain them with arrows. If it comes to hand to hand combat, the Shulmi Elves favour compound shields and small hand axes that can either be swung in the fist or thrown with deadly accuracy. A few have heirloom swords passed down in the families that survived the Day of Destruction and the crossing to the Old World. These swords are single edged, light, curved cavalry sabres, that are effective at both the slash and thrust techniques of warfare and perfect for mounted attacks after the volleys of arrows have done their work to break up the enemy formations. If travelling into the lands favoured by the Shulmi elves it is best to be ready to pay homage to their elders and their shamans. Shulmi elves have a magic that it deeply rooted in the land around them. They pay homage to the land and the land protects them. If you rouse their ire then their curses can pay you back in a thousand nasty little ways. If you earn their respect or better yet, their brotherhood, then you will find tracks and trails open up to you that few others can find and the bounty of nature will follow you all of your days.
The Tiansin Empire
Also known as the Land of the Astral All Father, along the eastern coast of the continent there is a band of land that is watered by monsoonal rainfalls encouraged by the mountain ranges of Hong Shan, Zanmei Zhu, Jin Bian and Xintu Zhi Lu and the fact that the skies above Tiansin are home to many Lightning Dragons. Indeed the once in a lifetime storms that flood the Great Depression are said to be caused by the young of the Lightning Dragons dispersing and quarrelling as they go to find their own territories, while the Astral All Father and the Imperial Family are said to be dragonkin, sons of heaven, lords of the skies, masters of rainfall and kings of storms.
The people of this land have built the expertise to harvest, store and ration this water, building water ways, canals, dams and sometimes whole lakes. Their have terraced the sides of mountains and created fields that become ponds for a grain crop that needs high amounts of water to survive in its early stages. They have tended orchards that have roots going back to a time before the end of the Empire of Albion. They have created artwork, literature, poetry and science that rival the Sidhbe Elves (though the Sidhbe elves would never admit to such a thing) and crafted ocean going ships that carry whole gardens on their decks so that their sailors never need fear the shipman's disease.
All of this is off a different style from the North Eastern portion of the continent and due to the vast geography of the land of Tiansin, stretching as it does from the Arctic circle to the hot, moist climate of the tropics, there is a great deal of drift within the architecture and customs of this land.
In the terrain of the mountain ranges of the Hong Shan, Jin Bian and Xintu Zhi Lu mountains cave dwellings are not uncommon as all it takes to make a dwelling place is a pickaxe, time and effort. Some of these dwellings even have internal plumbing where rising springs have been channelled into pools that serve the kitchen first, wash room second and latrine last before falling away into a subterranean cave where the biology of the Underworld takes care of any organic matter.
The Zanmei Zhu Mountains, also known as the mountains of the gods, have very few people dwelling there due to the sheer strangeness of the terrain. It is speculated that the Zanmei Zhu Mountains were formed during the events of the God War ten thousand years ago as they seem to defy nature. Often rearing so high that their tops are lost in the cloud cover above, the sheer sides and cliff faces are enough to take the breath away. There is no where within the mountain range that one can truly see one of the mountains in a single glance, their forms towering higher than anything else in the world and crazily enough each is rimmed and crowned with the green of the forest that they rise from. What is even more surprising and terrifying for the first time visitor to the Zanmei Zhu mountains is that often, for the vertical pillars, the base of these masses of stone are narrower in both axes than further up the pillars, making them top heavy. Some go so far to look like upside down cones, the enormous weight balancing on the point while the base stands, upside down, in the sky, making the viewer wonder just how they remain so perilously balanced. Others appear to be petrified giants or dragons or monsters that have no name. Still others arch across the skies like bridges from nowhere to somewhere. Some explorers who have traversed the interior of the Zanmei Zhu mountains swear that some of the mountains are not actually in contact with the ground at all, instead drifting through the sky on unseen air currents, tethered to Hestia, if at all, by cables bridges and walkways of living wood that creak and groan as they try to take unimaginable weights but one does not need such exaggerations to be in awe of this magical landscape.
In the Northern Provinces houses are symmetrical and usually made out of bricks, stone and timbers with thick walls and double roofs. They are usually built with the door facing south and very few windows in the northern walls to exclude the winter winds. The houses are also built huddled together to eliminate unnecessary external walls, sharing warmth like birds in a nest with the houses in the centre of the block being the most sort after for their warmth and shelter.
In the central Provinces of the higher elevation the houses are still made from stone but are more separate from their neighbours as heat is not the major concern. Instead water is, in the abundance that pours from the sky all year round. Therefore, the houses are joined by enclosed corridors of a wide width. This is so that both the winter snows and the hammering rains of the wet session can be avoided. There are legends of town elders who have never once seen the open sky above them, living all their lives within the walls of their houses and the communal corridor areas.
In the lower elevations of the Central Provinces stone is often abandoned as it provides no safety against the raging torrents that come down hill in both spring melt and summer down pour. The earth and air here are also extremely humid so the houses are built on stilts to not only avoid the seasonal flooding but to also allow air circulation. In some areas they go so far as to leave the lower floor, which is ofter the family workshop or area where they keep their animals, open to the air with only the upper floor enclosed to allow the family some privacy in their living room which also serves as the kitchen and the dining room, as well as in the bedroom. Some of these houses are not even made out of wood, instead being constructed of a giant grass known as bamboo. As insane as this sounds some species of bamboo are thicker in girth than trees of equal age while others are split until their fibres become flexible where upon they are woven into mats for both floor covers but also insulating layers upon the walls as well as baskets, furniture, tea sets, curtains and lanterns.
In the hot south the architecture relies on light wood and large windows to catch what breeze comes their way. Often painted white these buildings have roofs that start curving up again as they approach the edge to force running water to leap up and away from the walls and the foundations. This coupled with deep, column supported eaves prevents the abundance of steady rain entering the buildings. These homes are built with ‘sky wells’, central courtyards, to encourage ventilation by providing large white paved areas that make heat rise and therefore drags fresher, cooler air from the tree shaded streets outside through the house. Usually arranged as three buildings around the courtyard with the fourth side being a single wall set with the gate. In practise this means that in the poorer districts families cluster at three to a compound, one family in each building, though sometimes as many as two or three to a building.
As families work their way up the social ladder they are able to afford more and more space, first claiming a whole courtyard as their own, then a two courtyard building. In a two courtyard building the outer courtyard will be for business with the family claiming the inner courtyard as their private space. The richest families can afford a three courtyard house with the first courtyard being for the servants and doormen, the second for guests and the last courtyard being the private rooms of the family.
Unifying such a wide diaspora takes a solid, strong and well publicized central power, an efficient bureaucracy and decades of social conditioning. The Tiansin Empire has had centuries to mould their people into obedient, compliant citizens who conform to the dictates of the Astral All Father. As a reinforcing factor all official state and religious buildings are built in the same style and layout regardless of location. Painted in red and plated in gold with whole cedar logs acting as the supporting columns, the wood is fitted together with cunningly carved joints rather than nails or pegs so that they cannot work loose and collapse the building during earthquakes. The foundations are carved from interlocking slabs of granite shaped and polished to a mirror gleam and are usually wider than a man’s height in all dimensions than one would expect. Again this is to safe guard against earthquake damage, with many temples and palaces built upon foundations that are barely buried, access gained instead by climbing stairs to the floor level of the building. Though looking wrong to many foreign eyes there are many reasons why this technique works. It elevates the building above the regular flood level, it lifts the wooden structure away from the ground to prevent rot and it means that in the event of an earthquake the upheavals of the earth do not effect the foundations as the ground cannot pressurize against the stone, the whole building ‘rafting’ over the shaking terrain. This does mean that there can be some lateral movement but the people of Tiansin accept that if the temple moves too close to their residence, assuming their residence hasn’t collapsed in the quake, they will be expected to demolish their house and rebuild it to obey the laws dictating the space that must be around a temple, or demolish their house and move to a new house, if they can afford it. If they cannot afford it then they will go homeless.
All of the peace, order and stability of the Tiansin Empire comes at a price. In the Land of the Astral All Father everyone must have their usefulness to the Astral All Father or be disposed of. All must serve or be disposed of. Men must toil at their father's trade or be apprenticed to another, as well as train to serve in the All Father's army. Women are to bare sons for the Astral All Father's service, their place is being on the arm of their assigned man to maintain their homes and train their daughters to accept the marriage that their father will arrange for them. Once married, usually to an older man, they will be servants to their mother-in-law, bowing to her every whim and dictate until their eldest son is old enough to marry, where upon their son's wife will become their servant. If a women's husband dies before her, she becomes the property of her eldest son. If she has no son old enough to accept that duty then she will either be sent to a nunnery or be remarried to a more junior member of the family, depending on whether she is still fertile. In the lands of the Astral All Father a girl of sixteen is considered a flower on the way to withering. Girls must also be pure upon their wedding nights, any who are not are disposed of.
Though the merchants of Tiansin have sailed to the shores of the southern continent, they rarely make their way round that land mass to trade with the north west of the Old World, considering the people there to be barbarians and savages who do not give their kings the respect that they deserve. There is also the fact that there is little to nothing that the north west has that the Astral All Father wants. As such trade is minimal and stifled by the distance, the goods of Tiansin usually only making their way to the markets of the North West via the trade routes from the southern continent and are as such, inhibitively expensive.
The Children of Kronzyn
The only exceptions to the expectations that rule life within the lands of Tiansin are the Children of Kronzyn. These sect of necromancers are a society within the larger society of the land of the Astral All Father. Worshipping the strange Death God Kronzyn, these sorcerers can cast spells of protection, illusion and control through their unearthly music. They pay the families of the poor and destitute for the remains of the dead, in many cases before the person's actual death. A member of the needy can go to the Children of Kronzyn and make a trade with them, usually being enough money to buy the Apprenticeship of one of their sons to lift the family out of poverty. In exchange, when they die the Children of Kronzyn will come to collect the mortal remains, sparing the family the cost of a burial as well. The Children of Kronzyn never kill those who have made such bargains, they wait for time and destiny to take its course because to kill would be to cut short the story dedicated to Kronzyn. Once time and destiny have taken their course the Children of Kronzyn come for their due. They are never early and they are never late, they always arrive as the last words of the funeral are spoken and in silence they collect the mortal remains, carrying them forth to perform their own rites. Within these rites the body is stripped of all flesh and the bones preserved, bound by threads of twisted silver. After that they are animated by the strange music of the Children of Kronzyn and serve them servants and labourers. There are no slaves in the land of the Astral All Father, mining, large scale construction and night soil processing being performed by the puppets of the Children of Kronzyn.
Despite their ties to Death, the Children of Kronzyn are also tied to life, providing medical care to all status of society, spells of protection and regenerative serums that can heal major injuries that could otherwise leave the sufferer crippled and a burden to their family. This strange duality is the result of their beliefs in their god. Kronzyn is not a hungry god, ever devouring the dead, he is a god of care and indeed, one could say, of love. He is said to have a four armed form and no fixed face. The icons of Kronzyn depict him as having a blank mask for a face, androgynous and expressionless, round his waist hang masks of every race and every gender. For every person he meets upon the black sands, he wears the face that will bring them the most comfort. In one hand he carries the sickle of reaping, of ending and destruction. In the other he cares the pin hammer of making, of beginnings and creation. His other two arms are usually depicted outstretched in a gesture of welcome and comfort. Kronzyn does not judge, nor condemn, he listens, making the relic that encapsulates the person's life as he does so. A busy life of great duality may result in two relics, it takes an exceptional life to produce three.
The Children of Kronzyn share an equality within their work and society not enjoyed by many within the land of the Astral All Father. Indeed the reason that they wear masks while performing their duties to Kronzyn is to disguise the fact that their women are as powerful practitioners of their craft as their men are. They ways are different from the ways of the majority of the people of Tiansin and they are only accepted because they are useful. In return, they do not flout their differences before the people of the Astral All Father.
And there you have it, the Empire of Tiansin and the Great Depression that joins it to the rest of the world. I apologise for it being so late, all I can say in my defence is ‘summer holiday’. I hope you enjoy this latest offering and those of you who have a decko at the Youtube video will be able to see that I’ve been working on what I call my quick fire artworks. I’m hoping to have a Tebooo account set up soon but I won’t try and put a date on it because if you want to make God laugh tell him a plan but as I said I hope you have enjoyed this offering and I will see you all later. Be safe my lovely darlings and be kind.
