Yolp
"Across the Delent my carriage rode, passing through that endless sea of colored wheats. I nearly leapt from my carriage at every passing village, desperate to end the boredom of wheat fields and shallow conversation. The people I found were the humble yolps, men of mole-like stature and features. They reminded me of gnomes, but their features were far more animalistic and their broad hands were so clumsy and star-like. My Hainish companion, perhaps jealous at how I was more interested in these rag-clothed rodent-people than his dull genealogies, practically forbade me from interacting with these curious folk. They seemed as fascinated by me and my fashions as I was by them and I ignored by haughty friend to sup with them.
These mole-men are called Yolps, and they live in burrows like the giant moles that once birthed their ancestors. Their hill-side houses and lavish basements were scenes of such humble grace. No manor or castle can contain the simple joys of peasant hospitality. My knightly companion told me that these were "wormly" folk, repeatedly - and certainly, they had racks of enormous yard-long worms they were preparing to dine upon. But they also shared with me their roast chicken, their numerous cheeses, their hearty peasant stew, and their fresh baked bread. I insisted I sample their worms as well, which shocked them. They apologized profusely through their slurred accents, but I have to say that I have eaten worse in my travels. I gifted them a gold coin for their hospitality, and they thanked me with an earnesty that I thought vanished in our modern era. I ventured on to Zinduhl, city of the Yolps, and found their humble manners charmingly present in their miller's town. There, dear readers, the Yolps so took to me that they were willing to impart their wisdom as if I was one of their own. They took me to a dingy home, ceiling so low I practically crawled - but whose straw floor and hearth shared that same warmth I found on the road. There, an elder Yolp, fur white with age, took my hand and offered to read my fortune. I shall not tell how she did this nor what she found, for those are not my secrets to reveal. But I will say that what I learned changed my life. Never forget that sages grow in among those who toil the earth, just as roses bloom beyond the gated garden." - from The Travels of Balahar, Child of Emesh, in the Crazed Wilds of Stildane
Yolps are a kind of Starspawn in Stildane, native to the region known as The Delent. Yolps are mole-like physically, with mole-like faces and broad star-shaped hands. They are skilled at digging and burrowing, and Yolpish communities often have community experience in digging their homes rather than just building them. Yolps are omnivores, though their tastes are a bit different and they better appreciate the flavors of a good bug. There is some light magical connection between Yolps and creatures of the dirt - they can certainly talk with moles and other burrowing beasts as a magical talent.
Yolps are stereotyped as stupid, simple, humble, superstitious, and dependable - basically, as peasant farmers who enjoy being peasant farmers. That said, they are also seen as being more mystical than others, more "in tune with nature" and better able to detect omens, spirits, ghosts, and other mysterious forces. Neither of these stereotypes have any actual weight. While most Yolps have been stuck working as peasant farmers, they are neither universally content with their social position nor are they biologically attuned to it. Many Yolps raised in majority-Yolp communities do have their own accent and traditions, these are no more irrational or "backwards" than any other group.
Indeed, Yolps were once warrior-clans who ruled their homeland to the detriment of other local communities; the close-knit same-species communalism seen today was once the product of a military regime. They worshipped gods deep underground and maintained a rich religious tradition that Yolpish "superstitions" often are descended from.
Not all Yolps belong to Yolpish communities or maintain a connection to the old ways. Some Yolps wander the world, work in shops in distant lands, or embrace foreign cultures and religions.
Civilization and Culture
History
Little is known of the Yolpine before 1000 ME. It is possible they were simply one of the many "Toshvem" tribes - groups who wandered the ancient plains of the Delent. Perhaps the Yolps were one of the tribes who became militarized fighting the Kivish invasion of 495 ME. Maybe they were outsiders who migrated into the region suddenly. Legends obscure just as much as they enlighten in this regard.
According to some local stories, the Yolpine burst out of the ground without warning and set upon the people of the lake with iron axes and wild sorceries. The Yolpine agree that they emerged from the Earth, but claim that they were the original inhabitants of the land who were driven underground by the "Geltmog", a demon in the shape of a bird that demanded a regular tribute of innocent babies to eat and ruled over a cruel avian army. They say that the "Buried Lord", a powerful God that rules a magical land under the surface of the earth, accepted them and transformed them to live in his Kingdom. He taught them to work with iron and magic, and promised to one day spare them the terrors of the surface world when the Ederstone seeds sprout and end the surface as we know it - in exchange, they would revere him and call him God and King. They then emerged to the surface and, led by a great champion, slew the Geltmog. Having toppled the terrible birds, they took their lands back and offered the newcomer lake tribes safety in exchange for grain. Strangely, the folk stories that are likely descended from the conquered tribe's descendants seem to not describe any kind of Demon-birds, while the Yolpine legends and Andrigan chronicles do. The folk tales do tell of a different horrible witch-monster that ruled the lake before their ancestors, though. These contradictory accounts do not form a clear and cohesive historical account. Regardless, Yolpine (whoever they were then) conquered the Ishoteb tribe and became a military presence sometime between 600 and 900 ME.
At some point before 900 ME, the Yolpine tribe built the early city/town of Ishlaht (where Zinduhl now stands) and established a dominant relationship over the other 'Toshvem'. The Yolpine likely combined Hainish technologies and hierarchies with the customs and traditions of the Eastern Delent to become the dominant military and economic power of the valley. The Yolpine were mostly burrowing Starspawn, and they built great underground networks and warrens in the East; they were exceptionally good at making traps and ambushes for wayward Kivish raiding parties or monsters. The Yolpine were also excellent diplomats; they acquired Hainish technology and actively worked to court Liberated Path Kivish mystics in the 900s to acquire Kivish contacts and technologies.
The Mageplague devastated the Yolpine, like it did everywhere, but it left behind a more unified, stratified, militaristic Yolpine kingdom. The new regime actively colonized the other tribes and sought to dominate the people and landscape of the valley in ways that prior regimes did not. By 1200, the Kingdom of Hain recognized a growing potential threat in the Yolpine. In a series of minor wars and skirmishes over the 1200s, the Kingdom of Hain established dominance over the Yolpine - they extracted tribute and played kingmaker with Yolpine rulers. They also brought the early forms of standardized Uvaran religion, though the Yolpine largely avoided having Hainish priests instead of Yolpine ones and kept most of their old faith. By 1300, the Kingdom of Hain was confident enough in their rule over the Yolpine that they marked the Delent as Hainish territory on their maps.
From 1300 to 1500, the Kingdom of Hain was too busy dealing with a renewed Kivish threat to bother devoted resources to annexing the Delent. The Yolpine military elite adopted many Hainish customs, but only became more autonomous during this period - the Hainish Savadan monarchs hardly dared to interfere in the affairs of their "Yolpish Margraves". While Yolpine elites did adopt Hainish knightly titles and seals, and they did praise Ustav , they also kept their old pagan ways and customs. This proved to be an issue in the 1400s, when large numbers of Hainish refugees were driven into the Eastern Delent by the Scourings. Yolpine lords enserfed Hainish peasants and subjugated them before their own burrowing Yolpine settlers (just as they had to the other Delent tribes the Hainish refugees sent pleas to the crown asking for justice and Hainish law. The conflict between the two groups was particularly fierce, since the Hainish communities often characterized the Yolpine as "defeated barbarians brought into the garden" that had no right to command them. The crown worked its best diplomatic efforts to make things better for the Hainish refugees, and they did manage to get Hainish law applied - but the tension wasn't resolved.
Another point of tension was the Yolpine openness to non-Reverent Kivish groups. Liberated, Promised, and even some Exalted Path Kivish moved freely through Yolpine land; many settled down in the Delent. While the Kingdom of Hain welcomed the Promised Path (conditionally), they outlawed the Liberated Path and generally felt that all Kivish groups needed to be regulated. This concern escalated when the Kivish were invited to help build up the Yolpine capital of Ishlaht - and the Liberated Path housed in "Angel" in the Temple of Eternal Life (a nominally "Uvaran" temple that already was built on top of a great Ederstone beast). The Kivish and Yolpine called this beast "The Angel of Blessed Chains", while Hainish folk called it "Solmzar the Worm-Weeper". This sowed the seeds for the "Yolpishklung" - the fall of the Delent.
After the Fourth Scouring ended, Hain no longer had a Kivish apocalypse to occupy their attention. While the application of Hainish law for Hainish refugees eased the Kingdom's immediate need to march soldiers into the Eastern Delent, many still wished to see the Yolpine finally brought fully to heel. Hain still was recovering from two centuries of slaughter, and the Yolpine lords were strong enough to resist many forays. Over the 1500s, Hainish "Questing Knights" harassed the Yolpine, forcing the "Margrave King" to turn to another strategy: Hainish courts. The Yolpine sued every knight that dared quest against them or their Kivish subjects, but this strategy made them more and more reliant on Hain's institutions. Finally, in 1575, Princess Sammara Hugelma of the newly promoted House Hugelma leveraged a series of court cases to claim that the Yolpine were entirely subject to all Hainish laws - and that they were violating Hainish law with their customs.
Princess Sammara rode into the Margrave's lands, deposed him, and installed a new leader - but she found that the entire local establishment turned against her when she tried to enforce royal law. Her candidate was murdered and replaced with the old Margrave; the Yolpine were officially in revolt. Unfortunately for Princess Sammara, her House was weak and the crown saw the revolt as a House Hugelma problem rather than a crown problem. If she wanted her House to rule these lands, she would have to conquer them herself. She was forced to seek allies in the lower echelons of House Savadan and in the subjugated peoples of the rural Delent who resented Yolpine impositions. The locals seemed to want to retain their Kivish folk and some of their customs, and followed Sammara's bastard half-sister rather than Sammara herself. Through help from a handful of unorthodox Uvaran mystics, the Spring Knights , local warriors, and a host of second-sons, the Princess cast down the Yolpine lords and slew the Worm-Weeping monster.
From 1580 to 1680, the Yolps retained a sense of their old political identity and religion and fought to retain political power over their old lands. After the Fifth Scouring - an apocalyptic war from 1680 to 1750 - swept through the region, political division and resistance was largely broken. The Yolps were, for the most part, ejected from any position of power and assimilated into Hainish Culture. Still, Yolpish culture and traditions haven't died out and Yolpish kinship networks remain strong. This refusal to give up on who they used to be has set Yolps apart as "backwards", "superstitious", and "weird". Some individual Yolps have rejected their old culture to escape this. And yet, many common Yolps keep as the have, resilient and persistent in the face of great change.
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