Hyvamaa

Hyvamaa in the Hills

As you continue your tour of Maapera, you'll come to the fertile region of Hyvamaa, lush and rich with the fruit of the land. The whole region is a gentle bowl of generous farms and productive forest stretching for miles in every direction. Three rivers, the Vanha, the Vahva, and the Viisas feed the lake, with the Vanha flowing out of the lake and down to the capital city of Reviiri where we started our journey.

The People

Three clans live in Hyvamaa: the Vanha, the Vahva, and the Viisas. Each lives in a town of the same name, located where the rivers of the same names empty into the lake. (As we know, Lizardfolk are a pragmatic people - those of Hyvamaa see no need for using extra names when one will do. The people, the towns, and the rivers share one identity.) The people of the clans fish in the lake, work the forest for its bounty, and tend well-kept orchards full of fruit known around the world for its quality.

The Food

You will enjoy a tremendous variety of food on your journey, for Hyvamaa has plants and animals that grow nowhere else in Liggjavard, most of them quite delicious! The traditional pastries known as piirakka are your best opportunity to sample the wealth of the land. Piirakka can be made sweet or savory with meat, fish, fruit, or wildly spiced combinations! Each of the local clans specializes in a few types, so as you move up the river and around the shores of the lake, be sure to partake. (If your visit is in high summer, you may witness the Hyvamaan Feast of Plenty, where the locals eat piirakka until they literally can't move!) At each meal in Hyvamaa, you'll have trouble deciding whether to try something new, or have more of what you already know is delicious!

Highlights

As well as the piirakka, keep an eye out for street vendors selling cunning wooden puzzle boxes (palapeli) - the wooden inlay uses simple patterns, but is typically executed with amazing skill. (You might even buy some piirakka spice mixes to put in the box!) The lacework (pitsi) done by the tribes is plain but of high quality. Metalwork in Hyvamaa is on par with that found in the rest of Maapera, but more utilitarian than decorative. Younger travelers may be interested in a traditional five-pointed hat (hattu), broad-brimmed and brightly colored with dyes from the forest, as a souvenir of their time in Hyvarnaa.

— A Travelers Guide to the Lizard Lands

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Language notes

Lizardfolk speak Draconic, which in Hvatvetna, shares a great deal with Finnish. The main thing to remember is that every letter gets used - whether two vowels or two consonants in a row, both letters are spoken when pronouncing the word.

DRAFT

This article is currently a work in progress and may be incomplete or subject to change.