Jal'sa

Structure

Droghi First Officer Second Officer Third Officer Fourth Officer Followed by a number of elite troopers of other types (such as the Drop Unit ), infantry, retired army in civilian work, and civilians.

Culture

Jal'sa is famous among the Greater Pass clans for their long history and rich tapestry of customs related to the Frozen Wastes and the Snow Warrior, with a unique liturgical calendar of offerings to the entities in the Wastes, a large collection of weather lore (such as related to the The Movements of the Snow Warrior), and even a claim to the Spear of Ice. Members of Jal'sa droga perceive this as perfectly normal, claiming these practices go back to the beginning of time, although they are perceived by others on a spectrum between "strange" and "superstitious yokel". (Some of them take this as a point of pride.)

History

Jal'sa has long lived in the Greater Pass region, and their settlements are thought to be among the earliest ever built. Their oral tradition records a long history of favor shown by and relationship with the Snow Warrior (then Jeshra; there is a vague but extant etymological link between the two names), and the Snow Pups. To this day they are held to have the richest body of lore connected to those entities, including urban legends and modern accounts of encounters with the entities in keeping with much older tales from the area. Although the childlore of the region is notoriously impermeable to adult study, there is one notable case, disseminated by the adolescent aspiring storytellers of the region even today, where it seems to have had an impact on the course of Stenza history at large. During the Battle with the Stone Menace, every youth, child, and pup in the region ventured into the Frozen Wastes, ahead of a string of cold, clear days during which time the invading creature could be observed across vast distances. The body of lore associated with the event holds that the children ventured into the Wastes to plead with the Snow Warrior in an effort to help protect their species, and the Snow Warrior answered by suspending all local weather, creating the conditions necessary to hinder the creature over such a period (which is conventionally credited with delaying the conflict enough to allow the adult Stenza to devise a plan to contain the creature). Jal'sa religious experts were held in high regard well into the Unification period, enough that during the initial construction of The Wind Fields, they and experts from other, similar regions (for example, the Low Pass) were called on to negotiate the allowance of the construction and its boundaries (which forced the Stenza to build the turbines more efficiently rather than just construct them ad infinitum). Even so, Jal'sa is among the clans that have developed something of a reputation for superstition (or in a more favorable light, the preservation of customs once more wide-spread than they would be in modern times). Most of their folk knowledge is still respected (for example, their knowledge on The Movements of the Snow Warrior), so it seems that shuffling around the subject is the result of interacting with other spacefaring societies, and conflicting desires (representing themselves vs. protecting sacred places and practices) resulted in something resembling a more secular attitude.

Type

Geopolitical, Tribe

Leader Title

Droghi

Parent Organization

Droga

Location

Mudewei

Related Traditions