Ealdè, The Land of Ancient Gods

The Land of Ancient Gods

Clouds, like clumps of cotton, hang over the pallid skies of Ealdè. Trees, softwood and broadleaf, capture what little light escapes from above causing the earth below to bask in dull shadow.
A vast majority of the hilled land is blanketed in vegetation and prodigious trees of the Ingrs that seem to caress the sky even as they capture fallen snow upon their needles and leaves. Mighty Diemaja watches over the entirety of Ealdè from its rime-covered peaks that breach the clouds. It is said that one can see the edge of the world where the viridescent Joprojam sea pours down into the abyss—the pit of Azeme. At its plateau lay the village of Blyskaad, the largest settlement in the realm. Home to a few hundred or so, it has served as a meeting place for the leaders of clans, Lineāls, for as long as it has stood beneath the shadow of Diemaja.

The Lauma

Humankind has an uneasy peace with the Lauma, tall beast-like bipeds that originally inhabited Ealdè long before humanity ever arrived. Very few are able to understand their language and even fewer are willing to teach it to others, creating a problematic language barrier between them. A human knows well that if they are to coincidentally hunt the same beast as a Lauma (more specifically a Zemè, a Lauma of the earth and trees), they should give the beast up to prevent a quarrel. Those that don't abide by such terms are often attacked or killed.

"This land be older than man itself. Ye best understand that those before, the Lauma, merely tolerate us lot. They know well how to smite us,"
-Lineāl Rajustas of Siegėlė

Despite the uneasy peace between the Zemè and humanity, there are seldom any issues or conflicts between the too. Lauma know well that their race is outnumbered whilst humanity knows that their estranged cousins are superior hunters thus the stalemate. The Kalnè (mountain Lauma), however, are not so cautious. To keep humanity from reaching their homes upon Diemaja, they have employed brutal tactics such as throwing them from cliffsides and putting human heads on pikes. To the Kalnè, Diemaja is the sacred birthplace of their kind and the only place in the world to speak with their gods.
When humanity first arrived, they attempted to scale the mountains in hope of seeing the edge of the world. As such, the expedition wantonly slaughtered any Kalnè that they encountered. They were considered to be Jeti, or ancient monsters that lived in the mountains. As such, many humans still call these misunderstood Lauma Jeti.

Related Tradition (Primary)