Love-Collector

I can't imagine the actual disgust I'd experience if I had to be one of the native people's "love-collectors." You'd think it was a matchmaker or some kind of highly-praised religious position based on the name, but they just go around the forests and pick up poop! That is, actual faeces! It's disgusting.

— A Jorandian explorer of the Endak Forest

The Endak Forest is full of the delightful yet fierce creatures known as the Ursalites. These small bear-like creatures eat a lot of fish and berries, which means that the faeces (known as ahdage-ahyohi or "love-bringer") left behind is incredibly rich in nutrients. The ancient Idkani quickly learned that this resource makes extremely good fertilizer, despite its offensive smell. And so the profession of Love-Collector was born.

An Average Day

Most Love-Collectors live out in the woods, as while the smell of the ahdage-ahyohi is not considered terrible by the Idkani, it is a very good attractor of rodents which are terrible. Their day is usually structured around the three major steps of the fertilizer's production:

1. Find and track an Ursalite with the intent to collect its faeces throughout the morning. This involves a great deal of stealth from the Love-Collector, as the creatures will either attack or flee wildly if they make too much noise;
2. Collecting and bringing the fertilizer back to their home. They often aim to do this in the middle of the day so that the fertilizer does not get directly into any food that they eat, and also so that they have enough time to return to their homes if they travel too far in any one direction; and
3. Turning over and sifting through the faeces to remove any seeds, bones or other materials which might cause damage or competition with any plants that are grown with the finished fertilizer. The Love-Collectors keep "plots" of fertilizer in various states of decay, only packaging it up when it is done.

Every few days or so, the light brown fertilizer is brought to the main village in small clay pots and handed out to farmers to be spread on the soil. Due to its high nutrient content, only a little needs to be used in order to improve the soil.

Type

Raw Materials Gathering

Related Locations

• Endak Forest

Related Species

Ursalite

Related Ethnicity

Idkani

Perception

Love-Collectors are highly prized by the Idkani for their importance in their farming economy. Despite the terrible smell of the ahdage-ahyohi, their contribution to the community is very well-respected. Outsiders to the region have been known to degrade or make fun of the practice, believing it to be either barbaric or at least ill-conceived instead of an important cultural practice.