Lodash

## Government

#### The King

The Exalted Kingdom of Lodash (Ȏghesh Maģdorum ish Lodash) is ruled by a demigod king - Maģdor i Ȏzymos or the Augury king, in human tongues. The King has absolute authority in state matters, advisors only advise the king on matters he does not understand as well.

The ruler is immortal, but can be killed. When killed, he is reincarnated in a body of one of the Halȏrn and returns to rule from the Spire of Blizzards. When reincarnated, to prove that it is him, who has been reincarnated, not another person

who is trying to become the ruler of Lodash by posing as him, he has to show that the orb protecting the kingdom follows his commands, for the Augury king is the only one who is allowed to use the orb by the orb. But these reincarnations of the Augury King in other bodies come at a price, for some ideas and memories of the person, whose body the Augury King takes over, remain and can influence his decisions.

#### The Council

As Lodash isn’t a densely populated kingdom and is exercising secrecy of the highest degree, it has no needs for governors of provinces and local leaders, instead, the Augury King has a council of advisors, which advise him on certain matters, like architecture and construction, welfare of the Halȏrn people, protection of the kingdom etc.

The council consists of 5 advisors - Captain of the Ice Guard of Lodash(defense), Master Ice sculptor(construction), Foreman of the Fisheries(welfare) and the Speaker of the Everfrost(religion), Taskmaster of the Seeker Caravans(Trade). Before the kingdom went into hiding, they were expansionist and warlike peoples, which was approximately 25000 years ago or during the 2th Frost moon cycle, and during those days, there were 2 more advisory positions, even local governors for conquered provinces. These 2 positions were - Conquest Tithe collector and Master of the Frost Legions. Now in the beginning of the 8th Frost Moon cycle, Lodash has no need for these advisory roles, for the Empire of the Omen King has been long lost to time and is only a distant memory in the minds of the Halȏrn.

## Religion

The Halȏrn are not very religious, but they believe in the Everfrost, which is a concept, that they were the first beings to have been birthed by the primordial energies during the rebirth of the world (Called Ȏrnrheos-i-Sȏhnal in the Halornish tongue). This concept of belief in the Everfrost is called Paleghosh i Berzhal or the Worship of Berzhal. Berzhal is the caretaker deity of the Halorn, who saved them from certain doom during the rebirth of the world, as back then, the world was a chaotic place, not yet fit for living beings.

In this belief system, there exists a person, who conveys the will of the deity to the people, the Speaker of Berzhal. He speaks the tenets of Berzhal to the populace of the Halȏrn during times of adversity - famines, kin-strife etc. He informs the Augury King of the will of Berzhal and he always has to be precise, for the speaker is the only person who hears Berzhal speak to them. The speaker is unique in the Halȏrn society, for he/she has pitch black eyes, which shows that he is being controlled by Berzhal himself and that the deity is channeling primordial energies through the body of the speaker.

Berzhal shows his will to the speaker, which then has to be conveyed by the speaker to the Halȏrn people. The speaker is not allowed to go against the will of Berzhal, by being untruthful or telling lies of what the Everfrost has willed. In the case that the speaker goes against the will of Berzhal, the being will leave the body of the speaker and as a punishment, the speaker will lose his ability to speak, for if one is unable to speak the truth in the name of the being that safeguards the existence of your people, one should not be able to speak at all.

Halȏrn do not have churches or other places of worship, for their place of worship is the valley as a whole, for the Halȏrn worship the King as a living deity and orb as a nexus of the power of the Halȏrn, and they can do that from anywhere within the kingdom.

## Society

The Hierarchy of the Halȏrn society is unique as it has only 2 castes - the people and the King. The King caste includes the King of Lodash and his advisors, but these advisors come from the people caste. Once an advisor dies, a new one from the people's caste is chosen. The people's caste consists of the rest of the Halȏrn people, be they fishers, guards, traders, landlords even other local people of power like the Acolytes of Everfrost or the Mages of the College of Berzhal, or the Lords of the Influential local families are in the people's caste. This has been this way since the Augury King came to power, and seeing that he came to power in the very beginnings of the Halȏrn civilization, the hierarchical system has been this way since the dawn of time for them.

The reason why nothing has changed for them is very simple, the Augury King is magically the strongest among them and also immortal as long as there are Halȏrn around for him to reincarnate in. He is the guarantor of safety for the Halȏrn and it is deeply rooted in tradition that they have a king who is executing the will of their god and if anyone were to go against it, they would be exiled by the rest of the populace of Lodash. It is also believed, that the King is unable to leave the Spire for too long, for if he did, the veil would fail and the Kingdom would be vulnerable to attacks for the whole period the king is not there.

Most Halȏrn see Lodash as the enlightened center of the world and the outside world as a place of perpetual dark age and to be exiled from the kingdom is a risk most Halȏrn are not willing to take. They are also aware that in the event they are exiled, they would not be able to return for the King would make it so the exiled person is unable to see the kingdom anymore or orders the Guards of Lodash to slay the person on sight if he/she was ever to try and return back. It depends on the severity of the crime committed. Some say that it is worse to see the light of Lodash, to hear the sounds of the kingdom, but not be able to return to it. Most exiled Halȏrn die from grief not from natural causes, as the separation from their home weighs heavy on the hearts of the exiled and many commit suicide a few weeks after leaving Lodash. Though this separation from home does not cause issues to the Halȏrn that have left the valley willingly either by means of travelling to other places or via the Seeker Caravans.

## The Veil

There might be a question coming up in your mind reader, how has the Kingdom endured for so many centuries. The simple answer would be - The Veil. It is a massive magical field of invisibility around the valley, that has only been disabled during the expansionistic period of the Kingdom. If this answer does not suffice, then a more exhaustive explanation is in order to fully grasp what the veil is, what it does and how it came to be.

*"...After Berzhal gave the Halȏrn the Orb, that had a part of his soul in it, the other part of his soul became a part of the King. When both parts of his soul had left the body of the deity, to not lose his physical form, Berzhal entered the orb he had created. As he entered the orb, there was silence for a moment, the Halȏrn were mystified. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Berzhal spoke in a thunderous voice:" AS MY BODY AND SOUL ARE NOW SEPARATE, THROUGH THE POWER OF THE ORB, I NOW MAKE MY BODY THE SHIELD OF THE HALORN PEOPLE AND THE FIRST CIVILIZATION!!!!" Then a beam of powerful light shot from the orb, a beam so bright, that the Halorn that had gazed upon it were left then blind for several days. The beam shot up to the sky and then shattered in a matter of a rain drop against stone to all directions of the valley. For a brief moment, the blanket of primordial energy could be seen, it showed many colors and the Halȏrn were amazed at the spectacle, but the spectacle was short lived, as the magical field soon enough became invisible to the naked eye..."*

(Extract from the "Rite of the Everfrost", 20th edition)

As the book shows, the field was made by the deity himself, with the help of the Orb, to which he had transferred most of his power. But that is only one side of the coin that is the Veil. The other part is the Augury King. In order for the veil to exist, the king has to be present in the spire. He is allowed to leave, but only for a short while for if the King, for a prolonged period, is away from the Spire, there is a chance the veil might come down, luckily, if the King arrives back to the spire and touches the orb, the Veil will come back. It works this way, for the King has one part of the soul of Berzhal and the orb has the other and when both parts connect, the magical energy surge is powerful enough to resummon the Veil.

When it comes to its functions, the Veil works as an invisibility field that makes outsiders and those not of Halȏrn blood unable to see the Kingdom, even if they entered the field. The Halȏrn usually do not fear this, as outsiders are unable to interact with the Kingdom and its citizens. The Veil, in other words, makes a sort of a pocket dimension of very powerful illusion, where outsiders cannot interact with the Halȏrn and cannot see the Kingdom. Though it has to be noted that the Halȏrn are also unable to interact with outsiders who have entered the field. The way the Veil makes the outsiders leave the territory of the Kingdom is by turning the dreams into nightmares and nightmares into reality. Most outsiders leave in a matter of days or even perish in the valley from their manifested nightmares. The Halȏrn are not sure what interlopers see when they pass through the veil, but it is speculated, that they see horrifying swamps, battlefields and forests.

## The Caravans

Even though the Halȏrn society values and wants to safeguard their secrecy, under the orders of the king, since the year 4300 of the 6th Frost Moon cycle, directed by the Taskmaster of the Caravans, the Halȏrn have sent small ships and wagons around the surrounding nations, which are located in the colder parts of the world, in order to trade their icy wares for info.

 The reason why these caravans were made is rather unique, because the King made them not to make Lodash rich, but to rather learn of what is going on in the world. The King knew that other peoples won’t give anything for free as the concept of money and wealth is very important to most, unlike the Halȏrn, which see the pursuit of magical knowledge and cultural values as a priority over money and wealth, though they have a currency, but the King thought that coins made of Blue Ice won’t be of any value to outsiders. Following these ponderings, the King ventured into the library of the Spire of Blizzards and began his search for what he could trade for the info on the goings on in the world. After some  lengthy search he stumbled upon a book called “The Acts of the Asthorn,” written by a Halȏrnish scholar some 2000 years before the launch of the caravans. In this book he found various things about these Asthorn, among which was that their primitive culture practiced a form of trade, defined by the scholar as barter. The king after understanding what had to be done ventured to the markets of Lodash in search for wares which could interest other peoples. There were Ice Flower silk garments, Carpets and various food items, but none of these were of interest to the Augury King, as to his mind, humans needed something more unique to pique their interest. Then he had a glimpse of a memory, from one of his previous lives, that Humans love shiny things, they even kill each other for them, be it gold, diamonds, emeralds etc. After this memory had faded, he went to the house of the guard captain of the city and told him to gather all the Frost Jeweler Mages of Lodash in the Spire for a meeting.

The next day, all the Jewelers had gathered and the Augury King spoke to them. He demanded that all jewelers should increase the amount of Jewelry they are able to make, as well as books on magical knowledge should be made, for situations when more valuable information can be obtained. The Augury king knew that only the Halȏrn are capable of wielding the power of ice, so he was not afraid that this might backfire. Following this declaration from the Augury King, the Frost Jeweler mages began their work.

In a few weeks time, the first caravan was sent out into the world stocked with the magical blue ice jewelry and Books on Ice Magic. But, before departing from the city, the King came to see the caravan, just to make sure everything was in order, as it had to be, to ensure the safety of the Kingdom. The King, after doing so, approached the caravan master and placed a small parchment of paper, rolled up and enclosed with the royal seal in the palm of the caravan master. Then the Augury King looked in the eyes of the Master and said:” This will protect you on your journey as it will grant you the ability to return to Lodash once you run out of items to trade and/or run into danger, and, to safeguard both you and the kingdom, you must keep it with yourself at all times for a swift and safe return home. It will also grant you the ability to secretly leave one place for another, so that you are not followed.” After saying that to the caravan master, the King turned around and began walking, but stopped after walking a few feet. Then he spoke again: “ There is another use for the parchment... As it is powerful magic, it is also a great item for trade, due to it being an omen produced by the Orb itself. If there is ever a powerful item or grimoire which could teach us something about the goings on of the world, you are allowed to trade it. Though always remember - once you give the parchment away, the orb of Berzhal will transport you back to Lodash and you will never be able to leave the Kingdom again while the veil lasts.” He paused for a brief moment and then continued, “ Be very untrustworthy of everyone, because other peoples crave to unearth the mysterious and magical.” Then the King turned his head, smiled, wished good luck and left with his entourage. The caravan left in silence, in the silence, these caravans have become known for.

Through the ages some things have been added to the inventory of the traders, for when the caravans arrived in small towns and villages, the locals of these places, were interested in some items, like drinks and food, and on the rare occasion when a noble lady was in the vicinity and noticed the clothing of the Halorn, the apparel of the Halorn. But the mission of these caravans is still the same, as they are still exchanging goods, knowledge and omens for other knowledge on the history of the world and latest goings on in kingdoms far out of the reach of the Halorn, like the deserts of the Aranyshami or the jungles of Citrala.

Since then, the Caravans of Lodash have been gathering information for the King and selling their icy wares to other peoples, ever careful and secretive about their nature and origins.

Though it has to be noted that the Halȏrn are allowed to leave and interact with other peoples, though, it must be said, when conversing with other peoples they can mention only of what race they are, things about themselves and where they are from, even then they are meant to be as discreet as possible, but that is it, as they are not allowed to tell where the Kingdom is located.