THELL

Flag & Heraldry (The White Moly)

A single frond of white Healing Moly, against a field of pale blue, enclosed between bars of dark blue. 

Geography

Across the frigid and (often treacherous) waters of the Frost Rush lies the collection of city-states referred to loosely as Thell. Of all the nations, Thell is the least well known, partly because of its remote location, partly because of its inhospitable (freezing cold) nature, and partly because the Thellan language barrier. The coastline has few serviceable ports or inlets, and those few that do exist are frozen over many months of the year. As a result, little trade is conducted, and even less tourism.

Culture and Society

Thellans place a premium on self-reliance — it is a driving force within their society. From an early age (and during special milestone ages during their lives) children are taught to fend for themselves . These rites of passage are held as proof of the strength of their culture. 

Interestingly enough, this has not made Thellans arrogant of spiteful, or even reclusive. While there is a spectrum of personality between the various Thellan city-states, most are warm-hearted, gregarious, even generous. Thellans are rarely seen beyond their borders, but they have a reputation for being trustworthy, fierce, and capable. Most people of other nations view them as exotic, and they are often subjected to something of celebrity status when they visit a town. 

Dress

Thellans dress heavily and in layers. Outer layers are usually furs, while inner layers are made of seal skin or waxed linen. Most Thellans mark their foreheads with a single white dot or a triangle of three smaller dots. 

Language

Thellan language is complex, and according to Cahedrists, must have evolved in a distinctly different way from other languages The language is an integrated mixture of words, clicks, gestures and body twitches, made more complex by the fact that it is learned through oral tradition — there is no native Thellan alphabet or writing. This has not stopped Cahedrists from attempting to codify it, but thus far there has been little success. Outside of Thell, there are very, very few places to learn Thellan language.

Some Cahedrists believe that Thellans culture originated in tropical areas of the Wyntiri Empire, but that after the Turning, they found their once tropical lands had turned to ice and snow.

Limited Trade

There is little trade between Thell and the rest of the world, save for a few items — but those items are precious enough to convince some merchants or adventurers to take a chance.

• Healing Moly – The most important resource is Healy Moly, a strange fern that grows abundantly in the snowy valleys of Thell — and very few other places. Healing Moly is the core ingredient in all potions of healing — it is due to this single fact that healing potions are usually quite expensive. (There are efferlecticly grown species of Healing Moly, which can also be used to create healing potions. These potions are more readily available in Callen Moor (where efferlectic agriculture is more common) and work equally as well. A cheaper price may or may not be passed along to the consumer.
• Foamchargers — These large, shaggy and enormously strong stallions are native to Thell. They are highly sought after by knights, paladins and warriors, especially in Regimantis, where a knight’s steed is a reflection of the knight’s worth and standing. To ferry Foamchargers across the Frost Rush is a dangerous, highly lucrative proposition. There is an almost insatiable market for them in Regimantis and elsewhere.
• Snowspice — Rare even in Thell, snowspice commands large sums of gold for small quantities of the substance. Snowspice is a unique savory salt, purple-pink in color, which forms only around the lairs of the gharen’tua — enormous white bears with small black antlered horns. To collect the snowspice, one must first find the ill-tempered bears, then enter their territory and scrape the crystals from the stones and caves they call home.

Food and Cuisine

Thellan cuisine revolves around a number of fish dishes, but also includes seal, hyrox (a kind of wolf), and icenoodles made from the purple tubers of plants in the region.