Valansyojæ

The Valansyojæ are a race of humans from the frigid continent of Brumal, far-north of Khyorgan and Eidyn. The Valansyojæ have adapted to their homeland by having tough, cold-resistant skin, though they still need to wear very insulated parkas, pants, and boots to survive outside of geothermally-heated warm areas.

The Valansyojæ are extremely cold-resistant, and their teeth have adapted to have fewer pain-receptive nerves than humans, assuring that if they suffer from cavities or otherwise find their teeth in pain, they will still be able to bite into chunks of ice to get water.

As a consequence of the many advantages Valansyojæ have in cold-weather, they are weakened in hotter weather.

The Valansyojæ historically tamed Wolves native to the Archipelago, and now use their descendants to pull dogsleads. The Valansyojæ also invented both one-flue harpoons and toggling harpoons to assist in hunting the whale which are of extreme importance to their society.

A notable feature of Valansyojæ culture is that every Valansyojæ is expected to participate in an ancient tradition of keeping a pair of gauntlets with them at all times, with obvious exceptions. These gauntlets keep their hands warm and can also be used as weapons as well as tools.

With a low supply of high-quality wood available, ivory is used commonly in architecture and tools, and enchanted ice is used in place of glass. The Valansyojæ also rely on lighter whalebone umiaks and pontoons and extremely heavy bronze, steel, and iron battleships in favor of more balanced wood-reliant ships.

The Valansyojæ religion consists of three deities:

• Atsalur: Deity of Balance, creator of the world, chief of the deities, represented as a whale.
• Reftofer: Deity of Chaos, creator of mental diseases and storms, seen as a fox.
• Ulfrunerth: Deity of Order, creator of physical diseases, earthquakes, volcanoes, and fire, seen as a wolf.

The Valansyojæ have a government known as the Valstanstare union (named after Valstanstare Hwulhulleenhet, chieftain of Hvalurbein island), the chieftains or representatives of each village meet every 3 months to discuss military action or threats to the entirety of the Valansyojæ.

While the Valansyojæ mainly have permanent bases only in Brumal, they often travel to other polar regions during the summer, occasionally leaving their bases behind to freeze over during the winter, leaving behind a multitude of partially-buried ruins in Erudite's northern pole.

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