The Lake Country

Valossa has a reputation as an arid land, and not without reason - the western part of the main island of Aballa consists mainly of deserts and prairies, and even the mountainous north is dry and sparsely populated. However, there are substantial wetlands on Aballa too - and perhaps the most famed is the region known as the Lake Country, located north of Porto Libre.

Even prior to Taldameeri settlement, the Lake Country was a major agricultural region for the scattered inhabitants of Aballa. While it still boasts many lakes today, those lakes were larger and more numerous centuries ago. Many have since been dammed or drained to make way for settlement, and for the establishment of artificial islands the native peoples of the island used to grow crops. Through heaping soil onto the lake bed, plots of land were built up over time, stabilized by the planting of willow and juniper trees, and fertilized by the fish and salamanders that swam in the waters between them. Such floating gardens could feed many, and over time, they saw many of the region's lakes disappear into mazes of islands and canals.

It has been decades since the last floating garden was built, but they still yield handsome harvests, and some have been in use for centuries. Those close to the Lake Country's settlements are abloom with greens, fruits, rice, beans, and gourds. But so too, these man-made islands have seen kings rise and fall, and some of the reclaimed land has in turn been reclaimed by nature. Large tracts of Lake Country wilderness stands upon the silt of a lake bed, and as the roots that anchor the ground are lost to blight and flash floods, sinkholes and quicksand erupt across the ground without warning, which has caused the doom of more than one ill-fated expedition.

While most Valossans are descended from both Taldameeri settlers and native islanders that mingled and interbred, the sophisticated agricultural systems of the Lake Country sustained a strong population of the natives, and many full-blooded Valossans make up the population to this day. They are dark of skin and hair, and cultivate flowers for ceremonial usage, using them in decorative arts and offerings to the gods (although most are Pantheonists, some families cling to the worship of ancestral, animal, and nature spirits - some more covertly than others). They are also quite proud of the beauty of their women, and many villages in the area hold festivals with pageants to crown a "queen," who oversees ceremonial duties for that year.

The largest festival in the Lake Country is held during the Bloodmoon olive harvest season at the Hacienda Obando (hex 055.022), which is famous for its extensive olive groves and draws merchants from afar with its great market. The hacienda is owned by Countess Josefina Obando, a flamboyant woman who boasts of her great wealth with her elaborate fashion sense and delights in the company of the wealthy and powerful; her family has a permanent seat on the Grand Council. However, she resides in a villa in Florezentina, leaving day-to-day operations of the estate to her steward, Sebastian Barca - who takes his responsibilities with pride, though he begrudgingly wishes his mistress would step up and assert her authority once in a while.

The heart of the Lake Country is the city of Florezentina (hex 054.023). Sitting on the edge of a lake, and surrounded by islands and canals, it is a powerhouse of agriculture and trade, supplying its produce to Porto Libre and other nearby settlements, including the Abbey of Saint Mariquilla the Learned (hex 054.021), a monastery devoted to Mimir, the god of knowledge, which has a large courtyard to preach virtue and education to great assemblies of people from the surrounding villages, and Tarameca (hex 057.021), a major port town that ships its wares on to Taldameer and beyond. Many noble families, including the Margaritas, Vilalbas, and Obandos, have ownership over enterprises in the city, and it has no one feudal lord of its own, instead electing officials from the populace. But it has a strong local culture, and is known for the vividly painted gondolas that paddle across its many canals, as well as for its frequent festivals.

One important position in Florezentina is that of the Mayordomo of the Child - although it carries no actual political power. The city possesses a sacred wooden statue of a baby, said to have miraculously appeared in a field centuries ago, which brings good fortune and heals illnesses to those who pay homage to it. The Mayordomo and their family keeps the statue in their home, sheltering and clothing it like an actual child, and it takes part in festivals and processions. Each year, at the beginning of Snowmoon (equivalent to February), a new Mayordomo is appointed by the city's bishop at the temple of Eostre, and the statue is passed from one family to another. The city credits its prosperity to the child's blessings, but so too it is held that if the child is displeased, it may bring down plague and misfortune upon the people. Some even report seeing tiny footprints in the dirt around the home of the Mayordomo.

There are dangers in the Lake Country, too. One of these is the threat of river pirates. The region sits at the tail end of the great Chichinapa River, and a band of marauders has preyed on the villages and homesteads on its outskirts. They are headquartered in an old watchtower (hex 048.020) and are led by Galindo Diaz, a black-bearded giant of a man who commands his followers through fear; some even attest he knows how to lay the curse of the Evil Eye upon his foes. Despite the pirates' extortion of the villagers, Florezentina has been lax in taking action, as the dread captain is in fact the brother of an influential local merchant, Ysidro Diaz - he does not profess the relationship openly, but his loyalty to his family is stronger than his moral compass. Fed up with the indifference of their lords, some villagers have decided to take the law into their own hands, with the village of Cobanes (hex 052.022) training a well-armed militia that has even made retaliatory raids of its own.

Art by Matthieu Papy

Not all threats are human. The waters of the Lake Country are home to many salamanders, many of which grow to great size, and they have even been known to topple barges if disturbed. Some Old Faith cults in the area worship these creatures, and one particularly large specimen dwells in a pool beneath an old shrine (hex 051.023). Farmers and fishermen from nearby villages secretly meet at this shrine to pay homage to the creature - and sometimes, offer it victims as tribute so that its anger may be placated.

Finally, there is one floating garden on a lake north of the hacienda (hex 055.021) that has long been abandoned and overgrown. This is the Island of Dolls, for dozens of dolls hang from the trees. The island was once inhabited by a hermit, who one day found a young girl drowned at the shore, holding a doll. As a memorial, he hung the doll from the branches. But he still heard whispers in the night, haunted by the girl's spirit. He tried to appease her by hanging more and more dolls from the trees to grant her spirit company, but the voices never stopped. Finally, he went mad and drowned himself in the water at the same place he found the girl's body. Today, many of the locals refuse to go near the island, and those brave enough to set foot on it swear they have heard voices on the breeze. And the dolls seem to move when no one is looking...