Odin's Folk Outpost OF#5
Map: H22
The outpost at Daldúnair is built between the 200 mile lake and the Northern forest. The forest is heavily engineered for defense and misdirection, and the outpost is well walled atop a hill raised by Odin's Folk and the Field Engineering Corps.
The local hillforts here are called Kughans,and are believed to be ancient burial mounds, for which reason ditches and basements are avoided. Odin's Folk raised their own hill, not to give offense, but made it the biggest so that they would not be misunderstood.
There are two castes here, that are largely distinct ethnotypes, the hill folk and the lake folk. The lake folk live in floating cities which they pole and sail about the lake. Their cultural center is deep inside the forbidding swamp on the southern shore. They are generally looked on as almost sub-human by the surrounding hill folk, but there are stories from ancient legend to modern times of them giving shelter to the hill folk at need.
Both trade extensively with Odin's Folk, and though both peoples include doughty fighters, they increasingly rely on OF#5 for defense and even for authority.
A world-class horse breeding program is in place here, combining Rohan's stock with the lighter steppe ponies. They also raise cattle, oxen, and pigs, take some fish and waterbirds in season from the lake, and grow melons, squash, and corn from which they distil liquor. Fermented mare's milk is also popular.
Large cats, bear, boar, and packs of wolves dominate the wild food chain, but deer and smaller wildlife are plentiful. Herons of exceptional size fish the lake, and are considered sacred by both the lake and hill peoples.
