Do they have a flag?

Created flags for all the nations and added them to the gazetteer pages.

Vye

Jorvik

Gasmithon

Acadia

Gump

Some extinct species were revived in a fashion using archived genetic information and placeholder DNA. The descendants of these experiments are known as gumps and comprise the majority of large wild animals.

Their instincts are not as keen as their ancestors', and their stock is often pulled from small samples, so they are a bit weaker. The first gumps were taught by humans how to behave in the wild again, and now all such creatures share a slight affinity for humans. Gumps are slowly becoming healthier and wilder, but the stamp of humanity is indelible on the current generations.

Hydra

Thaia-thaan'ag attaches woven cables of amphisbaenas to victims and cultists to create hydras. The serpents bolster the host's body while subjugating its will to a communal mind. The other ends of the cables join at a common mass, which coordinates the individual "heads".

Sometimes a leader medusa will serve as the center of the hydra instead.

"Mining" the Ocean

Acadia is an important exporter of minerals. Along the coast, villages and cities tend huge colonies of curious mollusks growing on long, trailing ropes. Every couple of years, these ropes are hauled from the ocean and strung down the beaches in great reeking piles. Then the hivewatchers come bearing their roasp colonies, which swarm through the mess, each strain extracting iron, gold, tin, or some other material for its hive, which the shellfish have been engineered to extract from the seawater and store in their own shells.

It is not a particularly pleasant time to be visiting Acadia, and the residents always breath easier when the ropes have been picked clean and cast back into the sea. The hives then are gathered and rendered, and many are bought by the hivewatchers themselves for transport and trade to the inland nations.

Stockpot

Another common household item is the stockpot. This metal pot of brackish and yeasty sludge sits in the kitchen, where scraps, bones, and offal are tossed in. When full, it is gently heated, and a thick, pasty skin forms on the top.

Cooled and jarred, this skin is used as a very nourishing spread or filling for bread. It has a taste something like salt, or mushrooms, or marrow, but not exactly like any of them. This stock, along with ubean/rye/corn bread, makes the standard ration of most soldiers and travelers.

Bread

Most bread is made from a blend of cornmeal, rye, and ubean flour.

The basic loaf becomes a simple but very nutritious meal when eaten with stock. Fancier loaves could be honeyed or filled with fruit.

Here are some nutrition listings for cornmeal and soy flour. The combination seems like not a bad one for a dietary staple.

Glist

Loosely-knit groups of coastal gypsies.

  • They cross national boundaries pretty freely, trading what they scavenge and fish from the ocean in the cities. They are tolerated by authorities because of the quality and oddity of their wares.
  • They should be known for their huge water dogs, which they use to hunt and as beasts of burden. However the dogs are much a part of each family as the people and are very respected and loved.
  • They are accepting of outsiders, and sometimes people run away from their problems or past to live with the Glist. Likewise, members of the families occasionally abandon their nomadic lifestyle and settle in a city or town. Whenever a band of Glist passes through the town of one of these wayward children, there is always a great celebration and reunion.
  • They worship the sea as a living deity, but worship is a relatively mild part of their lives. Freedom and beauty are their highest ideals.
  • A bloodline of divers runs strong in the Glist.

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