Jalóheim
Archivist's Excerpt from: A Tale of Almost Two Cities: Orphan Heights & Related Histories, CVI 42:4
Much like the rest of the Galó peoples who, for some reason, settled in The Expanse, the settlement of Jalóheim is as much a Clan name as it is the name of their settlement, and where Faldin Clan settled in Istlund, and clans Ormisson and Farasson are believed to have settled up in Sordun Valley, Jalóheim chose to make home in a large ravine along the Yedak River in the west called The Rift, gifting them access to the river water and, most importantly by offering wind shelter against the ravenous Storms of the Expanse, making The Rift one of the only survivable places in The Expanse.
Rather, it was, until the drying up of the Yedak River. Then, not so much.
Demographics
The people are exclusively Galó, and despite the similarities in the names, this term and the clan name Jalóheim are unrelated. Notably, there are few, if any elderly in the settlement, as they are the easiest victims of the violent incursions of Clan Faldin.
The defining characteristic of the settlement that differentiates it wholly from its counterparts is the development of its particular religious sect of Jalós Zealotry, which dominates its life and culture.
Though all Galó are said to maintain traditions of their forerunners' beliefs, mythologies, and values, it is specifically Jalóheim that seems to have departed from this and established a new religion, to the point of renaming their entire clan in its honour. Whatever their original name, if they ever had one upon breaking away from the rest of the settlers, it is lost to history. Surely, it must have been imaginative.
Government
Like the rest of the Galó Clans, Jalóheim follows a simplistic structure. The Chieftain says what's so, and heads are knocked about if it isn't followed. Simple. Clan leadership is not dynastic, though it often can proceed through family lines, assuming the inheritor is worthy of the title. Though it is assumed that, at one time, Clan leadership was a matter of tests of mettle and single combat, these days, it mostly falls lands on bravado and posturing, and everybody's satisfied enough.
Industry & Trade
There exist records that Jalóheim once engaged in trade of sorts with surrounding settlements, but those days are long gone, especially since the drying of the Yedak River some years back. Since then, it has been a pure measure of survival alone.
Districts
Points of interest
Well, that depends upon one's definition of "interest," doesn't it?
Well ... there's the Ration Well, and the Temple of Jalós might be interesting, very interesting if one were allowed in it, or to know the things the High Priestess of Jalós knows about it, but alas, they are not. The Proving Tree is certainly a curious thing.
Architecture
Built largely onto the various sloping levels of The Rift's walls or along the valley floor, Jalóheim is something of a ramshackle, staggered place, devoid of intentional layout or design, though there is evidence of earlier structures within the settlement, now used as foundations for the existing buildings, which most Archivists, historians, and scholars agree are, by comparison, pretty much rubbish.
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