Kingdom of Loradel

Loradel is a kingdom of cold clarity—stoic, resilient, and isolated by necessity. Situated across frigid plains and wind-swept coasts, its people are raised from birth to endure hardship. The Loradellians are known across Alagor for their unflinching self-reliance, frugal efficiency, and near-religious reverence for endurance as a virtue.

• Values: Endurance, honesty, utilitarianism, resilience.
• Customs: Eye contact is a sign of trust; silence is not disrespect—it is economy.
• Architecture: Thick-walled, hydrothermal-heated stone and polyglass. Everything is built to last.
• Religion: Belief in ancestral strength; shrines often dedicated to unnamed “first settlers” who braved the cold.

Loradel culture does not reward loudness or glamour—humility, functionality, and longevity are the ultimate measures of worth.

1. Hydrothermal Cities

• Loradel’s cities are partially subterranean or canal-based, built around hot spring canals and geothermal wells. The capital itself is interwoven with these warm water channels, allowing survival in subzero conditions.

2. Frostglass Refineries

• Loradel produces specialized transparent alloys and frostglass used in harsh-environment vehicles and starships. These are highly prized across the Empire for arctic expeditions and void-facing transport.

3. Stonecode Archives

• Loradellians developed a technique of cold-etched data preservation in mineral slabs—used for legal records, inheritance rights, and survival logs. Some archives are 3,000+ years old and still in use.

Thallor Loradel and the Reluctant Crown

In the ancient, blood-soaked age before the unification of Alagor, the land that would become Loradel was consumed by endless tribal warfare. The realm teetered on the edge of ruin as countless clans waged bitter, generational wars, heedless of consequence or cost. It was not kings or warlords who sought peace—but seven ordinary individuals, each from a different walk of life.

Among them was Thallor, a smith from the frigid northern reaches. Not a soldier, not a noble—just a man who had seen enough blood on iron to know something had to change. Together, the Seven journeyed to the Four Dragons of Alagor, ancient arbiters of power, and pleaded for intervention. Moved by their sincerity, the dragons agreed—but imposed a steep cost: the Seven themselves would become monarchs. Power, the dragons decreed, must come from those who never sought it.

With grim acceptance, he returned home and laid the foundation of Loradel in the most hostile territory—snow-choked plains, biting winds, and frozen highlands. He chose hardship over glory, founding his kingdom not on conquest, but survival.

In time, Thallor Castle rose as a fortress of endurance and justice. Its stone, like its founder, was unadorned and enduring. From there, Loradel grew—not into a land of wealth, but of will. Thallor’s ideals became the kingdom’s marrow: humility, fortitude, and unshakeable resolve. He never ruled from a throne of luxury, but from a forge—quiet, present, and enduring.

Today, Queen Elena Loradel continues his line, and the people of Loradel still carry Thallor’s legacy in every stone hall and snow-covered outpost.

Loradel does not maintain a vast army—but every citizen is effectively trained for survival and defense.

• The Endurance Corps: Specialist units trained for survival, sabotage, and long-term cold warfare. Known for outlasting rather than outgunning enemies.
• Frostwatch: Elite border patrols that monitor encroachment along the Great Lake of Vishar and the Valtorian high paths.
• Drill-Law: All Loradellian settlements enforce mandatory quarterly emergency drills for ice collapse.

Loradel’s soldiers are not flashy—they are precise, practiced, and profoundly hard to kill.

While not a major exporter of luxuries, Loradel provides critical resources to the wider Empire.

• Exports: Frostglass, geothermal reactor cores, glacial salt, water purifiers, insulated fabrics.
• Imports: Fruits, grains, electronic consumer goods, entertainment media.

Transport:

• Therma-routes: Heat-mapped roads underlaid with geothermal veins used for land convoys.
• Lake Barge Network: Heavy barges operate on the Great Lake of Vishar during its brief thaw season.