Latolia flag
Capitol: Nordvik
Official Religion: Mother-on-High
Major Cities: Svejelad, Jotunbodr, Vedal, Hodr, Amsfjal, and Lokirje.
Citizens: The people of Latolia are called Lats, Latolians or Tolans. The Lats are known for their nearly colourless complexion and often sunken or sallow features. Tall, thin and pale, their hair and eyes are often nearly white in their shades of blond, ash or grey. Despite these wiry and long-limbed people, they generally possess a considerable strength and unmatched fortitude.
Culture: Their ability to survive the harshest climates and scathing dangers has made their people highly desirable as navigators, guides and bodyguards.
Historical Notes: Latolia is one of the bastions of the once wide-spread Mother-on-High faith. Its Goddesses, likely once local pagan deities have long been interchangeable names for the Mother - Freya, Siff, Frigg, Gerd and Idunn, all have made the annals of the Mother-on-High tradition. Because of this long association, the Lats have many unique aspects to their style of worship - including recignizing male demigods, which they define as heavenly Adonis and Cherub figures. Curiously, in their culture, such practices are not mimicked, but live on through their mythology. Thus Odin is the Cherub for the Mother, Frigg; Loki is the Temple Herald; Thor the Mother's divine hand of retribution; Heimdallr is the Temple Guardian; Baldur is the quintessential Adonis, and so on.
In a land that spends its majority covered in some degree of frost and or ice, it comes as no surprise that worship has always been an intrenched aspect of their culture. A reason to gather, to commune, to rejoice and to light the dark days and bitter nights is a rallying point that has long defined Latolia's people. In this respect, their faith is not merely a matter of spiritual belief, but of survival, and so they bear their religion with a quiet and confident grace. Perhaps for this reason, despite the gradual conversion of the lands between Mother Numas and Latolia, the latter have never flagged nor failed in retaining their faith despite missionaries, diplomatic pressures and wars that have striven to convert her people.
(Influences: Norway, Iceland, Denmark)