Odola
Well-Known Member
Not recognisable e.g. in their specific distinct ornamental patterns. But still their material culture should make sense. So it is good to orient oneself on existing ones. If their have linen cloth that means that either they have to grow flax - and it is time consuming (and very stinky, as it involves retting and a huge amount of water pollution) to process it - or they have to trade for it - with whom? Elves? What would they trade for it? Wool is easier, and warmer, but still some pasture and shepherds are needed.So, I figured I would jump in here with some clarifications about the story. After all - as has been stated above, first things first.
The Haladin first appear in our story in S05E03, before the birth of Haleth. By this point, they have already established their own family homesteads in Thargelion. They are settled and nonmigratory. They have small farms, each supporting an individual household.
Over the course of S05E04 their social structure becomes more cohesive when they build a hall and stockade for protection. When an Orc attack kills much of the male population, they pack up and head for a new home. This is a short-term migration that takes only a year or two. They do not become a nomadic culture during this time, as this is a temporary state for them.
By the end of S05E06, they have found a new home in Brethil, but they do not return to the nuclear homesteads of the previous generations. Some might, of course, but most of them adopt a more communal lifestyle, not unlike the Aztec calpulli. They hunt together, grind grain together, and feast together. They still work no metal of their own, and remain illiterate.
So, what does this mean for this discussion so far?
At no point in our story are the Haladin culturally nomadic or a hunter-gatherer society. They might carry their grindstones with them on the journey to Brethil, but that seems unnecessary weight for the easier part of a quern to source on the other end of their journey. It's the quern stone itself that is a tough find.
7
It's important to remember that we should not be able to recognize a particular real-world culture as the basis for one of those in our show. There are historical (and even modern) cultures that have elements we could and should use.
Here a grinding stone from that time - it must be a hard stone to work: http://teatrnn.pl/lexicon/articles/stone-grinder-of-the-funnel-beaker-culture/
From all the verge of Neolithic/Bronze age cultures of Europe I am aware of this one seems to check the most boxes. So could be a good reference point of what is feasible.
Here a short video about the culture in an author's background introduction to his own book - but short, understandable and stating the main points:
Last edited: