Bogilas

Sitting upon thick stilts, the bogilas, or boghouses of Lochmalan, balance vicariously above peat bogs across the nation. While the bogilas do have a permanent resident, they are not built for housing. The low-oxygen, high acidity properties of bogs provide a natural technique to protect food and other organic materials from decay. The primary concern with using bogs for preservation is being able to ensure the items can be recovered. It is the task of the bogfishers to keep a logbook of all items stored within the deep recesses and who has requested said storage. Each bogfisher has a different method of tracking the information that they will pass along to their successor. Since most of the
A common approach is to use braids of rope of various colors and thicknesses attached to crates. The contents of the crate are tracked, and individuals who use the bogila more frequently may have a crate to themselves.

Access & Availability

The use of bogilas is relatively common in Lochmalan. Most storage is used for organic material like food and clothing, though occasionally the storage is used for valuables as well. The valuables are the reason the bogfishers keep their logs in code. Attempting to rob a bogila without knowledge of the contents at the end of each rope is a fool's errand; the vast majority of a bogila is filled with items of little value outside of survival. The coded logbooks are secret enough to deter most bandits.

Discovery

Pilas Thornburrow, a peat farmer and whiskey distiller in southern Lochmalan had been snacking on a small loaf of bread while collecting peat from the bog. The bread had fallen in, and while disappointed, he thought nothing of it. A few weeks later, he was once more in the marsh collecting peat when he grasped something solid. He pulled out his lost morsel. He scraped at the edge mindlessly for a moment and realized that underneath the small layer of muck the bread was still fresh.
Over the next few months, Pilas attempted storing various items in the bog and found that all of them were well-preserved. Pilas came into a windfall of coins as everyone purchased his surprisingly fresh and ripe produce late into the winter. He used his new found wealth to build the first bogila, and many others soon followed suit.