Pohji
The Pohji are a partially displaced peoples, orginally hailing from what is now northern Jörgmark but having spread across the icy wastes of the farthest reaches of Northern Galisea. Jörgan slaving and colonising over the last 150 years has intensified, driving them from their traditional homelands in the northern Jörgan fjörds.
Culture
Average technological level
On land, Pohji are known for their sauna, a special type of bathhouse, the simplest of which are pits dug in a slope in the ground, and often used as dwellings in winter. Each sauna features a fireplace where stones are heated to extremely hot temperatures.
On the sea, the Pohji have constructed Gorach ice breaking clippers, which they use to navigate the northwest corner of Galisea, connecting the sliver of their ancestral land where some still reside with the vast tundra and glacier of the Great North.
Foods & Cuisine
Pohji cuisine is notable for its adaptions to extreme cold, having embraced Gorachenyan methods of preperation, cooking, and preservation. Fish and meat, such as pork, beef, and reindeer, are prominent in Pohji dishes, with fish such as salmon or roach being especially common, and reindeer being the dominant meat. Smoking or drying in order to preserve meat and fish is also common.
A traditional Pohji dish is the Tiriliki, featuring a thin rye crust filled with barley or rice, often topped with egg butter (munavoi). Pohji cuisine relies on grains such as rye, barley, and oats, alongside berries such as bilberries, lingonberries, and most prized of all, cloudberries. Milk and dairy products are less common now due to the environmental conditions of most Pohji. A staple vegetable of the Pohji died is the turnip.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The Pohji are an animistic people, believing that all natural objects possess a soul, with some polytheistic beliefs similar to the multitude of Jörgan spirits.
Major organizations
The majority of Pohji live in Pohjion, at the furthest northwest corner of Galisea. Pohji have adopted Gorachenyan ice-cutters to move along the coastline of their adoptive frozen homeland.
Related Locations
