Cold Slate

The land

Gently rolling ground under the ice sheet, 1542 m up; far from any sea; frost the year round.

Cover

the ice sheet

Elevation

1542 m

Relief

gently rolling ground

The sea

far from any sea

Climate

frost the year round

The patch

about 1.85 km north to south and 0.13 km across; 1,853 m north to south, 132 m east to west, 0.25 km²

Centre

85.9083°S 72.2250°W

What the land offers a builder

Of this land: ice, snow, hide, bone, cloth, rope, fire. The land allows: ground, carved, ice.

Now

Snow and bitter here, 21:50 local, late spring, the sun does not set today.

The wild

Little that shows this month.

The lay of the land

• The grass meadow (meadow): a bright sward of tall grass damp with morning dew
• The wide floe (floe): a broad table of thick ice riding low on the cold swell

What stands here

THE SNOW HOUSE — on the grass meadow. House-sized, about 6 m. Ice, snow, bone. On the ground.
"A low dome of ice blocks with a sunken wind-tunnel entrance and a central lamp hearth"
A roof of snow atop the top: pitched low to shed rain and heavy gusts. A hearth of bone inside the centre: set with flat stones to hold the embers through the night. A doorway of ice facing the south: fitted with a heavy latch on the leeward side. A storage rack of ice along the north side, hung with dry provisions, cordage, and spare gear.
Of this land: ice, snow, bone.

THE WATCH POST — beside the wide floe. Small, about 4 m. Ice, rope, bronze. On the ground.
"A four-post ice frame with a planked platform and a bronze beacon pan"
A ladder of ice against the south side, lashed with stout rungs up to the deck. A beacon pan of bronze atop the top: filled with dry pitch wood for dark nights.
Of this land: ice, rope. Carried here: bronze.

The story, as evander tells it

Of the place

• Slate Shelf Watch was laid out by Evander Cole, who marked the grass meadow first and set the snow house to face out of the prevailing weather.

Of the people

• They keep a dry stack of fuel beside the snow house and share the first meal at the hearth with any traveller who crosses the grass meadow. (heard when a people lives here)
• Before winter sets in they check the lashings and stones of the watch post and sing the names of the first four who came. (heard when a people lives here)

The people

THE PEOPLE OF COLD SLATE — ice hunters and hunters, wandering, in bands.
No given names; each is known by what they do. They hold the sky sacred.
They keep: silence in the long night; shared catch; the long migration.
They like clear, ice, and snow. They dislike heat and fog. Closed to strangers.
Their words: hearth tiikuu, river or sea uuknung, winter or the rains saaiima, the dead aruulnii, home utkaa, stranger saangmaammaang, feast ngiiaakiim, child saangngang, old one ngaaitiituu, the place Qinilaa, the beast ankaa, the sky limngaqu.
Founders: four. Lore: 2 lines.

Ways

ice hunting, hunting

Settlement

wandering

Kinship

bands

Marriage

either

Naming

by role

To strangers

closed

They hold sacred

the sky

They keep

silence in the long night; shared catch; the long migration

They like

clear, ice and snow

They dislike

heat and fog

Founders

4

Counted

4 named folk, a household of 0, 0 born here, 0 died here

Founded

6 November 2026

Their words

hearth tiikuu, river or sea uuknung, winter or the rains saaiima, the dead aruulnii, home utkaa, stranger saangmaammaang, feast ngiiaakiim, child saangngang, old one ngaaitiituu, the place Qinilaa, the beast ankaa, the sky limngaqu.

Their lore

• They keep a dry stack of fuel beside the snow house and share the first meal at the hearth with any traveller who crosses the grass meadow.
• Before winter sets in they check the lashings and stones of the watch post and sing the names of the first four who came.

Named folk

The chronicle

Every line is a record the land wrote; the names in quotes are the owner's words. What the chronicle does not say did not happen.

Year 1

The annals: 1 founders; 1 people founded; 2 tracks; 1 ways changed.

• Late spring, the first year of Cold Slate: the ways of the people changed: name. kept
• Late spring, the first year of Slate Shelf Watch: arctic fox tracks across the spot.
• Late spring, the first year of Slate Shelf Watch: arctic fox tracks across the spot.
• Late spring, the first year of Slate Shelf Watch: four came to Slate Shelf Watch and lit the hearth. The net-mender, the fire-keeper, the watcher, the lamp-lighter. kept
• Late spring, the first year of Slate Shelf Watch: Evander Cole called a people to Slate Shelf Watch: the people of Slate Shelf Watch. kept

Here now

the net-mender (folk) · the fire-keeper (folk) · the watcher (folk) · the lamp-lighter (folk)