Encyclopedia of Science and History
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LACOAST (pop. 55,000) is a medium-sized, hobbit-occupied country between the Southern Sprines and the Eastern Ocean. Known for its crafts, especially ceramics, clothes, and paintings, LaCoastians have a high average standard of living despite a wide range of income levels. LaCoast was founded by hobbit settlers in 9750, after two hundred years of constantly increasing settlement. Paying bribes to dwarvish, gnomish, and human warlords kept the country out of wars and treaties and allowed it to flourish in its sea-side niche. LaCoast possesses large quantities of idle farmland; it finds it more profitable to import food and water from its neighbors than to waste its highly skilled labor force in the fields. The country is also known for LaCola, a government owned business that sells the famous beverage of the same name; the non-alcoholic spirit that is served at all important political, business, and social functions whose important nature preclude becoming drunk. The land of LaCoast is poor and necessitates the importation of foodstuffs. LaCoastians "rent" their mountainous territories to dwarves (for mining purposes) for a pittance which is just high enough to convince them that they are not being robbed at swordpoint. During the Second War of Ilican Succession, LaCoast was used as beachhead by dwarvish forces from Allotrope intent on capturing the human lands through the pass. Unfortunately for the dwarves, the inhabitants of the Sprines could not work well with the invaders and fell to blows. In addition, an underground Hobbitian resistance sprang up which coordinated attacks with the Sprinal dwarves. Together they managed to force the invaders from LaCoast without devastating damange to the homeland. The cooperation had brought a little hope for better postbellum relations, both economic and political, but this was not to be.

LA GUAVA, PEPE (9231-9288) was a famous (deep) dwarven jeweler of the dwarvish renaissance. He is widely regarded as the best gemworker who ever lived. His masterpiece consists of a set of 7 large (24" perimeter) hexagons made of various precious stones (ruby, emerald, topaz, turquoise, amythyst, sapphire, and diamond) which are made of three successive half-inch layers of the precious stone, each depicting a different scene or event, although all three images per gem are symbolically entwined. The most recent sale of a La Guava masterpiece--the emerald, was in 10007 in Hematite. The purchase price was 1,200,000 silver pieces even though the jewel had been mysteriously cracked in the middle layer, probably due to poor protection from the elements.

LAUFERSON-FINLEY DEBATES (Michael Lauferson, human magic-user, Kantle Finley, orcish magic-user) were a series of debates in 9997 as to the superiority of potions ("Great taste") compared to scrolls ("Less filling"). The debate was never resolved, but did tend to equalize equivalent scroll and potion prices.

LAUFERSON, MICHAEL (9950- ) was a human magic-user notable for his research in the area of potion's effect in other liquids. He viewed potions as "Magic for the masses," that could make magic consumption as easy as grocery shopping in the future. He writes:

    Scrolls users are elitist snobs, believing the benefits of magic should be kept for only those who have studied such trilk. I'd like to take Kantle [Finley] and tell him he couldn't eat any food until he learned to plant it, raise it, and prepare it. He wouldn't last a day that scrawny dwarvish nock-loving atheistic son-of-a-nif.

LAVA GNOMES are members of a subrace of gnomes. They are completely subterranean, living in deep cities near lava deposits. They are very advanced in metallurgy and pyromancy, but very primitive in other areas. They trade freely with the outside world, exporting primarily arms, armor, jewelry, and precious metals in return for surface delicacies, slaves, and technology. [Physical description]

LEAKEY, LUCY (9972-) is a prominent anthropologist at UIP and author of Revolutions in Anthropology, the standard reference to the evolution of Ilican Civilization.

LEAKEY, LINUS (9971-10035) was the husband of Lucy Leakey and the author of Anthropology in Revolutions, the companion volume to his wife's work. Lucy focused more on the changes within the science created by new discoveries in the field. Linus work looked toward how the science had discovered radical changes within the history of Ilico. They intended to produce a single book but were unable to work their texts coherently together.

LEE, JEROME (9981- ) see Carnation, Order of

LICH is the common name for a necromantic phenomenon that occurs when a dead soul and mind is revived without a physical body. A suitable, quasiphysical body can be created out of magic and surrounding material, but it is difficult to achieve anything resembling a real corporeal existence. Liches "live" until the magic power animating their ability to move in the physical world--their energy source--fades or is destroyed. Liches are able to replenish their sources by various means; often most of their "lives" are centered around this activity. Liches are frequently powerful magic-users with high mentality; lifelong association with magic and much will power is necessary for the mind and soul to deal with being brought back as a slave to the powers it once mastered. Lichdom is hardly immortality, but it is technically not being "undead," either. Liches are thought to be a strong source of magical fallout to those around them.

LIONS, BRIDGE OF is a 760-foot-long structure spanning the Argentine River in the center of Porte Darthur. The bridge leads from the Square of Justice (which is actually the central market) on the south side of the river to the gardens that stand in front of the Ducal Palace. The stone bridge was constructed between 9565 and 9568 by Sudibin stone masons as one of the provisions of the 9564 Peace of Flevo [Trangle Island] which attempted to put an end to the lengthy, but undeclared, naval war between the city-state and the Komori Empire of the Sudibin. The bridge was damaged in the muncipal rebellion of 9717 but restored after its suppression. The bridge is most noted for the 485 marble lions carved on and under its balustrades.

LIZARDMEN are close relatives of troglodytes, excepting the fact that they live above ground, usually near the swamps that provide the reptiles, amphibians and plants that comprise the bulk of their diet. Lizardmen have tight family-oriented clans and are extremely vicious warriors, despite their (usually) primitive weapons and technologies. In physical appearance they resemble troglodytes, but have a greater variance in height and hair color, ranging from bright red to dark gray. [Where?]

LOUHI is the name of a minor shrine of the Drow found on Kevo Island in the bay outside of Jarvenpaa. It is sacred to the merchants and goldsmiths of that nation.

LYNCEAN GUARD is the personal bodyguard of the Metropolitan Prelate of Lyncepolis. The corps was initially created in 9986 to protect the person of Dannel Skillicorn, the Metropolitan Prelate of Kissing Dragon Pass East, who felt threatened by unrest in the streets and by the official comments of Plato and his followers about the proper role of the Universal Church in provincial affairs. The Guard resisted secession and successfully defended the cathedral and ducal palace against depredation, but when the eventual outcome of the rebellion became clear, the Metropolitan Prelate joined in the complicated peace discussions, one provision of which was that the he would become the Metropolitan Prelate of Lyncepolis, the new capital, and that his guard would change its name to reflect its new city of residence. At the same time, the Guard adopted its now-famous eyesight test for membership.

The Guard played no role in the Second War of Ilican Succession, being kept within the confines of the capital which was never seriously threatened. Since the stabilization of relations between the Republic and the Confederacy, the Guard has returned to its protective role, foiling an assassination of Jayom Lockyeer in 10015.

LYNCEPOLIS (pop. 25,200 (10046)) is the capital of the Republic. Odite Province, the region that became the Republic after seceding from the Confederacy of Dun Cess in 9987, had previously been administered from the ducal palace in Kissing Dragon Pass East. After the secession, Plato moved the capital to the small farming center of Cannermere to emphasize the esteem of agriculture under the new government. He renamed the city Lyncepolis--an allusion to the far-sighted orcish hero Lynceus--in the hope, perhaps, that his philosopher-kings would exhibit the same degree of acuity in war and peace.

Lyncepolis quickly grew from a population of approximately 4,000 before the war to over 10,000 by the year 10000 and continued growing thereafter. The city sits on the Canner River which flows south to Kissing Dragon Pass Lake. The city's public buildings include the Capitol, the Hall of Justice, and the Sorrows, all of which were built between 9993 and 10012 as part of an aggressive public works program.