Jani Jol is one of the few settled Elfborn states that did not originate from the Magnapuri Empire. The Upad Peninsula had remained largely uninhabited by Svoloctar and Kançiktar tribes for many years, purportedly due to monster infestations, though perhaps more likely due to inclement weather and lack of reason to expand. However, pressure from Magnapuri expansion into Svolo territory, coupled with threats of Ódauðlegurfólk settlement on the peninsula (and hence raiding of the Roundwards side of the continent) led to a joint expedition by a few Svolo and Kançi to scout the area. Each of the tribal councils elected a Chief to go on the exploration, who then chose a group of companions to represent their tribe.
Tensions rose almost immediately between the dour Svolo and aggressive Kançi on the expedition, with the Svolo Chief catching the Kançi Chief bedding two of his daughters before setting off. Sparks continued to fly as the pair disagreed at almost every turn. Where the Svolo wanted to lay traps for rabbit and forage, the Kançi wanted to go on a great deer hunt or go spear fishing. Where the Kançi thought to start campfires, far from where they could be observed from the sea, the Svolo stubbornly refused. Things got worse when discussions were made over the division of the peninsula. It was connected to the Balsifir mainland, so claimed the Svolo Chief, and as such all made sense as Svolo territory. Yet, as the Kançi Chief replied, much of it was nearer lands of the various Kançiktar tribes.
The arguing reached a head on the Counterroundwards side of Upad. Both Chiefs insisted that the land would be Svolo or Kançi, and there was no way it could be both. It was only the Svolo Chief’s fool, known as the “Laughing Man” who stepped between them before they came to blows. He told them “Well this can not be Svolo, and it can not be Kançi, and it can not be both, oh no, oh no. So there is only one possibility, oh yes, oh yes - that it is neither.” Before the Svolo Chief caved the petulant man’s head in, the Kançi Chief halted him, wondering if the fool had a solution. “We shall own this land, oh yes, oh yes. But it will not be Svolo or Kançi, or both, it shall be ours. Who else is here to stop us?”
On these words, the two Chiefs considered. The Svolo Chief had left behind a tribe largely conquered by the Magnapuri, while the Kançi Chief’s clan barely weathered the repeated raids of the Ódauðlegurfólk. This would be a new home for both of them, safer by far. There was already a dynastic blending in place, what with both of the Svolo Chief’s daughters pregnant by the Kançi Chief. They both cut ties to their respective councils and elected to build a great town on this spot where they had agreed, dubbed Svolokançbirlik (translates to both the agreement of and end of the Svoloctar and Kançiktar).
At first the settlement was derided by the more nomadic people of their respective tribes, with the settlers being thought of as fools. Yet it was this image as fools that gave rise to their identity and image as the Jani Jol, or Laughing Men. The original Laughing Man was instructed by one of the Kançi Chief’s new wives to act as mediator between the two Chiefs, a role that solidified over time to become the Jan Jol between the two other Triarchs of the government formed.
Until the collapse of the Magnapuri Empire, Jani Jol stayed secretive and isolationist, fearing high elf invasion of a rival city on Balsifir. Yet the population continued to grow, especially with Svolo and Kançi immigration to the Upad Peninsula. Since the end of the Empire however, the Triarchy has been more outward looking, establishing trade with the various other Darkwards states, as well as pushing back against the Ódauðlegurfólk. The latest Kançi Triarch seems to have a plan for invading or at least weakening þokudareyjar, to deter the raiders completely, though it remains to be seen if he will get support of either the Svolo Triarch, or the Jan Jol.