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  1. Locations

Fjallur Isles

Continent

"Outsiders understand that the Fjallur Isles are ultimately ruled by the primal law of violence. What they recoil from understanding is that this is true of their gentler lands, too. A crack on the head tends to convince them otherwise!"

- Baldir, Cleric of Borsimer


History

The Fjallur Isles are situated on the far north of the Thunder Sea, nestled against the edge of the Shadow Sea and over time partially consumed by the encroaching advances of the Creeping Dark, a realm on the edge between the known world and the oblivion beyond it. Once ruled by giants and their mighty strongholds, their former slaves have made these isles their own and imposed an order of their own.

The history of the isles before the Curse of Falandine is among those least understood but for scraps of lost lore and remnants of towering monuments half-swallowed by the Creeping Dark, the mysterious phenomena of impenetrable darkness that appears to ebb and flow from the far Shadow Sea. Marking the end of the world, a sustained magical ward, or mystical disaster, it remains unexplained and the source of much superstition among the Fjallanders to this day. Regardless of the mysteries that surrounded their home, the foremost concern of the mortals who awakened on the isles was the inhospitable lands in which they found themselves and their unfortunate fate that awaited them when their much larger neighbours discovered them.

The Fjallur Isles were inhabited by giant-kin and however few they were in number compared to the lesser races, it did not take them long to realise how they could leverage their size and might to bully them into submission. Revelling in their new-found power and concerned with maintaining their mastery of the isles, the giants announced a new order which they called ‘The Ordning’ in which no equals existed determined by their lineage and deeds of their ancestors, except, of course, their lowly slaves whom were all equal in their misery. Through the Ordning giant-kin determined an ascending sorting order listing the foremost tribe down to the least, and within each tribe, the individual at the top and those at the bottom, elaborately catalogued by their scribes and skalds. For centuries this order served them well though the tribes would scheme and fight among themselves as the lessers vied for the place of their betters in the Ordning and the other way around, it was only when the tribes pursued a great reordering of the measuring runes that their carefully maintained society crumbled all at once.

As would be the salvation of many of the lesser races in the Age of Fear, the gods came to the slaves of the giant-kin and offered them the means to escape their lowly stations. That, and the terrific chaos of the unravelling Ordning as tribe turned against tribe, tribesman turned against tribesman, levying their slaves to fight their battles as the numbers of the giants dwindled. Borsimer, god of war, was favoured by the rebels most of all who rose up against their cruel masters and given time would drive them to the far corners of the isles and claim them for their own. The Fjallanders determined a new order in the place of the old Ordning, modelled after the giants’ reign as much as it was defined by defiance of it; in their Ordning there would be new tribes and they would be equal, within the tribes there would be equals, and the practice of slavery would be abolished altogether. However, among the former slaves there were those who cowered from the rebellion or remained loyal to the giants and they would be cast out and banished beyond the lands claimed by the tribes, an ancestral failure their descendants still pay for this day as they find themselves outside the Ordning. They would be the Utlagr, denounced as traitors and outlaws.

Society

Modern Fjallander society is divided between the Tribes and the Utlagr, those who are part of the Ordning and those who are not. To be part of the tribes comes with privileges and duties oftentimes denied to the Utlagr, recognized by common laws and traditions, but it is not to say that all has always been well between the tribes. The Utlagr live on the periphery of tribal lands, shunted aside to the lesser inner and outer isles of the Fjallur where they eke out a living among their own clans not so different to the tribal lands, but it would be a mistake to expect the customs that apply within the Ordning to also do so among the Utlagr. The vehemence that once marked the relations between the proud tribes and the shunned outsiders has cooled with time but sharp divisions still remain, while some tribals are keen to mend these wounds and some Utlagr long to be part of the tribes just as many cling stubbornly onto bitter prejudices.

While the tribes and label of Utlagr encompasses much of the isles, locally they tend to be divided into clans ruled by loose dynasties of chieftains that oversee a clan. Within the Ordning and much of Utlagr society, the four tiers of status is divided between the great tribal kings, ruling jarls, the free clansfolk, and the subservient thralls, all equal by law within each rank but as is often the case less so in practice. The Fjallander practice of thralldom is a controversial tradition in the eyes of outsiders but within the isles a stark contrast is drawn between it and the giants’ slavery. A thrall in the eyes of the Ordning is a full clan member with the befitting rights that comes with it and not as property that can be sold or moved, their children are born as free clansfolk, and they have the social mobility to be freed of their status by various means dependent on local customs. Most thralls who come into their positions are usually prisoners taken in raids or demoted as punishment for crimes, in addition to the occasional Utlagr given the opportunity to enter the Ordning proper from the lowest possible point. The loyalties of a Fjallander tends to favour family, clan, and tribe, in that particular order.

Religion plays a powerful part in the Fjallur Isles, outsiders are often surprised to find them a deeply polytheistic people although Borsimer as their long held patron god has played a prominent part in shaping who they are as a people. Borsimer has inspired their warlike nature as much as their harsh history and homeland, placing valour and personal honour as sacred virtues. Borsimer’s status as patron god of the isles was challenged with the rise of Atemar, god of mercy, during a great invasion of the Heartlands which would result in a great minority casting off Borsimer as their patron in favour of the gentler deity that offered them another day, a schism which sparked short-lived tribal war within the isles. Most clans now consider either Atemar or Borsimer as their patron but they turn to other gods as well with the turning of the seasons, worshipping the gods of life and death Alissa and Lunissa much to the chagrin of both their wider clergies across the sea, as well as Nossa for good fortunes at sea and Lyra for times of merriment. Mirroring the ways of distant Kiran some Fjallanders have studied the martial arts of turning one’s own body into a weapon as keen as any sword and studying the elusive primal energies known as ki, divided between two monastic orders dedicated to the Ways of the Fist and the Palm in the name of Borsimer and Atemar respectively.

Tribes

Sul Tribe

The Sul were the first tribe of the new Ordning and played a vital part in manipulating the giants to turn on each other, in particular planting the seeds of ambition in the hill giants whose prodigious stupidity rendered them perfect targets to set off the War of the Giants. This legacy of trickery has left a lingering stain on the tribe’s honour in spite of their pivotal part in Fjallander emancipation, a reputation not wholly unearned as they are today best known for their ruthless merchants and explorers ever on the prowl for opportunity and wealth by unconventional means. They have remained aloof of the other tribes in most wars and crises that have swept the isles, their kings untouchable lording from on high in the giant made bridge-turned-fortress of Sulbru looming above the tallest cliffs of the southern isles. Their tribesfolk tend to be by far the most well-travelled and worldly of the isles, responsible for the introduction of their own coinage and the flow of foreign goods into the Fjallur, a more open-minded attitude which has made them the most accommodating to Utlagir  King Rafnir the Goldpalm rules them today.

Sverd Tribe

The Sverd were the first to accept Borsimer as their god and have remained staunchly loyal to their favoured deity, traditionalists and eternal enemies of the giants as some of the most mistreated of all their slaves under the fire giants. Proud and fiercely inspired by their heritage as warriors, the Sverdlings tend to have particularly little patience for the Utlagir whom they consider at best as worthy targets and their fellow tribes as wayward in their changing ways. They are the foremost fighters and hunters of the isles, honing their skills against enemies near and far of which they never seem to be short of. Their craggy isles to the north are inhospitable and seal nearly shut with ice and snow in the winters, but their seat of Sverdhald is nearly unassailable shut in between the Shieldwall Mountains and the waters around their isles teem with monstrous (only the Sverdlings have the nerve to classify a creature which can bring down a ship such) prey to sustain them. King Ati the Firetouched rules them today.

Ljos Tribe

The Ljos are the only tribe to wholly denounce Borsimer as their patron and embrace Atemar, a decision not entirely unexpected to their fellows as the Ljoslings were always considered soft in comparison to their countrymen. Slaves to the decadent cloud giants, their lot was better than most others, some of them even educated and taught in simple wizardry during their time in bondage. They nevertheless longed for freedom no less than the other tribes though they were notably less vengeful in their rebellion and went to lengths to preserve lore taught by their masters, with it identifying the most fertile lands of the southern isles and making comfortable lives for themselves. Less intolerant and warlike than their other kin even before the worship of Atemar, it is no surprise their seat in the bountiful fjord of Ljoshald is the most colourful in its diversity of races which includes by far the most of lesser giant-kin adopted into the new Ordning. Nevertheless, their near-decadence and peaceful ways has set the stage for intrigues almost the equal of Heartlander courts. Queen Katja the Evenhanded rules them today.

Skagur Tribe

Once the mightiest of the tribes, the Skagur toiled on the edge of the world in the frigid homes of the frost giants and claimed their broken castles for their own much to the wonder of the other tribes who argued these freezing tombs were better suited for Utlagir to huddle in. Hardy and sullen as their former masters, the Skagur were nevertheless an innovative, tenacious, and powerful tribe able to eke out a living in some of the harshest climates in all of Aranor. Skagur clans explored and excavated into the foreboding Black Glacier, a seemingly infinite wall of ice revealed to contain ruins of civilization even older and stranger than the giants whose secrets they made it their ambition to unearth. The other tribes looked on upon this strange fascination for the unknown with superstitious fear and though few would say it outright, it was thought it was the gods whom punished them when the tendrils of the Creeping Dark spontaneously extended their reach over them, even leading to the most ambitious outposts to be swallowed by the march of the Black Glacier they tried to breach. Once thought lost entirely but for a scattered few footholds, the isles were shaken as the tendrils contracted again to reveal Skagurhald still stood, its inhabitants changed but untouched. Though they remain part of the Ordning, their traditions appear changed in subtle ways, claiming that higher powers protected them from the darkness but many fear these powers they speak of were no gods as they understand them. Queen Vatya the Wormeye rules them today.

Races of the Fjallur Isles

Humans

The most populous race of the isles by a small margin, they make up the brunt of the giants’ former slaves and the modern clans. They are diverse and varied in both form and attitudes with no particular stereotypes pinned down to these eclectic folk.

Goliaths

The goliaths are half-breeds borne of giant experimentation, discarded as disappointments and lumped with the other slaves within the old Ordning. Their giant ancestry sufficient to make many clans unwilling to accept them as part of the new Ordning, many of them are today Utlagr but their wandering clans are more often than not welcomed as mercenaries and labourers where they roam, having nurtured a reputation for heroic deeds and honourable behaviour for themselves. Although their post-triumph revelries tends to be enough to have most tribal clans heave a sigh of relief when they do move on.

Firbolgs

A strange offshoot of giant-kin whom tapped into the feywilds, those whom found themselves on the isles in the Age of Fear were unsuited for the demands of the Ordning and they were cast into the caste of slaves. They made difficult slaves to keep as their natural abilities saw most of them flee into the feytouched Watching Woods in the far north, today an elusive race ladened with superstition and wonder in the isles. It is believed to bring bad luck to harm a firbolg and to deny their hospitality is a grave danger, which has led to indefinite delays as their rituals of hospitality are cumbersome and extravagant week-long affairs to any guest unfortunate enough to be in a hurry.

Orcs

Though they shared a fate with the other lesser races of the isles, the orcs had very little other common ground with their fellows as they naturally gravitated towards bowing to powerful overlords and rejected worship of the gods. Employed as enforcers and thugs under the giants, the conclusion of the War of the Giants saw them the most harshly persecuted of all the Utlagir and reduced to barbarian bands. A few have nevertheless found their way into the clans or even the Ordning, the most prominent of the orcish Utlagir clans are the Sohammar of the Hammer Isles.

Dwarves

The dwarves similarly abhorred the tyranny of giants and fought bravely alongside their human fellows almost to a man, a common sight throughout the tribes though many chose to depart for a land of their own with the discovery of Estar or to rejoin the great dwarven kingdoms of World’s End.

Halflings

Halflings were the most troublesome of the giants’ slaves owing to their diminutive size making them especially difficult to keep track of and a missing halfling here and there were foolishly considered no cause for concern. This turned out to be an enormous miscalculation as they played a considerable part in coordinating the rebellion in the War of the Giants and have thus earned their part in the tribes. Like the dwarves, many would choose to depart for Estar, settling lands less turbulent and harsh than the isles that better suited their tastes. 


Other races

Many other races and monsters inhabit the isles within and without the clans, in the eyes of Fjallander customs race tends to be irrelevant to their status within the Ordning or the Utlagr.

Recent Developments

The death of Borsimer, patron to much of the isles, has shaken the Fjallur Isles to the core and the aftermath of the bloody wars led by the new bearer of the mantle, the mortal once known as Fion the Red, has similarly threatened the integrity of the Ordning itself. Rising to prominence during the Red Crusade, the dominant clergy formed in the wake of the new Borsimer known as the Iron Temple has declared themselves as heralding a new order for the Fjallur Isles. Under their rule the city of Kerahald was raised in the far north of the isles, carved into the Black Glacier itself by enslaved fire giants and made prosperous by wealth plundered across the campaign into the Heartlands. Fion, Borsimer, however one might call her the goddess of war, now resides hidden within the depths of the Iron Temple’s stronghold after her injuries, her priests ruling with an iron hand in her absence.

The isles are torn by conflicts that raged across it between those who answered the call to the Red Crusade or denied it, seeing the faith of Borsimer split in twain with those many clerics who refuse to acknowledge Fion rendered powerless in their worship of a dead god. The old virtues of the Ordning are similarly threatened as Kerahald’s power grows unbeholden to the tribes and welcoming of tribesfolk, Utlagr, and foreigner alike, but most gross to the old ways of all is their open practice of slavery used in it’s construction and paraded through it’s markets. How the tribes shall handle the crises and whether the former unity of the Fjallur Isles can remain in the face of Fion the Red and the Iron Temple’s upheaval remains to be seen. The destruction brought across the Thunder Sea remains an open wound to those afflicted by the Red Crusade’s onslaughts and the instability of the heavens now as a newly-ascended deity has chosen to remain on Aranor threatens further trouble, inviting plots from outside forces bent on seizing vengeance or opportunity.