"Frostorm. When our ancestors fled the Great War, they found it. Of course there were people already living there, mostly orcs and others of the more monstrous races, but since our ancestors arrived just before the Stormwall did, it seemed a gift from the gods. They landed with a newfound 'divine' task, to conquer, build, and survive. Here we made our home."

- From the annals of the Scholar

Frostorm is the largest island in the Shattered Sea. It has been sequestered from the rest of the world for 150 years by a massive Storm that completely surrounded the island.

Frostorm's history can be divided into two sections after the Shattering. Pre-Stormwall, and Kingdom era.

Pre-Stormwall

Before the Stormwall came, Frostorm was populated primarily by Orcs. There were a scattering of other monstrous races and even gentler races, but most of these lived subservient to the Orcs. Frostorm's orcs were nomadic, grouped into tribes that lived mostly at peace with one another. They had little contact with the outside world, and both magic and technology were slow to develop.

When the refugees from the Great War started to pour in, the orc tribes were slow to react, believing that there was plenty of room for these newcomers and that the newcomers deserved a place of peace and respite from the war they were escaping.

Post-Stormwall, the Kingdom era

In 432 SSWY, the Stormwall hit. Frostorm was effectively cut off from the rest of the world, and the refugees of the Great War began to expand. There were four distinct groups of people that formed, and these came to be known as House Harmthane, House Thune, House Youngil, and House Usther. It was not long before the head of House Thune, Yorm, decided that Frostorm needed a stronger ruler and declared himself King. Through a combination of strategic economic and military surprises, the other Houses had little choice but to fall under House Thune's rule, and the Kingdom was created.

What follows is a historical timeline of Frostorm from this point:

First Kingdom Formed, King Yorm Thune - 445 SSWY

Coup Attempted by Prince Obbo Thune - 463 SSWY

King Thune Killed, Houses vie over Throne - 465 SSWY

The Fourscore Battle - 466 SSWY

Second Kingdom Formed, King Erd Usther - 467 SSWY

Kingdom Splits Under King Erd Usther’s Two Sons, Yoll and Trent - 482 SSWY

Northern Kingdom Fractures, King Yoll Usther Killed - 499 SSWY

Southern Kingdom Invades Northern - 500 SSWY

Battle of Trebbon Pass - 502 SSWY

Houses Agree to Cease-fire - 505 SSWY

Grand States of Frostorm Established - 505 SSWY

Great Orc Uprising - 528 SSWY

Giorg Harmthane Unites Houses - 529 SSWY

Fifth House Established (Orc) Redtusk - 535 SSWY

First Harmthane War - 540 SSWY

Giorg Harmthane Exiled - 542 SSWY

Giorg Harmthane Returns and Unites Redtusk and Harmthane Houses - 549 SSWY

Second Harmthane War - 550 SSWY

Kingdom of Harmthane Established - 554 SSWY

College of Harm Established - 560 SSWY

First Attempt to Dispel Stormwall Fails - 565 SSWY

Second Attempt to Dispel Stormwall Succeeds - 585 SSWY

Today - 586 SSWY

The Shattered Sea is the only known location on Sefferna. It's edges drop off into a bottomless void, the sea ever filling from the endless depths of the Plane of Water.

-- An excerpt from the famous debate between the honored philosophers Hamnock Gemtongue and philosophers Eri Leafmother, along with notes from the moderator.

Hamnock:

I agree with my esteemed colleague that concepts such as good and evil are unhelpful and outdated. However, I would posit that a scale of alignment is truly what is needed in order to encourage individuals to strive for perfection in Emptiness. Emptiness, the concept of one emptying oneself through selfless acts for others, is the most noble of all concepts. For society cannot help but to flourish when it's members seek the good of all. Every action should first be questioned to see how it can affect the welfare of the most individuals...

Eri Leafmother:

While I respect the more traditional position taken by my colleague, I would argue that his concept of morality and alignment is still basically a dichotomy between what he believes is 'good', Emptiness, and what he believes is 'evil', the concept of a Full Body. I would posit more fully that these traditional terms of good and evil have no place among the scholars of today and that in fact, the moral system laid out by Full Body proponents is of higher moral worth than Emptiness. Each individual member, when seeking the best outcome for themselves, will naturally work together in harmony and society will reach greater heights. We are all judged by our actions ultimately. What difference is there between someone who slays the Beast for the good of the innocents and another who slays the Beast for the glory and fame it will bring to themselves? Both actions result in the same end, however the second action also results in a net good to society because the Full Body adventurer gains glory and wealth from his actions and his wealth is spent among the people, becoming a net gain to society in general.

Moderator:

Both of my esteemed colleagues have made their cases well. Despite their insistence on ignoring the more balanced foundations of true neutrality, I believe that the dichotomy they have presented can be combined with the Way of Balance and set perpendicular to the dichotomy already argued by our esteemed society between Order and Chaos.

Combined together in this way, we arrive at a true Philosophy of Moral Alignment that I believe will stand the test of time as the most accurate. Nine beliefs emerge:

Moderator's Note: at the risk of angering the religious elite, I have taken the liberty of including in my chart the deity I believe most embodies that position. Perhaps this may help the common person in their understanding of this philosophy. We can only hope to find a use for religion.

In the beginning, there was only Minos, the Judge, impartial, adjudicator of all things. He stood atop of all things and his power was supreme. From his vantage point he saw all things, and he saw that the world needed Distinction. Differentiation. From his power he created Berma, the Light, and Vinthun, the Dark. Berma ruled over all things warm and bright and Vinthun over all things cold and dark.

Berma and Vinthun together pondered existence and saw purpose in creation, much like their father Minos. Together they bound reality into four lesser elements: Earth, controlled by their son Grong the Sturdy. Water, controlled by their daughter Usthera the Lifegiver. Fire, controlled by their son Firgo the Renewer. And finally their daughter Aesthera, the All-Binder, controlling the Wind.

These four lived in perfect harmony, and wonderful things were created. Plants, animals, mountains, peoples, all sorts of all things were scattered across the world and all was right and together. Civilizations flourished and the Elemental gods reveled in the worship of mortals.

However harmony could not last forever. The elementals grew strong through the worship of mortals and they began to wonder. Why should they be ruled by a need for the Light? For the Dark? The mortals relied on the power of the elementals to control when they could see or rest, and their rhythms did not rely on the outer Light and Dark. Firgo was sufficient to bring warmth to mortals, and Usthera to bring cold. It was unfair for them to give a part of the worship they deserved to their Mother and Father.

After the passing of time conflict broke out among the gods. The elements rebelled against their Mother and Father, and backed by the power of their mortal followers they threatened to destroy the natural order of all. The power of the elements swelled and apexed in one last creation: Therdun, god of War. Led by his fury and power, the elements ascended into the heavens to confront their Mother and Father and throw them down into the depths.

At the time of ascension, just at the moment when Therdun's fist crashed through the gates of the Celestial realm, Minos stopped all. Minos threw down Therdun into the Well of the World, and seeing the need for greater Distinction Minos created once again, Beruth, the King of Order, and Jae the Wanderer, Lady of Chaos. Together with Light and Dark, Order and Chaos confined the Elemental gods to their proper places and turned their attention upon the mortals.

Alas, all was not right in the mortal plane. Therdun's descent into the mortal plane had been one of pain and betrayal, and his landing had fractured the world. Gone was the perfect Pangea of the world. Land was shattered, civilizations destroyed, and the oceans covered the world. Therdun had brought the full weight of his pain and rage upon the mortal plane. The gods looked upon the effects of their struggle, the wake of destruction their War had left upon the mortals, and they knew grief. Minos spoke once again, ordaining that the world would stay shattered, to remind the gods of their struggle. Therdun was imprisoned and the mortals left to fend for themselves.

"Now we who are small must bear the weight of creation upon our own shoulders, for the world will never again be the same."

-- An excerpt from "War: The Lost God" written by Brother Thelonius