Nordheim is a country of the Hyborian Age.
Overview[]
Those of the southern lands claim that those who dwell here now — Æsir and Vanir alike — are descended from a race of snow apes, from a time long forgotten. These wise sages claim that these shaggy remnants were once men themselves in the times before the Cataclysm, and that over the vast march of time, the primeval savages became true men anew, and eventually became the Nordheimer. Most likely, visitors to the North saw men clad in the furs of white bears and apes that still haunt the mountains of Nordheim, but legend cannot be argued with.
- "“Asgard lies to the north, and Vanaheim to the northwest of Cimmeria, and there is continual war along the borders.”
“What manner of men are these northern folk?” asked Prospero.
“Tall and fair and blue-eyed. Their god is Ymir, the frost-giant, and each tribe has its own king. They are wayward and fierce. They fight all day and drink ale and roar their wild songs all night.”" - ―Conan and Prospero, The Phoenix on the Sword
Whether the sons of apes or a fairer offshoot from the line of Bori, the Nordheimer swept across the North and laid claim to much of these cold lands, though in the east they met their equals in the Hyperboreans, and in the south west they were put in their place by the dour Cimmerians, whose rocky hills had little to offer. And thus, the Nordheimer remained where they were, bordered by enemies, locked to their wintry realm.
The Sundering of Nordheim[]
It was many centuries ago that Æs and Van, two great lords, waged war against each other and in their strife, divided Nordheim into two lands: Asgard and Vanaheim. Their rivalry has continued for more generations than a man has fingers and toes. Now the two tribes (for they are, despite difference of hue, the same folk) are a sundered people; disparate tribes, fractious and warlike towards each other, they constantly skirmish over long-simmering grudges, real and imagined cattle-theft, outright raiding and plunder, and even take captives for slavery and for worse.
The Divide Between North and South[]
More than any enmity, though, the folk of Nordheim are cloven by another divide: that of the north and the south of each land. The Æsir and Vanir of the south have more in common than do the Æsir of the south with their northern brethren, and the same for the northern and southern tribes of Vanir. For in the uttermost reaches of the north of Nordheim, both Æsir and Vanir alike have yet to abandon their nomadic existence, and still roam the limitless icy plains, barely existing at much above the tribal level. They dwell in horsehide and wooden tents and yurts, and follow the scarce game across the wintry wastes, foraging for whatever plant life can be found.
A new ice age is coming, and with it the relentless if slow march of glaciers, claiming the lands of the North, causing the air itself to become colder, the land less hospitable, game to become scarcer, and life more intolerable for the nomadic Nordheimer existence, already as perilous and rough as can be.
The Æsir and Vanir of the northern reaches of Nordheim, bordering on the Arctic Circle, wage war against one another more fiercely, not out of pride or for slaves, but for their very survival, fighting for hunting and scavenging grounds so that they might eat. They have few permanent dwellings, other than sacred places in their mountains where a hereditary clan of smiths and priests devote themselves to mining and crafting weapons that their people might use.
The transition between these different ways of life is as swift and sharp as the blade of a sword, with only a narrow band of wattle-and-daub houses demarcating them. Immediately to the south are long-houses and stave halls, and to the north are yurts and the endless movement of nomadic existence. From time to time the Æsir and Vanir of north and south prey upon those of their own kind, but for the most part their warfare is conducted longitudinally, blonde Æsir battling red-maned Vanir.
Geography: The Lands of Nordheim[]
Nordheim extends as far north as any man has ever roamed, into vast and inhospitable tundras. One half of this country is Vanaheim on the shores of Western Ocean, bordering Pictish Wilderness southwest. The other is Asgard, bordering Hyperborea to the east. Cimmeria lies south, beyond the ice-capped Eiglophian Mountains.
The land of Nordheim is famed as a place of endless, trackless ice and snowy plains, a primal land bordered by mountains and limitless, borealis-tossed sky. There is only the white of snow and ice, and weather alternates between crisp stillness, moaning winds, and heavy snowfall, with naught else. Wind moans across the ice-crusted snow, bitingly cold, and the sun’s light is stark and bright, offering little comfort to man, beast, or plant. Little can thrive here, save for snow-furred monstrosities, and those who hunt them. That is what is said of Nordheim.
The truth, however, is that Nordheim is a richer and more diverse environment than can be expected. The northern most reaches of both Asgard and Vanaheim are indeed as harsh and pitiless as any place in the world: at the uttermost north, there are endless rocky mountains and glaciers, crevasses tens of miles wide, unimaginably deep warrens of caverns formed by the folding and collision of the continent as the lands themselves have shifted over millions of years. The air is thin and difficult to breathe, and only the hardiest of beings can survive there. Snow falls regularly, and the winds shift it across the landscape in a near-ceaseless effort to brush away any visible sign of purchase, landmark, or even a trace of character. The aurora borealis dances wildly above these icy, gleaming plains, and often the only signs of human habitation are the small tent-villages of Æsir and Vanir nomad tribes.
As one travels south, the land softens. Icy plains give way to snowy plains, and rocky mountain ranges are broken by the occasional valley, sheltered enough to allow the occasional tree to eke out a living. These light patches of foliage thicken the further one goes towards the southern kingdoms, and the lowermost third of Nordheim’s span — its more populated region — has light forests and even foothills with patches of hardy scrub.
The countless islands and fjords of the coast allow the Vanir to develop their own culture of ship raiding and fishing, and along this narrow band of land boasts a string of fishing villages and even towns, dotting the shoreline with only a few miles between. Some of these places are even connected by roads, between which are farms and herd-lands.
Though this gradation between the arctic north and the more habitable south does not go as far as actual verdant forests or dense woods, it is nonetheless something between the stark snowy lands to the north and the grassy, fog-bound hills of Cimmeria. Should the player characters need to voyage to Nordheim, the vestiges of civilization are here in semblance, if not substance.
A Sample Nordheimer Nomad Camps[]
Few of the nomadic camps of the Æsir or Vanir have names. They are inevitably named for their current leader, such as “Hersir’s folk” or “the camp of Gretta Leif’s Daughter”, and if they have had some legendary leader they might keep that name, no matter who leads them currently.
From a distance, the tents and yurts seem snow-covered bulges and piles of snow, less so if the camp has been recently settled. The people of the camp are always wary of predators — whether snow-apes, polar bears, or human enemies — so it will be difficult to approach without notice.
For the most part, these camps are all similar. Many tents arranged in an irregular set of concentric rings, with the chieftain’s hut — usually the largest — central. Thin streams of smoke rise into the sky above the camps, and the unmistakable smell of meat stewing over charcoal or animal fat fires is the most prevalent smell. At night, the only visible light is that which can steal through smoke holes or gaps in tent door-flaps. Nordheimer nomads do not waste precious wood on external fires. Drying racks of meat are usually located centrally, to prevent scavengers from preying on them, while the snow and ice fields nearby will likely have at least one area used to clean carcasses and perform butchery, a huge blot of red and brown on otherwise pristine white ground.
A Sample Nordheimer Village[]
To the south, the villages of Nordheim — Asgard and Vanaheim alike — are similar in many ways to those of Cimmeria and even the more pastoral or rural areas of Gunderland, the Bossonian Marches, the Border Kingdom, or the less civilized parts of Hyperborea. Depending on how far south one goes, the villages are increasingly wooden in construction, going from stone and sod houses to wattle- and-daub huts to thatch-roofed halls and homes, surrounded by fortified walls for defense. These walls range in form from barely cattle-fences to full high walls, complete with platforms from which guards can watch.
Æsir villages are, for the most part, walled, and boast the Nordheimers’ greatest achievements of carpentry and wood-craft, each village arranged around a tall, stave-topped long-hall, sometimes as high as three stories. The villages of the Vanir are similar to those of the Æsir, but as they make more use of stone, their halls are grander but fewer.
Most Nordheimer towns range from 50–200 homes and structures, and will include a range of dedicated buildings — at least one full-sized smithy, woodcarver’s, weaver’s, a dyer’s, brewer’s, potter’s, a leather-worker’s, a mill, food and grain store-houses, privies, etc. Unlike Cimmerians, Nordheimer are often traders, but rarely have shops. They prefer to sell and trade their wares in the center of the village, usually in an open market space. On the coast there are sometimes shipwrights, though they are prized enough that they own some of the finer homes in a Nordheimer village, and their services may be called for up and down the coast.
There are no equivalents of inns or taverns; strangers and dignitaries are expected to present themselves to the chieftain and will either be granted accommodation within the hall or housed elsewhere. In some cases a house may be ordered emptied and readied for guests, with the owners and other occupants expected to stay with kin. Generally, livestock in a village or town is kept within the owner’s house at night and left to roam during the day, either tethered or fenced in.
Every town of any reasonable size will have a central hall — whatever its construction — — in which the chieftain and their family dwell, along with their house-servants. These halls can be grand or relatively humble, depending on the nature and population of the town and any external factors. The lord’s hall is the cultural and social center of the village or town, regardless of its location. Here is where the chieftain holds court, and all petitions for judgment, assistance, and alliance are handled. The village’s law-speaker will be present for official gatherings and daily business. Religious ceremonies to Ymir are held outside, under the dome of the sky, and in coastal communities they are held on the shore.
On special nights, such as festivals, sacred days, celebrations, or visits from allies, the hall is full of able-bodied warriors and favored villagers, dining and carousing. A skald may be present on a full-time basis providing entertainment, and depending on the level of drunkenness, those in the hall may be pitting themselves against one another in games of wrestling, knife- or axe-throwing, riddle-games, or competitive drinking.
The lord is expected to provide all this food, ale, and mead, and to preside over the festivities. During such an event, the rule of courtesy is that no suitable guest can be turned away, and all under the host’s roof have their protection. It is considered dishonorable to treat guests with anything less than favor, just as it is lowly to abuse this privilege. The rest of the time, the hall is filled only with the chieftain and their family and servants, dining alone or with smaller company.
History and Politics[]
Nordics own no over-lord, but each tribe has its king. There's continual war on the borders.
Nordheim was never conquered by the Pictish nor the Hyrkanian empire. Nordic tribes continued to fight the also independent Cimmerians and sweep into the borders of Hyperborea (now a Hyrkanian province).
Then the glacier ages begun and ice fields started to move southwards. The northernmost Nordic tribes started drifting, displacing kindred clans and eventually crushing the Pictis and Hyrkanian empires.
The western world was now dominated by roving tribes of Nordic barbarians, east to Vilayet, and from the Arctic circle to the lands of Shem (excepting the Cimmerians, in the old Turanian kingdom). These never cared to form a consolidated Nordic empire and their kingdoms often warred against each other.
For about a century Nordheim remained an uninhabited ice waste until it vanished beneath the waves of another cataclysm and formed the North Sea. Only Asgard remained, as the Scandinavian peninsulas.
The buckling of the land thrust up great mountain ranges in the north-central part of former Thuria. Whole Nordic tribes were blotted out, and the rest retreated eastward to Vilayet. The territory about it was not affected, and there, on the western shores, the Nordic tribes began a pastoral existence, living in more or less peace with the Cimmerians, and gradually mixing with them. Their growing population forced many o them to migrate southward, northward and westward, later known as Aryans.[1]
Population and Culture[]
The Nordheimer[]
Despite their enmity, the folk of both halves of Nordheim have much in common at a cultural level. All are pale- skinned and powerful of build, though the Vanir with their hair of red-gold are perhaps broader and heavier than the tow-headed Æsir dwelling to their east. Both peoples share the Nordheimer tongue, which has some similarity to the language of the Hyperboreans and of the folk of Gunderland, though there is little trade. Æsir and Cimmerians cannot be less alike in temperament, but they get along better than most, and oft the two peoples join forces, usually defending against the Hyperboreans or the Vanir.
All Nordheimer have eyes of pale blue or green, and the men and women alike wear their hair long against the cold. Most folks wear wool of some sort lined with fur or backed with supple leather. To the north, they generally wear more furs, while in the south they supplement their garb with wool and linen traded from Cimmeria. In battle, the Æsir and Vanir alike wear brass- or iron-scaled corselets, and mail for those who can afford it. Horned helms are common head protection, sometimes paired with a scaled or mail coif. Most warriors go into battle armed with swords or axes, and oft a shield.
In character, however, the two folk could not be more distinct. The Æsir are oft joyous, with a rich and ancient tradition of story-telling and lore. Men and women alike can own land and head a household, but all must pay a share of their wealth to their lord, and be willing to fight to defend the land against raids by the detestable Hyperboreans. Vanir, however, are boisterous, vain and boastful, given to carousing and telling wildly exaggerated tales of their prowess. They are more apt to take slight at any insult, and their grudges are passed down generations, from father to son, as if they were family heirlooms.
Nordheimer Kings and Queens[]
Like Cimmeria, Nordheim’s very nature makes it difficult to identify an individual as the “king” or “queen” as it has many who would claim to rule. However, in the time of Conan the following rulers are of significance, and if anyone can claim such a title, it is these notable figures.
King Frere and Queen Freydis of Asgard[]
The king and queen of Asgard, to the east, could not be more different in aspect and rule. Unusually, the rule of the country is held by Frere and Freydis, brother and sister twins, children of the prior king, Ulf. From the overgrown village of Malme the two rule together, each seated upon half of a two-seated throne carved from a single great oak, in honor of their shared rule. They rarely contradict one another, and often administrating together over ceremonies and things. Each has resisted offers of marriage, despite the benefits, because such a union would unseat the other.
Fair in appearance and generous to their people, they are both equally beloved by the commoners they rule over. Unfortunately for the twins, the love of the people does not translate directly into sound counsel or loyalty from the jarls, and they are beleaguered by assaults on opposite borders — Hyperborean slave raids striking deeply into eastern Æsir lands while the Vanir pillage, plunder, and burn their farms and villages from the west. Their hold upon the joined thrones is tenuous, and the nobles and jarls mutter into their beards that perhaps Asgard would be better suited with a single strong ruler rather than two halves.
Though the line of succession would traditionally fall to Frere’s firstborn, Frere has no child, and his sister’s son Tyr is likely to claim the throne should his mother and uncle perish. Tyr is indeed king of Asgard in the time after Conan claims the throne of Aquilonia, and due to Conan’s past friendliness with the Æsir, the two enjoy cordial relations, with no real conflicts.
King Horsa of Vanaheim[]
The current king of Vanaheim is Horsa the Black, a middle-aged Vanir with a successful history of raiding and blood-letting. His sobriquet, “the Black”, refers to his temperament, to distinguish him from a prior king also named Horsa. The current Horsa is cruel and short-sighted, the worst sort of king, and his jarls conspire against him out of fear as much as self-preservation. Prone to fits of madness, Horsa keeps his thralls in a constant state of fear, and his Village of Varde is a glum place, though prosperous. In return, he pits them against one another, seizing lands and property from those he deigns as his greatest rivals, causing the others to lose conviction and cast doubt on any attempts at ousting him.
A seasoned warrior, Horsa’s hall is on the southern coast in a large and fortified trading village called Varde. Horsa has at his command a fleet of several dozen longships and almost a thousand warriors. By the standards of a southern kingdom, this is paltry, but in Nordheim it is a considerable force. Horsa is married to a long-suffering wife, Ingre, and has had several sons and daughters, only the latter of which have survived. Unbeknown to Horsa, Ingre is cultivating the jarls to resist her husband. Her ultimate goal is to take the throne for herself, backed by the same loyalists who will depose their ill-tempered liege.
Southern Way of Life[]
Though their way of life is considered brutal by the civilized folk of the southern countries, southern Nordheimer have a refreshingly democratic society. At the top of it all are regional kings and queens, titles won through victory but also passed down from parent to child, or even seized by nearby kin. Nordheim has many kings and queens, each roughly equivalent to an Aquilonian baron or duke. Beneath the king are jarls, lesser lords that rule over a smaller area, often supporting several villages and administered from the largest settlement in the area. The jarls swear fealty to their kings or queens, and provide them a share of their wealth and a promise of support in any wars or conflicts where loyal warriors are needed. Without the support of the jarls, a king or queen cannot rule.
A queen might seek to keep the good favor of the jarls through fair treatment and wise rule, and a shrewd king might pit jarl against jarl, keeping all weakened and distracted, unable to pose a legitimate challenge. A queen might foster and favor a jarl, then destroy them if that jarl presents a threat to her rule. A king might die and his queen take over in his stead (rarely the reverse), or a powerful jarl might negotiate an alliance with other ambitious jarls and seize the crown. Only rarely does a king or queen abdicate while living, and only slightly more common is it that the eldest child takes the throne. If the jarls withdraw their support from a king, queen, or other claimant to the throne, there is little chance of survival.
In the south, though, jarls stand between the nobles and the king. They are responsible for administration of their lands, collecting a portion of revenue from their vassals, most of whom have sworn allegiance to them with oaths said upon arm-rings. The jarl inhabits the largest village or town in the territory, and often extends protection and jurisdiction over several smaller villages without any centralized authority. Taxes are paid to the jarl in the form of a share of any wealth earned through trade, farming, or raiding, and the jarl, like the king, is expected to reward loyal followers generously.
Below the jarls are the nobles and wealthy landowners and successful tradesmen and-women. Though there is no strong hereditary noble class such as can be found in the south, Nordheimer nobles are the siblings and children of jarls, whether in power or not, or even the offspring of mighty heroes of old, bearing names that evoke such past glories, often carrying wealth and renown beyond that which they have earned.
Existing in a curious place between the nobles and the free-folk are the law-speakers, Nordheim’s equivalent of judges, interpreting the will of the gods as it pertains to mortals and their affairs. They exist in both northern and southern reaches of Nordheim and are respected equally, though it is more likely for a southern law-speaker to be a modest landowner or tradesman, with some degree of autonomy. In the nomadic north the law-speaker is only a title, and they are expected to contribute equally to the tribe’s survival.
Below these are the freemen and -women, those who pay trades and serve others, usually for pay but sometimes merely for food and board. Most free-people dream and strive towards owning property of their own, or claiming a place in a royal household, whether that of a jarl or a king. Slaves inhabit the lowest rung in Nordheimer society — common in Vanaheim but barely existing in Asgard, as the custom was outlawed centuries ago and is only practiced in the remotest parts of the land, far from the center of power.
Northern Way of Life[]
Folk of the northern reaches of Nordheim have a less formalized society, and hold to a more nomadic mode of existence not unlike that of Hyrkania or even the eastern lands of Iranistan or Ghulistan, though they could be no more different culturally. Gone are the social distinctions of king or queen, jarl, huscarl, landowner, trades-folk, free-folk, and slaves. Nowhere can be found the elaborate system of fealty based on distribution of wealth, oaths sworn on arm-rings, and promises of glory. It is said that Nordheimer are perhaps the most democratic of the folk of the Hyborian world, but only in the farthest north is this particularly true, with the social order determined solely by one’s worth to the overall struggle for survival.
Rather than being defined by the land they inhabit or the oaths they have sworn, the northern branch of the Nordheimer people are gathered into nomadic tribes of anywhere between 50 and 500 members, rarely more and usually somewhere in the middle. They move across the vast snow- and ice-bound countryside in tents and yurts made of wood and horsehide owned and cared for across many generations, usually from hides or animals captured or traded for in the southern reaches of their land.
Each tribe is led by a chief, usually one of the greatest warriors or wisest elders, though rarely are decisions made autocratically. A council of all the best hunters and crafters in the tribe is assembled to make important decisions, and they inevitably lean towards the survival of the village, urging caution and prudence. There is no established means of ousting a leader; it is generally handled through consensus or by careful deliberation by the existing leader, and rarely is the role of chieftain achieved through combat. In most cases, the new leader must be blessed by the religious leader of the tribe, always a priestess.
There are few permanent dwellings in the northern part of Nordheim, other than rough stone structures that serve as religious or community centers, rare places where more than one tribe comes together at the same time. Each tribe generally keeps to a traditional course it follows throughout the year, moving to take advantage of hunting, scavenging, and foraging opportunities afforded by the (barely recognizable) seasons. Only when an area is barren or is survival particularly hard do they stray from these paths, and they are also careful in these migrations to avoid inhabiting other tribes’ camps, unless they are ready for war, a particularly brutal and costly endeavor for a people with so little to spare.
The Secret of Iron[]
Though most materials in northern Nordheim are natural in origin — stone, bone, leather, ivory, fur, wood — iron, bronze, silver, and even brass are nonetheless highly sought and prized by these northerners, and their culture has found a means of procuring such items and materials, despite being primarily arctic and nomadic. Nordheimer are often characterized by their scale-mail corselets and horned helmets, axes and broadswords, and they find these items difficult to gain in trade from neighbors who would rather they be less equipped to wage war.
The mountain ranges dividing and isolating Vanaheim, Asgard, and Hyperborea are metal-rich, and the southernmost Nordheimer and Hyperboreans have little difficulty finding and extracting ore, smelting it, and with it smithing tools and weapons to fill their every need. This is not easily achieved in the lands near the Arctic Circle, where snow- fields present little opportunity for the fires required to smelt metal, and the equipment is unduly heavy and not particularly portable.
This need is met by the völundr, a caste of hereditary smiths inhabiting the mountains to the uttermost north, mining them for iron, copper, tin, nickel, zinc, silver, and other metals. Usually men, though there are female völundr, these artisans know the secret proportions required for alloyed metals, and have vast underground smithies and fastnesses to produce their wares within. They trade such items for protection in the form of non-aggression; for furs, leather, and horn; and for food, and occasionally for slaves or for children to teach their trade to. The resulting arrangement is that the Nordheimer of north and south are equipped with all the accouterments for war, and neither is at a disadvantage. Many of the nomadic tribes make a point of a stop for such trade with the völundr, as the wares they produce are increasingly necessary for survival in their harsh clime.
Many stories have risen about the völundr over centuries, sometimes giving them almost mythical properties. Smiths of their number are referred to with the hushed voice usually reserved for gods, and other folk-tales paint them as other-than-human, stunted dwarves or fire-blackened tricksters, making weapons and other wonders and trading them at a terrible cost. There is little truth to these stories other than the völundr are generally more likely to be literate than other Nordheimer, and they are often users of runes and other petty enchantments.
Nordheimer Women[]
In the southern reaches of Nordheim, Asgard and Vanaheim alike, women have rights far surpassing those on most of the continent, able to own land and head households. They can practice trades and even serve as warriors, and can freely divorce husbands they do not wish to be wed to. They can rule over villages as jarls, and should a woman have the strength of character and acumen, could even become queen over all.
Even in the harsher and less-civilized north, women enjoy greater freedom. They are not used as tools for political gain, nor are they expected to be trophies or mere wives. While each nomadic Nordheimer woman is valued for her ability to produce offspring, there is no pressure to do so, and overpopulation is a concern when the survival of a village exists on a knife’s edge. Women of this uttermost north are expected to fight, forage, hunt, craft, and otherwise perform as equals in all measure with the men-folk. In many cases, are among the more skilled artisans, devoting themselves to the crafting of necessary items during the times when pregnancy makes them less mobile.
In addition to proving the backbone of villages, these nomadic women are often the leaders of the ceremonial and religious life of their villages, carrying on the oral traditions of their people, memorizing genealogies and the great tales of their ancestors. There are few male priests in the North — instead all religious duties are carried out by female priestesses called völva (“seeress”), keepers of lore, speakers to the gods, and trusted with prophecy. Some völva are midwives or healers as an extension of this sacred role. The Nordheimer of the northern reaches hold these women in the greatest of regard and superstition, giving them a status equal to that of a chief. The few permanent structures in the region are usually sacred ones, inhabited and maintained by völva.
Some southern Nordheimer communities incorporate völva into their religious lives, often dubbing them “angels of death”, blending them with the Daughters of Ymir. These women often preside over births and naming ceremonies, weddings, and funerals, with rituals involving blood-letting and drinking.
Geography[]
The Lands of Nordheim[]
The land of Nordheim is famed as a place of endless, trackless ice and snowy plains, a primal land bordered by mountains and limitless, borealis-tossed sky. There is only the white of snow and ice, and weather alternates between crisp stillness, moaning winds, and heavy snowfall, with naught else. Wind moans across the ice-crusted snow, bitingly cold, and the sun’s light is stark and bright, offering little comfort to man, beast, or plant. Little can thrive here, save for snow-furred monstrosities, and those who hunt them. That is what is said of Nordheim.
The truth, however, is that Nordheim is a richer and more diverse environment than can be expected. The northern most reaches of both Asgard and Vanaheim are indeed as harsh and pitiless as any place in the world: at the uttermost north, there are endless rocky mountains and glaciers, crevasses tens of miles wide, unimaginably deep warrens of caverns formed by the folding and collision of the continent as the lands themselves have shifted over millions of years. The air is thin and difficult to breathe, and only the hardiest of beings can survive there. Snow falls regularly, and the winds shift it across the landscape in a near-ceaseless effort to brush away any visible sign of purchase, landmark, or even a trace of character. The aurora borealis dances wildly above these icy, gleaming plains, and often the only signs of human habitation are the small tent-villages of Æsir and Vanir nomad tribes.
As one travels south, the land softens. Icy plains give way to snowy plains, and rocky mountain ranges are broken by the occasional valley, sheltered enough to allow the occasional tree to eke out a living. These light patches of foliage thicken the further one goes towards the southern kingdoms, and the lowermost third of Nordheim’s span — its more populated region — has light forests and even foothills with patches of hardy scrub.
The countless islands and fjords of the coast allow the Vanir to develop their own culture of ship raiding and fishing, and along this narrow band of land boasts a string of fishing villages and even towns, dotting the shoreline with only a few miles between. Some of these places are even connected by roads, between which are farms and herd-lands.
Though this gradation between the arctic north and the more habitable south does not go as far as actual verdant forests or dense woods, it is nonetheless something between the stark snowy lands to the north and the grassy, fog-bound hills of Cimmeria. Should the player characters need to voyage to Nordheim, the vestiges of civilization are here in semblance, if not substance.
To the south, the villages of Nordheim — Asgard and Vanaheim alike — are similar in many ways to those of Cimmeria and even the more pastoral or rural areas of Gunderland, the Bossonian Marches, the Border Kingdom, or the less civilized parts of Hyperborea. Depending on how far south one goes, the villages are increasingly wooden in construction, going from stone and sod houses to wattle-and-daub huts to thatch-roofed halls and homes, surrounded by fortified walls for defense. These walls range in form from barely cattle-fences to full high walls, complete with platforms from which guards can watch.
Æsir villages are, for the most part, walled, and boast the Nordheimers’ greatest achievements of carpentry and wood-craft, each village arranged around a tall, stave-topped long-hall, sometimes as high as three stories. The villages of the Vanir are similar to those of the Æsir, but as they make more use of stone, their halls are grander but fewer.
Most Nordheimer towns range from 50–200 homes and structures, and will include a range of dedicated buildings — at least one full-sized smithy, woodcarver’s, weaver’s, a dyer’s, brewer’s, potter’s, a leather-worker’s, a mill, food and grain store-houses, privies, etc. Unlike Cimmerians, Nordheimer are often traders, but rarely have shops. They prefer to sell and trade their wares in the center of the village, usually in an open market space. On the coast there are sometimes shipwrights, though they are prized enough that they own some of the finer homes in a Nordheimer village, and their services may be called for up and down the coast.
There are no equivalents of inns or taverns; strangers and dignitaries (certain player characters) are expected to present themselves to the chieftain and will either be granted accommodation within the hall or housed elsewhere. In some cases a house may be ordered emptied and readied for guests, with the owners and other occupants expected to stay with kin. Generally, livestock in a village or town is kept within the owner’s house at night and left to roam during the day, either tethered or fenced in.
Every town of any reasonable size will have a central hall — whatever its construction — in which the chieftain and their family dwell, along with their house-servants. These halls can be grand or relatively humble, depending on the nature and population of the town and any external factors. The lord’s hall is the cultural and social center of the village or town, regardless of its location. Here is where the chieftain holds court, and all petitions for judgment, assistance, and alliance are handled. The village’s lawspeaker will be present for official gatherings and daily business. Religious ceremonies to Ymir are held outside, under the dome of the sky, and in coastal communities they are held on the shore.
On special nights, such as festivals, sacred days, celebrations, or visits from allies, the hall is full of able-bodied warriors and favored villagers, dining and carousing. A skald may be present on a full-time basis providing entertainment, and depending on the level of drunkenness, those in the hall may be pitting themselves against one another in games of wrestling, knife- or axe-throwing, riddle-games, or competitive drinking. The lord is expected to provide all this food, ale, and mead, and to preside over the festivities. During such an event, the rule of courtesy is that no suitable guest can be turned away, and all under the host’s roof have their protection. It is considered dishonorable to treat guests with anything less than favor, just as it is lowly to abuse this privilege. The rest of the time, the hall is filled only with the chieftain and their family and servants, dining alone or with smaller company.
Sample Names[]
Male[]
Asgrim, Brand, Edrik, Egil, Einar, Grimm, Gunnar, Haakon, Hafdan, Halvard, Harek, Hauk, Hialmar, Horsa, Hrolf, Kalf, Leif, Mimir, Mord, Niall, Niord, Olaf, Rane, Ranulf, Sigurd, Starkad, Thorgrim, Ulf, Valgard, Vidar, Wulfhere
Female[]
Aesa, Agnis, Aldis, Astrid, Bera, Disa, Eyrún, Freya, Frida, Gerda, Gudrun, Gunnhild, Haldis, Halla, Helga, Hildigun, Idunn, Inga, Ingrid, Nanna, Ragnild, Runa, Signy, Sigrid, Sigrun, Thora, Thordis, Thyra, Ulla, Ursa
Stories set in Nordheim[]
Characters from Nordheim[]
See Vanaheim#Characters_from_Vanaheim and Asgard#Characters_from_Asgard.
References[]
- ↑ Template:THA