STORM ISLES, THE [STURMØ]
Her Royal Mistress of the Deeps, Lhyggja Bleydhja, Matriarch
of the Temple of the Lord of Deep Waters, Queen of the Storm Isles (Chaotic
Evil 12th level Savage Priestess of the Lord of Deep Waters)
Capital: Søslanghavn [City of Serpents ] (pop. 17,500)
Humans: 250,000
Demi-humans: Few
Humanoids: Few
Monsters: The isles themselves have few monsters, but the
waters around them teem with krakens, sharks, and sea serpents. There is a
large amount of faerie activity on the isles, as usual, likely due to the lack
of other monsters to provide competition. Some of the isles are known from
ancient days as burial grounds, and are covered with large numbers of barrows;
many of these are used as sidhe by the faeries, while others are occupied by
wights, wraiths, and other undead and their ancient treasures.
Languages: Common; North Gottish, East Gottish, Elysian.
Resources: Copper, food (pickled fish), gems (coral,
pearls), ships, spices
When the first Gotha
settlers arrived on the Isle of Storms 2500 years ago, they discovered
primitive, savage, and decadent tribes of disparate peoples. The decadent folk
living in ruined cities and citadels were extirpated, as were the strange
savages of the valleys and shores, while the primitives of the forested hills
and cold mountains were eventually assimilated over long centuries. It was this
savage mix of primitive and barbarian that eventually spread out as the core of
the Nordgottisch peoples to conquer the isles of the Sea
of Storms and eventually to return
west, to settle the Hoarfrost
Coast and found new
tribes that, centuries later, poured from the Starcrags and crushed the Olden
Empire under their heels.
Thus the Gotha of the Isle of
Storms are a proud, prideful people, and consider themselves as the first among
equals of the Gotha
race. They cleave to the Oldest
Ways , or so they say, and claim to have the purest
bloodlines. The caste system of the Sturmølings, as they are known, is quite
strong, as is the class system of Noble, Priest, Warrior, and Thrall.
Fortunately for the denizens of the Sea
of Storms and further
lands, the Noble Clans of the Sturmølings are a fractious bunch, more given to
fighting over internal rivalries than uniting for further conquest. Thus most
encounters with Sturmølings are merely viking raiders or merchant traders
rather than the cold, hard conquerors of centuries past.
The Sturmølings are additionally riven by their religious
loyalties, with the ancient Gotha
triad of Iron God, Storm God, and Lord of Deep Waters being the three primary
factions. Currently the temple of the Lord of Deep Waters is ascendant, in a
personal alliance with the Bleydhja Clan. While the matriarch’s grip on the
temple is strong, her hold on the clan is weak. Her foolish, open attempts to
strength her temple’s power at the cost of the other temples, and at the cost
of no few nobler clans, has nearly driven the noble houses to open civil war.
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