Ice Kingdoms
The frozen realms north of the Vast.
| Regional Information | |
|---|---|
| Population | 756,000 50% Humans |
| Capital | Bragih |
| Government | Monarchy; ruled by Queen Callisa Morinog |
| Major Religions | Elal, Mala, Llir |
| Imports / Exports | Timber, coal, silver, leather products |
| Total Area | 2,127,500 sq. miles |
| Dimensions | Length: 1,850 miles Width: 1,150 miles |
| Elevation | Average: 2,500 feet Lowest: Sea Level |
| Known For | Black ice, monsters, undead hordes, barbarian clans, giants, dragons, lawless settlements, negative energy corruption |
| Major Threat | Daza Kathiz |
The Ice Kingdoms are the frozen northern realms of Ta Los, home to monsters, barbarian clans, renegades, giants, dragons, undead legions, and the kingdom of the Ice Lord Daza Kathiz. Daza is a vile and soulless creature rumored to be a Yaqu, an ancient and evil undead being.
The Ice Kingdoms are also home to nations and settlements that are always on the brink of destruction by the Ice Lord. Constant wars burn across the frozen north as these lesser kingdoms and holds protect themselves from invasions of undead beings, monsters, and other unspeakable horrors.
The Ice Kingdoms extend from the southern portion of the black ice walls of Iztalik southward to where The Vast stretches west to east north of the Kingdom of Panthais. It is a place where those who do not wish to be troubled by the rest of the world come to hide, vanish, or die.
Overview
The Ice Kingdoms are a place to forget and be forgotten. It is made up of six regions: Sahrivik, Nemhedh, Parika, Zhosarik, Ragnar, and Khafeek. They are home to giants, Rhakas hordes, barbarian clans, ogres, dragons, and legions of undead.
The whole realm of ice seems cursed by Negative Energy, as though it flows through everything. There are very few days throughout the region when the sun breaks through the dark gray clouds that blow down from the north off the black ice of Iztalik.
Situated north of the Vast, the region is bitterly cold and often plagued by heavy storms of snow, sleet, and hail. With less than a month of warm weather, those who come north into this dark land usually do so because they are running from something in the lower realms of the world.
The Ice Kingdoms are desolate, rugged, and dangerous. Settlements exist, but they are isolated and often short-lived. Law is inconsistent. Monsters rule the wild. Survival is the chief concern of all who dwell there.
Inhabitants
There are places in Kralis that remain unexplored, where great monsters and beasts dominate. This is true of the Ice Kingdoms of Ta Los.
The region is a place where monsters roam nearly free, other than when they battle among themselves, sometimes over the frozen corpses of lost adventurers or the carcass of another large monster.
The crags, deep gullies, steep valleys, rounded hills, and low mountains of the region are home to many different beings. These include renegade Isande humans, Oku, worgs, dire wolves, dragons, clans of giants, horrific beasts, hordes of roaming undead, and powerful demons that have found their way into the mortal world.
Many settlements are composed of those who fled the lower realms: outlaws, exiles, failed lords, miners, mercenaries, escaped slaves, cultists, and desperate families searching for land no one else will claim.
Languages
Like much of the world, the Ice Kingdoms are awash in many languages, including native monster tongues and local settlement dialects.
The most widespread language is IceTalk, a hybrid creole used throughout the region. It is common to enter a remote mining camp tavern and hear oku and goblins speaking in their own languages while also speaking with nearby Isande humans in IceTalk.
While many languages may be heard in the Ice Kingdoms, IceTalk is the only language common among nearly all inhabitants.
Life and Society
When people speak of the Ice Kingdoms, they speak of desolation: a rugged land of ice and snow, lawlessness, monsters, and no place a sane person would ever want to live.
Life within the Ice Kingdoms centers around survival, both against the weather and against its inhabitants.
As with much of the lower realms, the region is dotted with small holds, walled towns, tiny settlements of petty lords, mining camps, and refuges founded by those who fled north to escape problems elsewhere.
Roaming and adventuring in the Ice Kingdoms would be simple if all one had to worry about was the weather. Nearly all residents wear thick layers of cloth or canvas clothing and hides for most of the year, shifting to armor and lighter spring clothing during the brief months when the wind is not as biting.
Most folk rarely travel more than a few miles from a town, hold, or settlement, at least not alone. While there are no official roads between settlements, there are accepted travel routes used by mercenaries, bandits, and the few merchants brave enough to move between settlements.
Social Customs
With the vast number of monsters, renegades, and hostile powers in the region, there appears to be no single set of social customs that every being follows.
The only common custom is survival.
Those with similar outlooks may assist each other in surviving the cold or resisting attacks from others. Those with opposing outlooks, monstrous natures, or bestial instincts often see their own survival as the only custom that matters.
Hospitality may exist in some settlements, but it is rarely freely given. Trust is usually earned through strength, usefulness, shared danger, or payment.
Arts
The only arts that come out of the Ice Kingdoms are those produced by individuals within small holds, towns, or cities.
These are usually paintings, occasional books, carvings, and other items that can be easily transported. Most artisans in the region produce practical crafted goods such as cloth tapestries, jewelry, weapons, and armor.
More often, ancient artifacts and rediscovered works of art are shipped out of the region to other great cities.
Literature and Education
Most education is handed down from parents to children. Nearly all instruction focuses on survival in the region: hunting, trapping, building shelters, reading weather, recognizing monster signs, and staying alive through long winters.
Reading and writing are rarely considered important enough to teach. In many cases, parents are not educated enough to teach these skills themselves.
Only in the larger walled cities is there enough time and interest for education. Traveling sages may sometimes establish temporary facilities to teach reading, writing, history, numbers, or practical lore.
Architecture
Nearly all buildings in the Ice Kingdoms are constructed from stone brought in from surrounding mines, or wood from the small forests of the region. Some timber is imported from other kingdoms such as Ceithlenn or Panthais.
Many buildings are further insulated with mud and straw on the outside.
Settlements and smaller towns are often surrounded by tall walls of thick wood, trenches, and wooden spiked barriers. These defenses are not merely symbolic. They are necessary for survival against monsters, undead, raiders, and the storms of the region.
Kingdom Law and Government
Law within the Ice Kingdoms is nearly nonexistent as a whole. Most laws are bastardized versions of the great systems of the lower realms.
Even then, laws change with the rise of a new power, the appointment of new sheriffs or constables, or the emergence of those strong enough to help or hinder everyone around them.
Some settlements are ruled by petty lords. Others are ruled by councils, military leaders, cults, mining bosses, or whoever commands the strongest warriors. In some places, the only law is what can be defended by blade, spell, or tooth.
Technology and Crafting
There is little technology or unique crafting that originates in the Ice Kingdoms. Most crafting is done out of need for the various settlements.
Anything produced beyond local necessity tends to be sold to the few traveling merchants who brave the cold, monsters, and brigands.
The region is known to contain Unabeden in its soil. This has prevented the reliable use of technology that depends on thaumic energy or Dolakh Crystals.
Religion
Religion in the Ice Kingdoms is often brought in by outsiders. Most people tend to worship lesser deities, as well as Elal, Azahak, and Gishra. Akiri, goddess of luck, is also often invoked.
Cults are dominant throughout the region. These range from cults worshiping demons and fiends to groups devoted to angelic hosts or monstrous deities.
Faith in the Ice Kingdoms is practical, desperate, and often fearful. Many pray not for salvation, but simply to survive another night.
Features and Important Sites
The Ice Kingdoms have been occupied by various humans and other species since 56,000 B.F.A. They have been home to giants, dragons, and other monsters since before then.
Despite the desolation, windswept regions, and bone-chilling cold, the Ice Kingdoms contain many important sites that have given the region deep lore and legend.
Kha Mari Mountains
Jagged, sharp, and inhospitable are common words used to describe the Kha Mari Mountains, which dominate the land of Khafeek.
These high mountains have ragged peaks, steep slopes, and sheer cliffs that give the range strange angles. The whole mountain range is dark gray, with patches of green forest that seem to vanish into deep crevices and over cliffs.
While the mountains are rugged and sharp, many creatures, particularly fire dragons, make their homes in these gray mountains. The range is littered with caves and tunnels said to extend into Tav Aeduhn, as well as lakes of lava and ice.
The lower feet of the mountains are dotted with large mining operations that run at full speed throughout the year. Even in the coldest months, thick columns of steam can be seen rising from mine mouths as workers toil under grueling conditions through forced labor under taskmasters.
The Forest of Ice
Situated along the northern edge of Nemhedh is a forest of alpine trees covered in snow and ice for most of the year.
While such frozen woods are not uncommon in the Ice Kingdoms, this forest is rumored to hide the ruined citadel of a mad arcanist.
The citadel is said to contain deep halls and several levels beneath the surface, eventually connecting to Tav Aeduhn far below.
Invergs Tower
Centered in the plains of Sahrivik stands the ruined fortress tower of Invergs.
It was destroyed and abandoned after the fall of the Kishian Empire. Legend holds that on nights with full moons, ghostly apparitions can be seen attacking the tower while ghostly defenders fight back against the onslaught.
This battle continues until the first rays of dawn.
Temple of Kharga
The Temple of Kharga was settled 350 years ago by a retired member of the Devotees of Kharga.
It began as a small stone building along the shores of Ragnar but has grown into a very large dark gray stone temple and hold.
Kharga was once a powerful priest of Azahak, destroyed by several Knights of Elal. However, his dark energies corrupted the land where he died, and his followers later built the temple upon that spot.
The Dead Swamp
Lying between Ragnar and Zhosarik sits a wide, dark, dead forest swallowed by an uprising of corrupt water from deep within the earth.
The Dead Swamp is approximately 250 miles long and 80 miles wide at its greatest extent. It is a desolate, insect-ridden place, home to a wide range of fell creatures, predominately undead of varying power.
It has grown over the past 30 years, swallowing several small farms. It is avoided by all but the most crazed adventurers equipped and experienced enough to deal with the undead.
Rumors and sightings state that numerous abandoned small castles and holds have sunk into the rising dark waters.
It is thought that the corruption of the waters and the large number of undead are the result of a powerful essence dragon called Khuulthan.
Organizations
While there is little political stability within the Ice Kingdoms, several groups and organizations weave their goals into the fabric of the far north, attempting to sway it toward good or darker ends.
The Brotherhood of Dargos
The Brotherhood of Dargos, also known as the Dargosits, is a powerful mercantile company and spellcaster guild that has functioned in the Ice Kingdoms for nearly 100 years.
It maintains several safe locations throughout the region, several in the city of Quan in Zhosarik, and at least one fortress somewhere in the Kha Mari Mountains.
The Brotherhood is aligned with the Ice Lord Daza Kathiz, the Society of the Shield, and the Dark Heart in the Kingdom of Panthais.
The Brotherhood works to gain economic control of much of the Ice Kingdoms and other regions of the north.
The Hydra Society
Perhaps one of the most dangerous organizations in the north, The Hydra Society is well recognized by those who live within the Northern Realms and the Ice Kingdoms.
It is synonymous with slavery, torture, kidnappings, and assassinations throughout the Northern Realms. It is also known for stealing secrets and selling knowledge for the right price throughout Kralis and beyond.
The Blackwatch
The Blackwatch was originally an infantry battalion from the Kingdom of Panthais charged with patrolling the border between the Ice Kingdoms and Panthais.
Over time, it transformed into a semi-secret organization known to work for the causes of good. It opposes agents of evil, works to thwart hordes of monsters, and fights against the plots of Ice Lord Daza Kathiz.
The Blackwatch has become the archenemy of Daza, his undead forces, and the various hordes of Nuhtegh, the goblin-like species.
Major NPCs
The following is a brief introduction to some of the major people of note within the Ice Kingdoms.
Daza Kathiz
Daza Kathiz is known by few reliable details. It is thought that he was once a powerful wizard toward the end of the Kishian Empire who began searching for ways to live beyond his mortal life.
He was once a Savaruter and worked with elements of Negative Energy, eventually tapping into the ability to become a Yaqu.
Daza has ruled and manipulated the Ice Kingdoms for several thousand years. He is clever and deeply manipulative, carefully avoiding overextending his hand in power or rule. He prefers to remain unseen, plotting and scheming while lackeys carry out his plans.
As a Yaqu, Daza has increased his influence enough to call upon powerful undead throughout the world to perform missions and other deeds.
He knows he has many enemies, particularly the Blackwatch and those who see the Ice Kingdoms as a place of freedom and rebellion rather than a region to be subjugated under anyone’s heel.
Commander Jhul Talka
Commander Jhul Talka has been the current commander of the Blackwatch for nearly 15 years.
She is known for calm and controlled behavior, following her principles with iron will. She has an uncanny knack for correctly anticipating the plots of most Blackwatch enemies.
Jhul is a good judge of folk, a great organizer, and has become a skilled tactician.
