Gildegra

Gildegra, Land of the Aurora, was the boreal archipelagic subcontinent directly north of the Indrateran mainland. It was considered to be the largest and second-furthest-west of the major regions of the Rakkimar macrocontinent. It was a land that marked the transition from the temperate Danderillon to the barren arctic tundra of Tarkassia, with glacial valleys, huge tundra forests, and a large amount of snow-dusted coastline over various islands. Various powers forayed into it for its rich natural resources like furs, timber, fish, whales, and metal, but the cold generally triumphed. Only those who lived off the land instead thrived.
Story alert!
If you want a feel for what Gildegra was like, and a slice of life within it during the God Wars, look no further than This Cold, Dead World, a short story about a Halcyian army soldier who ends up there.
== Cultures==
Despite the region's harsh cold conditions, frequent snowstorms, and the inability for meaningful agriculture, lots of cultures called it their home. It had somewhat warm summers with rolling green landscapes when the snow melted, and crystal blue waterways that provided ample fish and whaling. Many cultures around the area also engaged in reindeer herding; reindeer and whales were the region's two key animals because of their importance to the inhabitants.
The cultures that lived here included the following - getting less in number down the list.
* Essu - the majority culture (over two thirds), who spoke Essu. Indigenous reindeer herders & whalers.
*Rakki - Native to the Rakkimarran core to the east, this sailing/warlike culture loosely colonised the area in the third/second millennia before zero. Quite a lot of the Gildegran population were considered Kintirakki, a term meaning "mixed Rakki+indigenous". The area was too resource-poor & vast for the Rakki to establish a lasting hold over it. As the Essu hunter Katiuq Qagivuk said, "They build one tower for every ten million acres, and then call it theirs". 
*Yupisuut - a small culture who lived in the northwest, who lived in caves and kept herds of caribou. They spoke Yupii.
*Fenet - Though native to the Fen island to Gildegra's west, some lived on Gildegra's westernmost islands. They were relatively solitary hunter gatherers known for their incredible weaving - ponchos, wools, and baskets.
*Various small indigenous groups not more than a couple thousand in number each - namely the Owakara foragers, the Elk hunter-gatherers, the Kusk nomads, the Volov fishers, and the Houc horsemen.
*Darim - Cousins of the Rakki, though most of them lived in Kol Darim, they had some settlements in the very southeastern mountains of the region.
*Brackian - Ancestral inhabitants of the Bracken Valley, some of them inhabited small settlements in the southeastern coast of Gildegra, like the Eldskar Peninsula.
*Vreigardt - Nadûra- and Vrei-speaking native inhabitants of the Danderillon, the Old Vreigardt ancestral homeland was in southern Gildegra, but few remained today.
*Vistu - Quite similar as the Viregardts - the Vistu dream-nomads' ancestral homeland was in western Gildegra, but they migrated to warmer pastures thousands of years ago.
*Galean Nemyran (extinct) - This cave-dwelling culture lived in southwest Gildegra, but went extinct in the first millennium TE due to natural disasters.
==Languages==
Most of the languages of Gildegra were notable for their frequent use of uvular consonants /q ɴ ʁ/ as well as polysynthesis & agglutination, leading to long words. In addition, quite a few of the local languages distinguished a dual plural (so, a different ending for "two things" versus "three things"). Several of the Gildegran family languages did not contrast voicing, and usually had few vowels. 
That said, Gildegra was a very linguistically diverse region. The languages spoken here included Essu, Rakki, Yupii, Fenet, Darim, Brackian, Vrei, Vistu, Owakara, Elk, Kusk, Volov, Houc, Nadûra, Tarkas-Brackian, and Euluska. The Essu language was the most widely spoken, followed by Rakki. Rakki was the administrative and bureaucratic language, and the official governmental one (even if the Rakkimarran government ruled from afar). Quite a decent amount of Euluska (maybe a quarter of inhabitants fluent) was spoken in built-up cities like Solvenger or the capital, Antikosti City.
The region's name probably came from the Yupii word ygitiygra /ɣitiɣʁɑ/, meaning "the snow around us", or possibly from the Essu giłtingqa /ʁiɬtiɴ‿qɑ/ "archipelago".
==Geography==
Gildegra was generally a collection of large islands. Biomes ranged from temperate woodland in the south, to boreal and subarctic conifer forests, tundra, and barren grounds in the distant north. There were huge glacial inlets, fjords, and river valleys in the shadows of widespread mountain ranges that loomed over a lot of small islands, cays, and coastline areas. 
Winters were bitterly cold, with mean daily temperatures averaging -16°C. In the worst possible blizzard conditions in areas unsheltered by trees and barren of cover, daytime temperatures could reach -60°C. Nights were icy cold throughout, averaging -24°C in the northern regions and -7°C even on southern Antikosti Isle. The coldest temperature recorded in the region was recorded by night on the slopes of Two-Mountains-Mountain on Owakara Isle at -129°C. Blizzards, thin ice, fog, and high winds were very real killers. That said, Gildegran summers were thankfully very warm in comparison. Taking Solvenger as an example, winter might have a daily mean of -2°C and a nightly mean of -19°C, but the summer might reach 20°C in the day and remain barely above freezing by night. Gildegran summers were green and full of snowmelt, with flowers and succulents blooming.
Because of its latitude, most of Gildegra experienced polar night. In Solvenger, which was mid-southerly, polar night lasted about three months, same with polar day. Another phenomenon that marked Gildegra was the presence of the aurora. It was ever-present, and incredibly bright, visible on almost every night. It was emblematic of the land.
The region was home to a varied collection of flora and fauna. Rakkimarran wildlife and Northeast Danderillon wildlife were often found here. The region's defining three animals were definitely several unique types of wolf, as well as numerous brees of caribou/reindeer, and the whales of the waterways. Each was useful, culturally significant, and religiously important.
== History==
The area's east was the ancestral home of many of the northern populations of people, back when the world was warmer about 300kya. Currently, Indratera is entering an ice age, so the gradual transition toward that forced people southward many thousands of years ago. Indigenous groups inhabited the area for countless millennia. In the third and second millennia before zero, the Rakki sailing culture made Gildegra part of their empire primarily in name - it was hard to rule effectively because of its size and conditions. Lots of Rakki settled here, leading to the varied Kintirakki culture (half-Rakki half-indigenous). 
Gildegra remained a wild and unassuming land for most of history. In the 1490s, the Euluskan Empire made a few small colonies in its south to mine earth metal or iron (like Forthudson, Moose Fort, and Adzvolta) but these were abandoned within three decades. However, come the 1600s, the God Wars broke out. One of the major areas of the war was Gildegra, fought over by the armies of Halcyon and Rakkimar. This devastated much of the south of the region. Resources were depleted, people were killed or displaced, and the land was left littered with ruins. When the Everlasting Night began (a long period with no sunrise), the region became incredibly harsh to live in. With no sun, the temperatures remained around -30°C most days. The impact can be demonstrated by noting that the population in 1600 was 642,000, but even three hundred years later by the 250s C, there were barely 86,000 people surviving in the region. 
===Old Names===
The Old Rakki named this region Vorðanland, meaning "northern green land", for its warmer summers. The southwest of the region was known as Jyrenland, meaning "land of narrow waterways". The Euluskans took this name when they charted the region, and referred to Gildegra as Jurenul "the Yuren region".
File:Gildegra new map.png|An old map of the region.
File:Gildegra.jpg|A sketch of the north of Owakara Isle.
File:Anticosti 2.png|An Old Rakki map of the south of Antikosti, known as Vorðanland.
File:Gildegra and Thay.jpg|An ancient map made by Euluskans who knew no better.
File:Gildegra Flag.png|The flag of the region under the empire of Rakkimar, known as the Gildegran Wilderness Territory.
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