Brimsskor and the Sea People

A people fearsome and varied.

File:Brimmskor.png

## **Children of the Sea**

Undisputed masters of the waves, most of the Sea People spend almost their entire lives sailing the seas and oceans of Kalarain. A fierce, fur-clad culture of seafarers from the cold waters of the Leviathan Ocean, their presence has been felt in every inhabited coastline in the world. Some Sea People like to raid. Others prefer to trade. But all, without exception, are a formidable force when met within their watery domain, and are not to be taken lightly.

## Sailors, Raiders, Traders

The Sea People are a disunified group, with their own complex set of politics, alliances and bitter enmities. Each ship is captained by a skurl, and very often, these ships will set out solo to make their way in the waters of Kalarain. In other cases, ships will set out in a group, under the command of a Jarl. Solo or fleet, what those ships do then is entirely up to the whims of that particular group of Sea People. Some act as entirely peaceful traders, others raid any settlement they come across. Two groups of Sea People who meet each other out on the sea could well end up fighting each other.

Sea People ships can be out on the waves for many, many years. As such, the crews of these ships usually have extremely strong bonds, with their loyalty to their shipmates and Skurl often outweighing all else.

## Brimsskor

The homeland of The Sea People is Brimsskor, an enormous island of rocky outcrops and pine forests. While the majority of Sea People make their ships their permanent residence, a significant number do live on Brimsskor. Most terrestrial Sea People live in longhouses, or simple thatched huts.

While they hold no sway over Sea People out on the oceans, Brimsskor itself is governed by a mystic known as the Whisperer. The Whisperer has significant terrestrial power, but is expected to be fair, just and equitable in how they use it, and is liable to violently couped by powerful Jarls and Skurls if they do not meet the typical high standards. While Sea People are free to battle each other if they encounter each other out at sea, fighting on Brimsskor is forbidden except in highly regulated circumstances. Challenges must be made publicly, and the fights must happen in designated areas.

Mapping Brimsskor’s position in the Leviathan Ocean is difficult, because it seems to move around. Ocean currents seem to flow towards it, often drawing in ships, flotsam, megalodons and the giant sea serpents that riddle the ocean.

The collective consciousness of the Sea People has a grim, bitter edge to it, which is reflected in their humour and writings. They also have an impressive ability to shrug off losses, and a bloodthirsty streak. One major taboo, however, is slavery. The Sea People place significant value on individualist notions of personal freedom, and the taking of slaves is absolutely forbidden. A slaving Sea People ship is liable to get attacked by every other Sea People ship in the region.

## The Mawships

The Sea People are excellent sailors, navigators and naval combatants. Their greatest advantage, however, is a secret which The Sea People have gone to great lengths to keep. Their ships are alive. The ships of the Sea People look like normal longships, but they are actually intelligent creatures with the unique ability to absorb material they encounter into their structure. This means that if one of these ships bumps into floating driftwood, or a whale carcass, or beaches itself on a sandbank, it can take in and repurpose that material to repair or augment itself. These ships are known, by both the Sea People and everyone else, as Mawships.

Ostensibly, Mawships derive their name from the huge wooden jaws and eyes carved into the ships’ prows. While this is technically true, it is assumed that these jaws are decorative. They are not. They are actual jaws, and Mawships can use them to bite things. Mawships also have underwater fins, which they can use to move at great speed. Both ship and crew are fastidiously careful, however, to only use these features when there is no risk anyone else will find out. When around other people, the eyes and jaw remain still, and the fins slide seamlessly back into the body of the ship.

All of this means that Mawships essentially never have to dock for repairs, and Sea People crews can be out on the water basically indefinitely. Some rare Mawships have even developed the capacity to absorb and then sprout plants and fruit trees. While Mawships are not capable of holding conversation, they can follow basic orders and requests. They are also known to be temperamental, and may choose to set off in their own direction, regardless of the frantic orders of the Skurl. Mawships choose their own captains, and refuse to sail for those they don’t like.

The Sea People love and venerate their Mawships. Nearly a century and a half ago, the Vapad clan were caught using mind magic on their Mawships. The entire clan, and their allies, were exiled from Kalarain’s waters, one of the most terrible Sea People punishments, with a promise of death should they ever return to the seas. Only this would sate the wrath of the Mawships’ mother, the island of Brimsskor.

OOC note: Unless your character is a Sea Person themselves, they should not know that the ships of the Sea People are alive when they come into game. Let this be a secret those characters have.