Vestenmennavenjar

“Red rivers breed fertile valleys.” -Ancient Vesten proverb

“Young rivers run red. Strong rivers run silver.” -Modern Vesten proverb

In many ways, the Vestenmennavenjar is a strange contradiction to itself. Its people have struggled for centuries to provide themselves a sustenance-level exis-tence amid the ice, snow and stormy seas they call home. Relying heavily on raiding to supplement their nation’s resources, Vesten culture has long been based around thrift, sacrifice and tenacity in the face of bleak odds.

Now, the Vendel League, with their ubiquitous Guilders has brought an era of prosperity to the nation, making modern Vestenmennavenjar richer than at any other time in the nation’s history. This has converted much of the raider-and-warrior economy into one of traders and diplomacy, a change embraced stridently by some Vesten and disdained just as strongly by others.

The nation is a distinct powerhouse in the world’s economy, with the Guilder gaining traction enough to make it even more powerful. But, a Vesten does not have a king and crown, his nation has no single ruler.

Instead, each town and village has a local jarl who runs the government and a carl (merchant-leader) who runs the economic side of things. They still have nobility, traditional family lines who have long-led the good people of Vestenmennavenjar over genera-tions, and brave Heroes who have earned their own word-fame through glorious deeds. But unlike other kings and queens, a jarl works hand in hand with his merchant counterpart and does not necessarily rule over her.

## Economic Warfare

Once thought of by the rest of Théah as largely filled with barbarians and bandits, Vestenmennavenjar is now one of the most peaceful nations in Théah. Under the silver-lined tutelage of the Vendel League, a Vesten merchant has discovered that trading can be far more profitable than raiding, and while her people are no less brave and strong, she has mostly eschewed violence, at least as an economic principle. Casting a skeptical eye at the war-torn world outside of her borders, she often wonders why everyone else has not followed along.

While the jarls hold the executive power over the people, making decisions on laws, adjudicating inter-town policy and leading the city’s defense, the carls hold the real power. Every carl in Vestenmennavenjar belongs to the Vendel League in some capacity. They represent the Vendel League’s interests in Vestenmennavenjar and work closely with the Guilds to ensure a solid foundation for the economic power the League claims.

While no noble leader rules over the nation, the Vendel League serves as a form of centralized govern-ment, deciding best practice and standards which carls then bring to the individual jarls. The peace between the many disparate groups comes not from conquest, but from economic gain for all. Many would-be carls travel all over Théah, representing the League to the other nations, pushing forward an agenda that leads to greater profit, eventually giving the Vendel League a hand in the politics of every nation.

On the outside, Vesten appears weak. The nation has no standing army, no vital exports and no single ruler. The navy is a merchant fleet, and pirates and privateers hound the bays. Yet, the League’s ships travel to nearly all ports unmolested, they export the greatest amount of luxury goods of any other Théan nation, the Guilder is accepted nearly everywhere the Vesten trade and the Vendel League has repre-sentatives and Guildhalls in nearly every major city in Théah.

Long ago, the people of Vestenmennavenjar learned that invasion and war was no way to win over a popu-lace. Instead, they plan to slowly gain power all over Théah, by being an indispensable source of economic stability. Who needs a military fleet when cargo ships are welcome in every port? Who needs an army of soldiers when merchants travel freely in all lands? Who needs a flag to fly over conquered soil, when your money changes hands in every nation?

While far from complete, the Vendel League has spread its influence into most of Théah’s nations. They sell weapons and armor to Castille and Montaigne alike. They accept bribes from Vodacce Princes to increase their prices in Castille and accept bribes from Castille to ignore Vodacce ports. They purchase food and grain from the Sarmatian Commonwealth, only to sell it to Eisen in exchange for weapons to sell to Ussura. If trade is happening in Théah, at the very least the Vendel League knows about it, and they likely have a stake in it.

## Important People in Vestenmennavenjar

### Frederick Ulfsen, Jarl of Vendel

The Vendel League’s chosen replacement for the last powerful jarl of Vendel, Frederick Ulfsen, is not a bad man by any stretch of the imagination. He is just not a good leader. Which, many believe, is exactly the reason the League chose him.

Unlike many jarls, Frederick was not raised to the warrior ways. Originally a furrier, who worked to facilitate trade in luxury fur between the cities of the Northlands and the merchants of Vendel, his charming personality won him popularity with his clients and the heart of young Sofia, daughter of a former jarl of Klorhulg. Sofia was pleased to move to the more urbane environment of Vendel with her new husband, and many credit her with being a major force behind his popularity with the Vendel League. A shrewd woman with a head for long-term planning, Sofia’s youthful ardor soon dimmed as she grew tired of her husband’s luxurious tastes, selfish priorities and shortsighted ways.

After growing bored with managing his fur trade business, Ulfsen took his wife’s advice and invested heavily in silver, a ploy that paid off well as the League’s Guilder became accepted worldwide. With this wealth, he secured a largely advisory role working under his uncle, Aksel Redhand, then jarl of Vendel. Playing more on his personality than actual skill, Frederick became one of the most popular faces in Vendel, renowned for his support of the arts, educational and charitable efforts and for generally being a great guy.

Frederick inherited the jarldom after his uncle’s untimely mysterious death. He remains wildly popular in Vesten for his jovial personality, generosity and support of the arts, but has not had equal fortune with his reputation among his peers who suspect (rightfully so) his figurative impotence in political matters.

Frequent visitations by influential folk from other nations have led some to believe that Frederick’s loyalty to Vendel (and to Vestenmennavenjar) is not as strong as it appears. Some fear that Frederick (knowingly or unknowingly) provides confidential information about his city or the League to foreign spies.

#### Portraying Frederick Ulfsen

Ulfsen is a handsome man, but in a fashion just a tad too polished and polite for many Vesten to truly appreciate. Slight of build and always perfectly outfitted, his detractors claim he must have Montaigne blood in his ancestry.

Regardless of his lineage, however, Frederick pays inordinate attention to his appearance, employing more tailors, haberdashers, bootmakers, jewelers and the like than any jarl before him. He wears his auburn hair and beard neatly trimmed in a fashion better suited to the mainland of Théah than to his homeland.

Because of his ego, Frederick is susceptible to flat-tery, bribes of pretty baubles and outright seduction. Few things raise his ire as quickly as an insult to his appearance or taste, and he has held petty grudges for years over such.

#### Story Hooks

* Frederick is not as incompetent as the Vendel League believes him to be. He hates their use and abuse of slaves and works to undermine their power in Vendel. He worries that they might catch on to his deceit and needs someone to help him ferry information back and forth with his foreign collaborators to divert the League’s attention.
* While always appearing as the gracious and supportive wife in public, those in the know claim that Sofia actually hates her husband and seeks his demise, but not before her children grow old enough to inherit his place. Some believe that Sofia resents him being made jarl rather than herself, being far more politically adept than Frederick. Can the Heroes discover her plot and stop her before she gets to Frederick?

### Gylffi Hafgrimmr, Jarl of Klorhulg

A Vesten proverb states that “a wise person’s heart is seldom cheerful,” and Gylffi Hafgrimmr is nothing if not a wise person. The changes the Vendel League have brought to Klorhulg weigh heavy on his shoul-ders, and while he wants to see his people happy and wealthy, he is far from certain that the benefits outweigh the price.

Jarl of Klorhulg for many decades, Gylffi is known for his strength, wisdom and unyielding dedication to the town he rules. For generations, his people have carved a living out of the ice and snow—harvesting furs from the indigenous animals of the Allfather Ice Floes, fishing during the few months the sea breaks free from the Allfather’s frozen grasp and supple-menting their scavenging with back-breaking work in the silver mines nearby. Recently, however, the northernmost jarl has seen his town change from a remote outpost kept alive by hard work and bravery to a bustling town built largely on the back of over-worked and abused slave labor, and the change causes Gylffi great concern.

Just like many Klorhulg citizens, Hafgrimmr spent time in the silver mines as a youth and knows first-hand the price that must be paid to wrest the precious metal from the frozen soil. Now, as jarl, he worries not only for the slaves the Vendel League use (and abuse) to harvest it, but for the moral toll that profiting from such abuse takes on his people.

Slavery is illegal in Vetenmennavenjar, but the use of indentured servants, called thralls, is a common prac-tice. The laws of the Allthing protect thralls, and give them rights, which is inconvenient for forcing people to work the silver mines day in and out. Certain members of the Vendel League began importing slaves and pressing them to work in the mines, lying to Gylffi and anyone who asks as to their origin.

Meanwhile, the Močiutės Skara recently moved into Klorhulg. The jarl is unsure of why they came, but he is pleased by their concern over the miners.

#### Portraying Gylffi Hafgrimmr

Hafgrimmr is the epitome of a Vesten sea-king. He often wears his long dark hair braided, with intricately carved beads of whalebone plaited into his beard. His eyes are as dark as a storm at sea, scowling out from beneath a heavily furrowed brow.

Although his citizens have adopted elaborate luxu-rious clothing in many foreign styles, he still wears the wool, fur and leather that has served him throughout his time as jarl of the city, without jewelry or adorn-ment, save for those available before the town’s turn to wealth. The jarl’s primary concern is for the (physical as well as emotional and moral) health of his towns-people, leaving him in great turmoil about the current affairs with the local mines.

Gylffi is very accessible to visitors to the area, believing strongly in hospitality as a sacred duty, espe-cially in the frozen north. Those who ask favors of him or seek him out for diplomatic missions find him a fair and generous man, but neither gullible nor naive.

Those who recognize his concern for the situation  may find him willing to aid them, while those who approach him merely with bribes (or with insults to his people for their greed) discover his bristly nature a challenge to deal with.

#### Story Hooks

* While the Vendel League does not tech-nically have the ability to replace Gylffi with a more compliant puppet, they have already maneuvered one of Klorhulg’s other prominent leaders out of the area (Elisif Geirsdatter, formerly carl of Klorhulg, now the new Mistress of the Breffa). He needs as many allies as possible if he wants to keep his position in Klorhulg.
* Knowing that what happens in the mines violates just treatment, Gylffi, rumors have it, turns a blind eye to (if not actively sponsors) the efforts to free abused workers from their torment in the mines. He quietly funds revolutionary groups attempting to free the slaves, but needs to appear impartial to the League’s spies. He could really use a go-between to help him.

### Ragna Ankidatter, Jarl of Kirk

In days gone by, Ragna would have been considered the perfect jarl. Her ferocity, wisdom, honor and duty are impeccable. But do modern times require some-thing different in a leader? The seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Ragna Ankidatter was destined to be jarl from childhood and groomed for the task. Almost a century ago, the former jarl of Kirk’s house-hold fostered her and taught her everything a jarl needed to know—at that time.

Times, however, change, and while her focus on the traditional ways of the Vestenmennavenjar has served her (and her town) well for decades, it has recently brought her into conflict with the Vendel League, who prefers a more modern approach to things. Whereas the League looks to break from tradition, Ankidatter finds strength in adhering to the past.

Ancient Vesten folklore claims the jarl of Kirk immortal, and in one form or another, the same entity has been jarl for as long as the city of Kirk has existed. Reportedly, when the jarl of Kirk draws near to death, her soul retreats into an eagle’s egg protected deep within her chest. Upon death, her successor removes and swallows that egg, granting the new jarl all the knowledge and experience of the jarl line back to the city’s inception. With this ancient lore in mind, Ankidatter struggles to find a way to pass on her legacy.

Ragna has been grooming potential replacements for decades; all of whom have died under questionable circumstances. She currently trains several individ-uals, hoping that at least one of them survives longer than she does and can continue the traditional ways. Fate seems to have other ideas, however. One of her prospects has demonstrated a very weak constitution, and another (Ragna’s favorite) mirrors his mentor so much that all but the most strident traditionalists in Kirk realize he is ill suited to lead the city into the future.

The Vendel League did not consult Ankidatter about the creation of the Breffa (the Vendel League’s Guilder minting operation) beneath her city, though she understood the political and economic virtue of its placement.

The same cannot be said of the erection of the Mestrkirk, however. Adamantly opposed to the corruption of traditional Vesten faith with Objectionist heresy, Ragna has done everything in her power to stymie the new cathedral’s completion. Including throwing political, economic and religious stumbling blocks in its way. Work on the Master Church, however, continues to proceed apace despite the jarl’s efforts.

#### Portraying Ragna Ankidatter

As tall as most men in Vesten, Ankidatter stands straight as an oak, despite her advanced age. Her hair, silver and straight, falls past her waist, and she most often wears it in a simple braid, although she may appear it unbound for special occasions of state.

She dresses in very traditional Vesten clothing, adding to the rumors of her timelessness. She frequently carries a long walking staff that doubles as a weapon, should the need arise. At her heart, Ragna wants the best for Kirk and for Vestenmennavenjar as a whole.

Unfortunately, her vision (correct or not) equates traditional with good and modern changes as corrupting. Those who approach her with respect for the old ways likely find a strong ally. Those who belittle Vesten’s history find Ragna to be an unyielding opponent.

#### Story Hooks

* Jarl Ankidatter is old and dying, but she has yet to pick a successor. She has tried training a new jarl, but each has hidden political motives she does not agree with. She instead wishes for Ulga, one of her students from decades ago, to return to Kirk and take her place. She asks the Heroes to search for her before it is too late and one of her current students takes over.
* Rumor has it that one of Ragna’s students, Snorri, is covertly loyal to the Vendel League, serving as the League’s spy within the jarl’s court. If he succeeds Ragna, it could mean a drastic change for the city upon her death. Kenna, her other student, weak of constitution, but strong of heart, tries to prevent Snorri’s advancement, but she needs outside help.

### Alvor Ekillsdatter

Loved by her crew, and feared by those who know her only as the head of the Vesten Raiders, Alvor Ekillsdatter is Vestenmennavenjar’s best-known pirate queen. While the rest of Vesten may have given up raiding for trading, Alvor and her Raiders hold fast to the timeless traditions of their people, patrolling the seas for bounty untold. Some blame the Vendel League for not putting an end to the Raiders, others wonder if more than meets the eye concerning the two groups.

Ekillsdatter grew up as a fisherman’s daughter in Eskjo, but was captured by a band of motley pirates barely out of her teens. Her captors intended to sell her into slavery elsewhere in Théah, but through daring (and a disproportionately large amount of good fortune), she escaped and made her way back home by working on various freebooter vessels. Upon returning home, she discovered that the sea—and specifically pirating—remained in her blood, and since her village had long-since left raiding as an honorable profession, she set out to make a life for herself among those of a similar bent.

Over the years, Alvor worked with one crew after another, rising in the ranks until she eventually became captain of her own ship within a group known as the Vesten Raiders. More than a decade later, she now commands the entire Raider fleet, having earned the undying loyalty of her crew and the rest of the Raiders through her intellect, daring, practicality and apparent possession of an unending amount of good luck.

#### Portraying Alvor Ekillsdatter

Ekillsdatter is a middle-aged woman, who has spent her entire life at sea. The wind and sun have weath-ered her plain features to a leathery tan, and life on board pirate ships has left her with more than a few scars. She dresses in practical clothing in the Vesten style: pants, sturdy boots with good grip for stability on the deck and layered shirts and vests to deal with variable weather. Yet she is fond of ornamentation, especially “trophies” such as hats, scarves or jewelry from her various quarries.

Those who encounter Alvor find her jovial and motivated as much by a desire to overcome risk and undertake adventure as any real profit. Always up for a challenge, be it gambling, racing or sword fighting, she has been known to take on overwhelming odds if presented in an interesting fashion. While she does not stand for outright cheating, anything short of breaking a stated rule is fair game, and she shows respect for someone who outwits her by thinking outside the box.

#### Story Hooks

* Something has happened with the Vendel League, causing them to target the Vesten Raiders. Even as Ekillsdatter directs her ships away from attacking those flying League colors, the League makes her captains’ lives difficult. The League does not attack them, but instead levies taxes on the plunder and hikes up prices for making port in Vendel. She suspects someone poisoning the League against them, but needs help ferreting out the culprit.
* While Alvor is well loved, no reign lasts forever. Several of her fleet’s captains eye her place on top, and it may take more than good fortune to keep her in her current role. Will the Heroes help her maintain her position, or try to uplift someone more favorable as the leader of the Vesten Raiders?

#### VESTEN RAIDERS

While the Vendel League formally condemned the Vesten Raiders as criminals and thugs, early in the League’s history the two groups were more closely tied than the League now cares to admit. Recognizing that they needed protection for their ﬂeets to succeed with trade throughout Théah, and fearing their ships provided an irresistible target for the Raiders, the League hoped

to kill two birds with one stone by hiring the Raiders on as a mercenary force. They quickly discovered, however, that the Raiders’ independent nature did not mesh well with the League’s need for obedience and order. Most Vesten are not aware that the Raiders ever worked for the League, and the League closely holds secret the current nature of their relationship (if any). But to this day, Raiders almost never target League ships.

### Elisif Geirsdatter

Brusque and businesslike, Elisif Geirsdatter has a head for numbers that serves her well. Originally the daughter of (and assistant to) a Klorhulg fur trader, Elisif worked her way up to carl of the town, before being persuaded to move to Kirk and take on an even more challenging task—Mistress of the Vendel League’s mint.

As the only child of a widowed fur trader, Geirsdatter grew up naturally independent—her father left for long periods of time trapping and on trade missions, and Elisif learned to take care of herself from a very early age.

As she grew older, her father taught her to tally and figure values, how to track who pays the best prices for each kind of fur, who demanded top quality pelts and who would be content with less perfect goods. By the time she was a young adult, Elisif was handling the business side of her father’s trade routes, leaving him free to concentrate on trapping and hunting. After his death, she began working for the city, even-tually succeeding her mentor to become Klorhulg’s youngest carl.

Not long after the Vendel League began utilizing slaves in their mining, the League offered Geirsdatter the position of Mistress of the Breffa, a role requiring her to leave her hometown in favor of Kirk. The Vendel League promoted her in part to utilize her sharp business acumen and in part to avoid her protests about the conditions in the silver mines near Klorhulg. Now in charge of the mint that creates Guilders in Kirk, Elisif is too busy to concentrate on the situation back in Klorhulg, exactly what the League intended. Although, that did not stop her from sending discreet letters to members of the Močiutės Skara about the situation there.

Nominally in charge of record keeping, as Mistress of the Breffa, Elisif manages all of the high-level functions of the Breffa, including arranging Guilder shipments, supervising mining quotas and (perhaps most importantly) ensuring the mint beneath the city remains a secret.

#### Portraying Elisif Geirsdatter

Geirsdatter is tall and slender, and young for the vaunted position she holds. Wise beyond her years though, she has a wit and intelligence unmatched by many others. She carries herself strongly, marching the halls of the Breffa with militant precision. From her neatly braided hair worn in a coronet atop her head, to her clothing and speech, everything about her is carefully controlled and perfectly arranged.

Elisif allows little room in her daily life for intrigue or dalliance. She considers her work to be a nigh-sa-cred duty, and a person attempting to use wealth or blackmail to get her to neglect or betray it finds himself with the full weight of the League crashing down on him.

Her one vulnerability, however, is her concern for the effects of the mines on her hometown, and that leaves an Achilles heel that might be exploited by someone attempting to influence the Mistress of the Breffa for his own purpose.

#### Story Hooks

* Despite the League’s efforts in removing Elisif out of Klorhulg, she maintains her connection with Gylffi Hafgrimmr, the jarl of the city, and works with him to ensure things do not degenerate too far. She tries to develop a messenger network back to her home, but the League thwarts her efforts. She needs a little breathing room to get everything situated, maybe something the Heroes can help her with.
* Other than the League itself, the Mistress of the Breffa has the most information about the flow of Guilders around Théah. While the League endeavors to keep this informa-tion secret, spy networks would surely pay well for such vital information, making Elisif a potential target for espionage attempts.

### Ivethay,  Giantess of the Island

While Ivethay is legendary as the giantess and witch that claims territory over Ivethay Island in the center of Wyrd Lake, in truth, she does not exist. At least, not in the way outsiders think of her. Ivethay (meaning witch or crone) is not a personal name, but the title given to the most highly respected wise woman of the Ukonsaari tribe who make its home on the island.

The current Ivethay, Brynhild Bergljot, has served the Ukonsaari for nearly a decade, after her mother stepped down from the position. Raised to the role, she is well educated in the Ukonsaari spiritual traditions and beliefs, healing arts, diplomacy and a wide variety of other skills that allow her to serve as the spiritual advisor to the entirety of her people. An experienced tracker, hunter and warrior as well, she travels on her own from one side of her massive island to the other. She no longer lives within any one village; instead she splits her time between moving nomadically along the shores of the lake in hopes of discovering abandoned babes before the elements overtake them and counseling the various villages under her protection. Along the way, she visits the various villages of her tribe in order to bless their foster children and provides advice, support and knowledge to her people.

As per tradition, Ivethay herself has no husband (although the tribe expects her to take lovers, and may bear children fostered with other tribesfolk). The Ukonsaari consider an adopted child hers (even if he never actually meets her), just fostered out to the tribe members who raise him.

Ivethay is more than a spiritual leader and mother figure to the Ukonsaari. She is war leader, political representative and arbiter of inter-tribe disputes. She unifies the various tribes and keeps the peace, which is a huge job by itself.

While all the tribes of the island respect and listen to Ivethay, the tribes still follow warlike ways, encroaching on each other’s lands and raiding each other’s fisheries when one thinks it can do so without recourse. She represents the tribes to the outside world, though she rarely leaves the island. This means that whenever anyone comes from outside the island, she must first pass Ivethay’s inspection before she can traverse the land.

#### Portraying Ivethay

A head or so taller than the average (still tall) Vesten, the protector of the island tribe is a warrior to be reckoned with. Dressed traditionally for her people, predominantly in furs and felts rather than woven wools, it is not uncommon for her to carry a babe on her back, but she never travels without a weapon.

The current Ivethay is firmly in her middle years, looking forward to another decade or two before retiring as her mother did before her and passing her duties on to one of her daughters (adopted or of her own birthing.)

Those who approach Ivethay respectfully find her wary but reasonable to deal with. Her priorities is always protecting her tribe and the children they adopt, but as long as a proposition serves that goal, she may be convinced to become an ally. Those who threaten her people, however, find an unyielding and eternal enemy in the giantess.

#### Story Hooks

* Leaving fosterlings for Ivethay is a tradition more popular in the nation’s brutal past than in Vesten’s peaceful future. The giantess knows that her own population cannot succeed without supplement, but loathes resorting to stealing children. She hopes to open her island to visitors, but receives pushback from more traditional island members. She could use emissaries able to easily traverse between both lands.
* Jarl Egil died suddenly with no living heir. Each of Egil’s brothers now fights for the right to lead, and the people seek a peaceable solution before the shedding of more blood. They whisper rumors that Egil’s brother, Alfdr, sequestered the legitimate heir, bearing a notable birthmark, on Ivethay Island more than three decades ago. Some think Ivethay herself this long lost heir and seek her out. Will the Heroes help Ivethay to realize her position as jarl?

### Lucas Gillespie

Lucas Gillespie grew up in a small village in the Highland Marches hearing stories of the greatest warriors in the land, Eliodd’s Knights. He idolized the gallantry and romance of their lives, and hoped to one day follow in their footsteps. As he toiled in his family’s fields, he daydreamed about daring adventures and harrowing rescues. He studied all he could about the Sidhe, the ancient laws of Glamour magic, the code the Glamour Knights followed, and everything in between.

That knowledge was put to the test when a Sidhe settlement sprang up near his village, and the Glamour the fae brought with them began to take over the land endangering the crops and his liveli-hood. Gillespie, though still a youth, approached the local Sidhe lord and requested a single favor in equal exchange. The lord agreed, thinking to get the better of the foolish lad. Invoking the oldest known laws of Glamour, Gillespie bound the Sidhe to a specific area of land, well outside his hometown, and in return, he exiled himself from the Highland Marches. The Sidhe Lord, unable to deny the favor became trapped in a tiny holding, unable to leave or spread her magic until such time as Gillespie once against steps foot upon the Marches.

Now, Gillespie travels the whole of Theah. He is a renowned member of the Knights of the Rose & Cross, dedicated to defending the helpless and fighting for what is good and right. He may not have any Glamour magic of his own, like the Knights of old, but he embodies their codes and laws to the best of his ability.

He has recently settled in Vestenmennavenjar after hearing rumors of inhumane treatment in the silver mines, and the Vendel League turning a blind eye to a harsh slave trade. He seeks to not only free the slaves in Klorhulg, but to depose the members of the Vendel League who are allowing such inhumane acts happen.

#### Portraying Lucas Gillespie

Friendly, helpful, and jovial. Lucas Gillespie is a loqua-cious man barely out of his teenage years. He has dark brown hair and greenish blue eyes that seem to pierce into the soul of any he fixes his gaze on. He is an impeccable judge of character, and devotes himself fully to any he deems worthy of his loyalty. Gillespie is a poet and a storyteller, gladly relating the stories he has collected from all his travels in exchange for one of your own. The Heroes are likely to encounter Lucas Gillespie in or near Klorhulg, especially if they take an interested in the silver mines.

#### Story Hook

* Gillespie plans a daring rescue attempt to save the slaves from the Klorhuld mines. He has no idea that there are already people working to aid and relieve these people, and his actions could cause problems for the Močiutės Skara in the region. Can the Heroes convince Gillespie to wait for the slow moving Society to do their work, or will they help him with his rescue attempt?
* When Gillespie bound the Sidhe to small part of the Highland Marches, he thought he had the perfect solution of leaving. Recently, he heard word that his parent’s farm is under attack from Sidhe loyal to the Lord he tricked. He cannot go home to help them, as that would break the spell, but maybe the Heroes are willing to go help his family.

## The Vendel League

Formed almost 200 years ago, the Vendel League was originally a loose alliance of merchants and traders formed to protect the interests—and wealth—of the Vesten people. While it employs, works with and does business with countless people, the League itself formally consists of 100 merchants and traders from around Théah: nine Chairs form the ruling council, and 91 Seats represent particularly powerful individ-uals, carls, businesses, trade houses and townships around the world.

A Hero is likely to interact with the Vendel League in any area of Théah she visits. Representatives and trade masters can be found in every major city of Théah, pushing the Vendel League’s goal of making the Guilder the standard currency. While in Vendel, a Hero may meet directly with any of the nine heads of the Vendel League. Listed below are the nine councilors who make up the leadership of the Vendel League. Some of them are clearly Villains, while others may help a Hero in her adventures.

### History of the League

The League’s original members were eight Vesten carls, each the head of their own particular guild. The decison to make the League was voted on by all the carls of Vesten, and included trade agreements with Avalon, Eisen and Ussura. The then-Imperator of Eisen gifted the League with considerable start-up capital to fun the venture in exchange for a seat on the League.

These nine original members became the Chairs of the League, and each was replaced in time by their hand-chosen successor. The rest of the hundred seats wer made up the carls and merchants throughout Vestenmennavenjar.

Shortly after the War of the Cross, the Vendel League Chairs made strides to exert their power beyond Vestenmennavenjar’s shores and began filling the 91 seats with foreign trade partners. When doing so, the Vesten members took on Avalonian versions of their names, making it easier for foreigners to pronounce.

Now, League membership is more about profit margins and political alliances than loyalty to Vesten ideals.

### Titles and Forms of Address

Each of the Chairs and Seats have the title of master in some way. Only the Chairs use the Master title as part of their position, while the Seats use Guildmaster instead, or in some cases Master Merchant or Master Trader.

Of course, the idiosyncrasies of what to call a Vendel League member are often even lost on the Vendel League. Sometimes Master Mokk may require a peti-tioner to use as many titles as possible, even throwing Carl of Vendel in there for good measure. Of course, no one calls upon Chair Master Sigvald Gunnisen, Val Mokk, Carl of Vendel unless he is in dire straits.

#### Succession

While the League’s 91 Seats may be bartered for, bought and sold, the Chairs remain sacrosanct. Interfering with a retiring Chair’s choice of successor is blasphemy to the League, and anyone foolishly trying to bribe, murder or purchase his way into a Chair finds himself removed from the League entirely, either by political sanction or more permanent means.

That does not stop the Chairs from scheming against each other, each attempting her own form of bribery and lobbying to get the other Chairs to pick a successor she approves of. The Vendel League used to be rife with blackmail, bribery, threats and a slew of other problems which stemmed from the Chairs’ internal spats. Now, that kind of corruption is less heard of, if only because the Chairs have gotten better at keeping their infighting a secret.

The Seats are certainly no better, and often worse than the Chairs. People from all across Théah popu-late the Seats, and make their homes all over. While distance separates them, infighting is just as rampant, and the stakes are often higher. While the Chairs play at threats and blackmail, the Seats seek to break their brethren.

A Seat may spend her time undermining anoth-er’s reputation and legitimacy, leaving him without a Guilder to his name. In the end, someone of her choosing purchases his Seat out from under him. The Seats make alliances and gather of Vendel League merchants and representatives under them as a support network against such treachery.

#### Merchant’s Guild:  Master Val Mokk  (Sigvald Gunnisen)

Although on paper all League Chairs are equal, Master Val Mokk effectively leads the Vendel League. Mokk’s great-great-great-great-grandfather was one of the original Vesten carls that formed the League—a fact he brings up as often and as loudly as humanly possible—and the Merchant’s Guild Chair has passed directly through his family line to the present day.

Born and raised in Vendel itself, Mokk inherited his position from his mother more than a decade ago. Although his bald pate, poor manners and corpulent belly may be repugnant to many, he is very good at what he does. Unfortunately, much of what he does is manipulation, greedy acquisition and power mongering.

Val Mokk is nothing if not a merchant at heart. The Mokks sell anything and everything caring more about moving goods from one point to another than specializing in a certain good. From the seat of the Merchant’s Guild, Mokk has made his money taxing foreign and domestic merchants just for doing busi-ness in Vendel. The Guilder is his invention, and his intention is to use it to tax merchants all across Théah eventually.

Under Mokk’s leadership, the Guilder has become accepted across Théah, a true wonder of economic virtuosity. However, Mokk’s success has also created a near-endless demand for silver to create new Guilders, and he has absolutely no trepidation about the slavery, corruption and abuse taking place in Klorhulg to meet that demand.

Heroes are likely to butt heads with Guildmaster Mokk as he has no love of those who meddle with his productivity or the interests of the League. He is a potent ally to those who serve his ends and a dangerous foe to any who upset the League’s produc-tion lines.

#### Sailor’s Guild:  Master Allen Trel(Avor Troelsen)

Native to Eskjo, Master Allen Trel was only 15 when he inherited his place as head of the Sailor’s Guild and his Chair on the League. When his mentor, Master Jal Erksen, passed away unexpectedly, many believed that Trel (the youngest person to ever sit a League Chair) was not ready for the responsibility. But, in the past decade and a half, he has proven to be cool headed, far seeing and well-spoken—everything his mentor could have wanted in a successor.

Wiry and prone to practical clothing, Trel has grown into his role with the League. He now over-sees planning for new trade routes, schedule changes and other League matters requiring a first-hand knowledge of the sea. He does not interject opinion into topics that don’t concern him, ensuring that he works well alongside almost every other one of the League’s Chairs. The exception is Joris Brak, the head of the Carpenter’s Guild, upon whom Trel has an unrequited crush. When Brak is present, Trel loses his composure entirely, becoming a verbose babbling fool. Some of the League has noticed, but Brak himself remains entirely oblivious to his fellow Chair’s adoration.

Most of the League views Trel as a non-political entity, which he prefers. While he has political views and goals, he believes the leadership of Vesten remains with the jarls and carls, of which he is neither. He stays out of League politics as much as he can, offering business solutions that appease everyone in areas of his expertise and staying neutral on other matters. He is not a threat to the other members’ plans, and instead they send him gifts and offers of support in hopes to gain his aid. He often returns such gestures unanswered.

Trel may offer the Heroes guidance or assistance with shipping in and around Vesten waters. While the Vendel League does not directly employ the Vesten Raiders, Trel does have enough sway with them that he could help the Heroes with any issues that may come up.

#### Carpenter’s Guild:  Master Joris Brak  (Joris Braakenjorsen)

While another carpenter might consider himself a craftsperson, Master Joris Brak is an artist through and through. He joined the carpenter’s guild as a youth, in an attempt to find an outlet for his creativity. While his attention to detail ensured he would never be the fastest builder, his talent for blending beauty and utility quickly earned him a reputation in his native village of Soroya and then throughout Vesten. He moved to Vendel as a young man, to apprentice under the then-Master of the Carpenter’s Guild and spent the next decade first learning and then eclipsing his master’s work. Brak was surprised (and not entirely pleased) to be appointed as his mentor’s successor when the older man retired, but he has many able underlings to delegate the practical aspects of the Guild to, leaving him time (although never enough for his tastes) to pursue his own artistic projects in peace.

Brak is full of contradictions. He can muscle a beam into place with a strength that his average build belies, and yet his long delicate fingers carve minute details in the smallest of projects. A handsome man, he draws attention and admiring glances from the women (and sometimes men) around him, and yet remains oblivious to their flirtations, behaving as if he truly married his work.

Brak cares little for the politics of the Vendel League. That is not to say that he doesn’t care about his League and the wellbeing of his nation. Indeed he does all in his power to keep the Vendel League in charge in Vesten, but he has no head for all the infighting and espionage. Most other members of the League know Brak is loyal and strong, and therefore do not bother with him. While he wouldn’t help a Hero do something like undermine one of the Vendel League Chairs, he would certainly help her fight off a threat to the League.

#### Blacksmith’s Guild:  Mistress Sela Cole(Selma Colbjorsdatter)

The newest Chair of the Vendel League is Mistress Sela Cole, who apprenticed to the most talented blacksmith in her native Klorhulg while still too young to do more than work the forge bellows. Over the years, Sela proved herself to be talented not only in blacksmithing itself, but in the role of the smithy within a community. Her mentor, seeing her poten-tial, took the girl under his wing for training beyond what he normally gave his underlings, which drew resentment and eventually hostility from her peers. Although his affection remained utterly filial, jealousy spurred rumors of an illicit relationship between the widower and his student and eventually made her life in Klorhulg miserable.

She left with his blessing and a letter of recommen-dation to the Master of the Blacksmith’s Guild in Vendel. She soon found herself in a similar role to the Guildmaster, although she carefully downplayed any special treatment. After pirates murdered the Guildmaster while traveling, his will revealed Sela to be his choice of replacement. As the most recent addition to the Chairs and despite her best efforts, some still assume her promotion had more to do with her relationship with her mentors than her ability.

It does not help that she dresses well, preferring form fitting clothing when working and Montaigne styles when out and about town. Sela is neither weak nor foolish, and her placement as Guildmaster was no mistake. The woman knows her way around a business deal and a forge with equal measure. Her outgoing personality and gregarious nature win her friends and allies easily, making it difficult for anyone who wishes her ill to realize those desires.

Sela is probably the easiest of the Vendel League to approach and deal with, but that does not make her the least formidable. Her network of allies could prove a valuable resource to a Hero, as long as he makes it worth her while to help him.

#### Jenny’s Guild:  Madame Lorraine Weller(Avalon)

Madame Lorraine Weller has held a Chair with the Vendel League for so long that no one currently on the League (Seat or Chair alike) remembers a time when she was not a part of it. She maintains a network of spies across Théah, using her Guild to obtain information vital to the League’s efforts. Originally from Avalon, Weller inherited her seat from the then-Vesten Jenny Guildmaster, after decades of serving as her assistant and aide. Rumors says she has more kings and queens as clients than any other member of the Jenny’s Guild, although she meets inquiries about such tawdry matters with an icy stare that rivals the Allfather Ice Floes in intensity and duration.

Weller is an impeccable dowager, with manners to match. She never appears in public without her silver hair perfectly arranged, and her wardrobe consists of beautiful gowns risqué by Vesten standards, save for the scarlet underpinnings that act both as modesty barriers and a badge of her office. Her cosmetics are always expertly applied, and although obviously stunning in her younger years, she still maintains the elegant beauty that earned her a following across all of Théah.

Despite her age, Madame Weller is no stranger to the jenny’s halls. She regularly accepts clients between executing her duties to the League. Her services are costly, but well worth the Guilder. She claims it keeps her young and invigorated, and in truth, her demeanor and looks belie her advanced age. Some say she entertains private guests in her rooms in the League Guildhall in Vendel, though she would never hear of mixing such business with pleasure.

Madame Weller is probably the most in-the-know personality on the Vendel League, and her extensive network of spies serves her well. She is a ruthless woman when it comes to protecting League interests. No matter who her foes may be, she deals with them with a cold precision and accuracy that terrifies even the worst of the other Chairs. A Hero should step carefully if attempting to undermine the League, as she may turn her sights on her.

#### INTERACTING WITH THE VENDEL LEAGUE

Vestenmennavenjar’s Vendel League is a large and nebulous organization. Individuals rarely deal with the whole thing, as it contains nearly a hundred diﬀerent personalities all over the nation. Through disinterest or genuine Villainy, the Vendel League is responsible for many diﬀerent heinous acts. Of course, the Vendel League is also respon-sible for putting Vesten-made goods on the map and bringing in a great deal of wealth and prestige to the nation.

As with most large organizations, not every member of the League—Chairs or Seats—are Villains, in fact few of them are. The whole of the organization is a corporate machine, and Heroes attempting to involve themselves in Vendel League aﬀairs should be prepared to deal with red tape and political schemes.

When deciding to use the Vendel League in a game, consider ﬁrst if you want to utilize the Chairs themselves or the various minor members. The Vendel League is relatively open to interactions, as they host meetings every day at the Guild House in Vendel.

But ﬁguring out whom has a sympathetic ear and whom might start working against the Heroes should be a task all its own. Generally, using a single Chair as a point of either conﬂict or contact for the Heroes should suffice for most games, though there’s nothing stopping the Heroes from trying to root out corruption and replace the League.

#### Usury Guild:  Mistress Red  (Gytha Hallesdatter)

While trade may be the obvious face of the League’s economic influence around Théah, money sitting idle might as well be nothing but decoration. Using money to make more money is the true power behind a wealthy nation, and Mistress Red, the Usury Guildmistress, is an expert at doing just that. Under her tutelage, the League has opened small branch banks for loans in every town and sizeable village in the nation. She personally supervises Guilder-based loans to other countries as well, netting a healthy profit if the loans are paid back and political advan-tage (as well as deeds to the lands put up as collateral) if they are not. She is a very logical individual, going about her business and her role for the League with the same cool clarity. She is not cruel or dishonest, however. She makes certain her contracts are crystal clear, but harbors no empathy whatsoever for those who commit and then fail to fulfill them.

Mistress Red is faithful to the contract, and all her business dealings—both in and out of the Guild—require contracts. She is scrupulous, though fair, in both wording and clauses ensuring that both sides of the deal have equal weight and measure. She has no need of hidden loopholes or vague language as she finds people break contracts no matter how simple or complicated. She benefits from her fairness as often as not, and it remains a good business practice to gain social capital for being fair.

Although still fairly young, Mistress Red commands the respect of everyone around her, even her elders. She keeps her red unruly hair in severe braids to keep it under control and wears simple cut, unadorned clothing. Her demeanor is just as severe as her ward-robe; her pursed lips are so iconic that children in Vendel mimic her expression to mock stoic playmates. Some consider her ruthless, but she considers herself pragmatic. She knows a good deal when she sees one and always reads the fine print on a contract. She could be a valuable ally to a Hero while in Vesten, if he can offer her a suitable contract.

#### Brewer’s Guild:  Master George Skard (Jorgan Skaardalsen)

If ever a man earned the word “jovial,” it is Master George Skard, head of the Brewer’s Guild. Built as stout as one of his kegs, Skard’s tiny eyes are almost always hidden by the broad smile on his face, and his laughter warms the Vendel League’s Guild House. But then again, when one’s life is making and distributing alcoholic beverages, perhaps joviality comes easily.

Skard has held his Chair almost as long as Master Mokk, although his influence on the League is quite different. He firmly believes that the secret of a good life, a happy marriage, a well-running town and a successful nation all can be found at the bottom of a well-brewed cask. And, with the help of the League, he not only turned Vesten brew from a homespun necessity to an in-demand export, he also fostered the exploration of bees, fruit trees and grapevines hardy enough to endure Vesten winters, in the hopes of ushering in a whole new era of brewed possibilities to the nation.

Skard’s largest interest lies in making unique Vesten brews, wanted up and down Théan coasts. He spends as much time in the fields tending his grains and fruits as he does in the League halls, making him relatively easy to find. He has a laboratory in Vendel, outside the Guild Hall in which he brews mead, wine, beers, and various other fermented drinks. He experiments with flavor both by additions to the brews and the casks he stores them in. He sells the resultant concoc-tions for high price small batches to pay for his next experiment. He even offers paid tours of his experi-mental brewery in hopes of getting feedback on his newest brews.

Master Skard cares more about his brews than he does about his position within the League, and has let his relations with the other members wane over time. They mostly ignore him, making decisions without ever consulting him, even about his own trade. For Skard’s part, he is happy as long as he can brew and drink without hassle. He is just as likely to ask a Hero to do him a favor as he is to grant any. While a long time member of the League, his influence over his peers is not as strong as it could be.

#### Miner’s Guild:  Master Eladio Ballesteros (Castille)

Master Eladio Ballesteros is one of only three current Chairholders not native to Vesten. Born in Castille, Ballesteros apprenticed with the former Guildmaster, also from Castille, and traveled to Vendel with her to continue his studies after she took the Chair. Not long after Ballesteros arrived in Vesten, a cave-in injured him while inspecting silver mines outside of the town of Klorhulg. The remote location and an unseasonably severe storm challenged his recovery, and his injured arm had to be amputated to save his life.

Whereas some might have become more concerned about the dangers of mine work after such an injury, Ballesteros reacted just the opposite. He became bitter, and his loss seemed to jade him where mine condi-tions were concerned, perhaps believing that if he had already sacrificed so much, a miner had no room to complain about the travails she endured. This cold-hearted apathy blended well with Mokk’s greed, and the Merchant Guildmaster carefully applied subtle influences to discredit any rivals Ballesteros might have had for the succession to his mentor’s chair. Successful in his endeavor, Mokk now manipulates Ballesteros’ ego and callousness in support of the League’s risky mining endeavors.

Ballesteros did not need much prodding from Mokk, though he recognized the debt he owed the other man when he first took his office. Together the two men have turned mining silver from a moder-ately profitable luxury good into the staple export of Vestenmennavenjar in the form of Guilders. Mokk ensures the rest of the League remains fuzzy on the subject of the slave conditions in the mines, and Ballesteros ensures the mines are always stocked with fresh and able bodies.

Ballesteros is just as much a Villain as Mokk, if not more so. While greed and wealth clearly moti-vates Mokk, something deeper and harder to satisfy motivates Ballesteros. He is bitter and has developed a taste for watching other people suffer. His actions, motivated by this sadism, make him volatile and hard to placate. Mokk keeps a modicum of control by allowing him to sate his dark desires, but even Mokk fears crossing the man when their desires diverge.

#### Joseph Volker:  Butler and Representative of the Late Imperator Riefenstahl

The Chair held by Joseph Volker is unique, in that it alone does not belong to a Guildmaster. In fact, Volker himself served as a butler before being assigned to his Chair, a move that might well have been an intentional slight to the League by the late Imperator Riefenstahl who appointed Volker to that position.

As a contingency of Eisen’s aid to the original members of the Vendel League, one of the League’s Chairs has always belonged to the Imperator of Eisen. The Imperator chooses her successor, who also acts as her representative—at least, that is, until the last Imperator died and was not replaced. Now Volker, who has held his Chair for nearly as long as Madame Weller, waits and hopes his homeland can get its act together enough to send a true successor. He has sent letters since the war, but fears returning to Eisen and giving the League cause to nullify the Chair.

Although his contact with Freiburg’s Eisenfürst Nicklas Träge has been spotty, Träge has responded and kept in contact. Though Träge has no intentions to do anything other than mind his piece of land, he has helped keep Eisen relevant to the Vendel League by adopting the Guilder. Of course, Freiburg’s own stability is less than ensured, and Volker knows it. His contact with the other Eisenfürst has proved less useful.

Volker loves his Nation, and although he has not left Vendel since taking his Chair, he still wears a felt hat in the Eisen style almost constantly. Very old and thin as a rail, the weathered but unbroken former-butler stalwartly does his best to continue to serve his late-ruler’s memory.

Volker is a member of the League just like any other and cares just as much about the League’s interests as any other Chair. His preoccupation with Eisen’s Imperatorship may make him seem distant, but he keeps his eye on the other members, dutifully playing the political game with them. He fears assassination or simply death through old age before Eisen sends a replacement, and does what he can to prevent death before one can arrive.

## Secret Societies

Secret Societies in Vestenmennavenjar have an easier time getting around than in many of the other western nations. As long as they do not violate Vendel League sanctions or disrupt the individual leadership of a jarl, they find it easy to function.

This means though that organizations like Los Vagabundos or the Rilasciare need to keep their heads down as much as possible.

### The Explorer’s Society

Vestenmennavenjar has a slew of Syrneth ruins hidden deep in the mountains to the north. Unfortunately for the Explorer’s Society, those ruins are buried under ice and snow for a large part of the year. The paths to and from the mountains are treacherous, and the environment provides no guarantee of a particular, clear path even during the warmest months.

The Society hosts expeditions at least once a year during the melt season, though even then the paths are dangerous. A member has yet to fully explore even one ruin, though not for lack of trying. Time and again, the expedition fails due to some natural disaster or another. Most casual members refuse to do research in the nation, leaving much unexplored. A more daring explorer can find a native guide to take him into the mountains in the summer months, sporting an artifact or two as his reward, if he returns at all.

Some industrious members of the Explorer’s Society have taken to looking along the coast for ruins, though the most they ever find are ancient standing stones covered in ancient runes.

### Brotherhood of the Coast

The largest contingent of Brotherhood ships can be found amongst the Vesten Raiders. Not all Raider ships subscribe to the Brotherhood, though all ships follow the basic codes. A Raider flies her own colors, not those of the Brotherhood, though a member gains the same respect as if he does.

Few fly the Brotherhood colors in the Maw or Grumfather Bay, but one who does receives protec-tion as long as he vacates the area in a timely fashion. The Vesten Raiders claim plundering rights in those waters, and if a member of the Brotherhood wishes to operate in the area, he must first join up with the Raiders. So far, the arrangement has worked out well, though with the increase of trade between Vesten and the rest of Théah through those waters, many  privateers look here for their fair share of wealth.

### Die Kreuzritter

The hills and mountains of Vestenmennavenjar are filled with monsters of all sorts. Few of the Order make home in Vesten, and a member who does has her work cut out for her. A Vesten reveres his living myths, the Jotun, and does not take kindly to a monster hunter coming through attempting to destroy them.

Reports of ghosts, trolls and demons get conflated with bandit attacks on a regular basis. Some villages hire agents to deal with rogue trolls or to find a loved one taken by forest creatures. But, for the most part, the Vesten people happily live alongside what Die Kreuzritter consider monsters. Getting assistance or leave to kill these creatures may prove rather difficult.

### Seekers of the Word of Ekerila

Much of what the Vesten people know of the runic language comes to them through oral tradition. Few other than the Ypperste Prest can actually understand the runes, but even they do not know all of them. Stories say the runes are the written language of the gods, and each defines an aspect of life.

While a Ypperste Prest taps into runic magic, she only accesses the most basic of runes, only those still understood today. These basic runes repre-sent the backbone, not the entirety of the ancient language. Some standing stones hold entire stories written in the runic language, of which only small parts have been translated. Translations of the runes is a lost art, one the Seekers of the Word of Ekerila hope to revive.

They hold to not a single story, but a set of tales tell of Ekerila, the first Ypperste Prest who translated the language of the gods into the written runes the Vesten know today, and named them Futhark. Ekerila had knowledge of an ancient and powerful race of beings and recorded what she knew of them in the runic language. The magic of the runes brought their legend to life, and she learned from them new words of power, which she then translated.

Dedicated simply to recording knowledge, Ekerila naively shared her runes with others. These fools abused the words of the gods and nearly brought the land to ruin, as the magic defining the world was wrenched apart, and sought to balance itself. Terrified of what she unleashed, Ekerila took her runes back and destroyed all but the most vital of them. Today, only a small handful of Ekerila’s runes have survived the passage of time.

The Seekers of the Word of Ekerila believe that the ancient race Ekerila learned from was the Syrneth. The members hope to not only discover those runes lost to time, but the entire Futhark language that Ekerila used to bring forth the legend of the Syrneth. They are convinced the two, runes and the Syrneth, share more connections than the legends lead people to believe, and seek to find such clues.

#### Favor with the Seekers of the Word of Ekerila

A Seeker primarily concerns herself with the study of ancient runes, especially those found in or around Syrneth ruins. The Secret Society seeks to find a connection between the two and highly prizes any texts, translations or evidence of such.

A Hero who belongs to the Seekers of the Word of Ekerila can earn Favor in the following ways:

* Acquiring an artifact, relic or knowledge containing ancient rune text is worth 4 Favor, if that artifact is turned over to or shared with the Seekers. This could be anything from texts with runic translations, actual artifacts with runes or the location of a previ-ously unknown standing stone containing runic writing.
* Providing evidence of a link between ancient runes and the Syrneth is worth 5 Favor. This could be a relic collected from a ruin with ancient runic text or texts or translations of runes that mention the Syrneth people.

A Hero who belongs to the Seekers of the Word of Ekerila can call upon it for aid in the following ways:

* Access to a reliquary costs 3 Favor. A Seeker reliquary contains rare magical artifacts or runes discovered in their expeditions. Such a relic functions similarly to a Signature Item, although the effects of a particular relic are at the GM’s discretion. An agent is expected to return the relic to the reliquary once his mission is complete, and refusal to do so can result in him being declared a traitor.
* The Seekers can encrypt a message for an agent for 1 Favor. This encryption takes the form of runes, likely only translatable by a Ypperste Prest.
* Requesting aid from a Ypperste Prest costs 2 Favor. A Ypperste Prest is typically Strength 6, but she also possesses the Sorcery (Galdr) Advantage (see page 189).

### The Invisible College

The Invisible College is not so invisible in Vestenmennavenjar. Backed by the Vendel League and the Guilder, any who wish to pursue scientific research receives free rein to do so in the major cities of the nation. The Inquisition does not have easy foot-holds in Vestenmennavenjar, and the recent embrace of Objectionism has brought some of the best scien-tific minds to Vesten. Some of the more controversial research or information remains hidden—just in case a traveling Inquisitor happens upon them. For the Invisible College, Vestenmennavenjar has proven a rather comfortable retreat from the normal hiding holes and safe spaces in other parts of Théah.

#### Favor in Vestenmennavenjar

A Hero who belongs to the Invisible College can earn Favor while in Vesten in the following way:

* Assisting in building a University or place of learning in a Vesten city is worth 5 Favor.

### Knights of the Rose & Cross

Ever since the Vendel League introduced the Guilder to Théah, they have attempted to encourage people to adopt the currency. The best way to do so is to become Beneficiaries of the Knights of the Rose & Cross, giving their wealth as backing to the famous organization. A Knight in Vesten finds himself treated very well and welcomed with open arms. The promise of wealth and fame draws Knights from all over Théah, along with duelist schools and duels for sport and show.

While the Vendel League and the various jarls and carls provide an abundant form of wealth and patrons, a Knight eventually finds that the people of Vestenmennavenjar rarely need protecting. He likely finds himself on guard duty on a wealthy merchant’s trade route as much as he stands in the entourage of a jarl. That isn’t to say there is not anything for a Knight to do in Vestenmennavenjar. Indeed, plenty of people end up on the wrong end of the League’s balance books and would pay handsomely for a Knight to assist them.

### Los Vagabundos

Though the Vendel League ostensibly controls the economics of Vestenmennavenjar, the jarls and carls still rule the Nation. While the League would gladly have every jarl and carl on their payroll, many Vesten have remained firmly against what they view as the corporatization of the nation. Los Vagabundos agents attempt to keep good jarls and carls in position, staving off a Vendel League takeover. Los Vagabundos agents closely watch after League members that do good, in case someone decides to slip a knife in their backs to gain additional power.

### Močiutės Skara

Vestenmennavenjar has not seen war on its soil in centuries, and as such the Mother’s Shawl had little reason to venture there until recently. News of slaves mining silver in Klorhulg has reached the ears of the Society through Elisif ’s spies, and their members send aid to resistance fighters seeking to free the enslaved. While not directly engaged in the conflict, agents work to provide proper medical care and rations to any who gain liberation.

### Rilasciare

Rilasciare members have their work cut out for them in Vestenmennavenjar. One would think that because the nation has no monarch that the Rilasciare would be satisfied, but the Vesten people have simply exchanged one form of tyrant for another, the Vendel League. Even if the people deposed all the jarls and carls across the nation, the Vendel League would remain as the true corrupt leader of Vesten. A Rilasciare agent does what she can to undermine the power of the League and the different Guilds, though the sheer amount of power exercised within makes it difficult.

#### Favor in Vestenmennavenjar

A Hero who belongs to the Rilasciare can earn Favor while in Vesten in the following way:

* Blocking or preventing a Guild member’s activity is worth 4 Favor. The Vendel League is worse than most monarchs, as it has multiple heads. Cut the feet out from under one, and the rest come toppling down.

## Places

### Vendel

While no High King has ruled from the ancient throne for centuries, Vendel remains the heart of Vestenmennavenjar and the seat of its political and economic power. Vesten proverbs say that more bargains are born in Vendel than in the rest of Théah put together, and true or not, trading is and always has been the life’s blood of Vestenmennavenjar’s most prominent city. The first traders to establish routes with other parts of Théah came from ancient Vendel, and the twin jetties of the Beard shelters the city’s natural port, making it a sanctuary compared to the stormy waters surrounding the rest of Vesten. The deep cove of Hål Bay (literally the Hole) and its loca-tion near the mouth of Grumfather Bay made Vendel a historically convenient starting point for raiding ventures, not only south across the bay to Eisen, but to the rest of Théah as well. The same features make it ideal as a trade port in modern times, and even today, the majority of Vestenmennavenjar’s trading with the rest of Théah originates out of Grumfather Bay.

Vendel is home to the nation’s earliest permanent settlements. Strong, straight spruce forests have provided generation upon generation with easy access to lumber for construction of both buildings and boats, and as the people cleared the woodlands, they gave way to lush farmlands and grazing fields fed by deep clear springs—all the resources neces-sary to support a thriving population. The distant mountains provide shelter from both weather and invasion, which has allowed the people of Vendel to grow in number and wealth without overt threat from neighboring jarls or foreign armies. Compared to the stony, uneven terrain that comprises much of the rest of Vesten, the vast and sprawling river valley makes expansion easy, meaning the village of Vendel quickly grew into a town, developing equally as fast into a city, without becoming as overcrowded as other early cities with similarly rapid growth rates.

The lush farmlands surrounding Vendel provide for the majority of fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, spices and herbs grown in Vestenmennavenjar. Livestock requiring gentle rangelands, such as cattle, thrive in the former river-valley, providing alternatives to the hardy goats and sheep raised in other parts of the nation. Vendel exports fresh foods to fish-weary Vesten towns across the nation, in exchange for the luxurious, rare or more easily transportable harvests other areas can muster. Those trade goods in turn provide the backbone for the Vendel League’s dealings with other nations around the world.

In modern times, Vendel rivals any other bustling city in the known world, while still respecting its ancient roots. The oldest districts near the city’s center were built with such solid masterwork and atten-tion to detail that descendents of their long-passed crafters still use many of the original buildings. As time passed, new neighborhoods grew up alongside the old, unlike many cities where older buildings were destroyed to make way for new. These new districts, often richer and more elaborate than the old, create an ever-expanding evolution of architecture styles and techniques around the heart of the city. Traveling from outside the city to its heart is like journeying backwards in time, at least in regards to the building structures and styles. Newer areas have broad streets, carefully paved for carriage and cart transportation, and buildings are often interspersed with gardens, parks and other aesthetically pleasing areas for public gatherings.

These expanses of hedge, greenery and pathway, intended for social outings, picnics, public theater and the occasional hanging, flogging or other public punishment of criminals, also provide prime terri-tory for duels, private meetings and trysts. Although patrolled by the city watch of Vendel, they are also a hot spot for late-night crime, leading to nicknames like “Pickpocket Park” and “Slit-throat Square.” The older parts of town are progressively smaller and less luxurious, although Vendel crafters have always taken great pride in their architecture. Some of the build-ings standing in the oldest parts of town date back to the earliest times, to before Vestenmennavenjar was a nation and Vendel was little more than a coastal village settled by a formerly nomadic tribe.

#### The League's Inﬂuence

Like any large city, Vendel’s people have traditionally ranged from the very poor to the incredibly wealthy. Since its advent, however, the League has made great efforts to ensure that any citizen who desires work finds a job suitable to her abilities. Civic projects, such as schools and universities, offer a broad range of service-related employments, and Vendel’s carl has implemented a program hiring those finding employment difficult to aid in the general upkeep of the town. Rag-pickers, street-sweepers, gardeners and landscapers; if a townsperson can scrub stones or wipe windows, the town finds gainful employment for them. Even the elderly, crippled and infirm, treated as valuable members of Vendel society, can find work teaching, recordkeeping, managing projects or even creating works of art for the benefit of the entire city.

Vendel’s people likely welcome a new visitor, regard-less of her origins, so long as she is not overtly hostile. The intellectually minded find a vast array of schools, museums, galleries and libraries available to the public. Those of a more martial mindset may encounter some of the world’s greatest weaponsmiths and armorers there, along with shipbuilders and creators of large weapons—trebuchets, cannons and even more eccen-tric death machines. The stores and marketplaces house as fine a variety of merchandise as available anywhere in the world, with all transactions using the League’s Guilder. The League handles some goods more discreetly than others, though they forbid nothing as trade goods in Vendel; the League believes the market itself defines what is acceptable for sale or not. They do, however, strongly tax and monitor sales on potentially problematic goods.

In Vendel, more than elsewhere in Vesten, the jarldom has become largely a ceremonial role under the League’s capable management. Frederick Ulfsen “inherited” the title when his predecessor and uncle, Aksel Redhand, died of mysterious causes. The Vendel League’s prefers Ulfsen as the replacement, in no small part because he remains largely complacent being a diplomatic figure-head and allows the League to define the city’s policies. Ulfsen’s wife, Sofia, on the other hand, is far more politically adept than her spouse. Married to Ulfsen when merely 15, she has borne him eight children, all of whom she carefully arranges influential partnerships for, despite none of them being out of childhood yet.

#### The Guild House

A masterpiece of international architecture, the Vendel League Guild House is the jewel in the city’s crown. Before beginning construction, the League consulted with master designers from around Théah, handpicking elements designed to surpass the greatest accomplishments from each, not only in beauty but functionality. The grounds are designed to allow easy surveillance by the fewest guards possible, while drawing attention towards the main building via lush gardens and landscaping.

The ground floor is largely composed of the League Hall where the Chairs can meet with visiting petitioners either en masse in a gallery setting, or in private council chambers. Depending on a guest’s status, he may find himself waiting in a stark chamber furnished with hard wooden benches, or sumptuous suites where he is afforded the most luxurious amenities the League has to offer. A page in the Guild House often supplements her income by selling information on which chambers various visitors waited (and for how long). These tidbits indicate a social and economic barometer, and thus gossips and gamblers alike pay well for them.

Above the main level, each Guildmaster holds juris-diction in his own wing, all of which spreads out from a central point like a nine-pointed star. These halls, as expansive as many estate houses, are the official home to a Guildmaster and her staff during visits to Vendel. Traditionally, she never hosts a visiting dignitary in these private chambers; to do so invites a level of informality quite at odds with the League’s business model. Many of the Guildmasters also clan-destinely keep private lodgings of varying levels of opulence, elsewhere in the city, however, and private get-togethers are not uncommon between a League member and potential business partner away from the traditional settings of the Guild House.

A few Guildmasters do not bother to keep holdings outside the Guild Hall, preferring to conduct all business with a closeness to the rest of the Guilds. These have expanded on their portion of the Guild Hall to create fully functioning Guild Houses, including training and crafting on Guild Hall grounds. Primarily, the Carpentry and Usury Guilds function solely out of the Guild Hall, and only the political capital the Masters have amassed keep their activities from rubbing the other Chairs the wrong way.

#### Mjotuthrstoll, The High King’s Throne

At the heart of the city of Vendel, amidst stately store-fronts and elegant estates, a cobblestone pathway, too narrow for a carriage, leads up a stony hillock to a plain granite vista. Standing stones, twice a person’s height and twice an arm’s reach in breadth, ring the courtyard. Each, carved with ornate beasts and ancient runes, tell stories of the ancient gods and Heroes of Vestenmennavenjar. Placed in such a way that the rising sun on the morning after the Winter Solstice shines directly upon it, a timeless stone throne rises nearly as high as the runestones around it.

The great chair, the throne from which the ancient High King of Vestenmennavenjar ruled over the united tribes of the nation, is inscribed with a bindrune symbolizing the four standards of Vesten culture: luck, loyalty, honesty and courage.

While no High King has sat Mjotuthrstoll for two centuries, the site—and the stone throne itself—plays a vital part of Vestenmennavenjar’s culture. Vesten say that those of true leadership quality feel a palpable thrum when resting a hand upon the dark stone chair, and a would-be leader often makes the pilgrimage to Mjotuthrstoll, inevitably reporting to have sensed such a phenomena on his arrival. An ailing victim of an incurable disease traditionally travels (or is carried along) the narrow walkway to supplicate herself before the empty throne in hopes that the great leaders of the past will reach out from the Afterlife and grant her relief from her misery. A mother rubs her baby’s cap on the bindrune, hoping to instill some of the virtues of her ancient rulers in her child through contact with its magic.

#### The Market

The Vendel League has turned Vestenmennavenjar from a land of warriors to one of traders, and the Market proves their success. Larger than most of Vesten’s outlying villages, the Market was once an expansive flatland used predominantly for farming and grazing, along with the occasional seasonal festival, and when a merchant came into Vendel with goods to trade locally, he often set up his wares in the same field. Over time, as trade through the port town increased, so did the frequency and number of merchants. The League, seeing an opportunity, bought the land and erected small permanent stalls allowing sales throughout even the rough winter months and hired guards to patrol the area to ensure the visiting merchants’ protection.

Now, the Market is a bustling business area throughout the year. Anything that can be found for sale in Théah is likely to be traded there, from precious metals and gemstones to carrots and salt cod. Farmers, furriers and other seasonal sellers may have temporary stalls, but some businesses have now been at the Market for generations, creating entire streets dedicated to clothing, food or other specific goods. There is a quarter for slave trade, carefully overseen by League representatives to uphold the highest stan-dards of care—at least within the city itself. Vendel is one of the only places selling slaves openly in Théah, much to the chagrin of the other nations.

### Kirk

Kirk has always been a keystone in Vestenmennavenjar culture and religion, and has been the capital city of the nation for the past hundred years—despite the Vendel League’s efforts to move it to Vendel. The standing stones at the city’s center are widely held to be the oldest in all of Vestenmennavenjar, and the buildings surrounding them house many of the nation’s most revered priests and priestesses. The land around Kirk is dotted with locations long thought to be sacred to the gods, dense with sets of carved standing stones dating back to the most ancient of times. The small villages in the area play host to many priests who maintain these stones (and help guide the religious lives of those who know them to be holy ground). Each season, pilgrims travel from around the nation to partake in holy festivals and celebrations honoring the gods, recognizing the sacred times and places of the Vesten faith and dedicating themselves to the religion followed by their ancestors back through the annals of time.

Kirk’s distance from the shore historically protected what was Vesten’s largest town (until the League’s presence propelled Vendel to that seat) from outside invasion. No less brave than their cousins on the Western Coastline, the people of Kirk historically steeled themselves against different kind of foe. Legends of this area include a plethora of supernat-ural creatures fighting the good people of Kirk for control of the land: giants in the mountains, trolls along the river and other creatures born of legend that do not want to let go of their ancestral homes. Modern scholars may not put much faith in these old tales, but almost every building in Kirk still bears the rune-signs of protection against such foes, even if the artisans claim they merely nod to a time-gone-by.

This isolation from foreign invasion also made Kirk a haven for universities and libraries throughout the generations, protecting knowledge sacred to the Vesten (and those studying it) from potential foreign threats. Per capita, it holds more schools of higher learning than any other town in Vestenmennavenjar, and many of the nation’s greatest crafters, writers, creators and artists have studied in Kirk.

The same inaccessibility that made the city a safe haven for knowledge and religion throughout the ages, now offers the League a similar level of protec-tion against foreign armies—including Vendel itself. The Breffa, thought by outsiders merely an archive for Vendel League business records, likely holds in its basement more wealth than the rest of Vestenmennavenjar put together.

While Vendel may be where Vestenmennavenjar’s deals are made, Kirk is where its wealth is stored.

#### Mestrkirk

While still a work in progress, the Mestrkirk (also called The Greatest Cathedral) has already drawn Théah’s attention. Objectionist teachings do not necessitate pilgrimages, and yet the Mestrkirk’s repu-tation is so great that countless devotees from around the world have made the journey to Kirk over the past several decades to witness the yet-uncompleted glory of its sweeping buttresses, majestic towers and elaborate grounds.

As Kirk also contains many historically notable traditional Vestenmennavenjar churches, some are confused by the League’s decision to sponsor the largest Objectionist cathedral ever conceived in the same city. Others, especially those most fervent followers of the traditional faith, believe that this gesture by the League blatantly insults their faith. They claim the merchants’ greed for foreign goods and wealth has tempted them to insult the gods of Vesten with this blasphemous building and anxiously await the day when the Allfather and his divine kin smite down this abomination and all those involved with its creation.

Regardless of the League’s intentions, no one can argue that the church is a sight to behold. Even those most devoted to Vesten religion come to see the church, which has brought quite a bit of commerce to Kirk in the past few years.

#### The Breﬀa

To the outside world, the Breffa is the location where the Vendel League stores the vast records of their deals. The League scribes’ ravenous demand for accounting paper provides the heart of many modern Vesten jokes; one suggests that the demand for rags to craft into paper pulp threatens to leave the entire nation with full pockets but no pants, while another claims that the League has sent expeditions out in search of natives with four hands each, in order to double the efficiency they can keep records.

Jesting aside, the Breffa holds accountings of every deal, no matter how minor, made by the Vendel League and its delegates since its inception in the fifteenth century. The Breffa keeps these official records using the traditional runic writing that predates the League by eons. Some believe this merely testifies to the League’s devotion to its heritage and history; others recognize that it makes information gathering by outside spies more difficult than if records were kept in a more modern dialect.

From accountants to archivists, ink-makers to inn-keepers, many of the families in Kirk now work in one way or another for the League, making this information depository one of the most important buildings in Vestenmennavenjar.

In truth, however, the Breffa is even more than it seems. Beneath its unobtrusive upper floors, a subter-ranean stronghold secrets away great stores of League wealth: gems, ingots of precious metal, deeds for land in foreign nations. Here, as well, the truly important records are kept, documents seen only by members of the League and the Mistress of the Breffa herself. A foreign spy would pay untold riches and countless lives for access to these chambers—if he knew that they existed.

Beneath that, unknown to all but the highest of the League, is the striking mint that creates the now world-famous Guilders. A single master crafter known only as “Meister”—reportedly originally from Vodacce, but now bound in loyalty to the League by means even the Mistress herself does not know—supervises the mint. He manages a trio of apprentices, all who live in the subterranean levels with him, in the creation of the League’s famous Guilder. The Meister or his minions strike each and every coin, and not a Guilder leaves the Breffa without having passed approval under the Meister’s vigilant eye.

The League only hires the most loyal of soldiers to guard these underground storage and creation facili-ties. Many owe life-debts to the League or have family members fostered under League member households, guaranteeing their fidelity.

### Grumfather Bay

Inland through the Maw, through the treacherous waters of the massive Hoppe Channel, lies the great body of water known as Grumfather Bay. No narrow sealet, Grumfather Bay could easily hold the entirety of Avalon, the Highland Marches and Inismore, along with the waters around and between them. While Ussura and Eisen lay claim to the southern shorelands, Vestenmennavenjar has claimed the north shores and the vast waterways for as long as there has been a Vestenmennavenjar, and by their ancestors before, back through the annals of time.

#### Eskjo

Tucked on the northern coastline of Grumfather Bay, Eskjo is a small but fiercely independent town that relies almost entirely upon the waters of Grumfather Bay for its livelihood. Its people are predominantly fisher-folk, and the jarldom of Eskjo remains very traditional, with leadership passed down within the same loosely tied family line for generations.

The most notable figure in Eskjo, however, is not the jarl, but instead a woman by the name of Alvor Ekillsdatter, the leader of an infamous group of pirates called the Vesten Raiders. While their terri-tory encompasses all of Grumfather Bay and the Maw beyond, Alvor uses Eskjo as a base of operations for her vast armada of pirate vessels. From there, she directs this network of privateers as they prowl in swift ships outfitted with light-but-deadly arsenals of cannon and other weaponry.

While they eschew attacking Vesten fleets for the most part, foreign vessels are fair game. Sailors know Alvor for her sense of humor and penchant for gambling and games of chance, and, in fact, some victims have escaped her clutches by proposing inter-esting challenges or offering amusing bets that piqued Alvor’s interest.

The Raiders’ standard method of operation (made possible by the stories of what happens to those who do not cooperate) is for the most part bloodless and far less debilitating than it could be. The Raiders ask the trade vessels they catch for a “donation.” If the Raiders deem the offering worthy, they allow the merchant ship to go on its way with no further issues. If the ship refuses the request, or if the Raiders consider the payment miserly, they shoot the ship to bits, board and take everything of value—often including the tight-fisted captain and crew’s clothing. The Raiders allow those who survive the encounter to go on their way, limping to the next port where they face ridicule by those who paid the Raider’s fee without further issue.

#### Somajez

Somajez may well be the least “Vesten” town in all of Vestenmennavenjar—in fact, only a few years ago, it was officially an Ussuran garrison. For generations, ownership of this large village (and the military fortress it supports) has been a matter of hotly contested debate between the nations of Vestenmennavenjar and Ussura. The conflict is due in no small part to its location at the furthest eastern point along the coastline of the Grumfather Bay, offering either nation a jumping off point for both naval and land-based military maneuvers and recon-naissance towards the other. Its people have developed a culture that embraces some aspects of both nations, while integrating them in a fashion wholly and resil-iently Somaji.

More of an outpost than a town, Somajez’s exis-tence has always relied heavily on funding from whichever nation currently lays claim to it. With little in the way of natural resources and located too far east in Grumfather Bay to warrant much in the way of non-military trade routes, the village would have likely never developed beyond a smattering of nomads without the presence of the fortress. When the first garrison was placed there (many debate about whether it was a Vesten or Ussuran deployment), they brought enough resources and goods to hire the locals to support their needs, and that wealth allowed the tiny village to grow into the decently sized town seen today.

In return, the people of the village spent generation upon generation providing services for the military troops stationed there and exist in a strange state of symbiosis with them. The fortress, which has borne a dozen names over the centuries, hires locals to perform mundane services within its walls: cleaning, cooking, sewing, repairs, animal care and the like. In addition, troops themselves rely upon the Somaji people for everything their official channels do not provide for them: food of better-than-barracks quality, non-military issued goods ranging from luxury items to illicit drugs and non-authorized weaponry and, of course, entertainment of a wide variety of types and specialties.

The most recent change in Somajez’s status is possibly the least dramatic transfer of control of the city in history. Whereas past transpositions have largely been as a result of hostile takeovers by one nation or the other (often to the detriment of the townspeople themselves), Somajez rejoined Vestenmennavenjar most recently through an entirely bloodless succession, thanks to the inter-vention of the Vendel League, who made ceding it to Vestenmennavenjar part of their current trade agreement with the leaders of Ussura.

As Vesten tradition demands that every town, city and village have its own jarl and carl, Somaji towns-folk were promoted to these roles upon the city’s transfer. The fortress itself also has a commander, appointed under the Vendel League’s supervising eye, to watch over the military forces stationed there. The true power in Somajez, however, lies in none of these individuals. As the representative of the Vendel League in Somajez, Waldemar Hagensenn is nomi-nally one of the jarl’s underlings, but in all matters of true importance, the jarl knows that Waldemar’s word (being that of the League) stands as good as law.

### Jarl Forest

Spanning a goodly portion of the nation’s interior, Jarl Forest is the largest and thickest woodland in Vesten. Some of the trees in the heart of the forest are rumored to have stood since the gods them-selves walked the land, towering taller than any building in Vendel. Jarl Forest has provided wood for most of Vesten’s fleets, and (with the advent of the Vendel League) now serves as a major source of lumber export for more sparsely wooded nations around Théah.

The Jarl Forest also hosts some expansive noble estates, many of which span hundreds of acres of deeded land. Hunting—the more dangerous the prey, the better—is a popular pastime among nobles, espe-cially since the Vendel League’s success has minimized warfare as a Vesten way of life. Many have turned their traditional martial skills to sport, rather than lose them altogether. Landed nobles sometimes host great tournaments with exotic prizes for those who bring in the most challenging quarry during a set time period, and these tournaments can draw entrants from across the nation and beyond.

Only the bravest hunt in the heart of the Jarl, where folks say giant serpents large enough to swallow a mounted rider whole dwell, along with monstrous spiders, as big as a cottage and capable of snaring an entire hunting party in their webs. The most feared (and thus prized) quarry of the Jarl, however, is the legendary lindworm, a wingless drachen with sharply clawed forelegs and a long serpentine back half. Fierce and highly venomous, the largest lindworms report-edly breathe flames and noxious smoke. Legend states that one of the last High Jarls slew a lindworm single-handedly as proof of her bravery and skill, before attaining her title and ascending the Mjotuthrstoll.

#### Krog (The Inn at the Crossroads)

What started as a single building, Krog (the Pub) grew into a small village consisting largely of the descendents of the original owner. As even the fastest horses find it impossible to traverse the entirety of Jarl Forest in a single day, Krog became a popular spot for a traveler seeking lodgings other than camping along the road-sides as she travels. Now in its second generation, Krog offers a smithy, two inns, a brewery, a mercantile and a carpenter, as well as whatever temporary merchants or traders may have set up shop nearby for a season.

Run by the original owner’s son, Bjorn, and his wife, Justa, Krog is the only real non-religious settlement located deep within the Jarl Forest. Because of this (and the forest’s deeply rooted folklore), some believe that the kindly pair is something other than mortal themselves. While quite sprightly for their advanced years, neither admits to anything other than hard work and clean living as credit for their vigor.

The Krog’s out-of-the-way location makes it perfect for clandestine negotiations and secret meetings. Bjorn and Justa, likely aware of how many foreign spies—League emissaries and Vesten villains—patronize the Krog, cannot be so choosy about clientele when located so far off the beaten path. The elderly couple, however, remains loyal to their nation, despite what business may transact in their great room.

#### The Stones

Scattered throughout the deep woods of the Jarl Forest are some of the nation’s oldest standing stones. While some of these formations bear clear messages of praise or supplication to the gods or brag about the achievements of mortal rulers or warriors, others are so old that no one fully understands the runes engraved upon them.

One such grouping, originally a dozen stones, of which eleven remain, bears markings so ancient that even the most learned of Vestenmennavenjar’s Ypperste Prest admit little to no understanding of the stones’ original purpose. This, however, does not stop a Ypperste Prest from dedicating her life to the protection and study of this formation, known simply as the Stones.

Travelers from around Vestenmennavenjar make the trek into the heart of the Jarl Forest each year to visit the Stones. A penitent who finds this ancient formation leaves gifts and sacrifices on a slab-altar. Often spending days or weeks in consultation with the priests who dedicate themselves to the Stones, hoping to glean solutions to the trials and tribulations that launched his journey. A priest, for her part, aids the pilgrim as seems appropriate, sometimes utilizing Galdr to supplement her innate wisdom.

Rumors speak of an oracle dwelling with the priests of the Stones. Although the priests do not allow outsiders to visit directly with the seer, particularly vital questions (or those from influential supplicants) may be passed along to the oracle.  Rumored to see the living myth around her so clearly that she can follow its flow and direction forward, she gleaning insight into the future. Some claim the oracle predicted the advent of the Vendel League a generation before its founding, although whether the current oracle is the same as the one who spoke of Vestenmennavenjar’s change from  military giant to an economic powerhouse is up for debate.

#### Gandr (The Staff)

While many trees in the Jarl Forest are majestic, one stands above the rest, both literally and figuratively. Known as “Gandr,” stories purport this stately oak to have been a walking staff used by the Allfather himself, which, when thrust into the ground, bore roots. The trunk is larger than a house at its base, and the branches reach so high that some legends claim someone who climbs all the way to the top on the night of a full moon can speak directly with the gods.

As the only oak in a forest of birch and pine, Gandr has been a pilgrimage destination for countless gener-ations, particularly for someone who wishes to leave her past behind and join the sacred band worshipping and caring for this legendary tree.

Some believe that swallowing an acorn from Gandr can cure any poison or malady; others say that only an arrow made of its holy wood can slay a lindworm. Regardless, the tree is sacred to the Vesten, and anyone who would do it harm quickly finds the entire nation joined in arms against him.

#### The Northlands

Vestenmennavenjar is not a land for the weak. Its harsh environs and inhospitable weather have forged a population of the hardiest and fiercest folk in all of Théah. But even among the Vesten, those of the Northlands have long been admired for the stoic fortitude with which they inhabit the most extreme region in the land.

Most of the population of the Northlands cleaves together in small villages near resources such as timberlands, fresh water or seasonal animal migration zones. Available food inherently limits growth; even after the Vendel League brought increased wealth to most of the nation, the Northland villages remain the poorest and closest to subsistence level in all of Vesten. Many of the coastal villages are only accessible by water during the short summer months when the Allfather Ice Floes undergo their annual melt. The rest of the year, they (and the villages further inland) can only be visited by overland means, predominantly caribou-drawn sleigh, dog sled and the like.

#### Klorhulg

Klorhulg is exceptional in the Northlands, in that it is (and has been for generations) a real “town,” compared to the villages scattered elsewhere throughout the north. Its growth and prosperity historically can be attributed to two main factors: its location in one of the deepest fjords in Vestenmennavenjar and the silver mines in the area.

Because Klorhulg’s bay is deep enough to never freeze over and far enough west to not become ice-locked in anything but the harshest winters, it has remained Vesten’s northernmost active port for centuries. Klorhulg distributes vital supplies shipped from the rest of Vestenmennavenjar (and throughout Théah) overland to other northern villages, making it a central hub for communication, trade and culture throughout the Northlands. Other Northland villagers trek for hundreds of miles over icy terrain to trade luxurious furs for necessary goods and gear, and the merchants of Klorhulg then turn around and trade these to foreign markets.

In addition to its location and accessibility, Vestenmennavenjar blessed Klorhulg with the nation’s richest and most prolific silver mines. Originally, locals worked the mines, producing enough metal to export for jewelry and other luxury purposes. When the Vendel League introduced the Guilder as their sole avenue of trade, demand outstretched what local production could handle, and the League began sending thralls north to aid with the mining.

For a time, this was a win-win situation for everyone involved. An indentured servant worked off her debt much faster than in other parts of the nation, and the locals were grateful for assistance in keeping up with the League’s quotas. As demand for Guilders increased, however, the labor demand became taxing and eventually tyrannical. A thrall quickly paid off her debts and fled for an easier life further south, and the local mining force began balking at the output demanded of them by the League’s overseers.

In response, the League imported slaves to assist the local labor, pasing them off as thralls. At first, the extra labor eased the demand enough, but as the League’s influence grew and their need for silver to mint new Guilders skyrocketed, the demand put on the miners began to outstrip humane produc-tion levels.

The Allthing's laws concerning thralls caused a bit of outrage at the treatment, but the slaves were completely unaware of their own rights in the nation. As conditions grew worse, the thralls and indepen-dent miners began to refuse to work, citing dangerous conditions and inhumane treatment. The revolt threatened to shut down the League's enterprises. Master Ballesteros discharged all the local mining labor, thanking them for their service and replaced them all with illegal slaves.

To prevent a mutiny among the townspeople, he offered locals small subsidies not to work in the mines, largely as a bribe to look the other way at the inhumane slave conditions. This served largely as a bribe to look the other way at the inhumane condi-tions still going on in t Some locals (including the former carl of Klorhulg, Elisif Geirsdatter) are less willing to accept such bribes, and the League deals with them in various fashions. Many wonder how the current jarl, Gylffi Hafgrimmr, will respond to the League’s pressures.

#### The Allfather Ice Floes

In total, the Allfather Ice Floes are as big as the rest of Vestenmennavenjar put together—at least during the winter months. These massive expanses of ice double in size during the winter, but melt significantly in the summertime, unlocking the majority of the northern coast for a few months to allow fishing, whaling and shipping in and out of the Northlands.

The Ice Floes have been an important hunting ground for local villagers, who travel out onto the ice in search of seal, walrus, ice bear and other nutrient-rich foods to sustain them. Even experienced hunters find the Floes perilous. Many who venture forth never return, falling victim to the animals they hunt, the unpredictable weather or to the monstrous creatures that legends say claim the Ice Floes as their territory. The poten-tial reward is worth the danger; without the bounty found on their barren expanses, many of the Northland villages would be unable to survive.

In recent years, the Allfather Ice Floes have become a popular safari destination for intrepid explorers. Rich foreigners pay well for the experience of heading out onto the ice in search of trophies, making hunting expeditions a strong supplementary income source for those willing to babysit the often unprepared explorer on his journey.

Beyond the great ice bears, long-fanged walrus and other exotic creatures, some explorers seek even more elusive quarries. Legends say, far to the north where the Ice Floes never melt, dwell the Jotun, a mythic tribe of cannibalistic giant half-humans who remain in isolation and exile from the earliest days of Vestenmennavenjar. These Jotun supposedly possess ancient magic (such as how to survive in the barren ice wastes) that explorers have been attempting to ferret out for centuries.

To date, no one has provided verifiable proof of a successful Jotun encounter. But the reason remains a mystery. Maybe they do not exist, or have managed to elude contact (or kill those who have reached them).  Or maybe anyone who has come into contact with them is wise enough to keep their secrets to herself.

Vesten know the Jotun are real, just not as canni-balistic giants—at least not all of them. Jotun are living myths, the people and things from the past who continue to influence Vesten life. That does not stop an enterprising ice climber from profiting from an ignorant foreigner and her misplaced expectations.

### Wyrd Lake

Located at the northern edge of Jarl Forest, Wyrd Lake formed from the remains of an ancient prehis-toric volcano, fed through an underground spring with the purest waters in Vesten. The lake feeds several major rivers that span the northwestern quarter of the nation, and its tributaries reach both the northern and western coastlines, spanning hundreds of miles along the way.

Since people first settled into the lands that would eventually become Vestenmennavenjar, Wyrd Lake and the island in the center of it have played an important part of local folklore. Some legends name the island as the home of the great tree that binds the world of the living with the world of their ancestors. Others claim the ancient giant foes of the Vesten retreated to here after fierce Vestenmennavenjar warriors drove them from their lands. The story that gives the island its name—Ivethay Island, meaning “Island of the Crone” or “Witch Island”—states that the lake and the land within it are owned by an immortal witch who turns trespassers into trees; thus creating the vast forests that cover the island.

#### Ivethay Island

Ivethay Island is a lake-locked, forested plot of land located in the center of Wyrd Lake. The island, large enough to be a small nation in its own right, instead houses only a few small tribal villages, most of whom have little contact with the world outside of their island.

The Ukonsaari tribe has dwelled on Ivethay Island and the shores surrounding it for as long as there have been people in the lands of Vestenmennavenjar. Notable by virtue of their height (the average Ukonsaari stands literally head and shoulders above the average Vesten), this matriarchal tribe has had a stormy past with the other Vesten tribes and eventu-ally retreated to the large island in the middle of Wyrd Lake as a means of self-defense. Over the centuries, this isolation has spawned rumor and superstition about the Ukonsaari, some born from lack of infor-mation and some actively fostered by the Ukonsaari to provide another layer of protection from their foes.

There are no real towns on the island, despite it being more than large enough to support one. Instead, multiple small villages scattered across it shelter the different family-groups of Ukonsaari tribesfolk, all interrelated through an elaborate system of matriarchal lineage-keeping. In order to prevent inbreeding within a predominantly closed population, the female elders of the Ukonsaari carefully track their people’s genealogy and arrange marriages between the young people of their villages, often fostering children in another village to facilitate developing relationships with each other. While each of the villages has its own religious and political leaders, they all look to a single wise woman—a position known as the Ivethay—for inter-village matters or to deal with particular important issues.

The legends surrounding Ivethay Island have created their own bizarre solution to the tribe’s miniscule population. One of the stories states that, while the giant witch that lives on the island turns intruders into trees, she has a soft spot for children and cannot bring them harm. For centuries, a woman who has been unable (or unwilling) to raise her own children has trusted in this folktale, bringing her infants to the shores of Wyrd Lake and leaving them there in hopes that Ivethay will watch over them in ways that she cannot. Unwed mothers or families too poor to feed their babes often undertake such desperate measures, but over the years, the Ukonsaari have also adopted children targeted for death, such as rivals for a throne or the illegitimate offspring of political leaders and powerful nobles.

The Ukonsaari raise an adopted child as a full member of the tribe, without social stigma or rami-fication for being born outside. When he achieves adulthood, he can marry, work and live his life exactly as if he had been born on the island. In fact, in some ways, he is more valued (at least in his youthful poten-tial) than a locally born child, because the women who arrange marriages between the various villages know his foreign blood adds strength and diversity to a dangerously small and stagnant breeding pool.

While the tribesfolk consider it a sacred duty and honor to raise these abandoned babes, their gener-osity sometimes puts them into direct conflict with Vesten from outside the island seeking to use the chil-dren as nothing more than pawns in a political chess game. Knowing they cannot hope to battle toe-to-toe against the richer and more powerful folk who might come after their wards, the Ukonsaari rely on stealth, secrecy and superstition to keep intruders away from their island and the precious refugees they protect. This practice of leaving their children for Iethay, while long in tradition, has slowly tapered off, leaving the people of the island desperate for new blood. Some seek to open trade relations with the villages outside the island allowing people to immigrate to the island, but others fear the changes such a thing would bring.

Despite their isolationist traditions, the Ukonsaari do have some contact with the world outside of their island. Sometimes a tribesperson journeys to nearby villages or homesteads to trade with neighbors for goods and supplies that the tribe cannot produce. Such a trader hides her connection to the Island, however, instead presenting herself as a traveler, peddler or the like.

### Western Coastline

In some ways, the Western Coastline of Vestenmennavenjar is almost a nation unto itself. Although each rules independently (like the rest of Vesten), the towns and villages along the western coastline of Vestenmennavenjar are alike in many ways. They face similar challenges. Their location along the Western Coastline isolates them from the more land-locked Vesten villages, and even their neighbors along the northern and southern coasts are unlikely to make the dangerous journey along the harsh coastline to trade or visit their western cousins.

The rocky cliffs, treacherous tides and ship-rending storms blowing in from the western seas challenge even those who live along the western coast; for visi-tors, they often prove a deadly stumbling block to interacting with Soroya, Costa and Thorshofn (the largest of the western coastal cities) let alone any of the smaller, less-inviting coastal villages. Sailors from other areas often veer far out to sea to avoid these coastal perils, leaving the western coast inhabitants strangely isolated.

Having grown from the same original nomadic tribal base, west coasters speak near identical dialects (and their individual verbal idiosyncrasies are more understandable to one another than to outsiders, due to generations of shared trade and commerce). Because of their proximity as well as a shared historic background culture, they more than likely share rela-tives with the populations of other west coast cities than with townsfolk further inland.

With all these similarities uniting them, then, each of the three major cities of the Western Coastline has also curiously developed a very unique personality from the others. From xenophobic Soroya to diverse Thorshofn, each of the communities along the western seaboard have a unique way of interacting with the world around them, and these differences become more noticeable as Vestenmennavenjar itself increases its connectivity to the rest of Théah.

#### Soroya

Northernmost of the western coastal towns, Soroya is a throwback to the nation’s past, to a time when isolation was the norm, and each jarl guarded his territory not only from foreign invasion, but from his neighboring jarls as well. While most of Vestenmennavenjar has embraced the Vendel League, welcoming the wealth and luxury that foreign trade has brought their nation, for the most part a person of Soroya eschews the League’s “advancements,” seeing them as signs of debilitating weakness on the part of her neighbors. While she recognizes that thwarting the League would be foolhardy, a typical person from Soroya remains as aloof as possible from the merchant group without bringing the League’s atten-tion too strongly down upon herself.

Soroyans are a proud people. The last High Jarl of Vestenmennavenjar came from Soroya, a fact that his great-great-grandson (the current jarl) has never forgotten. As a culture, folk from Soroya, more tradi-tional than the majority of Vesten, do not welcome outside faiths. The only thing more likely to receive a colder shoulder than an outsider is an outsider bearing signs of the Church, whether Vaticine or Objectionist. While the town’s official policy does not allow for outright violence against those of other faiths, there has never been a guilty verdict involving crimes against those bearing either Church’s word in Soroya.

While most of Vestenmennavenjar prospers under the Vendel League, Soroya is a town in decline. Unlike Klorhulg to the northeast, Soroya has no mines and the environment around the town has little in the way of resources interesting to the Vendel League. A Soroyan relies almost entirely on the sea for his goods, as his ancestors have for millennia.

Unlike most of Vestenmennavenjar, Soroya has not truly given up on its traditional marauding ways, although a Soroyan raider practiced more discretion than he needed, even before the League took hold. Whenever a fisher from the town’s fleet spots a merchant (foreign or Vendel League) ship in his local waters, word gets sent back to town through a clan-destine series of light and flag signals. Sleek unmarked ships engage before the foreigners can pass through Soroyan waters.

If successful, they slaughter the unfortunate crew to eliminate any witnesses, and ransack the boat before

burning it to the waterline and sinking it in the seas off Soroya’s coastline. While ostensibly belonging to “lawless brigands,” in truth the fleet is commanded by the jarl of Soroya, and all goods recovered go directly into the city’s coffers. So far, the League has not taken official notice of this practice, but they likely know and now bide their time before reacting to the remote and rebellious jarldom.

On the other hand, the Vesten Raiders are less than pleased with the competition in the Western Seas. Especially since the Soroyans are killing the crews. They do not yet know that the raids are coordinated by the local jarl, but it is only a matter of time before the information leaks and they do something about it.

#### Costa

Significantly southwest of Soroya is the town of Costa, which exists solely due to two complemen-tary environmental factors. The first is a small but extremely deep bay perfect for harboring the type of vessels designed for open water (rather than coastal sailing). The second is a cliff-sheltered stand of woodland nearby—small by most standards, but sufficient to provide straight, tall timber enough for generations of Costa’s shipbuilders to ply their trade. The combination of these two resources helped shape Costa’s people into the sea-faring explorers that they are today.

While daily life within the village of Costa is not wholly different from the lifestyles of those who live north or south along the coast, a Costan more likely sails for months—even years—at a time, rather than on shorter fishing and sailing trips. While most of these voyages nominally focus on trade, in truth, the amount of goods exported and imported by sea travel for Costa is fairly small. Many of the “trea-sures” returned with are not things at all, but instead knowledge and experiences. Exploration of the world around him, the further away the better, has become such an ingrained part of Costa’s culture that a youth commonly goes on pilgrimage via sea voyage as a rite of passage upon attaining his maturity.

What truths he learns upon his journey he brings back to the town, sharing with his friends and family members and valued as an integral part of who the Costan has become. A villager from Costa takes on deed-based surnames based on her premiere ocean voyage as her trade name: Eagle-eye for a person who spotted an uncharted island, Surfson for someone who explored many foreign ports, Twoship for a sailor who survived her initial vessel’s sinking mid-journey and the like.

These journeys and the accumulated knowledges and gathered artifacts make Costa a treasure trove of worldly knowledge unlike any other location in Vestenmennavenjar. A person seeking answers to mysteries based on life experiences and exotic trea-sures (rather than books) may well find what he seeks in Costa.

Costa’s jarl, Mara Eastman, is renowned for her first sea journey, which took her west through the Trade Sea, out of the Highland Marches’ western coastal waters, south through the Widow’s Sea and then east all the way to the Crescent Empire. While this did not solely qualify her for the role of jarl, the wisdom she learned along the way surely was a consideration.

Costa’s architecture, cultural adaptations and general atmosphere reflects their tradition of travel. The people welcome travelers to their small town with open arms, treating them as almost royalty and pumping them for information and stories about their life and travels. They rarely treat foreigners with suspicion, as many are transplants themselves, coming home with a native after falling in love.

#### Thorshofn

At the southern tip of the western coastline lies the town of Thorshofn—Thor’s Bay. Named for an ancient legendary jarl, the entirety of Thorshofn was originally built up along the inlet that gives it its name. Over generations, the town has grown, following the fjord valley northerly inland, creating a long, narrow town between massive stone cliffs.

Like most coastal towns in Vestenmennavenjar, the majority of Thorshofn’s resources come from the sea. With a diet predominantly of fish prepared in one variety or another, a Thorshofn townsfolk supple-ments the fish with sea-plants, coastal birds (and their eggs), shellfish and crustaceans. The town also relies heavily on another bounty from the sea that its northern cousins have far less of: direct trade with nations outside of Vestenmennavenjar.

Thorshofn’s location at the mouth of the Maw means it historically receives a great deal of foreign attention, both positive and negative, at least in comparison to the rest of the Western Coastline. Early raiders from what would eventually become Eisen and Avalon sometimes made their way to Thorshofn, but almost inevitably, the distance was more than the invaders had prepared for.

Weakened from his journey, a would-be intruder often fell to the defending townsfolk, either killed outright or taken as a servant or slave to those he would have conquered. Either way, he forfeits his goods and gear, and over time, the different aesthetic styles and tastes became integrated into Thorshofn’s community fully.

In time, foreigners began seeking out the village, not to invade, but to trade, and the local folk flocked to Thorshofn as the largest supplier of foreign goods on the Western Coastline. These trade routes eventually came to form a significant portion of the economy of Thorshofn. Locals export vast quantities of salt cod and other durable sea-goods, and a trader from the west coast villages coming from as far away as Soroya finds a market for her furs, gold and other precious metals, or whatever goods that do better in a foreign rather than local market. Foreign merchants, predom-inantly from Avalon and Eisen, bring in a wide variety of luxury goods to Thorshofn: silks and brocades, blown glass, printed books, wine, tobacco and other specialty products rarely seen in Vestenmennavenjar outside of Vendel proper.

This access to foreign goods (along with the integra-tion over time of many aspects of foreign culture) has colored Thorshofn in many interesting ways. The jarl and carl work very closely, carefully balancing foreign trade while recognizing that their town’s increasing wealth makes them a vulnerable, ripe plum dangling out to the rest of Théah.

While the core of the town’s fashion remains tradi-tional, those from Thorshofn more likely owns a scarf of fine wool from the Highland Marches or dagger from Castille than those who live elsewhere in Vesten. Locals are also more likely to have blended families of mixed Vesten and foreign descent than in other parts of the nation, and thus more likely to be multilingual (or at least know a smattering of another language) as well.

While travelers are welcome to the city, the people of Thosshofn value trade more than anything else. If you come empty handed, expect to be greeted by a great deal of suspicion. Of course, the city itself boasts a small gathering of nearly every other nation in Théah, who may act as allies and a safe haven.

Many a merchant keeps a house in the city to rest and enjoy the international flavor for a few days before heading back out to sea. The residents of Thorshofn tend to be more transient as well, coming and going with the merchant ships in quest of a new deal.

## Galdr

The ancient art of Galdr is not precisely lost, but it is definitely hard to find.

The mythological Vesten Hero, Ekerila, is the individual responsible for discovering—or rediscov-ering—the ancient futhark, the language of the gods. But Ekerila made a terrible mistake. She trusted the wrong people with this gift, and power fell into the hands of those who misused it. She struggled the rest of her life to try to right this error, to ensure that only those proven worthy could be trusted to wield the power of the Galdr.

She failed, because her task was impossible. Once such power had slipped through her fingers and into the reach of others, she could never hope to reclaim it.

Although the power of the Galdr is rare in modern Vesten, it has begun to see something of a resurgence in recent history. A traditional-minded Vesten sees it as one of the Old Ways, a reminder of the times when the gods spoke through the fury of the wind and lightning and how wise and brave warriors would be trusted with this power. A more contemporary Vesten sees this as a useful tool in his quest to dominate the rest of Théah.

Those who know the futhark and how to use its magic are called vala. Some in modern Vestenmennavenjar think that anyone claiming to be vala is nothing more than a charlatan, an oppor-tunist using a powerful word to cow those around him. In a way, they are right—but vala itself is not the word of power they invoke, and when the power of Galdr reveals itself, none but the most obstinate deny its potency.

The people who call themselves The Seekers of the Word of Ekerila (see the Secret Societies section) do what they can to police those who claim to be vala, but they have their work cut out for them. A vala generally has no interest in subjecting himself to the rule of the Seekers, whose political influence is dubious at best. Besides, one has only to look at Vestenmennavenjar’s greatest political enemy to see what happens under a ruled and regulated Sorcery, and no vala envies a Vodacce Strega’s status.

### How It Works

Each time you purchase the Sorcery Advantage, you learn two runes of the futhark and can call upon their power to aid your allies or hinder your enemies. These runes have two words and thereby two effects—stort merke (great mark) and litet merke (small mark). Writing either merke of a rune requires no magic itself. Any child can manage to scribble out a shape. A vala weaves runes together and works her will into the script, infusing the rune with magic.

It is not the drawing of a rune that creates magic, however—it is breaking it. A vala often carries small clay tablets with common runic inscriptions and snaps them or throws them to the ground in order to activate their magic. A vala also learns to draw runes quickly into dirt using nothing more than a stick or finger or to quickly scratch out a rune’s shape onto stone with chalk. In such a case, simply destroying the runic script (by kicking the dirt over the rune or wiping a hand over a chalk drawing) releases the magic of Galdr.

The litet merke always modifies the stort merke, and a vala weaves the two runes together in the script, almost inseparably tangled. But there is a third element to the magic of Galdr, a third rune as well—the vala’s name, written by her own hand. Because of this, the drawings or tablets written by another contain no magic. By writing her name into the script, alongside ancient words of power, the vala binds the magic to her own will and shapes it to change the world around her.

Each time a vala activates her Galdr, she spends a Hero Point and chooses the stort merke for any rune she knows and gains its effect. Then, she chooses the litet merke for any rune she knows and gains its effect. If she wishes, she can choose the same rune twice. Activating Galdr during an Action or Dramatic Sequence costs a Raise in addition to the Hero Point.

Many litet merke add another effect onto the target of your stort merke. If the stort merke you activate does not have a specific target (if the stort merke doesn’t say “choose one character,” for example), then your litet merke can target any character in the same Scene as you. If your stort merke does specify that you choose a character to affect in any way, your litet merke always affects that same character.

### THE  THIRTEENTH RUNE

Some vala speak of a thirteenth rune, one hidden deep away by Ekerila before she ever shared the futhark with her brethren. They say this rune has power over life and death, a rune so powerful that even to speak it invokes its power. While most vala know the story of Ekerila and her futhark, many inter-pret it differently. Some believe this powerful rune is simply the magic of the runes them-selves, a warning against using runes too often or for frivolous purposes and the severe drawbacks to those who abuse them. Others believe Ekerila had tapped into the very magic of myth and could commune with the gods. Still others believed that this final rune has the power to kill or give life, or both by taking the life of one to give to another.

Few vala actively seek knowledge of the thirteenth rune. Regardless of what they think the rune may represent, they collec-tively agree that Ekerila hid the rune for a good reason. Even the most foolhardy vala knows not to play with Galdr lightly. Only the eldest and wisest Ypperste Prest should have access to that kind of power, and few of today’s vala claim that kind of knowledge. Those who have practiced Galdr for years know especially the dangers of utilizing runes out of spite or for frivolous reasons.

#### The Galdr “Curse”

Galdr is a magic of balance. The futhark represents both an ideal and its opposite. Using a rune for pros-perity eventually leads to a loss, using a rune for love eventually leads to heartbreak. Even if the loss is not the same, the rune always ends in balance. As such, using Galdr against your enemies may eventually lead to good fortune for them. Those uninitiated in the magic of Vestenmennavenjar fears a vala and his power, afraid of having a rune used against them. While the initial effects may be painful, it almost always ends in a boon for the target. Few know that any good fortune that may come their way is the fault of the Galdr, and few vala admit to such.

Of course, the toll on the vala for using his magic is lesser known and more disastrous. If a vala uses his Galdr without the specific will to do so—meaning he uses it in the heat of passion, or for a petty purpose—the rune’s balancing effect ends up coming back on him. The mystical power that binds the world together will not let him disrupt the balance, and is often more punishing  than normal.

A vala trains for years before he begins creating runes for the purpose of using Galdr. When he creates his runes, he does so with a purpose of will, instilling his own life force into the runes. When he uses the runes he has created, he breaks that will, turning it into a force that changes the world. The vala knows inherently if the Galdr has been used correctly or not and can feel the magic working through and from him.

If your character uses Galdr in an act of spite, passion or for thoughtless reasons, the GM may spend a Danger Point to inflict the stort merke’s draw-back onto the Hero. She does not gain the positive benefits of the merke, only the negative.

## Futhark

The runes of the futhark number twelve in total. Each rune has two marks, or words associated with them, totally twenty four words all together. Each rune represents a duality, often something and its opposite, but not always.

These are the words that Ekerila discovered and translated, and legend says that from these things the gods made all of existence, human and beast, moun-tain and sea alike.

They are, quite literally, the words that created the world. These runes are found throughout Vestenmennavenjar etched into stones and woven into fabrics, telling the stories of those who came before. Each one has multiple meanings, but the vala know their most primordial and base meaning.

### Beast

The Beast rune governs hunting prowess, primal instincts and creatures, both natural and unnatural. The rune names great Heroes with a connection to the wilds. Common people use it to protect against ambush.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the same Scene as you (including yourself ). That character is immune to the Qualities of any Monsters that specifically targets her until the end of the Round, but any Wounds she takes from a Monster or wild animal are increased by 1.

### Litet Merke

The target of the Rune can speak to and understand Monsters and animals for a Scene. This does not guarantee that such creatures have anything useful or insightful to say—it is still an animal or Monster, after all, and may be uninterested in a dialogue.

### Blood

The Blood rune is related to family, kinship and the power of community. The rune names Heroes that follow great lineages, or those whose families do great deeds. Common people use it to ensure communal health and safety of their loved ones.

### Stort Merke

Spend any number of your Hero Points. You may give those Hero Points to any other character in the same Scene.

### Litet Merke

The character you target can immediately spend a Hero Point to gain 2 Raises.

### Courage

The rune of Courage is most often associated with legitimacy of kingship, nobility and rule. The rune names Heroes who sat once as the high ruler of the land and those with noble hearts. Common people use it to ensure truth and honesty in business dealings.

### Stort Merke

Spend any number of your Hero Points. The GM loses the same number of Danger Points.

### Litet Merke

Choose another character in the Scene with you. That character can immediately activate an Opportunity without spending a Raise.

### Storm

The Storm rune speaks of unpredictability and sudden change. The rune names Heroes who fell to Villainy or Villains who redeemed themselves. Many people use the rune as a request for rain in dry seasons.

### Stort Merke

All characters in the current Scene gain 1 Raise. Choose a character—that character instead gains 2 Raises.

### Litet Merke

The character you target can immediately change his Approach.

### Iron

The Iron rune is one of trial and tests of will, as well perseverance. The rune names Heroes who over-came great setbacks. Many use it to ward off disease and misfortune.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you (but not yourself ) and apply Pressure to that character. If that character chooses to overcome the Pressure (by paying 2 Raises for an Action) he gains 1 Hero Point. If that character does not overcome the Pressure (by choosing to take an Action in line with the Pressure you apply), he heals a number of Wounds equal to his highest Trait.

### Litet Merke

The character you target can choose to gain 1 Raise and take Wounds equal to his highest Trait.

### Light

The Light rune has implications in revelation, truth and sight. The rune names Heroes who lived true and just lives. Common people use it to attract wealth and prosperity.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you. Until the end of the Scene, that character cannot tell a lie. Until the end of the Scene, that character always knows when anyone else tells a lie.

### Litet Merke

The character you target can immediately take an Action without spending a Raise, but that Action must use the Notice or Empathy Skill (though she does not have to pay Improvisation).

### Spirit

Spirit is a rune that governs freedom, emotion and empathy. The rune names Heroes who gave of them-selves to help others. Its most common use is as a love charm.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you currently under Pressure. The Pressure is immediately removed, but until the end of the Round that character must pay 2 Raises to overcome any further Pressure instead of 1.

### Litet Merke

Choose a second character in the Scene with you. That character is affected by the stort merke of your Galdr, exactly the same as the first. If your stort merke affects multiple characters, this litet merke has no effect.

### Star

The rune of the Star governs mysteries and hidden danger, as well as deception. The rune names Heroes whose origins and natures were mostly unknown. Most people use the rune to ward off danger.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you (but not yourself ). That character gains the Shapeshifting Quality, as if he were a Monster. Each time the char-acter takes an Action while disguised in this way, he takes 1 Wound. If he takes a Dramatic Wound, his disguise breaks and he loses this Quality.

### Litet Merke

The character you target can immediately take an Action without spending a Raise, but that Action must use the Hide or Theft Skill (though he does not have to pay Improvisation).

### Stone

The Stone rune is one of endurance and perseverance and sometimes used to characterize stubbornness. The rune names Heroes who fought against all odds, never backing down. Common people use it as a charm to ensure healthy crops and herds.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you. The next time this Round that character is dealt Wounds, the Wounds she takes are reduced by half (rounded up). The next time this Round that character deals Wounds, the Wounds she deals are reduced by half (rounded up). The effects of this merke end at the end of the Round, regardless if the character dealt or received Wounds.

### Litet Merke

The targeted character can spend a Hero Point to ignore any penalty resulting from Consequences (such as Wounds, dice penalties, etc) until the end of the Round.

### Thunder

Thunder is the rune of boldness, fury and pride in the face of adversity. The rune names Heroes with goodness in their hearts and who brought peace to the land. It is commonly used to designate someone who is too prideful, as a plea to show humility.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you. The next time this Round that character deals Wounds, she deals additional Wounds equal to your highest Trait. The next time this Round that character is dealt Wounds, she is dealt additional Wounds equal to her highest Trait. The effects of this merke end at the end of the Round, regardless if the character dealt or received Wounds.

### Litet Merke

The character you target is immune to Fear until the end of the Round.

### Time

The rune of Time governs prophecy and destiny and most importantly cycles. The rune names Heroes who have a destiny, regardless of whether they follow it or not. The common use is to ward against idleness.

### Stort Merke

Choose one character in the Scene with you (but not yourself ). That character immediately loses all of his Raises. Next Round, he gains a number of bonus Raises equal to double the amount of Raises he lost.

### Litet Merke

The targeted character must take an Action imme-diately, spending Raises as normal to do so. If this litet merke is combined with the Time stort merke, the character takes an Action before losing her Raises.

### Winter

Winter is a rune of hardship, darkness and inevita-bility. The rune names Heroes who sacrificed in the name of good, only to lose anyway. Most people use the rune to ward against hardship and misfortune.

### Stort Merke

Choose one Opportunity in the current Scene with you. That Opportunity is destroyed, meaning no one can activate it.

### Litet Merke

The next time this Round the target takes Wounds, she takes 1 additional Wound.

## Myths of  Vestenmennavenjar

The people of Vestenmennavenjar hold to old beliefs and religions, making myths more than just stories, but the telling of a life or a lesson. The spoken word is important to the Vesten people, and they tell their myths to each other, passing down stories from mother to son, father to daughter and so on. Sometimes the stories gain embellishment in the telling, but often the meaning and lesson remain the same. These lessons, not mere hyperbole meant to keep children obedient, serve as real warnings about and praises of the people and creatures whom have lived in this land for ages. Vesten do not just tell their myths, they believe them, and their myths are as real as the rocks and trees that also inhabit Vestenmennavenjar.

### Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas may manifest anywhere, but appears most often in quiet, open spaces. Most people claim to spot him during the winter months, though some have claimed he visited them on cool summer nights. Sinterklaas rarely pays individual visits, unless it’s on his special day of the year.

### Legend

Each year, on the same day, a Vesten child receives in her stocking a toy (and it is always a toy) carved out of pinewood. This is Sinterklaas’ doing; Vesten say a Vaticine missionary came on a boat from Castille with a pocket full of winter oranges to spread the Vaticine faith in the early days of the Church. His commit-ment to dogma, however, was less tenacious than his commitment to kindness, and though the faith never spread, he stayed in Vestenmennavenjar and made it his special mission to bring joy to Vestenmennavenjar’s children. Vesten call this Sinterklaas Day or some-times just Klaas Day. Of course, Sinterklaas, finicky as any other Jotun, only gives his gifts to good children, punishing naughty children by hitting them with a switch. Sometimes other Jotun accompany him, to tell him who has been bad, taking enjoyment out of seeing him punish others.

Sinterklaas defines children as those who have not yet married—which means bachelors and spinsters, as well as pre-adolescents, receive his largesse. Sinterklaas is one of the few Jotun that people look forward to seeing each year, despite the threat of being hit with a switch.

### Manifestation

Sinterklaas appears as an old man with a heavy white beard dressed in the red robes of a Vaticine Cardinal; he speaks with a faint Castillian accent and his enor-mous, calloused hands often smell of fresh pine. He carries a great red book, which garners some contro-versy; some say it is the Vaticine Bible, while others say it is an ever-growing list of Vesten children. His pockets bulge with winter oranges, and if you are cordial to him when he has manifested—or if, when manifested, he sees you performing an act of kind-ness—he slips you one. If you are rude or act poorly, he tries to hit you with his switch.

### JOTUN (VÆTTIR)

In Vestenmennavenjar, it can seem every brook and boulder is named after someone long-gone. Piece by piece, the land has been remade into a memory palace constructed by a populace intent on preserving ghosts. And these are not turns of phrase, no mere insistent sentiment; in Vestenmennavenjar, a man who protected his village from a rabid bear may serve as that same town’s ghostly guardian centuries later, should his name still be remembered. Foreigners call these phantoms “living legends,” or

“living myths.” Vesten more often call them Jotun, or simply giants, though that term is somewhat confused. In remote parts of the nation, they refer to them as Vættir, to mean any kind of spirit.

Some Jotun manifest unpredictably, others when fulfilling certain conditions. Some Jotun manifest insubstantially. The best-remembered manifest as flesh-and-blood figures, indistinguishable from the living except by their actions.

The great majority of Jotun are only locally famous, remembered and revered primarily within one town, one city or one region. However, Vesten everywhere remember a few Jotun, embedded into national legend as detailed in this section.

### Angrboda

Angrboda can always be found in the caves under Mount Ragnhild, the northernmost mountain in Vesten. Going to Mount Ragnhild is a notoriously dangerous journey, and storytellers have crafted multiple epics about adventurers who brave Northern perils to seek Angrboda’s wisdom.

### Legend

Stories say when the first settlers came to Vestenmennavenjar, they wandered among the Allfather Ice Floes because they did not know better. A blizzard blotted out the sky and the settlers, desperate for shelter, fled into a deep cave that wound its way under Mount Ragnhild. In the bowels of the cave, they found a river frozen solid, and frozen in the river, a woman of indeterminate age. They thawed the woman, who received her rescuers lukewarmly; she claimed she had been part of an earlier civilization, and had undergone a process of self-mummification. However, she was enchanted by the woven cloth the new settlers wore (her people, she claimed, wore only hides), and when the settlers gifted her all the cloth they wore, she sang a song of their destinies—including their journey South to found a great city.

### Manifestation

Angrboda appears as a woman of indeterminate age with ice coating her legs and arms. She is crotchety and cryptic and prefers solitude but refuses to turn away any who make the journey to her home. Her eyes are milky, but stories say she sees everything that ever was, is or could be. Those who journey to her often do so to discover how she can perform the seeming-impossible or prevent the seeming-inevitable. She sings her prophecies in songs; it is a matter of some metaphysical debate whether she simply sees the future or solidifies what will be by singing. Those who threaten or disrespect her, she curses by singing dire futures. She scorns all gifts but woven cloth and reacts well to reverence and respect, but not to flattery.

Angrboda does not generally attack those who come to her, but she has a temper and those who do not bring her a gift of cloth should beware. She is a Strength 6 Monster with the Monstrous and Powerful Qualities.

### The White Witch

The White Witch may appear anywhere with snow or ice on the ground, though she rarely manifests where she can be seen by more than one person at a time.

#### Legend

The humans in Vestenmennavenjar tell stories of the White Witch as an enigmatic enchanter who was sad and lonely. If she found someone alone in the forest, she would trick him into following her to her ice palace, from which there is no escape. She would turn any who refused her offers or rebuffed her tricks into a puff of snow. Vesten know to always travel in pairs in the snow, for more than just safety from the elements.

Trolls know the White Witch as someone else. She is their cruel and capricious creator, who carved them from stone and then cursed them when they refused to obey her. Now, when she sees one, she freezes it in place and shatters it, out of spite.

Both races wish to forget the White Witch, but she remains a powerful Jotun; their fear keeps her alive.

### Manifestation

The White Witch appears as a tall, beautiful woman with long, white hair, wrapped in beautiful white furs and riding an ornate sledge pulled by two white reindeer. She manifests near a lone human, offering him gifts and candy if he comes with her and rides in her sledge; should he accept, he is never seen again. Should he refuse and attempt to flee, she transforms him into puffs of snow with a wave of her hand. The only way to escape the White Witch relatively unscathed is to refuse her entreaties with all possible politeness and then offer her a gift in your stead; thus it is considered the height of foolishness in Vesten territory to venture into the snow without a pocket full of candies or chestnuts, just in case.

The White Witch is a Strength 8 Monster with the Powerful, Regenerating and Shapeshifting Monstrous Qualities.

### Trolls

There are two types of Trolls, the Vesten will tell you: Rock Trolls and Green Trolls, and Rock Trolls are stupid.

Rock Trolls are stupid, smelly and savage; they smell of brimstone and will rip you from limb to limb if you accidentally wander into their ill-defined strips of what they call “territory.” If a Rock Troll grabs you while trespassing, only abject flattery, groveling or trickery will save you from a violent death and possibly not even then. To go hand to hand with a Rock Troll is suicide; they are “strong enough to hold a boulder on both shoulders,” as the Vesten saying goes. Moreover, their solid-stone skin renders them impervious to most forms of violence and all but the harshest elements; the latter is fortunate, in a way, as it means most Rock Trolls establish territories in inhospitable peaks where they are not likely to maul more than the occasional passing traveler.

There are two types of Trolls, the Vesten will tell you: Rock Trolls and Green Trolls, and Green Trolls are smart.

Legend has it that the White Witch carved and enchanted the first Green Troll; for its defiance of her orders, she cursed it to ever-wander. Ill-fortune would torture all who welcomed it and any of its descen-dants should it ever try to find a home. The White Witch in her sledge still haunts Vestenmennavenjar as a Jotun and most Troll rituals exist to lessen the effect of her curse (such that a single or several Trolls can stay in a village for days or even weeks at a time). A few rituals also exist to suppress the White Witch’s ability to manifest near Green Trolls, for stories say if a Green Troll ever sees the White Witch, it will be compelled to obey her commands.

Green Trolls travel solitary or in bands, sometimes with a bevy of Rock Trolls trailing behind; Rock Trolls obey Green Trolls unquestioningly, though good luck getting a Green Troll to tell you how they manage that. Green Trolls are sharp-faced and secretive; no human can learn their language, which they speak in voices that sound like stones grinding against one another. They travel from town to town with sacks on their backs or in caravans decorated with strange stone charms, working as artisans or peddlers: their stonecarving in particular is renowned. Unlike Rock Trolls, they never settle down; their possessiveness manifests differently. They drive hard bargains, count their coin, never lose money at dice or cards, and though it takes them a day or a decade, they track down anyone who steals from them and extract twice the price of whatever was pilfered. If you threaten them, they try to kill you.

People tell you meeting a Green Troll is preferable to meeting a Rock Troll and it may be so, but meeting a Green Troll (or a band of them) is hardly a comfort. A lot of them look nearly identical—green skin, high cheekbones and grotesquely wide mouths—and to make matters worse, they all wear heavy cloaks with hoods even on the hottest days. They have a bevy of rituals they do—only on the nights of the waning moon—that they do not let humans come near: you only find out about them afterward when you see boulders marked up with black wax pencil, the stone stained with blood and never any bones—nobody knows what they sacrifice on those rocks, and most folks do not want to question.

#### What’s True All trolls are carved from stone.

Rock Trolls are carved from granite; Green Trolls are carved from marble (and no coincidence that most marble mined in Vestenmennavenjar is green). Rock Trolls look like from the stone they are carved from; Green Trolls look like flesh (albeit green flesh) except when exposed to sunlight directly—then they turn to stone, petrified until the sun sets for the day (in darkness, they return to flesh).

Trolls do not die naturally, but injury or trauma can kill them; fleshy Green Trolls take wounds as humans do, and Rock and petrified Green Trolls may be crushed as stone. Additionally, Trolls can starve: to stay animate they must consume a steady diet of gravel, and those prevented from doing so slowly become immobile.

Green Trolls are lapidary magicians; the stone charms they string up, wear and occasionally sell are remarkably efficacious. More unusual still, Green Trolls reproduce by carving more Green Trolls from blocks of Vesten marble. All Green Trolls, when created, thus look identical. It is possible to change a Green Troll’s appearance by using sunlight to change the Troll into marble and then recarving its face. Green Trolls scar when made of flesh, and scarification is not an uncommon practice for distin-guishing oneself—assuming a Green Troll wishes to distinguish itself.

Their method of reproduction means Green Trolls have no gender; they answer to any pronoun, though if asked, most prefer “it” when spoken of in singular. They also do not pair-bond, typically, preferring to travel solitary or in small groups.

Green Trolls tend towards the cautious and taciturn; their reputation for secrecy is well-earned, given their weakness to sunlight and their cursed connection to the White Witch. Green Trolls take some pride in their near-universal policy of taking offense to nothing except violent threats directed their way—those they react to with extreme prejudice. Almost all Green Trolls wield spears made from volcanic glass; some use them as staves and some hide them in their sleeves. It is a rare Troll who doesn’t deploy these skillfully.

Every Rock Troll began by being carved from granite by a Green Troll because the Green Troll wanted or needed a servant. New-carved Rock Trolls are unconscious automatons: they have no capacity for independent action and obey the Green Trolls who carved them without question. It takes about a century for Rock Trolls to gain sentience; once they do, they almost always leave their Green Troll masters. Their Green Troll masters almost always let them.

Sapient Rock Trolls tend to be taciturn, stubborn, solitary and territorial—humans stereotype them as stupid as well, but that isn’t quite right. Rather, Rock Trolls learn and process less quickly than humans (and Green Trolls) but what they do process and learn, they never forget (elder Rock Trolls are quite wise).

To the misfortune of many humans, however, the territorial stereotype holds quite true; sapient Rock Trolls often claim territory in inhospitable mountains. Woe betide the unlucky traveler who stumbles into such territory unknowing! Only the most abject groveling stops such adventurers from facing rough justice, and tensions typically rise when humans begin blasting roads through the peaks.

The territoriality of Rock Trolls is not wholly without its use to humans, however; merchants and warlords frequently hire solitary Rock Trolls to guard and maintain out-of-the-way bridges and highways (in such placements, the Rock Trolls’ imperviousness to the elements becomes a bonus). The nuisance begins, however, when these Rock Trolls’ nominal employers die, for immortal Rock Trolls continue to guard such infrastructures indefinitely.

Like Green Trolls, Rock Trolls have no gender and don’t pair-bond, preferring to live solitary or in groups (such groups claim large territories commen-surate with group size). The “Wandering Curse” of the Green Trolls does not affect the Rock Trolls, and Rock Trolls evince no special fear of the White Witch. Needing nothing for survival but crushed gravel, they rarely accumulate possessions of their own: the closest the majority comes to religion is music, which many feel compelled to create without knowing why.

Green Trolls vary in strength, but an average Green Troll is a Strength 4 Monster with the Chitinous Monstrous Quality. Rock Trolls also vary in strength and work together. An average Rock Troll group is a Strength 6 Monster Squad with the Chitinous and Powerful Monstrous Qualities.

### The Huntsman

The Huntsman manifests in low-visibility conditions between noon and midnight: he and his hounds and horses are only heard, never seen. He always rides west.

#### Legend

No one knows the Huntsman’s story but everyone knows how he appears—racing across the land with a pack of hounds in tow, his hunting horn blaring calls. Thus he remains, paradoxically, unforgotten, his memory only burnished by the mystery of his origins. The only “fact” that popular lore can agree about him is that he hunts the sun. The reason for his hunt is as varied as the descriptions they give of the Huntsman himself. He hunts for a lost love, family, life, money, he hunts those who would do harm to others, those who are in trouble or those who do not pay proper respect to the Jotun. Some say he is a wolf, others a man, and still others say she is a woman. No one really knows, but every town in Vestenmennavenjar has its own version of the Huntsman’s story.

### Manifestation

Something always cloaks the Huntsman, his horses and his hounds: fog, snow or darkest night. The Hunt is scent and sound and chill and unanticipated feeling, a lone hound’s howl answered by a chorus, the thundering of hoofbeats and a smothering, choking sense of dread, the near-unbearable desire to run as the Hunt comes ever-closer. If you can hear the Hunt, the Vesten say, you must not run; should you run, you won’t be seen again, but your screams will echo across the sky. If you can hear the Hunt, you must stand still, stay silent until the Hunt sweeps past you, ruffling your hair with a chill wind as they ride by.

The Huntsman is a Villainous Monster with Strength 5 and Influence 6 and the Monstrous Qualities Fearful, Shadowy and Swift. He commands several Strength 4 Monster Squads with the Relentless and Shadowy Monstrous Quality.

#### Giants

Giants, or Jotun—not to be confused with the living myths that manifest all over Vestenmennavenjar which are Jotun—are humanlike creatures that tower ten to twenty feet over the tallest Vesten, and eat people as a pastime. These ancient children of the Allfather live in the snowy peaks of Vestenmennavenjar and live on the flesh and bone of humans. A giant must remain in icy cold temperatures, else he will melt, as his body is created from ice. He can go years without eating, but doing so makes him violent and unpredictable. A person can trick a giant into eating other meat, and gain an audience with one to learn ancient rites, but such a proposition is risky. A traveler passing through the mountains in winter carries extra meat with her, and leaves it outside her camp at night to feed the giants. Unlucky travelers disappear without a trace, the giant eating them and all their gear.

#### What’s True

The name confusion comes from the various stories revolving around the mythical man-eaters. The term Jotun refers to anything larger than life, and so the myth spirits of long dead ancestors fit that bill. In the mountains, Vesten call these ancestor spirits Vættir, and the giants Jotun. As with most Vesten myths, that of giants is a truth born of story. The ancient origins of Jotun as the children of the Allfather is all story and rumor. These giants are a type of Vættir, living legends born of the magic of Vestenmennavenjar and the superstition and fear of its natives.

Traveling in the winter months is dangerous, even for the most experience traveler, and sometimes people simply disappear on the peaks. When the thaw came, a villager would find the half eaten remains of an animal, assume she had found a person, and blame it on the giants. Over time, the legend of the giants grew, people invented stories about their creation, and the myth of Jotun took form. The tallest peak of the mountains near the Allfather Ice Floes is named Jotun Fjell, and here the Jotun roam. These creatures are not all powerful as the stories say, but they are violent creatures born of fear, and thereby only respond in kind. Stories of their magic are exaggerated, the magic of Vestenmennavenjar being their only aid.

Giants are Strength 7 Monsters with the Elemental (Ice) and Powerful Monstrous Qualities.

### Hulda

Hulda look like beautiful women with tiny tails who cast no shadows, concealing beneath their clothing hollow backs and back-turned feet. During full and waxing moons, they hold bacchanalia by rivers and lakes; impossibly beautiful, they beckon travelers to join them in their festivities. Dance with them and drink their wine (cool and intoxicating) and wake the next morning holding your head, mouth bitter with the taste of stomach acid and river-water—but that is hardly the worst that happens to those who join the dance. Kiss a beautiful Hulda and if she loves you truly, she loses her tail and becomes your true companion. But if she merely puts her mouth on yours for a lark, river-water pours from her mouth into yours and she holds your head till you choke and drown. Travelers can see the faces and forms of those drowned by Hulda on moonlit nights, carved on rock-faces by falling water. Many Vesten refuse to take drink while traveling, for fear of attracting the Hulda and risk death by drowning.

#### What’s True

Most of the common folklore about Hulda is totally on-point. They throw bacchanalia near fresh-water sources, conjure wine from water and drown with a kiss—unless they love who they embrace. If they do, they lose their magical powers, lose their tail, cast a shadow and become almost human (the back-turned feet and hollow back stay, unfortunately for some Hulda, and those who marry into human homes often face discrimination). Those drowned by Hulda don’t become natural stone carvings, however; they become new Hulda, after a waiting period of about a thousand years.

A Hulda who falls in love cannot interbreed with a human, and often ends up in a bad situation when her lover finds out. Some live out their days in bliss, while another may return to the water, only to find she is no longer welcome. Moreover, Hulda are not all women—while none grow beards and all display hyper-feminized facial features, they can in fact be of either sex.

Hulda are Strength 5 Monsters with the Aquatic and Nocturnal Monstrous Qualities.

### Devil’s Bridges

In Vestenmennavenjar, natural bridges are common—so common, in fact, that some say an early Vesten settler made a pact with an old god, goddess or ancient Jotun (identity usually unspecified) to exchange her hand in marriage for the creation of the bridges. The girl, however, went back on her word once the creature built the bridges, prompting the builder to curse the bridges with ill-luck for all mortals who try to cross them. While the bridges appear suspiciously convenient, an unusual number of accidents and strange disappearances do occur when people try to cross them…

#### What’s True

There was never a pact, and nothing supernatural curses the bridges. Sometimes nerves and self-   fulfilling prophecies account for accidents on the natural bridges, as do the bridges’ own natural tenden-cies—many shake, freeze and thaw with the seasons or grow slowly narrower and more unstable until one day someone slips and falls or a caravan collapses the bridge.

More often than not, the bridges’ accidents result from outlaw gangs who use the people’s supersti-tion against them. Detailed maps of the bridges and their surrounding territories sell for small fortunes in the Vesten underworld. Wandering rural Vestenmennavenjar, “devil’s cartographers” make a living creating such maps, though more often than not they receive bribes or get blackmailed into rendering certain bridges—claimed by established gangs—topographically inaccurate. A subset of these cartographers, based in Vendel, have begun calling themselves “the Illusionists Guild”; they gain the trust of bridge outlaws, learn the tricks they use to dupe superstitious bridge-crossers, then sell those same tricks to other outlaw bridge gangs, often for an exorbitant price.

Not all bridge gangs are the same, but the average group consists of a mix of Guard and Thief  Brute Squads.