Svansgard

Svansgard is a planet of the Virasana Empire, best known for its spectacular megafauna and being home both to House Cournicova and Temple Belligra.

## Climate

* no moons
* cool, humid, much snowfall. Average seasonality. Aequatorial zones are temperate around a narrow band of habitable space. Most higher latitudes are uninhabitable. No oceans.
* famous for its megafauna, making the aequatorial regions virtually uninhabitable, forcing human settlements into colder regions.

## Megafauna

While the wyldebeasts, the heraldic emblem of House Cournicova, are the best known, there are many other giant beasts roaming the forrests and swamps of Svansgard, all of them as magnificent as they are deadly.

Some of the most common are:

* Wyldebeasts - large predatorial ursidae, they roam the taigal forrests of Svansgard in small families. Their females are ferocious fighters, particularly when protecting their family.
* Leionas - large predatorial mammals similar to Terran lions or smilodons. Highly cunning hunters. They are particularly fond of human meat to the point that there is a veritable industry of adventurers trying to collect leijona bounties, or gather up leijona hairballs and scavenge them for regurgitated armour and equipment of adventurers less lucky.
* rhinostodons - large shaggy ruminants, horned
* Stördensneks - large warblooded predators looking similar to snakes, but move rather like centipedes by using their ribs as internal legs.
* glaberlings - large subterranean mammals that usually dig for smaller creatures, but occasionally use tunnels dug close to the surface to trap larger prey
* stördenaars - immense bird-like creatures half-way between an eagle and a pterosaur.
* stördenhjorts - tall ruminants with impressive antlers, come in large herds and while generally shy, they can fight quite cunningly if cornered.
* lindwyrms - slender, snake-like creatures with wings, usually 30 feet from head to tail, though single individuals can grow much larger. Long lived, they are quite dumb individually, but exhibit a stunning swarm intelligence in larger numbers. They were exported to Lorelei as hunting game, but have become an invasive species there.

## History

* low N'Ptalini population
* close ties to Temple Belligra as their Ordensburg is located here
* basically only commoners

## Culture

Svansgardian music is folksy in the best way - simple tunes, often to be played by lyre, bagpipe or guitar, but invariable good-natured and imminently danceable.

Meat, fish and mussels feature heavily in Svansgardian cuisine, though best known are the armoured fruits of the local megafauna. Barely a party on Lagoona or Malicorn is complete before the armour of a Svansgardian strawberry is breached. Svansgardian food is homecooked, but always of excellent quality and always plentiful.

With the need to protect their settlements against the local megafauna, their castles have pushed the envelope on architecture more than any other planet. Local masons and stonecutters are sought-out specialists all across the Empire. Sculpture and crafts are very popular, but the main art form Svansgard is renowned for is performed at night around the fireplace - storytelling.

Hunting of course is a mainstay of Svansgard culture, people from all over the empire coming to Svansgard to join those hunting trips. Apart from that, all sorts of competitive sports are very popular, skiing and paragliding among them.

The planetary hoverball team, the Svansgard Yotuns, while not particularly successful in the Imperial Hoverball League, are highly popular and respected for the athleticism and fair play. It is also one of the few all-female team of the league.

## Snippets

* the only existing oil painting of the shrine of Saint Ulrich is on display in the Duchess' palace in Frysaheim.
* Viidakko is a temperate region of Svansgard, best known for their orchards, produce and frequent leiona attacks. Peasants have dotted the region with little shrines to the leionas, hoping to appease them.
* The Gate-Temple of St. Ophrys is one of the most famous landmarks of northern Viidakko, closing the continent to the north in a mountaneous region with significant stördenaar population.

## Other Articles on Svansgard

 Grand Ossuary of Halfbard Leionas Lindwyrms Ordensburg Stördensneks Svansgard Yotuns Viidakko Wyldebeasts