Grimmwing

Leáíonn Oighir Riamh (Ice Never Thaws)

Grimmwing is located in the North of Aellolyn. It rules the cold and unforgiving terrains with a steel fist.

**Capital**: Ravaryn

**Language**: Grimmish\*

**Symbol**: Snow Owl

Colours: Silver and Dark blue

**King**: Niklaus (Deceased)

**Queen**:

* Current: Verena
* Former: Gisele (Deceased)

**Prince**: Malcolm McLaughin (Married to Lyra’s Father. Deceased)

**Princess**: Lyra (Ward to the Queen)

**Lords and their Families**:

* Lord O’Connor

### **Beliefs**

* Worships: Eria. Ancient of Winter and Snow.
	+ They believe that if they continue to offer her the best steel weapons their smiths can make, she will give them clearer and safer winters.
* If a woman and a man are caught sleeping in the same room then the two must marry.

### **Festivals and Events**

* ***Celebration of Eria***. In the darkness nights of winter is a ten week celebration. For nine days, the people of Grimmwing eat bread and rabbit as a reminder that food can be harshly found during these colder months. On the tenth day there is a feast and presents are exchanged.
* **Day of Pyrrhos**. On the anniversary of the explosion of Mount Abraxas, everyone celebrates by creating large bonfires. To that the man Pyrrhos who saved everyone in Grimmwing.

### **Climate**

* Cold/Snowy. It is warm slightly in the summer but the snow never truly disappears.

### **Resources**

Timber, Steel, Charcoal, Basalt, Furs, Game, Ice, Fish

### **Main Trade**

Grimmwing is remote and often stays out of most conflicts since its establishment, their major export is steel. The best weapons come from the smiths of Grimmwing, it is rumored that the ore they use is mystical. The weapons of Grimmwing are always sharp and never rust, producing a signature hum when swung through the air. This is often how forgeries and real ones are distinguished, no other smith has been able to produce the hum. Grimmwing’s lesser exports are timber, charcoal and even basalt which originates in the two active volcanoes in their snowy mountain ranges.

### **Relations**

* Steodia: The two countries are enemies after the dispute between Haakon and Alix.
* Vruica: There is a trade agreement between the two. Grimmwing gives them steel while Vruica gives them medicine.
* Xiapia: There is an alliance between the two nations but not much is known about the terms.
* Candonia: The two countries are on good terms. Trade flows freely here.
* Ciral: The two countries don’t interact much.
* Vrendour: The two countries trade. Steal for Glass.
* Koila: The two counties don’t interact much

### **History**

Grimmelda, believed to be the daughter of Eira, Ancient of Snow and Winter, born during the Great Fervor settled Grimmwing, naming it for herself and her husband, King Wingon. Grimmwing, located at the most northern point of the kingdom maintains a level of detachment from the rest of Aellolyn. Their only interaction with the rest of the continent is through trade. In the snowy mountains that abut the back of Ravaryn, two volcanoes stir, smoke rising every so often from them. During the reign of Grimmelda’s son, Abraxas, they erupted for the first time. It is said that all of the North was blanketed in ash, that even people in Vredour could see the cloud. The eruption blanketed Ravaryn and would have eliminated the entire capital if it were not for a man named Pyrrhos Wolfsbane, believed to be an Ancient One of Rutspah, Ancient of Volcanoes. Pyrrhos was able to turn the lava and ash away from the capital sparing many lives.

King Abraxas was mystified by this power, and offered Pyrrhos anything he could ask for in thanks. Pyrrhos asked for his summer castle, on the opposite side of Grimmwing, only accessible by a narrow road cut into the cliff. Pyrrhos asked that he be able to build a sanctuary there for those like him, so they could study and learn in peace, outside the rule of any nation. Abraxas granted his request with delight.

Pyrrhos arrived at the sanctuary, and with other Ancient Ones like him, the summer palace became known as the North Wardens. A sanctuary protected from the wars of men, and only accessible by those who are sensitive to the Old Ways. Though it is believed that during a terrible storm, the mountain sanctuary was washed away, torn from the side of the cliff, killing all who resided there. The North Wardens and their sanctuary, lost to the tempest.

King Abraxas, had two daughters who he took great pride in, Kirsi and Alix. Striking a deal with King Andrastus of Steodia, they hoped to strengthen their bond by the betrothal of Alix and Haakon. Though initially despising each other, they grew to love each other, marrying when they reached the age of majority. However, Haakon and Alix disagreed on one thing which would forever alter the course of the relationship between Steodia and Grimmwing. Monogamy. Alix bore two children to her husband, Haakon, before his eye began to wander to other women. While pregnant with their third child, Alix caught Haakon in the act with three maids and a manservant. In a fit of rage, it is rumored that she cut off Haakon’s manhood and ran from the palace, taking her two young children to her sister’s home, Ravaryn.

To the shock of many, Haakon survived this injury and declared his wife an enemy of the state of Steodia, demanding that Alix’s older sister, Queen Kirsi turn her over to be formally executed. Kirsi refused, and Haakon declared war. Facing a harsh winter, Kirsi had no choice but to broker terms with Haakon or she would lose the lives of her people. Alix was forced to turn over her two young children with the oath that when she finally gave birth to the third, they would be delivered to Tethoris. Alix was stripped of her role as Queen, but allowed to live out her days in Ravaryn, so long as she never crossed the border into Steodia.

Heartbroken, Alix turned over her two children, but when she went into labor with her third, Kirsi aided her, claiming the baby was born dead. Kirsi raised Alix’s daughter as her own, feigning pregnancy to prevent any becoming wiser. Kirsi’s own child, her heir, passed away making Alix and Haakon’s daughter the next Queen of Grimmwing. However, her parentage was kept secret even from her, and with the death of Kirsi and Alix, the truth was lost to time.

The only thing that survived of this was an everlasting distaste of each other between Steodia and Grimmwing. Queen Willa of Grimmwing, daughter of Alix and Haakon, was raised on the horrible stories of the King of Steodia. While in Steodia, her brothers Einri and Kyler, were raised with a hate of Grimmwing. Even with their parents dead, the hate was kept alive by the next generation, and the next, all the way until the present.

Though Grimmwing was able to maintain its status of detachment, this did not prevent enemies from growing within its borders. Twenty-six years before the modern age, King Niklaus I, his wife, Queen Gisele, and their young son, were set upon by bandits on route to a summit in Candonia. Fifty of the King’s men were unable to stop them. There were no survivors.

King Niklaus I‘s younger sister who is rumored to have enticed the bandits to attack, succeeded the throne as Queen Verena. However, she was careless with the coffers of the crown, soon finding herself and the throne in need of an infusion of capital. Queen Verena’s eye settled on a rich merchant, recently widowed, with a young daughter named Lyra. Queen Verena married him, and became stepmother to Lyra. Though the merchant quickly passed under mysterious circumstances.

Grimmwing was the First Nation to be sieged by Evan the Black, Queen Verena forced by the young conqueror to pass a law outlawing slavery, despite it being the major trade of her country. The battle lasted three years, taking up most of Grimmwing’s resources, but Evan was relentless and resourceful. When time came for the terms to be decided, Queen Verena sent her step-daughter, Princess Lyra to negotiate on her behalf, refusing to publicly admit defeat.

**Note**: Grimmish is a mix of Irish and Scottish.