Svellbjarg

In the icy fjords of Svellbjargheim only the most foolhardy people survive. These people call themselves the Svellbjarg. The Svellbjarg are world renown traders and raiders, having sailed to almost every continent on the world. However they primarily interact with the people of Sari-Ifa, who see the Svellbjarg as barbarians.

Culture

Average technological level

Across the globe the Svellbjarg ships are renown for their strength and agility. The most famous of Svellbjarg sailors was Loav Lostson, who's fleet managed to sail all the way up north to the Wabu Islands and return in one piece. In the old days the Svellbjarg were one of the first civilisations to adapt the usage of steel tools, using the bones of honoured warriors. But the Svellbjarg have been slow to adapt firearms. For a long time any attempt by Svellbjarg raiders to bring a functioning firearm back home was ruined by the very shipdesign that makes them so effective at sea. Their low and open ships would catch a lot of water, soaking the gunpowder and making it unusable for demonstration back home. Only in the last few decades have the Svellbjarg managed to get a hold on the recipe of gunpowder. The kings inland have began to use firearms for inland combat, but raiders find the powder still to unreliable to bring on ships. Many alchemists dream of finding a way to waterproof gunpowder so the north will once again fear the might of Svellbjarg.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The Svellbjarg honour their death with sky burials. The death are placed on a wooden plateau high in the mountains where scavenging birds feast on their flesh. Once the soft tissue has been completely removed a priest will climb up to the wooden plateau to collect the bones, which are used in by the local blacksmith to craft the weapons of the next generation, imbuing them with the steadfastness of the diseased. This has as by effect that the iron used in the forge obtains enough carbon to turn into steel.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Svellbjarg are attracted to any body mark that can tell a story, such as scars and tattoos. Almost every Svellbjarg who returns from his first battle will let themselves be marked with a tattoo that retells the tale. The tattoos are made with ash gathered from the fireplace at which the story was told to the tattoo artist.

Diverged ethnicities