Ursand

The frozen hellscape of Savorah, a place that most people would shudder to even think about. This is the home of the Ursandians, perhaps the most rugged and hearty of the humans on Belthuran. Early in their history they were said to have made a deal with the spirits to allow them to live and harvest wood from there. The spirits said they would be able to do so only if they were strong enough to endure there. The people of Ursand are brought up with the mentality that this is all a challenge set to them by the ancient spirits, one of primordial survival against the harshest of environments. Ursandians These humans tend to be pale skinned, long hair and beards for the males. Both genders have only some fat on their bodies despite the effort they put into eating a lot, they just burn most of the food they do eat on work or heating themselves. It is not uncommon for a Ursandian outside of Ursand to grow fat gorging themselves on what was a normal amount of food for them back home but is unnecessary in the softer environments. The people of Ursand face death every moment of the day and night as such they have a much more cavalier attitude towards death often seeming irreverent to the whole concept.
Ursandians generally have a strong sense of community, everyone contributes to Ursandian society there is no room for a lazy person, and often the crippled or infirm are sent off somewhere else where they will have a chance to survive better, but also not hinder the community. Some would see this as a cold thing to do but to the people of Ursand it is a necessary thing, in their minds life is tough in Ursand the only way to survive there is together and even then it isn't easy. The people of Ursand have a large amount of wealth per person compared to other 'commoners', gold is only so valuable to them it buys things that are useful but only when caravans come through what that money is really used for is a nest egg incase someone gets injured or sick in a way that means they have to leave Ursand. Those sent to out of Ursand will have a sizeable amount of coin to make a new life for themselves wherever they end up, while it pains the community to send someone away they believe it to be for the best. Generally speaking, an Ursandian will do what needs to be done without being asked if they know it needs doing, the selfish are often left to work to their own benefit and sometimes they are able to survive in self-imposed exile, often it forces them to realize what they are doing and work to rejoin the community.

Fauna & Flora

Creatures of Note Ursand during the day is hardly a winter wonderland, both day and night the creatures that call this savage land home are truly humbling to all but the bravest or foolish of glory seekers.

Dryads

The dryads of Ursand are like their normal kin but have colors more matching their environments, evergreen colorations and often snow colored hair with icy eyes. It is rare that the Dryads are a threat only if loggers encroach on areas the spirits do not wish for humans to enter. They serve as the barrier between the living and the spirits. Many Ursandian males have had a run-in with the Dryads, some for breeding or fun, others told to bear a message to the humans that they are either not welcome or welcome to enter a section of the woods.

Snow voles

Ferret sized white and or grey colored creatures native to Ursand, forming the prey species to most creatures of the land. They have six limbs; the middle set are off the back and have to large hooked claws used to cutting and rending flesh as well as grabbing larger predators. They are known to use everything from a corpse, opportunistic omnivores that can generate enough heat to not die in the Grave fog but glow orange. Skittish when alone but the larger the pack the bolder, even being able to take on Fire bears in colonies.
Generally, eat Frostwort, a mushroom that grows around the oaks there in the snow, but will eat anything, as well as take everything. When a family decides to make a warren, they burrow underground and make a rather elaborate set of tunnels with a central sleeping space to keep warm below the frost level often with fur of other creatures as bedding, then a hoard room where they keep anything shiny that they don't eat. Then numerous escape tunnels.

Dire boars and goats and sheep

These are both wild and domesticated, in either case they are used for meat, fur, and milk in the case of sheep. While these creatures are much larger and more intimidating to the people of Ursand that are vital parts of their life. Aside from extra fur, bone plates, spikes and tusks they are rather like their more normal cousins.

Moose

Perhaps one of the only ‘normal’ creatures to be found in Ursand, the moose are large enough to be able to endure most of the troubles of Ursand with little trouble. It is not known why but like most other creatures in Ursand they are able to grow up to twice the normal size for a moose, but this is very rare and usually has something to do with local dryads.

Grizzly bears

The smallest and least worrying of the various bears of Ursand, most Ursandians have killed grizzly bear while still in their youth. What would be a horrifying creature by other humans is almost seen as adorable by those of Ursand, while still dangerous of course they rank quite low in comparison to the other horrors within Ursand.

Winter wolves

Perhaps the most iconic hunters in the dark, the winter wolves are not just immune to the Gravefog they excel within it. Their pure white fur letting them blend in fully with the surrounding fog, save for their icy blue eyes, but of course by time you see those they are already on you. Winter wolves are intelligent hunters that know their prey well even setting traps and waiting for the right moment to strike. It is not uncommon for them to figure out how to open doors and either let the fog in or go in and kill the inhabitants of a home themselves to feast on them. It is a rare night that one does not hear their footfalls crunching in the snow around your home as you sleep, and those nights they are missing it only makes the locals wonder, what IS out there.

Ursandian cave bear

The first true sample of the Ursandian bears, these are prehistoric sized bears that can easily make it to fifteen feet at the shoulder, when on all fours. While still not the worst of the bear population these are the ones that Ursandian hunters use as good trophies, and a hunter from anywhere else might even consider this a prize fit to retire after. Aside from their size there is nothing that remarkable about them, but their size provides a large amount of meat and hide. It is not uncommon for Ursandians to accompany some of the frost giants of Gregor’s peak to hunt these creatures, only taking a small portion for their families as the giants are able to make use of these larger prey for their own ends.

Kelpies

While not the biggest threat of Ursand, they are perhaps one of the ones with the largest body count to their name. The Ursandian Kelpies are much like any other form of these malevolent water spirits, however they have an even more voracious appetite and while some try to mimic the sounds of someone drowning they are also content to try and flip or sink boats or pull someone off the side into the freezing waters. They are the reason why there is a rule that if you see a man go overboard, you shoot him in the head to ease his passing, for they are already dead. Likewise, the Ursandians have much wider keeled boats often made of metal with cold iron spikes to ward away the Kelpies.

Fire bear

The most feared form of bear within Ursand, no one is sure how they came to be only that they rose to the top of the food chain very quickly. They can discharge firebolts from their mouths or breath a short-range blast of fire in a cone. This fire is known to stick and continue burning even underwater, as such if you can acquire it the fire gland of a Fire bear makes for a very high priced commodity within Ursand and the pelt or tokens of the hunt make for truly impressive tales among the Ursandians and beyond, those that know of a Fire bear know better than to ever underestimate anyone who has killed one.

Titanic bears

Titanic bears are something that only happens when the dryads, druids, and other forces of nature feel is necessary. They take either a cave bear or a Fire bear and perform a very obscure ritual that turns the already large bear into a true monster that towers over most things, even being larger than some dragons. This is done only in extreme emergencies as the question of what to do with it after comes up rather quickly, and there are few who can deal with such a creature.

Unique Flora

Frostwort

A mushroom that grows near the roots of the large oak trees of Ursand they spend most of their time covered in snow. Frostwort is a staple food for the creatures of Ursand including the people of Ursand. The very center of the mushroom has a small bead of sap that is sweet and both the sap and the mushroom itself can be eaten raw but if cooked the sap flavoring spreads to what it is cooked with.

Natural Resources

Ursandian Lumber

This is the reason why the people of Ursand endure so many terrible things, the only reason for anyone to live there. Ursandian lumber is a strange almost arcane thing but with no magical aura or enchantment. Constant exposure to the Gravefog each night has had an inverse reaction to what it does on the unprotected living creatures. The trees of Ursand, and their wood even once turned into lumber are entirely immune to decay and pests. Pests that try to eat it are exposed to trace amounts of the fog that resides within the wood killing them while being harmless to anything larger than a mouse.
As to why it can resist all rot, no one really knows, but it can rest within saltwater or a marsh for thousands of years and still be as new as the day it was hewn. While expensive this wood is an investment in a reliable material that will not need replacing except for damage.

Tourism

The only people who visit Ursand either have to do so such as merchants bringing materials to and from the various communities in Ursand or big game hunters trying to get the pelt of a dangerous and exotic creature in the dangerous lands of Ursand. Anyone going there for simple pleasure would likely be seen as insane.

Fog warders

The Fog warders are an order of mages, often these are sorcerers but any caster who can produce flame easily is able to become one of these. The fog warders are the only hope of a traveler who was unfortunate enough to be out when the fog begins to roll in, they also are charged with maintaining the various houses built along the highway creatively or ironically named; The Frozen road. This segment of the highway is made of serpentstone, an increasingly rare stone that generates its own heat and so never needs clearing of ice or snow but is often wet because of it. The fog warders are temporary solutions to the grave fog, but have saved numerous lives, however they have a very high turnover rate; they are also the search and recovery element to those who are lost, they have seen some terrible things and somethings they just refuse to talk about as the Ursandian forest is very old and very dangerous.

Gravefog

The Gravefog is a silent and terrifying killer it goes beyond a simple fog in a cold environment as it comes from another plane. There are very few survivors of those who have been exposed to the Gravefog and lived, but they tell of the fog clinging to them like the grasping hands of the dead, the fog having a voracious entropy that hungrily devours your strength and stamina. Each night the fog spreads out over Ursand making their cold winter nights even that much stiller and more terrifying. Most of the predatory species of Ursand are either large enough to ignore the cold, or just outright immune to the effects and cold. To anyone else the fog has two parts to be concerned about; the first, is most any fur will become soaked and not retain heat anymore. The second, is the entropy of the fog that will drain you of life by just being within it.

Type

Territory

Included Locations

• Cairn of Corrosion
• Grund
• Sunderer's Steppe

Related Ethnicities

• Rhyderian

Inhabiting Species

• Lagoras
• Ursandian Fire Bear

Deepwood oddities

Anyone who has wandered into the Deepwood, beyond where people are normally allowed to travel see a portion of the forests of Ursand that are never really told about. The only ones who can claim to know these places are the Fog Warder’s and druids of the land. These places are ancient and otherworldly, to walk in them without knowing your way can have you become hopelessly lost.
Those who work search and retrieval have found people who wandered into the woods hundreds of miles away from where they started, somewhere they couldn’t have possibly gone. When retrieving a corpse or in the VERY rare cases a survivor they have to be wary of forest spirits who scream and shriek throughout the woods watching the new trespasser very closely, it is often only by the fog warders who know ancient rites that appease spirits, at least temporarily, that allows them to pass at all.
There are also random and unexplained staircases of various types that form from nowhere and go up ten to fifteen feet before stopping, the only thing those who know about them will say is to ignore them, do not acknowledge them and certainly do not climb them. The Deepwood is far stranger and more dangerous and it is every fog warder’s dread to enter these places as the spirits are rarely willing to host the intrusion of mortals.

The Forests

The forests of Ursand have two major types of wood, oak trees, and pine trees with the southern half of Ursand being mild enough for the oaks to survive while still retaining the unique features of the Ursandian lumber. With the conifer trees to the north being the vast majority.
The trees themselves are constantly encroaching on the lands of Ursand spreading far faster than most would think possible. It is very easy for small roads and trails to be overtaken in a matter of hours by root growth and dense canopies. The major highways fair better and are kept as clear as possible. It is not uncommon to enter portions where the sky is blotted out and the trees form tunnels, these are spots where loggers can't get to quick enough before having to retreat from the coming night. Very few people enjoy traveling in those areas and there are many horror stories about even a short time in those tunnels.