The Tomb of High Køenig Kraki Haraldson
On a manmade hill overlooking the Storm River, not far from the Hall of the Hearth Stone, sits the tomb mound of Kraki Haraldson, the first and only high køenig of the Northlands. Well before the Northlanders expanded far beyond the borders of the vale — for in that time Hordaland, Gatland, and Hrofland were the far frontiers — one jarl rose up and united the entire Northlands under his banner. Kraki Haraldson was a fearsome warlord, a feared sea reaver, and a brilliant politician. His might united even the feuding Gats and Hrolfs, as well as hundreds of independent jarls.
Not all were happy with this state of affairs and, following a decade of rule, a cabal of oath-breakers who styled themselves as freedom fighters assassinated the high køenig. The families of these assassins fled and settled the land that is now Vastavikland. The high køenig was laid to rest in a magnificent tomb that was in turn buried under tons of earth in order to keep his wight safe or, as some say, safely inside. To date, none has dared to open the barrow, despite the legends that speak of untold riches and, more alluring, Kroenarck, the sword of the high køenig — a weapon that some say would make its owner the second high køenig of all the Northlands.
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