The North
A grizzled, bearded man draws his furs more closely around himself as he watches his wolf companion sniff out a trail in the forest.
Further south, a woman sends her children out to play, thick fur coats and covered boots on their feet, red noses sniffing as they run out of the gate at the end of the path to the house. She shuts the door quickly to avoid letting out the heat from the fire in the kitchen area of her home.
A miner steps out of the mine where he has spent his entire day, blinking in the setting sun and wiping the rapidly cooling sweat from his brow as he begins to make his way down towards the village and his wife.
The North is cold, but habitable, and the people there are toughened and conditioned to the brutal winds that sometimes pass through from the Everlasting Colds. Homes are well fortified, clothing is fur and heavy wool, and as the region moves south towards the Borderlands the region becomes slowly less frigid. Nonetheless, the people here are indoors for much of their lives and the closer to the Everlasting Colds one gets the more likely it is that people will not leave their homes regularly if there is no need to do so.
Geography
The North is very mountainous, and the villages have been built in the valleys and plains in between ranges. Many of the mountains are very beautiful and imposing, and the people here like to think they are created in the same style.
The scenery here is magnificent, snow capped peaks and deep green valleys, forests stretching for miles. Northmen are somewhat spoiled by the region they live in. Due to high winds at higher altitudes, many of the trees and buildings have a somewhat 'windblown' appearance and the further towards the Everlasting Colds one gets, the more sparse and desolate the region becomes.
Rivers can be seen making their way south from the mountains, providing a source of water for the humans and animals in the region. Frozen lakes can be found as one reaches the border with the Everlasting Colds.
Cold, hard winds and heavy snow are common in the north and towards the Everlasting Colds. As one moves south, the snow is replaced by heavy, frigid rain. The sun, when shining, is weak and it's warmth can barely be felt, even in the summer time when things are a little more pleasant. For the majority of Northmen, the summer means one can leave one's fur coat open rather than a change of clothing type.
Due to the cold and frozen nature of most of the region, farming is not typical for much of the region although there are some sporadic farms on the border with more southerly regions.
Storms are common, and homes are well fortified to withstand such treatment. Rains are not welcomed, due to the water freezing on the ground and causing paths and walkways to become extremely treacherous.
The biggest issues for Northmen involve snow. Heavy snowfall can block people into their homes for anywhere from a few days up to a month or longer, and they had better hope they had prepared in advance. Excessive and unexpected snowfall can result in entire villages being wiped out from starvation, and so the chance of this happening means it is unusual for a Northman family not to stock up on basic food and wood for their fires at all times.
Storms are also a problem, and lightning storms can take out houses if they are struck by lightning, causing fires that can spread from home to home, destroying everything in their wake. The heavy rainfall in such storms can also cause problems of their own, resulting in large water puddles which freeze into ice overnight. Accidents are common after winter storms, especially among the elderly who need to leave their homes.
In warmer summers, floods can cause property damage and drowning if the Everlasting Colds warms up to the point where snowfall melts into the rivers. This is very rare, but has on occasion happened, and stories of the last floods are told by the elderly people sitting outside their homes to anyone who will stop to listen.
Of course, although cold weather is a matter of course for the Northmen, if a winter is extremely cold it can mean that people seriously struggle to survive.
Fauna & Flora
Outside of the mountains where the majority of the plantlife is in coniferous tree form, there are grasslands and flowers can also be seen. This is most common on the borders, where the majority of the Northmen farming takes place. On the farms, root vegetables, potatoes and other hardy, cold loving crops are grown and form the majority of the plant life in the region.
Bears and wolves are very common in this region, both wild and domesticated; indeed, some Northmen have maaged to tame wolves or bears as companions and will hunt with them, becoming a formidable battle partners. Wild packs of wolves occasionally come near villages but are chased away, often by angry housewives protecting their children. Wolf and bear pelts are used to make home decorations and clothing and as such are valued.
Sheep and cows are domesticated and raised for food and clothing. Likewise, dogs and cats have been known to be kept as pet, in the case of cats to keep mice and rats out of homes, dogs as companions and guards. Nobody is really sure if these animals are native to the region or if they were brought there.
Birds are common, ravens, crows, buzzards and eagles flying overhead do not cause a stir and the people are not usually interested unless the birds come close enough to be a physical threat.
The rivers are teeming with fish such as salmon and trout, and are an important food source for many villages.
Type
Region
Location under
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