Bright Iron Fastness - River Jarl Steading (3)

The current Jarl of Bright Iron is called Garret Fingolsson.  His name is a curious one for a Storm King barbarian - since it includes a Westroner first name, but it was the name his father (Fingol the Just) gave him.

Old Fingol Olavson (called Trollbane in his youth) was visited by wandering priests of the Order of Brother Rudiger.  It was in his youth, shortly after his father, Olav, died.  In order to secure the Steading, young Fingol had to fight and kill his father's brothers (one of which was nicknamed Ymir the Troll, which is where Fingol's nickname of Trollbane came from).

After this family feud was over, however, a traveling Brother of the Order of Brother Rudiger had come out of the Shadow Woods to the east.  Single handedly, the traveling priest had crossed the Blood Veldt, surviving the Sword People, and had come to Bright Iron to preach the virtues of hearth safety and home protection for the poor and down trodden.  The message resonated with Fingol, and he converted from the faith of his fathers (reverence for the Storm King), to this new strange religion of the Three Goddesses.  In so doing, he also began to mimic Westroner culture and Westroner ways.

Fingol waged war on his neighbors who sought to wipe out his ways, and his people that abandoned the old culture.  In this he was not only relentless, but also quite successful.  His smaller but persistent fleet had waged war on the many trading vessels from Seawyrm, an he also raided the Orc Clans to the south east of Bright Iron.  He held an uneasy peace for many years with the woman warriors from the steading of the River Raven.  The money and treasure that his successful campaigns won him were spent on building a large, fine castle of pure white stone, brought from far south on barges up the Greywater river.  This castle, in stone, is unlike the steadings of the other River Jarls, and more closely resembles a fine stone castle of a wealthy Westroner barony.  Naming it Bright Iron Fastness, it his spiry towers toped with sharp peaks made of the curious Bright Iron, or star metal, that is found in some of the quarries in the area.

Bright Iron Fastness - with its towers skytopped in star metal.

This is the world that Garret Fingolsson was born into, and now rules over.  His is a curious mix of traditional Storm King culture, with some of the behaviors, values, and trappings of more typical Westroner culture.  Officially, his "court" speaks Westron, and writes all official documents in Westschrift.  Unofficially, many of the common people (and some higher up on the social scale) speak Destrikking.  Few remain, however, who can read and write the Ainark Runes.

Garret actually tries to foster the home and hearth life style that is common to the Order of Brother Rudiger, which means supporting agriculture and homesteading more than blood feuds and viking raids.  He has a strong fyrd, however, with a loyal corps of huscarls, that are constantly engaged in warfare against the Orc Clans, and occasional freebooters from the other Storm King steadings.

Immediately southeast of Bright Iron, just on the outskirts of the tended agricultural lands under the protection of Jarl Garret's fyrdmen, lay the lands of the Stone Houses.  The Stone Houses are curious round structures, long since out of use by their original inhuman builders, made of stacked stones.  The are similar to a Broch, or round house, that is built by some of the distant Storm King barbarians, however the roofs are all long since rotted off, and some of the stone walls are crumbling. What is curious about the structures, is that they are built for giant beings.  Larger than an ogre, whomever it was that first peopled these stone houses must have been of a great stature, perhaps 15 feet tall?  The typical stone house (as pictured below) has a first story that is partially underground, and then usually two more stories above that, and a peaked roof.  Sometimes the roofs are present (when they were made out of slate or other stone) and sometimes they are long gone (when they were made out of material that would have rotted with age, such as wood or thatch).  The typical structure is approximately 70 tall (at the peak of the roof), and about 80' across the base, at ground level.  Of course, there is variation, so some exist that are taller or shorter, and either bigger or smaller around.

For a long time, back before the Elves retreated to the Seely realms, the early humans in this region would commune with the spirits that haunt the stone houses, learning much from them.  Then they began using the stone houses as hallowed places of the honored dead - depositing chieftains, warriors and shamans among the stone buildings, and decorating them with fine implements and ornaments made of all types of fine metals.  The number of ghosts and spirits in the area grew and grew.  For generations, however, it has been avoided by most people, reputed to be a place of horrible fetches and liches, and other undead beings.

Cutaway of a Stone House - for scale, consider the inhabitants to be 15' feet tall.

During the reign of Fingol, those in the steading that were stubborn about giving up the reverence of the Storm King and his court were slowly identified and either forced to adopt the religion of the Church (of the Three Goddesses), or they were driving out of the steading.  A large number of traditional skalds (bards) and priests of the Storm King (even joined by worshipers of Helgor, the Black Chieftain) sought refuge and shelter among the Stone Houses.  Some of these were infected by the otherworldly beings living there, and became a particularly ghastly type of undead being known as a Helgorfiend. These beings are enraged when confronted by living people (human or otherwise), and will attack viciously (even suicidally) on sight.  They will attempt to bite the poor victims, and in so doing have a chance to convert them to Helgorfiend as well.  Stats will come in a future posting.

This Steading is very close to the area, in the Sildur Reaches, known as The Scorch, and it has some ties to the men of this holding.  Very important ties.