Hearth Home - River Jarl Steading (4)

Hearth Home is the ancestral home of the White Wolf, a very long lived warlock (self-styled) that rules with an iron claw, but is also very protective of his people.  The steading itself is a series of stone mead halls, with a central "great hall" that is actually a multilevel towering affair, with lots of balconies and towers.  It stands atop a great dungeon complex, built years ago by the original followers of the White Wolf.

Great Hall of the White Wolf

The palisade-circled city that surrounds the mead halls overlooks a curious feature of the land.  There was once a lake, with a number of streams and a single river (the Moonharp lake, fed by the Shining River) that ran down into the Great Owl Forest.  Many, many years ago there was a fight in this are between Helgor and the Storm Lady, Othero.  In the battle, Othero fired her bow, Icefinger, three times at Helgor.  All three times, Helgor deftly dodged the frozen missiles fired by the Storm Lady.  But all three of them fell into the Moonharp Lake.  The lake itself was instantly frozen by the first, and the ice made thicker and deeper with the two successive shots.  To this day it stands frozen solid, even in the bright sun of the short, but warm, northern summer.

In the middle of the Ice Lake, which itself is 5 miles across, there stands a rough concentric wall and tower, both made of ice.  These have been constructed by the surviving members of a tribe of Fish Men (Ichor Lang) that lived in the lake at one time. There is a rough truce between the Fish Men and the men of Hearth Home, but that truce does not extend to travelers, or others on the eastern shores of the lake.  The culture and practices of the Fish Men has been described as "vile and disgusting - cursed by the gods" by some skalds and rangers that have encountered them.

Ice Castle of the Ichor Lang (Fish Men)

The Shining River has dried up, for the most part, but the lands in and around it are a sort of marshy territory.  The amount of moisture, and free standing water, in the marsh varies widely during the year, and it serves as a hunting ground for some of the far-ranging Fish Men, as well as other beings that live there, and even more that wander up in search of prey, out of the Great Owl Forest.

South of the steading, almost on the border of the Great Owl Forest, stands a curious tower, nicknamed by wanderers from Hearth Home as the "tower of the world's ending".  It is not known where this nickname comes from, but it could be that the rolling hills that the Hearth Home is part of, finally flatten out, and give way to the very dense Great Owl Forest, and the lands of the tower are at the point where they meet.  Or it could have to do with the sorcerer Belue Gorm who built the tower.  Belue Gorm was obsessed with the long forgotten (by sane men) elder beings that the Old Ones worshiped, especially the Lord of Fire.  The sorcerer felt that the world, since the Old Ones had departed, had fallen into corruption and misuse, and that it was the duty of those who remembered the elder beings from the beginning of time (and before) should seek to recall them to this domain.  In order to do that, at least with the Lord of Fire, Belue Gorm was seeking about a way to bring about the end of most of life within the Valley (and else where) by means of magical fire.  How far he got in his studies, and how successful he might have been, it will never be known, for a war party of Elfin warriors came and laid waste to the tower, and threw down the dead body of Belue Gorm.  It is rumored that the White Wolf was asked by the Fey war party for assistance, and refused.  This story is used to explain the curious rift between the men of Hearth Home and any and all representatives of the Seely court.

Tower of Belue Gorm

In spite of what the Elfin warriors wrought against Belue Gorm, the "tower of the world's ending" still stands, and the dungeons underneath it are unplumbed to this day.


During the Week of Adventure Locations, the writeup of The Glade of Time was originally part of this article on Hearth Home.  This was location 4.

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.

Icewall - River Jarl Steading (1)

Icewall is the name of the northern most of the River Jarl steadings.  It is the home of a very powerful clan of Storm King barbarians, the Isvater clan.  The current head of the clan is Kolfinn Haukson.  He is an old warrior, ruling his great clan, and his huscarls, with a firm but fair manner.  He has a daughter, Vigdis Kilfinndottr - who is young, lovely, and given to romantic adventures.  She has a group of friends, all young ladies, who attend her on all manner of adventures.

The steading of Icewall stands at the forefront of a great glacier that is slowly making its way down out of the Destriel mountains.  The Terrapin River (sometimes known locally as the Iceflow) comes down out of the glacier, higher up in the mountains, it flows under the ice sheet.  At the edge of the glacier, where the river comes down out of the mountains, there is a cliff wall made of both ice and mountain rockwall, and it is here that Icewall stands.

Isvater clan Steading - Icewall

There are stone pillars in the Terrapin, at this point, and they are all part of a large protected harbor, which houses the Isvater clan's fleet of dragon ships.

The glacier itself is known as the Ice Father, and is home to all manner of dangerous creatures.  In addition to the usual assortment of snow giants, mountain giants, ice trolls and other creatures of the frozen Destriel mountains, additional other creatures that have been spawned by the shadowy practices of renegade ice wizards (all sworn servants of Helgor, the Black Chieftain, god of the underworld in the Storm King pantheon).

Further north, near the headwaters of the Terrapin River, lies the mysterious and enigmatic Plains of Fire.  This is a valley, nestled down amongst the frozen peaks and glacial flows of the Destriel, that is a curious location - it is a fertile green valley, but with jets of flame erupting from among the hot springs and acidic pools that appear among the otherwise inviting green valley floor.  The Plains of Fire also are the spawning grounds of the great dragons of the north.

Some days, across mountains and ice, to the west of the Plains of Fire stands the singular mountain, the Moonspike.  Atop this curious narrow, but incredibly tall, summit stands the magic monolith known as the Great Crystal.  It is rumored, amongst the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn, that the Crystal was formed from the tears of one of the Three Goddesses, and that it is a peculiarly strong focal point of the magic from the Three within the valley.

Located nearby are the famed Dungeons of Igo Umblar (this is location 1 in the Week of Adventure Locations).

The Storm King's Pantheon

The various tribes of Storm King barbarians vary one from another in many different ways, however they all share one thing in common - reverence and worship of the Storm King and his associated pantheon. This is a brief overview of those gods.

Bronc is the King of the Destriel Gods, and also the King of Storms. He is rarely seen, but always present. He is in every storm cloud, and looks down on his people. The Destriel Mountains, marking the northern boundary of the Valley of the Old Ones is a cold, windy place, often wracked by mysterious storms of all sorts. It is fitting that the king of storms dwells here. When the broody Bronc (who is much more frequently called, simply, the Storm King) appears, either in artwork, or during his very rare appearances on earth, he is a dark hulking being, with a horned helmet, wearing a great black shag-cow's hide as a cape. He carries a single broadsword, called Arrios which sings to the Storm King when in combat. His common foes are the many Sun Worms sent against him by the Sun King, Photos. The Storm King dwells in his cloudy castle Windkeep with Tyrros and Othero.

Tyrros is the son of the Storm King, and is the Prince of Thunder. He is the god of thunder and lightning, and has a personality to match. He is often roaming the world, in search of combat and warfare. He carries a great warhammer named Bloodthunder. When roaming the world, he is often in his chariot, which is pulled by a pair of great blue oxen named Glangor and Feory.

Othero is the lady of the Storm King, sometimes called the Storm Lady. She is pale and golden and beautiful, but she is also freezing cold. She dwelt alone at the top of the tallest peak in the Destriels until she attracted the interest of the Storm King. He rescued her from her mountaintop by beating the giants keeping her imprisoned, and then took her back to Windkeep with him. She bore him the son, Tyrros. Now she dwells at Windkeep and controls the coming and going of winter. She sometimes, for sport, will shoot at the sun worms that encircle the fortress with her bow, Icefinger.

Helgor is the Black Chieftain. He is the ruler of the Dark Shore, and is the lord of the domain of the restless dead. All those who die an unsatisfying death are doomed to dwell on the Dark Shore, where they may be called upon by sorcerers to perform foul deeds, or worse. Nobody wants the Black Chieftain to appear, however some will pay homage to him when affairs of the dead are concerned. He appears as a tall dark man, with a helmet set by two great curving goat horns. He carries a black longspear named Soulteaser, with a slender tip that ends in flame. By his side, when he is seen traveling the face of the earth, he is sometimes accompanied by a Fell Beast (a huge wolflike creature the size of an elephant, and quite ferocious).