Nordwiir
A people from the northern archipelago shrouded north of the Eretjeva Tundra known as Eyjarnar, or in the common tongue, the Lost Isles, the Nordwiir are the lesser known and less civilised cousins of the Nordenfiir. At least, that is how obscure contemporary scholars think of them.
Despite this ignorant belief, Nordwiir and Nordenfiir have some similarities, but these seem to be only skin deep.
For a start, the Nordwiir, or Wiir as they are also known, do not possess a Svalen, which is one of the hallmarks of their Nord counterparts. On the surface, this means that the Nordwiir do not have a bear form, but on a symbolic level, this also suggests that they are without souls, given that the two are considered synonymous amongst the Nordens.
In place of a Svalen, the Nordwiir instead have their own blessing, also known as their Gjöf. This is an individual ability gifted to every Wiir who completes the rite of Frábærveiði, otherwise known as The Great Hunt. The blessings vary, with each Wiir who survives their trial gaining power that is quite often symbolically linked to the hardships of their Hunt.
Hailing from a resource-starved land, Nordwiir society revolves around a constant battle for survival. The strong, the cunning, and those with sway tend to rule, ensuring survival for themselves and their own. The weak can either fall in line and prove their usefulness or starve. This struggle for food, shelter, and semi-arable land has led to a society constantly at war with itself.
It has also stunted them as a people.
Because survival is at the core of the Nordwiir, they have been unable to flourish as other societies have upon Arethil. There have been no documented examples of the Nordwiir managing to leave and settle outside The Lost Isles. There have, however, been many examples of raids across the northern coast of the main continent, but only to gain hard-to-find resources, such as wood and metals.
This leaves the most significant threat to the Nordwiir to be themselves; constant infighting and vying for supremacy has ensured a stagnating population that cannot thrive and grow. However, this has resulted in the creation of the species' exceptional individuals. To survive, one must not only be strong but cunning.
Overview
History
Obscure scholars have theorised that ancient Nordwiir and Nordenfiir coexisted upon the land now known as the Eretejva Tundra. Beyond the fact that both races of Nords have a baseline similarity, there is little factual evidence proving this. Still, it is considered a possibility amongst the very few academics who have studied them. The Efras, a Wiir name for folklore passed down through spoken stories, would seem to confirm such. Although given that such tales are passed down by word of mouth, there is no telling what truth has been lost or lies have embellished such tales over time.
One of the more common versions of their origins, as still told today, describes how the Hinir Myrku, or Dark Gods, promised their forebearers untold riches, freedom, and land to claim as their own in exchange for worship.
The will of the Gods guided them to the northern reaches of the Tundra and beyond. As island people, they already held an affinity for the sea, and from such promises, they built ships to sail north towards a fabled land of plenty that awaited them. They sailed north into a frozen shroud of unyielding fog that seemed to taunt and challenge them and was quick to rob the first settlers of all sense of direction.
In the legends long since warped by time, it is told that the first spent years at sea, lost in the fog that never once lifted to guide their ships. This voyage, seemingly cursed, was taken to be a trial by the Gods that only the worthy could survive, and it was here where the first sacrifices of their fledging culture were made. Blood was spilt, and bones were scattered into the frigid sea, now known today by the Nordwiir as the Köldgröf, who accepted their offerings and parted the veil to show them to their new home.
However, the land of promise was not what was expected.
Their new home was a barren land comprising fractured islands of flat, endless tundra in the south and jagged untrodden mountains in the north. It was a land that held only sparse outcrops of trees, where very little grew from the frozen earth. However, it was not a desolate place in terms of its inhabitants. The first Nordwiir found that many great, deadly beasts roamed their promised lands, each larger and more carnivorous than the last. Even the seemingly benign flora and fauna, such as mushrooms and slugs in caves held mortal toxins.
For decades the original settlers suffered, struggling to carve out a new life in a hostile land that would not rest until they had all perished. Some returned to their boats and attempted to return from whence they came, only to be sunk by savage tempests that emerged from the fog.
Those who remained dwindled in numbers, developing a bitter hatred for those who had never left, cursing their names as jealousy left deep scars upon their psyches. They wondered if they had been tricked, if they had lost everything on the back of a tremendous cosmic lie.
But they were not alone; those voices who had guided them far from home so long ago eventually returned when all hope seemed lost.
They offered power; the means of survival in this brutal land. All they wanted in return was two things.
First, they demanded their unquestioning devotion, and with that, the Dark Gods promised that they would watch over them and give them the strength and cunning to make these lands their own, not only to survive but to thrive. Second, they demanded their Svalens, their very souls, and in exchange for this, they would grant them great powers beyond the measure of their comprehension.
In the knowledge that they would not survive without the intervention of the divine, this bargain was accepted, and this was how the Nordwiir came to be.
Or, at least, that is how it is often told.
People
Nordwiir are much like base Nords in that they are tall, bulky, and fair, especially when compared to average humans.
They range from six to seven feet tall, with a regular variant between the sexes that occurs in most other species. In terms of their build, they err on the lean musculature, with their existence holding strength and speed as a necessity.
It is somewhat surprising, at least scientifically, that over time, the Nordwiir haven’t shrunk from living in a land of food scarcity. This phenomenon baffles obscure scholars to this day and has been frustratingly put down to divine intervention.
Quite interestingly, some adaptations have been noted in raiding Nordwiir found on the main continent. They are able to go for lengthy periods without food or water, and although it is not pleasant, they lose mass at a slower rate than other species would. However, they also gain weight quickly, and it is not uncommon for Nordwiir to return from raiding the South heavier than they had left. Their bodies, now built for survival and scarcity, seem unsuited for lives of relative comfort and plenty.
Another distinct marker of the Nordwiir is the sight of ritual scarification that can be found on their flesh. This can vary depending entirely upon which God that an individual worships. A Nordwiir who worships Haraudur, the God of Blood, for instance, would likely bear the scars of bloodletting, whereas a Wiir who worships Likami, the Goddess of Flesh, would boast a wicked canvas of scars all over in devotion. Likewise, a Prestsfrú, more intrinsically linked with the divine, would be covered in the runes of their God or Gods.
Nordwiir dress is not terribly. Their warrior garb is a mixture of boiled leather from kaldabatur and beastly furs or kaldurhrafn feathers. Their plainclothes, while also having the inclusion of insulating furs, are made from Gróft, a rough and hardy fibre not dissimilar to hemp. Any decorative metal accessories, such as piercings or runes, are a sign of wealth, station, and importance.
They range from six to seven feet tall, with a regular variant between the sexes that occurs in most other species. In terms of their build, they err on the lean musculature, with their existence holding strength and speed as a necessity.
It is somewhat surprising, at least scientifically, that over time, the Nordwiir haven’t shrunk from living in a land of food scarcity. This phenomenon baffles obscure scholars to this day and has been frustratingly put down to divine intervention.
Quite interestingly, some adaptations have been noted in raiding Nordwiir found on the main continent. They are able to go for lengthy periods without food or water, and although it is not pleasant, they lose mass at a slower rate than other species would. However, they also gain weight quickly, and it is not uncommon for Nordwiir to return from raiding the South heavier than they had left. Their bodies, now built for survival and scarcity, seem unsuited for lives of relative comfort and plenty.
Another distinct marker of the Nordwiir is the sight of ritual scarification that can be found on their flesh. This can vary depending entirely upon which God that an individual worships. A Nordwiir who worships Haraudur, the God of Blood, for instance, would likely bear the scars of bloodletting, whereas a Wiir who worships Likami, the Goddess of Flesh, would boast a wicked canvas of scars all over in devotion. Likewise, a Prestsfrú, more intrinsically linked with the divine, would be covered in the runes of their God or Gods.
Nordwiir dress is not terribly. Their warrior garb is a mixture of boiled leather from kaldabatur and beastly furs or kaldurhrafn feathers. Their plainclothes, while also having the inclusion of insulating furs, are made from Gróft, a rough and hardy fibre not dissimilar to hemp. Any decorative metal accessories, such as piercings or runes, are a sign of wealth, station, and importance.
Society
Nordwiir society revolves around the worship of the Dark Gods and varies depending on each tribe's preferred pantheon. The culture of a group of Wiir who worship Haraudur will differ from that of those who worship Likami. Because of a lack of the written word, those from different islands who worship the same Gods can not be guaranteed to experience life similarly.
What is certain, however, is the brutality of Nordwiir culture.
The intrinsic paranoid nature of the Wiir, in tandem with the scarcity of Eyjarnar and worship of a pantheon of ruthless domains, has led to a people whose culture revolves around survival at all cost, and one whose desires remain crude, base and violent. Such a lifestyle means that it is uncommon for any Nordwiir to surpass the age of forty.
As life is so short, cultural issues commonplace in more civilised regions are entirely absent. A lack of deeper philosophy and societal rules has led to a people less constrained by what is polite and the imaginary rules that come with that, instead the Wiir are incredibly liberal in terms of sex, violence and gender. The core discrimination one would find amongst the Nordwiir would be down to chosen pantheons.
What is certain, however, is the brutality of Nordwiir culture.
The intrinsic paranoid nature of the Wiir, in tandem with the scarcity of Eyjarnar and worship of a pantheon of ruthless domains, has led to a people whose culture revolves around survival at all cost, and one whose desires remain crude, base and violent. Such a lifestyle means that it is uncommon for any Nordwiir to surpass the age of forty.
As life is so short, cultural issues commonplace in more civilised regions are entirely absent. A lack of deeper philosophy and societal rules has led to a people less constrained by what is polite and the imaginary rules that come with that, instead the Wiir are incredibly liberal in terms of sex, violence and gender. The core discrimination one would find amongst the Nordwiir would be down to chosen pantheons.
Language
Over the thousands of years spent in near isolation from the rest of the world, the Nordwiir language has gradually changed from what it once was, their forebearers ways long since lost. There is no official written Wiir, as without trees to spare there is no paper, eliminating their need for a proper written word.
Vocally, it is a harsh-sounding language, with sharp consonants and warped vowels that sound out of place amongst many of the common languages heard across the realms. To the untrained ear, it sounds as savage as the people who speak it. However, due to the lack of physical writing, the spoken tongue is held in greater importance, and thus, it is a surprisingly verbose language far beyond the expectation of the primal.
It is through the spoken word that the Nordwiir recall history. These are known as Efras and are passed down from generation to generation. It is either a great honour or a great shame to have an Efra spoken in your name, noting your deeds or your sins and ensuring your remembrance throughout Wiir history until the last speaker of your tale perishes.
Although there is no proper written language, this does not mean that the Nordwiir are entirely devoid of such a component.
There are runes with limited purposes, usually donating the names of the Dark Gods, settlements or landmarks. It is not language as most know it, but it is enough to signify things that are held in high esteem that should be marked lest they are forgotten.
Vocally, it is a harsh-sounding language, with sharp consonants and warped vowels that sound out of place amongst many of the common languages heard across the realms. To the untrained ear, it sounds as savage as the people who speak it. However, due to the lack of physical writing, the spoken tongue is held in greater importance, and thus, it is a surprisingly verbose language far beyond the expectation of the primal.
It is through the spoken word that the Nordwiir recall history. These are known as Efras and are passed down from generation to generation. It is either a great honour or a great shame to have an Efra spoken in your name, noting your deeds or your sins and ensuring your remembrance throughout Wiir history until the last speaker of your tale perishes.
Although there is no proper written language, this does not mean that the Nordwiir are entirely devoid of such a component.
There are runes with limited purposes, usually donating the names of the Dark Gods, settlements or landmarks. It is not language as most know it, but it is enough to signify things that are held in high esteem that should be marked lest they are forgotten.
References
- https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/a-trek-through-the-blight.2160/
- https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/blood-and-steel.2176/
- https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/frozen-power.2100/
- https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/the-skvader.2114/
- https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/nights-like-this.2102/
- https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/endirinn.3416/
