Wintermark people

The Winterfolk were once three separate peoples: the Kallavesi, the Steinr and the Suaq. Although they unified years before they joined the Empire, they preserve the heritage that made each tradition strong. Which tradition you follow is not an accident of birth but a choice made by each Winterfolk child as they reach maturity. Just as one might be born a peasant and rise to become a Thane, so someone can be born to Steinr family and leave to follow the path of a Kallavesi mystic or journey with the Suaq as a scout. Children gravitate towards whichever tradition calls most strongly to them as they come of age.

All three traditions are equally respected, they are all crucial to the survival of the nation. Although a single tradition predominates in each territory of Wintermark – this is a consequence of landscape and history – most communities include members of all three. They refer to themselves as Winterfolk especially when talking to outsiders. They no longer consider themselves three people; they are one people, but with three traditions.

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All Winterfolk admire personal heroism, and believe that when one decides to do something, one should be absolutely committed. They do nothing by halves. When they hunt monsters across the icy wastes, they seek to kill all of them. When they design a fortress or a suit of armour, they strive to make it impregnable. When they go to war, they are prepared to die for their cause. They judge people not by the company they keep or by their words, but by the things they do.

They live their lives to the full, throwing themselves into whatever they are doing with gusto. They are generous in triumph, but selfish in defeat. The mark of a Wintermark hero is that they take personal responsibility for their failings but they share their victories with everyone. The more people involved in a heroic deed, the more heroic it is seen to be. Whenever the scops tell a tale of a battle, everyone who fought at that battle stands a little taller, even if their specific deeds are not recounted.

The Winterfolk relish challenges as an opportunity to prove themselves. Battle is an obvious opportunity to show one's worth, but they also recognise the challenges that are overcome with cunning or wisdom. Whether triumph is won by force of arms, imagination and cunning or wise and profound insight does not matter to the Winterfolk. What counts is how significant and notable the triumph was and how many benefit as a result of the deed. Winterfolk heroes are those whose prowess and noble qualities serve or inspire others.

Many Winterfolk maintain the old belief in the Skein. Each person has a skein, a path down which that individual travels. Your passage along your path, your skein, is a single continuous journey even as you are born and reborn. It is wrong to say that things are predestined, like any path there are turnings that you can take. But some paths are much more auspicious than others. Divination through magic and studying omens allows the skilled shaman to discern the most favourable turns to make.

The Winterfolk prize individuality, not just as people, but in the things they do and the things they make. Winterfolk craftsmen they take immense pride in their work and incorporate complex runes into the things they create. While the stereotypical Winterfolk crafter is often thought of as a weapon or armour smith, they are also known for the expertise in civil and military engineering; their construction of great fortresses and other defensive structures; their delicately engraved jewellery and their practical alchemy.

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Names

Traditional Steinr and Kallavesi names tend to fall into two patterns:

• {given name} {parent's name}sson or {given name} {parent's name}sdottir e.g. Hrothgar Arnesson, Adla Runasdottir
• {given name} ja {place} e.g. Aiko ja Sudenar, Eirik ja Kalpaheim (pronounced 'ya')

Traditional Suaq names are different – the Suaq are given single names of places or creatures around them, but if it is felt that they resemble one of the elders or the dead, or the mother dreams of a dead person, the child takes that person’s name. A Suaq child’s name can change a number of times before it settles.

Sample Names

• Rika Vanarsdottir
• Mimek ja Tanika
• Amaruq

Names are primarily Saxon in flavour for Steinr, Finnish for Kallavesi and Inuit for Suaq – although these have melded over the generations.