Kallavesa

Regions of Kallavesa

Overview

This is the ancestral home of the Kallavesi, a land of cold stagnant bogs. The land changes through the seasons, but always has a feeling of brooding stillness. In the warmer months it is a boggy marsh cut through with streams and fjords. In the winter the waterways freeze over and the whole land is covered with frost and snow. The marsh serves as the national graveyard and this is a place of ancient secrets and mysticism. The stories of the mystics say that in ancient times a flight of crows flew over the marshes scattering feathers into the waters below. Where each feather landed, a Kallavesi emerged from the marshes.

It is a mournful land, but a beautiful one. Thanes' halls are traditionally constructed entirely from wood here and those built in marshy areas are raised up on stilts. Many halls in Kallavesa are built around sacred places or places with a magical reputation. There are not believed to be any troll ruins in Kallavesa; while stories occasionally speak of shattered halls buried beneath the Rhundal Marsh, these tales are considered largely fanciful or allegorical.

Parts of Kallavesa, especially the West Marsh have a reputation for being haunted. Not only are the marshes where the honoured dead of Wintermark are interred, they have also seen regular battles through the ages. Several vicious battlefields lie drowned beneath the boggy marshes; the Jotun have raided across the narrow sea from Kallsea since time-out-of-mind; in pre-Imperial centuries there were irregular border skirmishes across the southern borders - first with with the the orcs who dwelt where Bregasland and Mitwold lie today, later with Marchers who displaced them. Orc and human dead alike lie in the deep pools of the western and southern marshes, and they do not always lie still.

Kallavesa is rich to many fine herb gardens. Perhaps as a consequence of the many battlefields buried beneath the marshes, the territory is known for the quality of the bladeroot that grows here. The Kallavesi themselves are acknowledged experts in the use of herbs - the Infusions of Feathers were first developed here in the Wittal Groves and later shared with apothecaries from across the Empire.

The Senator for Kallavesa is appointed by the Kallavesi during the Winter Solstice, and is almost invariably of Kallavesi stock.

Recent History

The marshes of Kallavesa are the final resting place of the great heroes and heroines of Wintermark. Alone of all previous Emperors and Empresses, Empress Britta was interred in the marshes rather than resting at Necropolis. The Highborn have built a shrine and appointed a Guardian of Britta's Shrine, but the body itself (or as much of it as was recovered from the Thule) rests beneath the waters of Kallavesa.

Major Features

Rundhal

Once the capital of Kallevesa, in Ruhdahl where mystics sent dreams to the Steinr, and where the wise met to choose the monarch of Wintermark before the Empire. It is still a place of utmost importance to those who follow the Kallavesi traditions, and is where many of the oldest traditions are passed on. Scops come to the round hall to learn the stories and songs that tell their nation who they are and inspire heroes across all of Empire.

The Sovevann

The weed-choked waters at the heart of Kallavesa, boundaries and waterways shifting and reform all the time, as small islands of floating reeds drift on unpredictable currents. Attempts to build permanent structures here are stymied by chaotic nature of the floating islands and the presence of several large colonies of marshwalkers who will not tolerate the disruption of their boggy territory.

Regions

Kallavesa Marsh

Sandwiched between the Westmere and the Sovevann, this is the place most outsiders think of when they imagine Kallavesa. Boggy marsh, dotted with lone huts on stilts where pale herons stalk and burbling frogs maintain an eerie chorus at dawn and dusk. These are the haunted marshes where the heroes of Wintermark rest, and the few scattered halls here are generally given over to the study of The Way of serve as hostelries for visiting pilgrims come to honour the dead.

The largest settlement in this region is Masi home to the dead and those who guard them. Funerals are usually held here. On the rare occasions that a Feni or Jotun raid is not turned back at the borders, it is the warriors of Masi who force them back.
Keywords: Marsh

Rundhal Marsh

Site of Rundhal, the largest permanent settlement in Kallavesa. It is a place dedicated to wisdom and the mystic learning of the Kallavesi. While Rundhal Marsh is boggy and damp, the western stretches towards Hahnmark are somewhat elevated and drier - here are found many copses of beggarwood and other softwoods, carefully tended by stewards who ensure their health and that the availability of wood for building the unique stilted buildings of the marshes.
Keywords: Marsh

Skymark

The northernmost of the Kallavesa regions is chilled by northern winds for much of the year, but is also home to rich farms and sprawling holds. Small fishing fleets are common here, and several of the villages here maintain ties with their cousins in Sermersuaq via the Rikkivesi and the Atkonartoq. In southern Skymark is Ishal, across the cold waters of Sovevann from Rundhal and Masi, furthest of the three settlements round the lake at the heart of Kallevesa. This is where the wise go to read the future in the flight of birds and the night skies, as the scops learn at Rundhal and the dead heroes rest in the marshes near Masi. It’s a place for the old, for learning and for clear thought. "Threes, and threes and threes," the seers say, those who foretold the coming of the Steinr.

West Marsh

On the shores of the Westmere stands Westerhal, home to the small fleet of Kallavesi boats that keep the coast safe from Jotun raiders. It's importance has slowly dwindled, in part due to the rise of Meade in the Marches which has much better access to wood and stores, but the patrol ships of the Marches are uncommon this far north. Once it was the second settlement of Kallavesa, and there are residents who would like to see it take it's place again as a center of trade and defence of Wintermark - perhaps with a new fortification.
Keywords: Marsh

Wittal Grove

At the heart of the grove stands Wittal, a place of learning and the study of herbs and plants. Many Grimnir have spent a season or more studying here, as have healers from further afield, even a few from far Urizen. Some never return from foraging expeditions into the deep-woods; the Feni are usually blamed. The inhabitants of Wittal also maintain the The Tree of Swords, a lone elm tree in a glade hung with the swords of dead Wintermark warriors that is also the heart of a strong Winter regio. Weapons are hung there of warriors who died with their quests uncompleted. It’d said that if the tree ever flowers, the warriors will return.

Where the trees join the marshes, on the shores of the Westmere, stands the small port of Fisk. Before there was an Empire, Fisk was an armed camp watching the orcs of what is now Mitwold (and later, the Marchers who displaced them). After the formation of the Empire, the warriors largely left Fisk and the traders moved in. Today, Fisk is a small but prosperous port allowing adventurous ship owners to trade with Meade and the Marchers and even with foreigners across the sea as far as the Asavean Archipelago and the Sumaah Republic.
Keywords: Wooded

OOC Notes

• All the regions of Kallavesa are under Imperial control
• This page is still under development - the next stage is to review approved backgrounds for details that would enrich the description of the territory.