Icepeak Island: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 01:47, 7 January 2024

Icepeak Island is a large, mountainous island in Rothurland, located to the west of Eyjara Bay. Frigid nearly year-round, except for a relatively short and still rather cold summer, the peaks, valleys, and rocky coastlines of Icepeak Island are not especially hospitable. Still, the hardy people of Rothurland have lived on the Island for centuries, their population split between coastal fishing settlements and isolated villages in secluded vales between the glaciers and mountains.

The inhabitants of Icepeak Island have a reputation as strongly independently-minded people. Historically they have often lived free of any jarl, instead governing themselves through loose clan affiliations, though at various points outside rulers have attempted to exert control. Some have succeeded for short periods of time, but never for long. The current jarl of Icepeak Island, Hrafn Ovarr, has maintained his power in large part though simply ignoring the mountain peoples. He makes no attempt to exact tribute or enforce his laws, and in return the the isolationist villages take no hostile action against his companions and retinues that may occasionally venture into the interior to scout and secure the jarl's realm.

Aside from Orthmark and Kaldar, home to roughly twelve thousand and five thousand people, respectively, no other settlement on the island approaches any significant size. Those that live in the mountains are largely dwarves and humans, while along the coasts they are joined by significant numbers of tengu whose Meklovian ancestors moved to the northern island.

Only small parts of Icepeak Island are forested, with tree cover mostly limited to small areas in the southern reaches of the island. These groves are fiercely protected as they not only have great practical importance as sources of material but are also viewed as spiritual places by those that live on Icepeak Island. A great many dangerous creatures can be found on the island - though the coasts are somewhat safer than the mountains, the entire island is the domain of wild beasts first and people second.

A disproportionate number of the Bronze-Armed, Rothurlandic colonists who settled in the Western Coast, originally hailed from Icepeak Island.

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 '''Icepeak Island''' is a large, mountainous island in [[Rothurland]], located to the west of [[Eyjara Bay]]. Frigid nearly year-round, except for a relatively short and still rather cold summer, the peaks, valleys, and rocky coastlines of Icepeak Island are not especially hospitable. Still, the hardy people of Rothurland have lived on the Island for centuries, their population split between coastal fishing settlements and isolated villages in secluded vales between the glaciers and mountains.
-The inhabitants of Icepeak Island have a reputation as strongly independently-minded people. Historically they have often lived free of any jarl, instead governing themselves through loose clan affiliations, though at various points outside rulers have attempted to exert control. Some have succeeded for short periods of time, but never for long. The current jarl of Icepeak Island, [[Hrafn Ovarr]], has maintained his power in large part though simply ignoring the mountain peoples. He makes no attempt to exact tribute or enforce his laws, and in return the the isolationist villages take no hostile action against his companions and retinues that may occasionally venture into the interior to scout and secure the jarl's  realm.
+The inhabitants of Icepeak Island have a reputation as strongly independently-minded people. Historically they have often lived free of any [[jarl]], instead governing themselves through loose clan affiliations, though at various points outside rulers have attempted to exert control. Some have succeeded for short periods of time, but never for long. The current jarl of Icepeak Island, [[Hrafn Ovarr]], has maintained his power in large part though simply ignoring the mountain peoples. He makes no attempt to exact tribute or enforce his laws, and in return the the isolationist villages take no hostile action against his companions and retinues that may occasionally venture into the interior to scout and secure the jarl's  realm.
-Aside from [[Orthmark]] and [[Kaldar]], each of which is home to roughly five thousand people each, no other settlement on the island approaches any significant size. Those that live in the mountains are largely dwarves and humans, while along the coasts they are joined by significant numbers of tengu whose [[Meklaw|Meklovian]] ancestors moved to the northern island.
+Aside from [[Orthmark]] and [[Kaldar]], home to roughly twelve thousand and five thousand people, respectively, no other settlement on the island approaches any significant size. Those that live in the mountains are largely [[Dwarf|dwarves]] and [[human|humans]], while along the coasts they are joined by significant numbers of [[tengu]] whose [[Meklaw|Meklovian]] ancestors moved to the northern island.
 Only small parts of Icepeak Island are forested, with tree cover mostly limited to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinngua_Valley small areas in the southern reaches] of the island. These groves are fiercely protected as they not only have great practical importance as sources of material but are also viewed as spiritual places by those that live on Icepeak Island. A great many dangerous creatures can be found on the island - though the coasts are somewhat safer than the mountains, the entire island is the domain of wild beasts first and people second.