Fjarri

Fjarri
Capital	None
Ruler	Multiple
Government	Tribal chiefdoms
Demonym	Fjarri
Adjective	Fjarri
Languages	Sea-Speak; Roeda; Orcish
Religions	Islander Talgazan pantheon; Ta-Lasau-Kori; Beating Heart; Talgazan pantheon

The Fjarri (pronounced FYA-ree) are descendents of Rothurlandic sea raiders who found themselves driven far off their planned routes into the Wounds by fearsome storms almost two centuries ago. Most Fjarri live within small communities in the Salt Spring Archipelago but they can be found elsewhere within the Wounds as well.

History

The ancestors of the Fjarri hailed from Rothurland, a land in the Three Great Seas far away from the Wounds. These sea raiders set out from the Serpent Islands in Y9782^*, charting a course south to Meklaw to strike at the tengu ports, when a sudden and unusually powerful storm caught them and carried their ships, which originally numbered twelve, far west and south into the ocean. For many days their ships were tossed about in the rough waves and winds - even the most experienced seafarers on board could not wrest control of their vessels from the storm. When it finally cleared, they found themselves battered in waters previously uncharted to them, a third of their ships lost to the sea. The survivors, spotting the island of Lauchume, part of Phersu, in the distance, landed there to recover and repair their vessels.

Though their ships were soon ready to sail once more, their crews were not united in purpose. Some wished to attempt the journey back north and east to Rothurland, while others viewed this as foolish, as in their reckoning such a trip was not something they had the supplies to accomplish. Eventually the group split - two ships, laden with as much provisions as they could carry, departed back in the direction they came, while the others began to explore the islands where they had found themselves. Traveling south, they encountered the Zabarshu elves of Phersu, the half-living inhabitants of the Soul's End Islands, where they took some comfort in knowing they were not the only ones from the Three Great Seas to find their way to the Wounds. Their ships journeyed past the Chain and to the Salt Spring Archipelago] next, where the former raiders split and established new communities, or in the case of Pa-Rega, conquered an existing Fanakara settlement.

Demographics

Humans, orcs, and half-orcs account for roughly equal proportions of the Fjarri population, with smaller numbers of other ancestries as well, primarily those who have joined the Fjarri in the centuries since they arrived in the Wounds. In total the Fjarri number only in the hundreds.

Culture

Religion

See also: Islander Talgazan pantheon

When the forebears of the Fjarri found themselves in the Wounds and met the many other peoples already living there, they came into contact with the Beating Heart, a major religion in that part of the world that holds that the planet itself is a broadly benevolent living god. Already in crisis, this spiritually shook the Fjarri. After all, how could the same god, Ubilai, they held to be dead and evil simultaneously be continuously creating new life and land? Gradually new beliefs took hold as Ubilai and his divine brother Skohsla transformed into heroic and tragic gods, the rest discarded as evil entities not worthy of worship.

Veneration of ancestors and ghosts is also extremely common amongst the Fjarri. Some have taken to worshiping the Beating Heart or the Ta-Lasau-Kori trees, while a very small number cling to their old gods.

Society

The Fjarri are not united in their identity. To some, they are a distinct people with a history all their own, separate from all others of the Wounds, but others consider themselves Fanakaran as well. Certainly there has been much that the Fjarri have adopted from surrounding tribes into their culture - their foods, languages, religion, and more - yet at the same time their roots in a land far away continue to mark them as, if not outsiders, then at least worthy of unique consideration.

While some continued their practice of raiding after arriving in the Wounds, most quickly abandoned it, for the skills they had honed against the communities of the western Chaska Sea were poorly suited for where they now found themselves, as most settlements in the Wounds are either too well-defended or else too temporary and lacking in material wealth to be worthwhile targets. The stories of legendary sea raiders remain, however, and many continue to be seen as cultural heroes.

Languages

Sea-Speak, Roeda, Orcish, and Fanakaran dialects are all frequently spoken by the Fjarri. Some in previous generations went to great lengths to keep their old tongues alive, but today it is not unusual to possess only a cursory understanding of the Rothurlandic languages of their forebears.

Lycanthropy

Lycanthropy is extremely prevalent amongst the Fjarri - by some estimates, over a tenth of their population are werecreatures of some description. Like their ancestors in Rothurland, they hold no stigma against such a conditions, as long as it is kept controlled, and often maintain special reinforced moon-houses for those unable to control their transformation.

Some other Fanakaran peoples fear the Fjarri for their lycanthropy, for there are otherwise no werecreatures in the Wounds.

Food and cuisine

Though they certainly will hunt and forage should the opportunity and need arise, the Fjarri acquire most of their food through fishing and farming. They supplement their seafood-heavy diets with crops grown in the volcanic soil of the Salt Spring Archipelago, primarily local fruits and vegetables.

Government

The Fjarri live in small communities governed by hereditary chiefs, in a manner not dissimilar from many other Fanakara peoples. From their original homeland they have kept the tradition of rule by the strong, and it is not unusual for those who feel their leaders are weak to challenge them in some manner for the right to the title. Some Fjarri leaders even go so far as to claiming the title jarl and carving out jarldoms, but this is not typical.