Earl (Jarl) Caiside Maedoc, Larla na Gàidhealtachd (Earl of the Highlands), patriarch of the reigning Brazen Sword Clan.


The Daoine govern themselves through a strict Jarldom/Earldom granted by the High King. The reigning Earl/Jarl has near-absolute power, save for being subject to the authority of the High King. The reigning Jarl rules from the hall of the Daoine hold, Àirde. Succession is very loosely based on heredity, however, being a clan which in a way considers all native inhabitants inherently related, it is more of a meritocratic process in which the reigning Jarl determines the successor based on skill and merit of rule. In the event that a Jarl dies before making a selection, the court in the hall in Àirde makes a selection by majority vote.

Subject to the Jarl are retainers and petty governors ruling hamlets, shires, and villages spread amongst the mountains. These governors retain a sort of autonomy, authorized to raise their levies and maintain local watches for local disputes, and as well allowed to collect taxes and goods shares.


WIP


In the highlands and valleys of the Dawnstar Mountains.



The Daoine worship all of the Broken Land’s gods, with citizenry generally dedicating their patronage to whichever god pertains to their particular profession. However, the most common god given dedication is Zasha, the goddess of fertility and agriculture, patron of shepherds, farmers, and mothers. This is largely due to the reliance on subsistence farming and sheep herding to produce food and clothing, along with the reliance of extensive families to assist with these professions. A large shrine to Zasha is present in Àirde, and the hold has adopted the goddess at its patron.


The Daoine Àrda (literally translated as ‘High Ones’, but often interpreted as Highland People) are a people living among the highlands, valleys, and peaks of the Dawnstar Mountains. They are pale, dark-haired people who have lived within the mountains for centuries. Hardy, broad, and, on average, shorter than other Humans, they have herded sheep, cattle, donkeys, and draft horses as primary professions as long as they have settled the mountains. Subsistence farming also had become prevalent in the last few centuries, with beets, radishes, carrots, and potatoes being the most grown plants.

As for the central rule among these people, almost all of the Daoine submit to the rule of the Brazen Sword Clan, reigning out of the hold of Àirde nestled in a valley among the Dawnstar Mountains. The clan was supposedly founded generations ago, through a story passed down orally detailing the exploits of the clan’s founder, Oengus Elisedd (sometimes changed to Oengus Maedoc to match the reigning Maedoc family). A simplified version of the tale is that Oengus founded the hold of Àirde by killing a giant who had subjugated the Daoine with a claymore, named Àirde, which was blessed by Yorvengaand. This claymore, often nicknamed the Brazen Sword, is the namesake of the clan. It is generally accepted this tale is some allusion to the raiding of Daoine lands by the Bloodaxe Clan of Giants centuries ago before they were pacified.

The lifestyle of the Daoine is heavily based around profession. Within the hold of Àirde, the only true ‘city’ of the Daoine, most residents are artisans and sorts of civil servants who often stay within the hold, living out their entire lives in permanent wood and stone houses. In contrast, the various hamlets nestled in the valleys based around farming consist of just that, farmers, loggers, and hunters which live in houses built by their own hand. Lastly are the people often viewed as ‘true’ Daoine, the nomadic animal herders and hunters which roam the mountains and valleys as to give their herds or prey ample grazing areas. They live in non-permanent homes made of animal skin, and generally swear little allegiance to any central authority. However, these nomads are becoming more rare, as subsistence farming and pasture rotations allowing for permanent animal pens become more prevalent.

On the military side of things, a system reminiscent of shire levies is in place, allowing for mobilisation of all able-bodied men in specific hamlets and areas based on need and the will of the Jarl/Earl. And by this system, no true standing force exists in the Daoine holds, save for the Jarl’s retainers and the local watches of petty hamlet and shire governors.


WIP


The geographic place defining the location of the Daoine is the southern portion of the Dawnstar range of mountains. The rolling hills, valleys, and jagged peaks house perhaps tens of thousands, with most concentrations of populations in permanent hamlets and holds nestled in valleys where they can be easily defended through chokepoints at both mouths to the valley. However, the ancient Daoine had not always done this, and before the rule of the Brazen Sword Clan, the subjugation of the Blood Axe Clan by the Broken Hammer Clan, and a reliable ability to subsistence farm, animal herders and hunters were all that existed, nomadic people traveling the highlands to allow their herds to graze and to find populations of animals. While subsistence farming, logging, and mining have partially replaced this lifestyle, many still honor it, traveling far and wide with expansive herds of sheep, cattle, and horses.

As for resources, the Daoine lands hold many. The staple of products from the highlands are fine wool, linens, and highland linden wood. However, in the last few centuries, as the Daoine people began to settle more readily. Raw iron, copper, and outcrop coal are being mined from the peaks of mountains, and though subsistence farming is now a reality due to use of exclusively high altitude crops, though exports of this food are rare due to them being just that, subsistence crops.

The economy of the Daoine is primarily based on barter, as it has been for centuries, however a system of bullion and currency by weight of silver, gold, and other precious metals is being gradually introduced and implemented by trade with the Broken Hammer Clan.



Earl (Jarl) Caiside Maedoc, the reigning Earl/Jarl of the Brazen Sword Clan. He earned the position through merit, and being the nephew of the previous Earl/Jarl, also of the Maedoc House. He secured good relations and trade with the neighboring Broken Hammer Clan in the early years of his rule, and is currently praised as an effective Earl/Jarl, however critics do claim that he sold sovereignty of the Daoine people to the Broken Hammer Clan.

WIP



Àirde is the only true ‘hold’ in the Daoine lands, and is the seat of power for the Brazen Sword Clan, consisting of a sizeable city of a few hundred residents perched on a large hill, walled in by wooden palisades reinforced by cobblestone crossmembers. In the center of the city, a second row of palisades protects the Jarl’s hall, which sits on the highest point of the hill, overlooking all surroundings.

Aside from Àirde, no true ‘cities’ exist, and not much comes even close, save for some sizeable hamlets and villages. These hamlets and villages generally are central to a valley, often named a shire and placed under the rule of local governors and retainers. These settlements range often from a few homes and fields in a mere divet, to expansive villages made of rows of huts, houses, and workplaces.



Broken Hammer Clan - Trade partners, in good relations.

WIP

Clan Name: The Goldwood Clan

Jarl/Chief/King Name & Description: Florian, Son of Vasa. Chieftain of the Golden Grove.

"He's not a man! I refuse to call him a man! Boy, yes! Woman in disguise I'd believe, but not a man! I mean look at him he's just too... too... pretty!" - Aigoth Stone Foot upon meeting the fist meeting of the two men, according to the high king's cup bearer.

Florian is the youngest clan leader in the broken lands at the moment if you don't count young Aigoth II. Lithe of body and soft of voice and quick to smile. Given the relaxed way he holds himself and how quickly he takes to pouring honey in the ears of pretty young women some would say he'd have made a better skald than a chieftain in one of the wilder parts of the Broken Lands. Those people haven't seen him in his quiet moments, when his eyes look far too old for one so young or heard the stories of what he'd done before coming to The Grove to claim the place of chieftain.

Some say he went looking for the mountain wisdoms to trade for their dark knowledge. Or that his mother bathed him in ichor when he was a baby and he came out looking normal but broken in some way on the inside. That he had to flee the south after seducing the Emperor's wife. That he's actually the bastard son of a wizard lord. That he knows the ways of magic and speaks with demons in the moonless night. If Florian hears these stories he ignores them.

Rarely seen getting angry, even when going to battle he stays quiet and shoulders the golden longbow that marks him as Chieftain.

Alias: Fox Blessed

Government Type: Scholars might call them a theocracy. The place of the chieftain isn't a hereditary one. When the old chief dies aspirants join the druids in The Grove and are lead into the untrod places of the island's forests to be tested. No one speaks of what the tests are, seemingly each man is sworn to secrecy, assuming he survives. Those that return must then climb the golden tree that gives the clan its name and claim the bow that has served all their chiefs since the beginning. Many do not try after experiencing the tests. Those that do must fight it out among each other, their blood and flesh is left to feed the great tree.

Non Human Species Descriptions:

Hagravens
Sometimes called Salt Harps for how often they nest around the sea cliffs. Some travelers think that these are cousins to the Necroleste harpies, made feral and twisted by the curses of the Old Ones. Luring them out and shooting them out of the sky has become a sport among the men of The Grove. Their archers are always keen to fletch their arrows with these dark feathers or wear them as a cloak. Like their tropical kin the males have much brighter plumage. Unlike them they are much larger and fewer in number (Florian believes they hunt like lions, whatever those are) making them saught after prey and a bright feather cloak a mark of pride in the Goldwood Clan.


Selkies
Stories of them turning into beautiful women are lies! They will attack small fishing boats and children or lone wanderers by the shore. Their skins do make good pelts though, and there's good eating on them. Once a year they're allowed to come ashore and the clan lets them trade fish. A smart chief will use this chance to learn what word is being spread about the sea.


Elves
The little people of the forest. Rarely ever appearing before people but always watching from their hidden places. The old story says you should leave honey and milk mixed with blood out for them if you want to earn their favour. Never do this! If you give them something they'll only come back for more. Keep some charms on you to keep them away or they'll bring disease on your house.



Religion: All gods are honoured in Goldwood lands. ALL of them! Be they the grandest of the pantheon or a minor spirit. The clan has two major religious sites on their lands that attract pilgrims all year round.

The Stone Wall - A series of huge standing stones that line the island's eastern coast. Each one is decorated with carvings and painted images of a different god that has weathered the test of time. Some of these stones have outlasted the gods they were made to worship but many still attract their worshipers. Each one serves as its own outdoor shrine with offerings and prayers being left at their feet. Stealing from them is a death sentence. History says they were here before the Clan settled the island.

The Grove - The heart of the island. Ruins of the Old Ones that were razed to the ground and reclaimed by nature. At its core is a towering oak with golden bark and leaves. If this was not a sign from Zasha then what else could it be? While everywhere else on the island is wild and untamed The Grove is calm and the animals within are placid. It quickly became a place of great spiritual importance to the Broken Lands as devotees of the goddess flocked to it. The way the lands around the tree seems to be preternaturally fertile and kind to human life has given the druids that claim it a great deal of power on the island. Some say when the grove is silent you can hear the buzzing of a queen bee that Zasha set free in there.

Clan Description: Considered backwards wild folk, even to the clans of crooked clans. Many see the Goldwood warriors as savage at best and dishonorable at worst. The clan rarely leaves their island for war but when forced to defend their land instead of standing their ground in a proud shield wall they disappear into their woods. Ambushing their foes with silent hunters raining arrows on them from hiding or bursting from the green as wild eyed berzerkers fueled by mushrooms and magic smoke. Those that ply the sea move in swift longboats and prefer to do their raiding by night, taking no prisoners. Since the island has few mines of its own they must trade for much of their metal. Since it can be expensive many of their men forgo chainmail, making their fleet footed light infantry even swifter across gound that would drag down heavier troops. Even stranger they often call on Ulfheid instead of Yorven when going to battle.

The people of Goldwood island are a deeply spiritual bunch. To them the gods and spirits are not a distant thing to be given lip service to. They are close at all times and lurking around every tree, along with whatever is going to try to eat them next. They wear protective bone charms like it's going out of style and consider wearing the pelt of something you didn't kill yourself a major faux pas.

Clan History: [pls work with other players- our clans are all part of a single confederation, there will be a lot of shared history]

Regional Geography/Resources/Economy Details: The Goldwood Island is made up of boreal forest with most of the island's surface being covered in pines and spruce trees. This dense wild land provides the locals with plenty of materials to build rugged structures from but it also provides plenty of dense forest for feral beasts and dark creatures to make their den.

Beyond that their supply of natural resources are rather limited. Their most famous exports are the golden mead and honey nurtured from the bees of their sacred grove. This ichor mutated breed makes stuff finer than any in the known world it seems and the druids keep the secret of how they tamed them close. Fighting over third place are fine wood carvings, be it furniture or sacred charms, whale and selkie ivory, pelts from those same selkies and salt harps.

Bizarrely for a place so full of man eating animals they attract a lot of tourism from pilgrims and explorers to their holy sites, something the local traders are happy to take advantage of.

That still leaves them poorer compared to the clans that are rich in metal and stone. Slaves are almost nonexistent since most land owners of the clan deem them more trouble than they're worth (given how easily they're eaten in the woods) making them a mark of great wealth to those who try buying them. Naval trade has started going up in the years since Florian took over as he's commissioned the building of more longships to solidify his clan's control over trade through the Windroot Straits.

Important Characters: Florian, Chieftain of the Goldwood Clan.
Sathulda, A quiet sister from the Gravemire temple. Kept as Florian's seer and all other things her sisters are known for.

Important Holdings/Territory/Possessions: The Grove. A holy site dedicated to Zasha. Known for its giant golden tree growing from an Old Ones ruin.

The Stone Wall. A long row of Giant standing stones on the eastern coast of the island.

Ulfarrsted. The closest thing to a city on the island. Built on the coastline a walking distance away from the Stone Wall and serving at the main port of the straits. Florian has made it his mission to improve the settlement and drag his new clan onto the same level as the others.

Relation to other Factions:
The Shattered Moon: The two clans haven't traded with each other and are too far apart to bother raiding yet when Florian visited in the past Lady Cythlla covered all the costs for him to take away a quiet sister. He and the Coward talk as if they know each other. Are they allies or do the two just have a mutual agreement to push each other's mysterious reputations.

The Red Knot: Currently trading partners. The Goldwood island has little arable land and looks to trade with the bread basket clan. Florian is also interested in getting more horses.

Clan Varvudda: Currently trading partners. Florian is looking to improve relations with the other southern clans and the two may have a mutual arrangement with regards to foreign trade or reaving.

Chief Name & Description: Elgar One-Hand

Government Type: Tribal Chiefdom

Non Human Species Descriptions: [Clans are mostly human, but non human allies/slaves/etc are allowed with GM approval]

Location:

Regional Geography/Resources/Economy Details:
Once pushed out of the more bountiful lands to the south, the Vile Heart now mainly inhabit a marsh-like tundra region on the mainland’s northern coast. In the long winters that reign here the perpetually drenched earth freezes up and yields almost no life. In the brief summers that follow, the terrain becomes a swampy death trap of treacherously deep ponds and soft mud that threatens to devour a man whole. Fresh water can only be found in the south, where the glaciers of the southern mountain range feed into icy cold streams that will keep the coastlands drenched and wet for centuries to come.

Life is harsh along the Misted Coast, but the people who have been pushed to these vile climes have learned to adapt. Constructing enclosures walled by dikes, they carve out humble islands that are drained and made livable for cattle and crops. Piece by piece, the tribes of the Red Marsh work to reclaim the land and make it tolerable, if not wholly livable.

The most noteworthy aspect of the Red Marsh is the ubiquitous, ancient ruins found all throughout the region. It is suspected that once a large city of the Old Ones stood in this place, but centuries of neglect and swampland rot have sunken the ruins below the water and the soft earth. All that remains are the tallest structures and towers, jutting out of the cold waters at odd angles. Many of these can still be entered, and if one follows them down one can descend beneath the earth to where the rest of the city is buried. It is a lightless pit where the ghosts and demons of a fallen age still haunt and relive the agony of their final days. Few men muster the bravery to venture below in search of ancient artifacts – none return.

On the opposite side of the Howling Bay, a steep icy cliff rises out of the water. Beyond it lie only snow and death, as far as anyone knows; for those are the lands of the pale-men, and those who venture into the snowstorms never return.

Their home land is poor in resources, barely enough to sustain a people, except in one respect: the Red Marsh and its many ruins are strangely resplendent in Ichor which is not only prized by their wicked witches, but also used to bargain with other clans – and, if rumors are true, even with beast men – for favors and resources. What’s more, the urban remains that fill the marsh are an excellent source of Old One relics, most of which are worthless baubles but whose mystical origin might nonetheless make them desirable to collectors and decadents.

Clan Description:
The Vile Heart are one of at least a dozen splintered tribes that inhabit the northern wilderness. Although sharing in a vaguely blood-related heritage, they nonetheless spend much time feuding with one another over petty conflicts of land, honor and wives. Not so long ago, the great clans hardly knew who these people even were. It was only when, about four generations ago, the tribe vigorously assisted the Stonecutters in driving a significant pale-man incursion back into the blasted northlands that they were recognized as a legitimate clan at all. As thanks for their unexpected – but ruthlessly efficient – aid in the battle, a then young king Aigoth permitted them to sit at his table.

They are, in all respects, less developed than most people in the Broken Lands. Decades of isolation have cut them off from technological developments and rendered them culturally aloof. At best their mannerisms are considered mildly amusing and curious. At worst, they are seen as barbarians who share more in common with the beast men they so despise than they might realize. They have no true industry to speak of, nothing on the level of the Red Knots in any event. Their greatest industrial feat is the ability to carve out patches of dry land from an otherwise perpetually soaked marsh; for the rest they are a relatively primitive mixture of farmers and hunter-gatherers.

Although they have access to some iron from the nearby mountains, they nonetheless regularly employ bone and stone for simple tools like knives and arrows. Swords or iron tipped spears are considered a luxury, reserved for the strongest warriors. Metal armor is practically unheard of. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to warfare they prefer to avoid open conflicts, lacking both the numbers and the equipment to wage open field battles. When disaster compels them to do battle, they will seek every avenue possible to ambush, harass and weaken their enemy from the darkness. Should they be able to demoralize and thin out an enemy enough to actually defeat them in battle, they will take as many prisoners as they can. The Vile Heart greatly prize the possession of slaves, not least of all because of the circle of witches, whose frequent demands for blood can quickly thin the available stock. This is also the origin of their name: they are said to have the blackest hearts of all the northern tribes people because of the particular viciousness of their blood sacrifices.

Religion:
The northern tribes all put much stock in animistic druids and shamans, but none of their wise men and women compare to the veritable cult that has established itself amidst the Vile Heart. A group of women, all hand-picked because of their alleged pale-man ancestry, practices its cruel rituals atop the largest surface-level ruin in the Red Marsh: the Iron Gardens, named so because of the massive, hideous tree of pure iron that grows atop the pyramidal structure. No man can say what it is or what perversion of natural law can allow it to exist, but the witches – as they are sometimes fearfully called – believe that it is a fledgling god in need of care and nourishment. One day its chrysalis will burst, and the Vile Heart will be rewarded for their diligence while their enemies will become slaves and corpses.

Some will say that it is superstitious madness borne of the desperation of a people driven to the edge of extinction. But Azoth is a dark world, filled with ancient demons alive and dead, and those awaiting their rebirth. The question is not if the Vile Heart are delusional. The only question is, if the men of the Broken Lands can afford to believe this.

Clan History: [pls work with other players- our clans are all part of a single confederation, there will be a lot of shared history]

Important Characters:
Elgar One-Hand
A man covered in scars, most of them claw and bite marks, whose dogged joyfulness never wanes; even in the face of death. After a dreadful encounter in the stygian abyss beneath the Red Marsh, he emerged from the blackness a changed man: optimistic and full of life, a man thankful for every day he is still allowed to breathe. So horrible were the things he has seen, he seems incapable of fear any longer, as he boldly cuts a path through Pale-Men whenever he has to face them, never once even flinching at their shrill screams.

His days as a warrior are near their end, however; age is catching up to him, and his many wounds old and new – chiefly, his missing left hand – are making the warrior’s life ever harder. What he enjoys most these days is spending time with his family and grooming his potential heirs. An agreeable, if unscrupulous man who is well liked not only amongst his kin but amongst outsider clans too – if only because he sets a positive example for the otherwise dour and aloof tribesmen.

The Witches
Rhawn the Wicked
A striking woman whose greasy black hair drags across the floor, she conveys an air of the tribal and primitive, the very essence of the northern tribes: clad in furs and coarse cloth and adorned with ornaments of bone. Although she can appear coy and reserved, she is pleasant to talk to; at least, if one isn’t her slave. She earned her name through her vulgar displays of power. Malcontent with merely sacrificing servants, she humiliates them and basks in the authority she enjoys. Some say she does it to combat – and fuel – her self-loathing.

Aderyn the Versed
She diligently studies the language of the Old Ones, and the properties of Ichor, and takes great pride in her deep knowledge. Somewhat socially aloof, she will nonetheless go out of her way to criticize and educate others if they are wrong about something she believes she knows better. She always seems a bit on edge, possibly because of the portentous things she has learned, and has a tendency to drug herself into a stupor with a self-brewed concoction of herbs and Ichor when the fear becomes overwhelming. When asked about the brew, she claims that it helps her gain cosmic inspiration.

Seren the Morose
An odd duckling amongst the witches – not only because of her bright blond hair – Seren is most often found in a sour mood. She strongly disagrees with the Vile Heart’s tradition of slave-keeping and would much prefer to use animal sacrifices to nourish the iron tree. Sometimes she even frees some captives, when no one is watching. Nonetheless, her ideas are most often met with derision and contempt, and her intrepid little escapades of freeing sacrificial slaves are only mildly punished. Powerless to change the ways of her people, she sulks.

Mairwen the Fearful
The second-youngest of the witches, Mairwen is but a teenage girl who is struggling as much with occult ritual magic, and the dark gods that are called by it, as she does with her own budding womanhood. Aside from a few well-trusted confidantes, Mairwen is crippled by social anxiety and makes a poor conversationalist; she is far too caught up in her own world to care for someone else’s. She flourishes best when left alone where her creative genius can unfold. Having been introduced to writings of the Old Ones by Aderyn, she has developed a frightening knack for crafting new and ever more complex runes using their language. She has no idea what any of them mean, and most of them are merely signs, but who knows… perhaps one day she will craft the end of mankind, or decipher its salvation.

Nerys the Godless
The youngest and most terrifying of all the witches, Nerys is speculated to have so much Pale-Man blood in her veins that there is hardly anything human at all in her. She is still a child, barely approaching her teens, and already her desire for causing pain and suffering are equal to none. Few men remain unaffected by the sight of a young girl gleefully cutting shallow lines into a screaming prisoner, and even the other witches worry what she might become in ten years.

Carryl the Selfless
Garwen the Avaricious
Arianell the Belligerent

Important Holdings/Territory/Possessions: [describe your settlements, limited to 3-4 cities, max, plus as many lesser holdings as make sense for your Clan]

Relation to other Factions: