Country Name: United Tribes of Heima
Government type: Representative Chiefdom
Ruler: High King Yu'laktor Olafurson
Location: Hills of Region 2 and Northern Coast of Region 1;
Capital City: Kaltborg
Language: Middle Gothic
Species: Human
Army: 25%. Owing to a nomadic lifestyle, most the citizens aged 16 to 45 are fit and able to be called upon in times of extreme national stress, including women. Their fighting style is composed of mounted combat, including spears and archery. However, they should be thought of as mounted infantry though, because of their light gear and ability to fight on horseback and on two feet. Women who are proven warriors are treated equally as men, which is a contrast not only in much of the known world, but to the other tribes of the North. This has given the Heiman tribes an impressive ability to field more soldiers than one would think.
History: The frozen wasteland of the north is dominated by a series of tribes and chiefdom's of Northmen, as well as other, just as sinister, creatures of ill-intent. Of these various peoples, the hill region of the central North is called "Heima", home, by those who inhabit it. How they came to inhabit the area is recorded through a series of oral traditions, and only recently have they entered written accounts. However, these should not be taken at face value, as true events become blurred with each generation. Heimans (High-Mens), those who inhabit Heima, are most likely descended from early inhabitants of the tundra and an influx of migrants, most likely outcasts and criminals, from the south, as exemplified in the presence of boats and seas in some epics when the people are far from the shores.
The people of Heima live like most tribal peoples of the north, which is by following herds of caribou, moose, musk ox, horse, and bison, some of which are "domesticated", in a sense that ownership and control of a herd is handled by a single tribe. These tribes were once, like many in the North, warring and fighting nearly constantly over control of the herds, which are a sign of wealth and power in the north, especially the horse and caribou herds. Because of this, the Heiman tribes are among the fiercest in the frozen wastes and control a disproportionate amount of the tundra's limited resources. Unity, however, has eluded the tribes for generations over petty differences among ancestors that explode into inter-clan conflict centuries later. A large stigma of unity comes first from the Sage of Man, which will be explained later on, as well as the North's incredible sense of rugged individuality. Unification came by means of necessity under an elected High-King, Olafur Erikson, as the Heiman tribes came against an invasion from the West. These barbarians, though similar to the Heiman's themselves, were ruthless and unforgiving. Through highly mobile and destructive warfare, the United Tribes were able to annihilate the invading Western Barbarians by striking deep into their territory and laying waste to their herds by dragging many back to Heima and slaughtering the ones they couldn't.
Realizing their ability to act together is a gift, the tribes decided to remain united, with the Althing, a representative congress composed of the elders of the different tribes voted into power by land owners and warriors, becoming a legislative body to settle disputes and enact laws as well as keep order, as directed by the High-King, which had then become a hereditary position. city of Kaltborg was built to support the Althing, and has become the largest "city" in the North, nearing three thousand permanent residents and supporting a large iron-mining capacity due to it's situation in the Heiman Mountains. The United Tribes have refrained from warring the lesser tribes of the north, but there seems to be a desire to expand the frontiers towards the south and the west, as the "Golden Shore", which is what they call the North Sea, awaits their conquest. There is prevailing sentiment that the Northmen civilization, not just Heiman, is destined to expand around the Golden Shore, or has in the past and was wrongfully expelled, depending on the tribe. Towards the west, the tales of lucrative food supply and overall abundance is sought by the hard-working, humble, and ever-conserving people of the north as a means of securing wealth. The west remains the site of "Heiman colonies" that originated during the Western Counter-Invasion, where many Freemen settled with their warrior-bands, yet they owe no allegiance to the High-King and reign as warlords and barbarians that they once fought against.
The over-arching thought in most of the nation, from the serfs to the nobles, is expansion, and the militaristic society built by generations of hard-living is ready and willing to provide for that. Warrior-Peasants seek to find their fortune, home, and family in foreign lands through conquest, and there is little holding them back at this point.
Pic: Coming Soon
Religion : Heiman Paganism, defined mostly by ancestor worship and the re-telling of Sagas and Epics, whose heroes and heroines many tribes claim to be descended from, which includes mythical and almost magical ancestors. The people of Heiman have strange customs and beliefs, one of which is the absence of Gods due to a convergence of sagas known as the Saga of Man, in which the mythical Warrior-King Lief Ysgarson, who united the World-Tribe, "slayed" the Gods of proto-Heiman ancestors in a titanic battle that cursed the World-Tribe to live under the yoke of a global frozen tundra. This is a reference to the prior Ice Age, which is a passed down oral tradition rather than an actual historical account, as Heiman civilization does not exist past the previous Ice Age. Because of this, many think of the Heiman as Godless, which is debatable as their ancestors are depicted as fairly powerful beings nonetheless.
Population: 100,000
