Northland

Northland is the northernmost of the six regions in the Lands of Man. It is a cold, wintery wilderness of glaciers and tundra plains, where herds of heavy-coated bovines and great tusked walruses roam amongst the greatest centers of the halfling population. Evidence shows that this is where humans first came into Broadholm from some place lost to history, and chilly, biting winds shroud that past under blankets of silent snow.

Geography

Northland is an inhospitable wasteland for the most part, rocky and un-arable. It is a roughly triangular peninsula anchored to Broadholm by the northernmost spur of the Upper Longspine Mountains, and bordered to the north by the Coldwater Sea, and to the east and south by the Whalesong Waters, and where they turn into the Icefloe Bay. Geographically, it is predominately very flat, with tall, sharp moraines dividing it into smaller areas. Much of the land is caked in ice through most of the year, and the seasons are shaped by either long nights or long days.

The one major exception to the frigid wilderness is the valley where the Ravynnar Range meets the Upper Longspine. Sheltered there along the shores of Icefloe Bay is the Tall Trees forest, a chilly rainforest where the only vestiges of civilization can be found.

People

The majority of Northlanders are halflings. Northlanders are mostly fair-skinned, with light, almost translucent hair. Their culture is based around hunting water-based mammals, such as whales, seals, and walruses. Culturally, they are also master explorers, being the people where it all originated, and even went so far as to be the settlers of what is now Arias.

Dwarves settled amongst the Northlanders easily, and shared in the community traditions of movement and hunting.

Culture

Northlanders are very community-based. Their tribes, which became holds and then small fiefdoms, were and are marked by generosity and community activities. A Northlander is sympathetic to travelers, and is always up to provide a warm bed, and may even ask to come along on a quest.