Jormsen

SETTING COMMENT

About
Jormsen is a human settlement in the north of Stjarnacado, near the elven kingdom of Tishlen. Jormsen is built into the mountain itself and is the oldest of all human settlements, still with castles and great halls carved into the very mountain itself which is where they store artifacts and tomes and train Dragon Knights. The settlement is often plagued by wild beasts and the other violent creatures attack. The population is mostly women, children and a few men; most men are nomads who must travel with goods and supplies and to have children in other places whereas women are asked to remain as mothers. The Dragon Knights are trained by a council of elders who preserve the traditions and history of the humans as best they can although even they have lost a great deal as the elves and dwarves burned and destroyed and stole to weaken the humans. Dwellings are simple - children are raised in a great hall with a creche of mothers around them and often they live in communal lodgings as they age unless they undertake training in which they'll live with their teacher and fellow apprentice(s).

Like any good northern place it's freezing cold most of the year round with plenty of snow, wind and rain. There are forests nearby and some areas of the mountains are densely packed woodlands with monsters prowling through them. There are also rivers with a main one coming from a waterfall, the river that feeds Jormsen and flows down near the castle. Beneath the castle there are volcanic pools as some of the mountains were volcanoes but they have been inactive for centuries.

History: Unfortunately due to the war with the elves and dwarves, much of Jormsen's history is lost even to the humans who live there but it's known to be the oldest of all their settlements and is the only one to maintain most of the original features. The mountains that surround it were favoured dragon roosts and it is said that the great dragon priestess Solace descended from their in a human form in the earliest days to show that there was nothing the humans should fear from her kind.

Jormsen was once a thriving kingdom that spanned a vast chunk of the north but it has been scaled back to the harshest region, only the castle and the mountains now. It still bears the scars of battle but all the old buildings are gone apart from the castle, wood replacing stone to make it more of a village than anything else.

Culture
Human culture still revolves around worship of the dragons and struggling to rebuild their race after the purge. They are very secretive about their magic as they know that the elves will punish a whole village if they feel they're getting too powerful and put a great deal of focus into healing just to keep people alive because every life is precious. As it stands, there is a sense of duty to have as many children as possible. As Dragon Knights are rendered infertile by the process, they must have a child before they complete their training as the training culminates in the removal of the human heart to be replaced by a dragon heart (with the human heart being eaten as the ending, to show what they have lost).

tattoos: Tattoos are common and used to tell things about the past and the life one has lived when done freely - even the elves and dwarves have tattoos, a common habit between three of the main races. The elves also place tattoos upon slaves to identify them and to shame them, black bands around necks, wrists and ankles to signify that they're slaves with things like flowers marking out whores. In Jormsen tattooing can be practiced to signify a trade or skill you have great talent with or simply to denote your mother, the easiest method of identifying if you are related or not.

war paint: The wearing of war paint was once a widespread tradition but now it has fallen out of favour and fashion. All humans did it to convey meaning, moods, connections to one another, during the purge it became a symbol of the resistance and now, like so many things, it is but a relic. Nomads still use it for a variety of reasons. To paint the face of another is considered to be an incredibly intimate act. fated ones: In the most ancient of stories amongst the humans there were those who had, in their belief, been 'made' for another person by the dragons with the oldest story being that of Áki and Stígandr, two brave knights who defended their people and were lovers until they fell in the same battle with the same spear. Ballads are still sung of them in this day in some human settlements. The love is not always requited and due to the absence of the dragons and the vastly reduced human population it is not spoken of but there are two known of, Hákon and Brynjar, both Dragon Knights who fight alongside a band of nomads. If the love is not requited, the one in love will still pine for that person and defend them until death.

Housing: Typical housing: Most housing is communal and made of wood rather than stone simply because stone is expensive and harder to come by whereas wood is cheap and plentiful.

Families and family structure: There are no families as such in Jormsen due to the fact that the humans are constantly trying to repopulate as they were slaughtered and enslaved mercilessly by elves in the north. To stop any potential inbreeding the elders take note of who birthed and sired which child and how everyone is related but the attitude is that since they are all human, they all share some form of kinship. Marriage is not encouraged, practically outlawed although the humans of Stjarnacado often loved freely with the exception of those known as fated ones, explained above. Fated ones must still produce children.

Prior to becoming a Dragon Knight all of the knights must father or give birth to a child as the process renders them infertile afterwards. Not all are happy about this and it is kept a closely guarded secret until those in training come of age at seventeen.

Foods: Hardy root vegetables for the most part - turnips, leeks, potatoes, carrots (general garden vegetables.) Some fruit trees, mainly apples as everything else must be brought by nomads or through trading. As for meat there are cows, sheep and goats, all very hardy shaggy beasts as well as poultry in the form of chickens. There aren't many fancy delicacies around with food being warming and filling. Expect plenty of stews and soups or meat on the spit. Rabbits, hares, deer and some birds (grouse and pheasant amongst others) can be found by a good hunter if they want to risk the wilds.

Exports/Imports and Local Products: Meats and pelts for the most part as well as people - if somewhere else needs a skilled blacksmith then such a trade can be made. The humans of Jormsen deal with survival and little else so there is hardly any need to trade. The only thing they might be famous for are any pelts of monsters and wild beasts.

Economy: Everything in Jormsen is based on trade of practical goods or services with no need for any sort of money. Money is for elves and dwarves and they have no need for it at all with only the nomads caring as well as some bandits who will take anything they perceive to be valuable.

Arts and Education: The young are raised communally in a variety of things: history and the language of both humans and elves, how to wield their magic as well as trained in a variety of skills. It's common for them to have tried farming, herbalism (all are required to maintain this throughout their lives), weapons, cooking, smithing, etc. Once they reach their early teens the elders will have a good idea of what they'll be best at allowing them to go further into training or apprenticeships.

There are skilled smiths to be found in Jormsen as smithing was taught to them by the dragon Ferrum long ago and if they are given the right supplies they will still be able to make beautiful things but there is little need for more than practical things. The halls and buildings often have dragons carved into them and there is the practice of making amulets, bracelets and rings for protection or luck in a variety of shapes and forms. Dragon scales made of metal are common amongst those who need them and all armour will be beautifully adorned. The only other art still practiced is the telling of old tales of the histories and stories they remember. The castle has a store of the beautiful things - books, ornaments, statues, jewellery and much more - that they still possess but they are guarded fiercely as this is all of the human heritage that has not been stolen from them.

Government: There is a council of elders, the oldest, most skilled and wisest of the village who help to make all the decisions. There are a few older Dragon Knights too who make decisions involving their training and what they actually do but they don't get a say in the running of the village. Knights are to be shown a great deal of respect at all times although sometimes this is under duress as not everyone is a huge fan of them or having to feed/clothe/house them etc. The humans of Jormsen live under the rule of the elven royalty of Tishlen who dictate much of what they can do and take those they wish as slaves, restricting certain freedoms.

Gender Roles: Jormsen is primarily made up of women who get the greatest say in all goings on due to the fact that young men must travel so that they can share their genes - this is purely because moving great distances whilst pregnant is very dangerous. Women can do just as much as men and they are the leaders of the village but they are restricted in their ability to travel due to the fact that there is a pressure on them to have as many children as possible; on the flipside of this, they are accorded respect due to the fact that they bring life into the world. Women and men work the same jobs in the village and it's really down to your aptitude at anything more than your gender that will determine what you do in life.

Languages Spoken: The people of Jormsen speak the human tongue (link below in additional information) and tend to have a Norwegian/Scandinavian accent although there are other accents heard if people have moved to Jormsen from other areas of Stjarnacado. They also speak the elven tongue which is reminiscent of Latin.

Recreation and Sports: Very little to speak of - they work hard and there's little chance to enjoy yourself when you work from first light until you physically can't anymore. Most of what counts as recreation is the telling of stories, the tradition of passing down history in such a manner.

Mode(s) of transportation: Feet or a horse if you can afford one.

Methods of Communication: Reading/writing and speaking - letters can only be carried by people and often go with nomads for birds cannot be risked as those are elven tricks.

Local Inhabitants
All the residents of Jormsen are humans, mostly women and younger children with some elders - most will look older than their years due to the hard life they've lived. They're wary of outsiders especially anything that seems related to elves (referred to as arrow tips often) or dwarves (referred to as cave rats) but they are close to one another, with the communal living situation.

Risks
Ogres - huge, bestial and prone to violently attack anything that gets too close, ogres are feared by all and no races have ever been able to communicate with them although they do appear to have a method of communication within their own race.

Giants - tall with broad chests and extremely long limbs, the giants look absolutely terrifying at a first glance as they tower over even the ogres but they're a very peaceful race of thinkers, even longer lived than the elves and they can remember the times of the dragons too. They're sympathetic to the plights of humans and have been known to aid them in conflict although the elves have ways of fighting them meaning they are equally as vulnerable.

Fairies - the fairies are the hardest to define race - they have no fixed form, no fixed methods and no single locale although most families, even elves, leave out tiny things of food just in case. The fairies specialise in mischief and are not bound by any sorts of laws or rules; some say they are tiny, some say they're as big as giants and others say they are forces of nature who take a form as they see fit.

There are also wild animals such as wolves, mountain lions and boar that have no fear of man and will attack the unwary.

Additional Information
Celebrations: The humans worshipped the dragons for many years, watching them as they flew and leaving offerings, praying to them as if they were gods and in a sense, the dragons were due to them being immortal and ancient and having created the world with their magic. The dragons eventually spoke with the humans via Solace, the highest ranking of the dragons and the one who could change her shape, changing into the form of a human so as not to frighten them, opening up real discussion between the two races. The humans asked to be taught by the dragons and promised to praise them and not use their gifts for ill but instead to benefit Stjarnacado as a whole. Dragons came in a whole array of shapes and sizes and as the centuries passed, they gave up one of their hearts to seal the bond between humans and dragons.

The elves and dwarves grew jealous and began to attack, slowly weakening the dragons by way of poisons the dwarves created deep beneath the earth and that the elves coated their weapons with. Weakened, they disappeared after Solace met with the elven and dwarven rulers and other dragons who said they would cease their attacks on the humans if the dragons left and so they did but not before vowing revenge for what had been done to them, the humans and Stjarnacado - the dragons created a curse to slowly draw the life from elves and dwarves until one day they could be strong again and return.

Known dragons: Solace, the priestess. Solace took human form to first speak to the humans as they were terrified of the dragons they prayed to - she is invoked often as a deity name ie for the love of Solace and other such things. Ferrum* - the dragon of the smith Confgra* - the dragon of fire

Solace is celebrated most often with days and nights of prayer. They recall the past with a celebration on the first day of the year and then the last where the old days are sung of - those nights are nights where no grief is allowed as they remember all that she taught them. Often they paint themselves as dragons and wear masks and garments made to resemble scales, singing and dancing until dawn. She is the only dragon who has a day devoted to her.

In terms of celebration, the other dragons are called upon in times of need or whenever someone wishes it. Flames and candles can be burned to honour Confgra and items can be forged to appeal to Ferrum. There were more festivities but due to elven influence and a lack of knowledge they are no longer performed.

Additional Information: The people of Jormsen will be incredibly wary of outsiders, especially the following: elves, dwarves and those who have no magic. They will not attack unless threatened but there it is very likely that they will refuse to speak to strangers, will hurry any children away.

important note - the castle has a great many important objects within it as well as books and the guardians of it will not tolerate just anyone walking in. Even if someone trusted accompanies a character there they will not be left alone with anything. There are areas of the castle that will be barred to people too to the point of violence. Please see this discussion with the mods - basically if your character has the power to get through then it can't be stopped but as the player and creator of this setting I'd really like to be able to discuss it first.

Full world info can be found here Glossary can be found here Clothing, jewellery and other objects made in Jormsen can be found here

Residents

 * Tanis

Notable Events

 * TBA