Nords

N is for Nords in our fourteenth installment of the Deepest Sea, A-Z.

The Nords were the first tribe to meet the Elves on that fateful day when they first rode out over the plains.  There on the border near what is now Fedenzia, the sleepy town guards goggled with wonder to see the first horsemen riding ahead of a massive wave of migration, thousands of wains with thousands of families, rolling across what the Elves had always considered trackless waste.  The Elves were gracious and welcoming with the slightly more primitive humans, and gave them land in the far west of the Empire to settle.

In return for the Western lands, the human tribe gave the Elves horses, which would be the undoing of the empire.  The Nords spread out in their new land, and as the Empire fell, they created the new countries of Brémdy and Chénez, first as protectorates of the Empire, then as client kingdoms, and now fully independent kingdoms with nearly 1000 years of their own history.

The Language of the Nords is heavily influenced by Franka, since the original place names and many words for technological items came from that language as the Nords filled in the quiet South Western corner of the Empire.  In addition, the period as a protectorate member of the Empire spread Elvish culture and law through out the new country, as the humans were eager to learn from their more civilized overlords.  With that basis, the languages of Brémdic and Chénezian arose, closely related to Franka, but retaining much vocabulary from the original Nord language.

Nords tend to be of medium height and build, in between the barbarians and the Laténs.  Their hair color ranges from light brown to nearly black, and nearer to the border with Utennas, it is not unusual for some to be blond.  Skin color tends to be light, although anyone who spends time outside tends to a ruddy tan.  Eye color is light, ranging from grey to green.

The two Nordic countries follow the Shepard exclusively, and hew closely to the established church.  The piety of both countries is well known, and the countryside is heavily populated by churches and monasteries.  Unlike some of the human kingdoms, heresies are comparatively rare, and the Crowns of both countries have actively suppressed dissent from the church, to the point of calling in levies of knights to attack communities that have deviated from the accepted policies and positions of the church.

The Piety of the Nords has lead them to form a crusade on more than one occasion.  The second crusade even went over the Deepest Sea to fight the Orcs, leading to a crusader kingdom being founded there. Most paladins are Nords, slightly more commonly from Brémdy, as its population is larger.  In addition to crusades, questing clerics are slightly more likely to be from one of the two Nordic countries, due to the larger numbers of monasteries there.  Several of the monastic orders are headquartered in Chénez, although chapter houses may be found all over the Deepest Sea.

Monday, more Deepest Sea A-Z with Orcs.