Pathfinder Chronicles - Gazetteer - Asamnet

anywhere else in Golarion. In particular, the hooded
female spirits known as norns seem to be tied to the
region’s fate. Their knowledge of the future makes them
able prognosticators to the heroic Linnorm Kings, even
in an age when none of the old prophecies seem reliable.
The overworked, frigid landscape north of the Grungir
Forest cannot support the land’s Ulfen natives, and threat of
starvation remains a real problem, especially in the depths
of winter. Many able-bodied adults avoid this fate by joining
naval crews or trading caravans bound for distant lands.
These expeditions always pack plenty of their homeland’s
salted fish, animal pelts, and woolen clothing for trading,
but they also bring sharpened axes and metal-rimmed
round wooden shields, for the Vikings prefer warfare and
pillage to trade.
Some of the land’s monarchs even personally attend
their questing warships, such as when White Astrid of
Bildt famously led 15 longships in a daring raid against the
Nidalese port at Nisroch before breaking the Chelaxian
blockade at the Arch of Aroden to put in triumphantly at
Absalom. Foreign victories bring great prestige at home,
but Linnorm Kings who leave their contentious homeland
often face political struggles upon their return.
Dragon-prowed longships of the Linnorm Kings
emerged in force from the Steaming Sea to raid southern
settlements late in the second millennium of the Age of
Enthronement, but landborn Ulfen humans from the
region had traded as far east as Brevoy in the previous
age. The Viking raiders spread the seed and culture of the
northmen throughout the ports of the Inner Sea, where
folk of pale skin and tawny hair still thrive to this day.
When an aged Linnorm King is ready to pass into
the afterlife, he initiates a risky island-hopping naval
adventure into unknown territory at the top of the world.
Such journeys over centuries have resulted in the Arcadian
community of Valenhall, whose inhabitants believe
themselves to be living in another world.
Mammoth Lords, Realm of the
LOST LAND OF THE DISTANT NORTH
Alignment: N
Capital: None
Notable Settlements: Hillscross (8,400), Icestair (11,300),
Tulguth (3,900)
Ruler: Mighty Kuldor, Herdsman of the Bearpelt Following
Government: Loose alliance of primitive tribes
Languages: Hallit, Giant
Religion: Gorum, Minderhal, Rovagug
North of the forbidding Kodar Mountains, as one travels east
from Avistan’s coast, the rustic civilization of the Lands of the
Linnorm Kings and Irrisen eventually gives way to a brutal
tribal society little changed from the barbarism of prehistoric
Gazetteer: Nations
times. Clad in animal furs and bearing fetishes of feather and
bone, hordes of nomadic Kellids wander the northern plains.
These Kellid wanderers war with one another, intimidate
each other with legendary acts of bravery, and trade in relics
and lore gleaned from outsiders walking the Heavenly Road
over the Crown of the World (which spills out upon Avistan
at the treacherous descent known as the Icestair). Strangest
of all, enormous creatures that died out millions of years ago
elsewhere thrive in this isolated northland, especially near
the Tusk, a massive mountain spur that bisects the nation.
Orc raiders from Belkzen frequently cross the Kodar
range to capture titanic beasts such as mastodons, woolly
rhinos, giant sloths, and even dinosaurs for export to
armies and exhibitions in the civilized south. This spreads
the Realm of the Mammoth Lords’ reputation as a place of
walking giants far and wide, even if few foreigners manage
to survive the deadly trek to the realm itself.
The tundra between Icestair and the Hoarwood bears the
bloody smears of endless conf lict between the indigenous
Kellid tribesmen and the witch-guided Ulfen of Irrisen.
Packs of crafty, ravenous trolls range the low country along
the Gullik River, a regenerating bulwark against the warfrenzied
Mammoth Lords and their savage followings. The
realm’s eastern borders are even more dangerous, abutting
the chaos-warped fallen barbarian kingdom of Sarkoris deep
within the shadow of the demon-infested Worldwound.
The realm has no unified government, although certain
followings collude on matters of war and trade. Strength is
the greatest authority, but despite their primitive nature
the local folk are wily and intelligent, favoring leaders who
display not just physical prowess but also wit and guile.
Druids and rangers thrive in the Realm of the Mammoth
Lords, with their mastery over animals granting them
great prestige and status in their followings.
Since ancient times, the folk of the Mammoth Lords have
had strong affection for the giants of the Kodar Mountain
uplands. Young bravos frequently raid into the hills in
an attempt to slaughter as many giants as possible while
leaving a youth alive for abduction and adoption into the
tribe. Certain mystics revere these foundling giants with a
near-religious fervor, but most of the children grow to rely
upon the tribe and protect it like family. Most followings
larger than 100 nomads contain at least one giant, while
the largest Mammoth Lord tribe—the Bearpelt Following
of Mighty Kuldor—boasts nearly a dozen.
While the Kellids revere their giant cohorts and some
beast cults have developed around the immense creatures
that roam the land, they hold only a small handful of gods
sacred. Gorum and the giant god Minderhal predominate,
their dour philosophies mirroring the desperate existence of
life in the distant north. If the followings hold one reverence
in common, it is the regard with which they hold the Tusk
and the yawning caverns that open in its deepest valleys.
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