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Please note that much or all of this page is currently in what we are calling “Bullet Draft” format, i.e. it’s not been fully written out but we’ve listed the ideas we’re working with in bullet-list form. We will be fleshing these out further and turning them into proper paragraph prose at some point in the coming year, but we wanted to put the lore out for players to read before the first event, even if it’s not as polished as we’d like it. Any sections here that are in bullet list format are not final and are subject to change, though hopefully only small adjustments will be needed between this and the final version.

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Demographics

• Human: ~40%
• Dwarf: ~19%
• Elf: ~23%
• Spring fae: ~3%
• Summer fae: ~7%
• Autumn fae: ~6%
• Winter fae: ~2%

Lineages

Humans — Ambition Above All

• Humans are a large minority in Iskaldur, making up around four in ten Skaldings.
• The Skalding preconception of Humans is that they tend to be the ones most likely to surprise you — their cunning, ambition, and ability to beat the odds somehow greater than that of other Lineages.
• Like all stereotypes, this one isn’t terribly reliable, but Humans do tend to be the ones featured the most in the Sagas and have so far won the High King’s seat much more often than their demographics would indicate is probable, so there may be some small grain of truth to it.

Dwarves — Lords Under The Mountains

• Dwarves began to immigrate from the Tomarran Steppe in the Second Dwarven Exodus two centuries or so after the Godswar, carving out subterranean Holds beneath the frozen peaks in places too inhospitable for other folk to live.
• In modern times, the Dwarven Holds are a well-established part of the nation’s culture, with strong trading and military alliances with the other Holds.
• Dwarves make up about a fifth of the nation’s population.
• Skaldings have a general preconception of Dwarves as being highly competent in whatever field they pursue; it’s not uncommon for a low-ranking Skalding to automatically address a strange Dwarf as “lord” or “lady,” just on that assumption.
• Dwarves from the Deep Holds are often regarded as being standoffish and isolated; this is blatantly untrue, especially given how much they trade with the surface Holds, but their physical separation from the rest of the nation makes it easy to assume that none of them have any interest in seeing the sun or talking with surface-dwellers.

Elves — Hearts Like Frost, Minds Like Blades

• Iskaldur was once part of the Dread Empire of Zuno’olos under Zunakhar, and it consequently has one of the largest amount of Elves of the ten nations per capita, making up just shy of a quarter of the population.
• The majority of Skalding Elves are Snow Elves, but other sublineages have immigrated to the nation over time.
• Elves faced a great deal of discrimination and hatred after the end of the Godswar, but enough of them supported the rebellions against Zunakhar that they didn’t face the sheer hatred that the Dwarves did in what was once Helicalis.
• In modern times Elves are viewed as the wisest and cleverest of Skaldings, their coldly logical perspective and the Snow Elf love of written texts giving them an air of knowledge & erudition, whether or not they deserve it.
• Many Elves have made a name for themselves as military and political leaders, but the most famous ones in Skalding Sagas are almost universally Galdrken, turning their thirst for knowledge into power via magic.

Fae — Souls Blazing With Purpose

• Fae are not common in Iskaldur, but their bloodline gifts are almost universally viewed as helpful by the Skaldings, and so they are welcomed into most communities.
• Winter Fae, strangely enough, are not particularly common in Iskaldur, despite the frigid climate — instead, Summer and Autumn Fae dominate amongst the Fae bloodlines in the nation.
• Autumn Fae have a reputation for being leaders, in Skalding society. Their love of connection and camaraderie helps them bring groups of otherwise-individualistic Skaldings together and turn them into something worthy of a Saga.
• Summer Fae are often expected to be fighters or battlemages of some sort, though like many preconceptions this one is often proven false.
• Spring Fae are not terribly common, and are viewed by many Skaldings as being “too flighty,” though a Spring Fae Skald is always welcome in a Hold for the energy and life they bring with their songs.
• The few Winter Fae in the nation are viewed with great respect for their ability to lucid dream. Many become gifted practitioners of magic, favoring the Seidkonr philosophy of patience and cunning.