The Gray North

by Syflede the Manly

The Gray North is a mountainous region locked in ice and covered in snow. It is full of valleys, ridges and mountain chains that make it almost impassable by those who do not know how to do that. Roads cannot be seen because of the snow covering them and there are many traps and abysses hidden under the snow curtain.

The climate is very cold, the summers are mild, and the winters are very harsh. Almost all of the water except the sea freezes during the winter time. It is usually very foggy in the valleys, and especially in the mornings, where you can barely see more than a couple of feet ahead. That is bad, because there are dangers all over, and those who do not learn to be careful die no sooner than they leave their mother's womb.

Impossibly high cliffs make it impossible to establish a human presence near the shore. The most populated area is in the center, where the various tribes of the Gray North organized themselves into three main clans -those being the Bone clan, the Hammer clan, and the Wolf clan respectively.

Not many things grow in the Gray North, mostly because of the harsh winters. Forests there consist of conifers, mostly pine trees, and evergreen bushes. A skilled alchemist will still be able to find some useful herbs, but many are hidden to the naked eye. The shamans know many secrets when it comes to this, but they are not willing to disclose them.

The animals there have also adapted to the climate, having adopted a much more dense fur than any place else. A great amount of extraordinarily fearsome beasts can be found there, from wolves the size of an ox and larger, to spiked bears, and those creatures with saber teeth. Talk is of worse still - of giants! Though Syflede has never seen one, she suspects it is true. She has seen many things in the great fog. You would not believe.