Freljord Headcannons
Freljord is approximately 6.415 million square miles.
The Gelid Vortex is a large blizzard that constantly swirls around the Eastern part of Freljord between the Ursine Village and the Frostguard Citadel. The people of Freljord have many superstitions about the Gelid Vortex, and some claim it has divine powers or was created by a sorceress' magic many millennia ago.
The major language of the people is called Freljordian. Sound-wise, it's very close to gaelic. However, the Barbarian of the North have their own language and it sounds much like old nordic language.
Families in Freljord are matriarchal, as is the political systems. Both daughers and sons take the last name of their mother. There is no "head of household", per se, as most family responsibility is shared between both the husband and the wife, but more often than not, the wife has the last word.
Freljordians are hunters and gatherers. Occasionally they will trade furs and weapons with other tribes for supplies and different choices in food.
Contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of plants and berries that are readily available to the Freljordians all year round. These edible plants include peas and pea shoots, grain, garlic, winter lettuce, spinach, cranberries, porcelain berries, kale, beets, carrots, onions, persimmons, rose hips, chickweed, currants, and goosberries.
The mainstay of a Freljordian's diet is meat. Freljordians avoid killing and eating their livestock if at all possible, so wild game is more often hunted. The list of protein is plenty a diverse: Deer, elk, moose, ducks and geese, wild boar, raccoon, rabbits or hares, squirrel, and fox. In addition to hunting, occasionally a tribe will send a handful of men to the coast or to the river for fishing, and they'll bring back salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, pike, and trout.
Some Freljordians are still nomadic travelers who make tents out of thick leather and furs, but most of the people have found homes in tribes, and therefore live in large settlements of log cabins.
Scattered all throughout Freljord are ruins of the once great civilization that was built before and during the Time of the Three Sisters. Some are completely ruined and some are still inhabitable. If the winter gets too harsh, people are known to move from their log cabins and into one of the non-crumbling castles for better shelter against the cold and the wolves.
Generally speaking, there are four main "territories" in Freljord: - the Barbarian Lands of the North. - the territory of the Winter's Claw to the West. - the Frostguard's territory to the East. - and the Avarosan's Territory in the South.
Southern Freljord is much warmer than the rest of Freljord, and is surrounded on all sides by thick evergreen forests and mountains. In the center of southern Freljord is Castle Avarosa, built into the side of a small mountain. The combined Avarosan and Barbarian tribes are situated all around the base of said mountain.
Spanning from the eastern part of south Freljord and curving downwards further south is the legendary Ironspike Mountains. These mountains are known to be nearly impossible to cross with the exception of a singular, very dangerous mountain pass. This mountain range seperates the Avarosan lands from the Frostguard lands.
The western-lying land of the Winter's Claw is large and desolate, consistion of mostly glaciers and wide open land. There are still stray freljordian ruins and spare patches of forest, but for the most part, the land is barren. If anything, this makes traveling through Sejuani's territory more dangerous, because the Winter's Claw can spot you coming from miles away.
Past the western coast, there's a spattering of small frozen islands that are renowned for their boat building and warfare. One of these islands is known as Lokfar. The men of Lokfar are all viking warriors in their own right, and they have demonstrated the people of the other snowy isles. They are the primary naval power of Freljord.