Realm of the Mammoth Lords

A realm of harsh weather, brutal megafauna, and nomadic hunter-gatherers, the Realm of the Mammoth Lords is a land in Avistan’s far north that spells doom for those who take it lightly.\

History

In the far, central north of Avistan stretches an ancient land where prehistoric beasts still roam. This region, the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, is a savage no- man’s-land, a wilderness as yet unclaimed by would-be conquerors. The hostile nature of the realm and its natives has so far kept those who would seek to invade at bay.

As befits its name, the Realm of the Mammoth Lords is best known for its great beasts. Here, explorers can find several varieties of mammoths and mastodons, as well as herds of aurochs, bison, and stranger beasts grazing on the windswept prairies. Armored glyptodons and giant ground sloths browse on the tough, woody brush, stalked by cave lions and smilodons. Even dinosaurs occasionally range the Tusk lowlands, for many of the canyons in the Tusk Mountains are freakishly warm, creating perfect, albeit isolated, environments for the great saurians.

Incredible rumors suggest that the beasts that make the realm famous somehow emerged from an impossible underworld with its own false sun, a savage microcosm of dinosaurs and primitive humans. The Pathfinder Society has mounted five expeditions to this rumored inner world, but none have ever returned from the country alive

Despite its remote location, the Realm of the Mammoth Lords sees a great deal of travel from other lands. From the south come the orcs of Belkzen, seeking to capture mammoths and other great beasts for use in their endless wars. From the west come servants of the hated Witch Queen, who are constantly seeking to expand Irrisen’s borders into this realm. The greatest danger lies to the east, where the Worldwound pulses and slowly expands the borders of its Abyssal influence. The exact border between these two realms is inexact, but is known in the native Hallit tongue as hrungara—the point beyond which the mammoths do not go willingly. The lack of civilization and the relative strength of the region’s tribes and great beasts work well to prevent the swift spread of demonic influence, for the masters of the Worldwound see little in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords to tempt them at this time.

It is from the north that the realm sees its most traffic, and it is here that the realm’s largest settlement can be found. Icestair marks one of two locations where trade routes over the Crown of the World connect to Tian Xia. Where most of the trade from Minkai moves along the trade route to Kalsgard in the Linnorm Kingdoms, trade from the northern Successor States tends to come through Icestai.

People

Clad in animal furs and bearing fetishes of feather and bone, Kellids wander the cruel, cold mountains and tundra of northern Avistan, from the Tusk Mountains in the west to the plains of Numeria in the east. Although clearly of common descent, Kellids in different nations possess significantly different cultures, with varied customs, religions, and mores. Still, they share a predilection for violence and a well-earned distrust of magic.

More than any other ethnicity, the Kellids are a people shaped by threats. The harsh, cold flatlands of the Mammoth Lords and Numeria force Kellid tribes to stay moving, to live lean and efficiently. Threatened by enormous beasts, trolls, wicked fey, mechanical monstrosities, orcs, demons, dragons, and more, Kellids have learned to fight constantly—if not monsters, then each other.

Faced with the ice magic of the Winter Witches of Irrisen to the west, the savage orcs of Belkzen to the south, and most recently the disastrous Worldwound to the east, Kellids tend to distrust outsiders. Even those who abandon their superstitious homelands for the civilized south (and there are more than a few such migrants) tend to hold both arcane matters and savage races in low regard. Yet Kellids remain common throughout Avistan, especially on the northern fringes of Cheliax and its former holdings in the east. Most Kellids speak Hallit and have little time for the fancy written languages of weaker peoples.

Tribes make up the main cooperative unit for Kellids, although they often clash over hunting rights, campgrounds, or anything else they can find to disagree on. While most disputes and clashes are resolved over the course of a few years, some tribes are ancestral enemies and continue to feud and war for reasons neither can recall.

Despite this, Kellids have a tradition of rough hospitality. Although they would kill an armed warrior without thought were he to threaten or startle them, that same warrior, half- frozen and near death, would be taken in and cared for. Dying of exposure and starvation out on the killing tundra is considered a death too grim for anyone, even if preventing it means giving succor to a sworn enemy.

Some Kellids practice an ancient animistic religion, seeing spirits and lesser gods in most visible creatures, places, and objects. Most Kellids, though, bow to Gorum, their imposing Lord in Iron. Those Kellids who know of the recent claims by some half-orcs that Gorum is one of them find such preposterous suggestions utterly offensive. This clash of beliefs has led to a recent growth of warfare between them. In the Worldwound and Numeria, some greatly feared tribes pay tribute to Rovagug, the Rough Beast, by committing terrible atrocities. Most tribes also venerate Desna, goddess of travelers. Although depicted as a light, graceful elven woman in the south, the Kellids see her as a stately human woman astride a powerful elk, leading them to successful hunts as they follow herd animals on their yearly treks.

Despite their lack of sophistication and occasional confusion in understanding magic, technology, and other intellectual concepts, Kellids are not stupid. They simply lack the good fortune of living in places that can afford the luxury of education not tied directly to survival. Indeed, Kellids make some of the most talented and skilled barbarians, druids, and rangers in Avistan, and many citizens of the more southerly nations pay handsomely to keep Kellid guides and masters of the hunt on retainer. Kellids tend to dress in simple clothing appropriate to the climate of their homelands. They favor durability and ruggedness, and therefore tend to wear hides, leather, and furs made into loose clothing. In the coldest areas they claim, Kellids wear fur-lined hide garments over layers of woolens or silks underneath. Where the climate turns warmer, Kellids favor the lightest, most supple leathers they can acquire.

Kellid names are curt affairs, favoring harsh consonants and guttural sounds. Second names are seldom necessary in small Kellid tribes, but are sometimes adopted or given when necessary or noteworthy. When used, last names typically refer to lineage or significant achievements.