Goldwooooodddd! [hider][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/yyjMy9Bt.jpg[/img][/center] [b]Clan Name:[/b] The Goldwood Clan [b]Jarl/Chief/King Name & Description:[/b] Florian, Son of Vasa. Chieftain of the Golden Grove. [i]"He's not a man! I refuse to call him a man! Boy, yes! Woman in disguise I'd believe, but not a man! I mean look at him he's just too... too... pretty!"[/i] - Aigoth Stone Foot upon meeting the fist meeting of the two men, according to the high king's cup bearer. Florian is the youngest clan leader in the broken lands at the moment if you don't count young Aigoth II. Lithe of body and soft of voice and quick to smile. Given the relaxed way he holds himself and how quickly he takes to pouring honey in the ears of pretty young women some would say he'd have made a better skald than a chieftain in one of the wilder parts of the Broken Lands. Those people haven't seen him in his quiet moments, when his eyes look far too old for one so young or heard the stories of what he'd done before coming to The Grove to claim the place of chieftain. Some say he went looking for the mountain wisdoms to trade for their dark knowledge. Or that his mother bathed him in ichor when he was a baby and he came out looking normal but broken in some way on the inside. That he had to flee the south after seducing the Emperor's wife. That he's actually the bastard son of a wizard lord. That he knows the ways of magic and speaks with demons in the moonless night. If Florian hears these stories he ignores them. Rarely seen getting angry, even when going to battle he stays quiet and shoulders the golden longbow that marks him as Chieftain. [b]Alias:[/b] Fox Blessed [b]Government Type:[/b] Scholars might call them a theocracy. The place of the chieftain isn't a hereditary one. When the old chief dies aspirants join the druids in The Grove and are lead into the untrod places of the island's forests to be tested. No one speaks of what the tests are, seemingly each man is sworn to secrecy, assuming he survives. Those that return must then climb the golden tree that gives the clan its name and claim the bow that has served all their chiefs since the beginning. Many do not try after experiencing the tests. Those that do must fight it out among each other, their blood and flesh is left to feed the great tree. [b]Non Human Species Descriptions:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/gQYfXczt.jpg[/img] [i]Hagravens[/i] Sometimes called Salt Harps for how often they nest around the sea cliffs. Some travelers think that these are cousins to the Necroleste harpies, made feral and twisted by the curses of the Old Ones. Luring them out and shooting them out of the sky has become a sport among the men of The Grove. Their archers are always keen to fletch their arrows with these dark feathers or wear them as a cloak. Like their tropical kin the males have much brighter plumage. Unlike them they are much larger and fewer in number (Florian believes they hunt like lions, whatever those are) making them saught after prey and a bright feather cloak a mark of pride in the Goldwood Clan. [img]https://i.imgur.com/l9jDTGut.jpg[/img] [i]Selkies[/i] Stories of them turning into beautiful women are lies! They will attack small fishing boats and children or lone wanderers by the shore. Their skins do make good pelts though, and there's good eating on them. Once a year they're allowed to come ashore and the clan lets them trade fish. A smart chief will use this chance to learn what word is being spread about the sea. [img]https://i.imgur.com/5wqK7qVt.jpg[/img] [i]Elves[/i] The little people of the forest. Rarely ever appearing before people but always watching from their hidden places. The old story says you should leave honey and milk mixed with blood out for them if you want to earn their favour. Never do this! If you give them something they'll only come back for more. Keep some charms on you to keep them away or they'll bring disease on your house. [hider=Location:] [img]https://i.imgur.com/idUihvRm.png[/img][/hider] [b]Religion:[/b] All gods are honoured in Goldwood lands. ALL of them! Be they the grandest of the pantheon or a minor spirit. The clan has two major religious sites on their lands that attract pilgrims all year round. [b]The Stone Wall[/b] - A series of huge standing stones that line the island's eastern coast. Each one is decorated with carvings and painted images of a different god that has weathered the test of time. Some of these stones have outlasted the gods they were made to worship but many still attract their worshipers. Each one serves as its own outdoor shrine with offerings and prayers being left at their feet. Stealing from them is a death sentence. History says they were here before the Clan settled the island. [b]The Grove[/b] - The heart of the island. Ruins of the Old Ones that were razed to the ground and reclaimed by nature. At its core is a towering oak with golden bark and leaves. If this was not a sign from Zasha then what else could it be? While everywhere else on the island is wild and untamed The Grove is calm and the animals within are placid. It quickly became a place of great spiritual importance to the Broken Lands as devotees of the goddess flocked to it. The way the lands around the tree seems to be preternaturally fertile and kind to human life has given the druids that claim it a great deal of power on the island. Some say when the grove is silent you can hear the buzzing of a queen bee that Zasha set free in there. [b]Clan Description:[/b] Considered backwards wild folk, even to the clans of crooked clans. Many see the Goldwood warriors as savage at best and dishonorable at worst. The clan rarely leaves their island for war but when forced to defend their land instead of standing their ground in a proud shield wall they disappear into their woods. Ambushing their foes with silent hunters raining arrows on them from hiding or bursting from the green as wild eyed berzerkers fueled by mushrooms and magic smoke. Those that ply the sea move in swift longboats and prefer to do their raiding by night, taking no prisoners. Since the island has few mines of its own they must trade for much of their metal. Since it can be expensive many of their men forgo chainmail, making their fleet footed light infantry even swifter across gound that would drag down heavier troops. Even stranger they often call on Ulfheid instead of Yorven when going to battle. The people of Goldwood island are a deeply spiritual bunch. To them the gods and spirits are not a distant thing to be given lip service to. They are close at all times and lurking around every tree, along with whatever is going to try to eat them next. They wear protective bone charms like it's going out of style and consider wearing the pelt of something you didn't kill yourself a major faux pas. [b]Clan History:[/b] [pls work with other players- our clans are all part of a single confederation, there will be a lot of shared history] [b]Regional Geography/Resources/Economy Details:[/b] The Goldwood Island is made up of boreal forest with most of the island's surface being covered in pines and spruce trees. This dense wild land provides the locals with plenty of materials to build rugged structures from but it also provides plenty of dense forest for feral beasts and dark creatures to make their den. Beyond that their supply of natural resources are rather limited. Their most famous exports are the golden mead and honey nurtured from the bees of their sacred grove. This ichor mutated breed makes stuff finer than any in the known world it seems and the druids keep the secret of how they tamed them close. Fighting over third place are fine wood carvings, be it furniture or sacred charms, whale and selkie ivory, pelts from those same selkies and salt harps. Bizarrely for a place so full of man eating animals they attract a lot of tourism from pilgrims and explorers to their holy sites, something the local traders are happy to take advantage of. That still leaves them poorer compared to the clans that are rich in metal and stone. Slaves are almost nonexistent since most land owners of the clan deem them more trouble than they're worth (given how easily they're eaten in the woods) making them a mark of great wealth to those who try buying them. Naval trade has started going up in the years since Florian took over as he's commissioned the building of more longships to solidify his clan's control over trade through the Windroot Straits. [b]Important Characters:[/b] [b]Florian[/b], Chieftain of the Goldwood Clan. [b]Sathulda[/b], A quiet sister from the Gravemire temple. Kept as Florian's seer and all other things her sisters are known for. [b]Important Holdings/Territory/Possessions:[/b] The Grove. A holy site dedicated to Zasha. Known for its giant golden tree growing from an Old Ones ruin. The Stone Wall. A long row of Giant standing stones on the eastern coast of the island. Ulfarrsted. The closest thing to a city on the island. Built on the coastline a walking distance away from the Stone Wall and serving at the main port of the straits. Florian has made it his mission to improve the settlement and drag his new clan onto the same level as the others. [b]Relation to other Factions:[/b] The Shattered Moon: The two clans haven't traded with each other and are too far apart to bother raiding yet when Florian visited in the past Lady Cythlla covered all the costs for him to take away a quiet sister. He and the Coward talk as if they know each other. Are they allies or do the two just have a mutual agreement to push each other's mysterious reputations. The Red Knot: Currently trading partners. The Goldwood island has little arable land and looks to trade with the bread basket clan. Florian is also interested in getting more horses. Clan Varvudda: Currently trading partners. Florian is looking to improve relations with the other southern clans and the two may have a mutual arrangement with regards to foreign trade or reaving. [/hider]