Fiction:The Firmament/Ruscland

"The harsh cold of these lands do not allow weakness. We fight, we plunder and we kill because we must. Our gods watch over us and ensure we uphold our honour and forever improve our survival prowess; a Rusc that is soft and cannot fight is doomed to die, it is simply the way of things. Some tribes have fallen to darkness for this reason, and honestly, I cannot say I entirely blame them; desperation leads men to do things they come to regret later."

- Valgard Thorfastsson, High King of Ruscland

Ruscland is a territory which makes most of the western part of the continent of Gromkazul. Noted as the northernmost region inhabited by humans, it is famed for its rugged and battle-hardened inhabitants, who terrorize the southern lands by raiding and plundering their shores. The land itself is hardly unified, with the tribes of men often fighting one another and ranging from open to dialog, to completely bloodthirsty.

Relations
Ruscland has a difficult relationship with its neighbours, for most of their tribes raid other lands for resources and slaves; this has been ongoing for thousands of years, ensuring the territory is seen in a bad light by most nations. Tribes further south are more open to engaging with others diplomatically, while those bordering the Terminus Wastes tend to be completely unreasonable due to being corrupted by dark powers.


 * Positive relations
 * N/A


 * Ambivalent relations
 * Druacatakh - The Ruscs and their Greenskin neighbours fight very often, though they hold no true bad blood for one another for the most part; they see each other as worthy rivals.
 * Giantsteppe - Giants hailing from the far east are seen as some of the mightiest challenges for aspiring Rusc champions.
 * Merovaren - The more open tribes of Ruscs have succeeded in finding trade with the lizardfolk, who see their goods as exotic.


 * Negative relations
 * Confederation of Lechner - The Ruscs have a very long history of raiding the shores of the Lechnerlands, leading them to see all northlanders as violent barbarians.
 * Duskwood - Rusc raiders see plundering the lands of the vampires as a great achievement. Meanwhile, vampires see good use in captured Rusc thralls.
 * Eryliana - The ashen elves are the main enemies of any Rusc parties which attempt to cross the border through land.
 * Mirseleth - The dark elves have no fear of humans, raiders or not, and delight in taking Ruscs as slaves for their great strength and stamina.

Inhabitants

 * Rulers
 * Valgard Thorfastsson - High King of Ruscland and Jarl of the Selvarlings


 * Deities
 * Siivhahzin - One of the forces of nature

Locations

 * Eiriksvarg - The current capital of Ruscland is the seat of power of the Selvarlings and their Jarl, Valgard Thorfastsson, who has attained the title of High King. Located at the southwestern shore of the region, it is home to some of the greatest warriors of their tribe.
 * Drake's Graveyard - The lair of the dragon god Siivhahzin, it is so called for being littered with the bones of thousands of wyrms, dragons and drakes, who traveled far north to die of old age.