Ten Towns Overview

Ten-Towns didn’t spring up overnight. It started from humble beginnings four centuries ago. Immigrants from all over Vyra came here in search of escape or adventure and built a modest trade post atop the hill where Bryn Shander now stands. One by one, settlements sprung up on the shores of Maer Dualdon, Lac Dinneshere, and Redwaters. The ever-present threat of orcs and other monsters compelled the poorly defended lakeside towns to turn Bryn Shander from a modest hilltop trading post into a walled town capable of defending all Ten-Towners if and when the worst comes.

Residents of Ten-Towns tend to remain indoors when they’re not working, since it’s so frightfully cold outside, which gives each settlement a deathly quiet aspect. Most people who venture outdoors are bundled up in so much cold weather clothing as to be barely recognizable, and they don’t stand around long enough for the cold wind to get the better of them.

Auril’s grip has caused the population of Ten-Towns to dwindle and has heightened rivalries that have simmered for years, turning neighboring towns against one another as competition for resources becomes increasingly intense. The alliance of Ten-Towns won’t hold if the mounting tribalism continues to threaten the common good.

Life Off the Lakes
Most of the ten towns except Bryn Shander are built on the shores of three big lakes. The largest population of knucklehead trout is in Maer Dualdon, the deepest of the lakes. Redwaters, the shallowest lake, almost completely freezes in winter, making the fishing there difficult. Lac Dinneshere catches the worst of the winds blowing off the Reghed Glacier to the east and thus has the roughest waters. Small thermal vents at the bottom of these lakes keep them from freezing completely, even in the coldest winters.

Ten-Towns fishing boats are simple affairs. The smallest are rowboats and single-masted skiffs that require careful handling to avoid capsizing. Larger, twin-masted cogs and keelboats with single decks handle the wind and waves better. These ships fly the flags of their towns and provide fish for the whole community, not for any individual fisher.

When thick ice covers the lakes, many fishers stay at the shelters of their homes and hearths, but the most dedicated or desperate cut holes in the ice and dangle their lines down in hopes of tempting hungry trout.

Fuel Sources
The folk of Ten-Towns don’t have a lot of options when it comes to keeping warm. People from Good Mead, Lonelywood, and Solstice burn wood salvaged from nearby forests to heat their houses. In the other towns of The Rimelands, wood is too precious a commodity to burn, so whale oil is used in lamps and small stoves around which townsfolk huddle for warmth.

Ten-Towners buy their whale oil from whalers who live on the shores of the Sea of Moving Ice. Whaling is thus a lucrative (if inherently dangerous) business in The Rimelands.

Council of speakers
Each town is an independent settlement that elects a leader, or speaker, to represent its interests at meetings of the Council of Speakers, which are infrequent and take place at the Council Hall in Bryn Shander. These meetings are called to discuss matters of shared interest and to settle disputes between towns.

Religion and Auril the Frostmaiden
Given its remote location and conservative inhabitants, The Rimelands main branch of faith is the Old one. There are pockets of the New Faith as well, but it hasn’t taken proper root yet.

However, most people in The Rimelands direct their faith towards a more local god; Auril the Frostmaiden. Auril has been around for as long as anyone can remember and praying to her for a mild winter is as old of a custom as the permafrost itself. She is not a merciful god, just like the harsh and unforgiving land she watches over.

The desperate people of Ten-Towns, hoping to appease Auril so that summer can return to The Rimelands, make sacrifices to the Frostmaiden on nights of the new moon. This is a fairly new practice that started a few years ago, when it became clear that Auril was angry and summer would not be returning anytime soon. The town speakers have unanimously agreed to honor these practices, which they consider necessary evils, but would end them in a heartbeat if Auril were to be appeased or dealt with in some other way.

The nature of the sacrifices varies from town to town, but usually takes one of three forms:

Humanoid. Bryn Shander, Easthaven, and Targos hold lotteries the afternoon before the new moon. The unlucky person whose name is drawn is sacrificed at nightfall. The ill-fated soul is stripped bare and either tied to a post or sent into the tundra to die. Accusations of rigged lotteries are common but usually not acted upon.

Food. Smaller towns that can’t afford to give up people give up their food instead. A day’s catch of knucklehead trout is strung up on wooden racks a mile outside town, to be claimed by yeti and other creatures that embody Auril’s wrath.

Warmth. Towns that can’t bring themselves to give up their people or their food forsake warmth for a night. No fires are lit between dusk and dawn, forcing locals to share body heat for warmth. Anyone who dares to light a fire is savagely beaten.