Vigrid:
The valley where our story takes place. Steep mountains line its borders that serve to entrap all those that call it home, cutting them off from the world at large. Many attempts have been made to climb or tunnel a way out, but every attempt has been met with failure. The valley is lush with life and vegetation, fed by the abundant energy brimming in this land.
[https://i.imgur.com/BzVJzEe.jpg[/img]]
Draugr:
Vile creatures threaten to plunge all that call Vigrid home beneath a crimson tide. Bearing a hideous visage and necrotic stench, they possess insatiable greed for all life. Thankfully, their numbers remain concentrated around the valley’s centre. As such other than stragglers and the occasional nest, the people are able to keep the infestation from spreading.
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Skuldsökaring:
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
A city residing on the western edge of the valley, nestled on a plateau carved from the mountain’s waist. Has a small population that numbers around twenty thousand making it more appropriate to call it a town. The existence of the draugr has not been all bad as strife and rebellion have been rare all throughout their history, their sole focus aimed at keeping the creatures at bay. But the pervasive underbelly of mankind will always exist, no matter the circumstances.
[https://i.imgur.com/3shabsg.jpg[/img]]
Currency:
Called Álfursteinar, they are minted from unknown materials that show common traits of metal, marble, and gemstone yet do not fall into any of those categories. Separated into four different values depending on their colour and shape—thumb-sized slivers possessing an ashy blend, milky silver chips that were flat, circular, about the size of an eye, olive shards resembling a finger and verdant green quartz. The commoners mainly use slivers and chips, while the higher class tends to deal in shards, chips being considered as loose change.
The value is structured as follows: 10 slivers:1 chip – 50 chips:1 shard – 100 shards:1 quartz.
A piece of bread is worth about 3 slivers, while a newly forged sword of average quality costs about 30 chips.
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Misc:
Population math:
50 new benders per year / 0.2 (20% of all offspring become benders) = 250 kids per year
1000 (people) / 60 (Average Life Expectancy) ≈ 17 kids per 1k ppl per year to keep a stable population
(250 / 17) * 1k ≈ 15k population total