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 Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:57 pm
Basics
This isn't our world. It is cold all the time. It snows year round. There is a permanent chill that gets into people's skin, that pervades homes. The beasts are shaggy and wild; like ours but hairier, fuzzier, better suited to the warmth. There are plants that can survive the frost and the lack of sunlight, mosses and roots and vegetables that grow deep in the heart of caves carved into the mountainside.
Civilization has learned to cope with the cold. Buildings have evolved to keep out the breeze and in the heat from a fire, fabrics have been woven from the fur of their beasts to reflect the warmth of their bodies back in, and to replace the heavy, cold armor that weighed down shoulders, icy cold.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:13 pm
The City
The central city is a pinnacle of what modern technology can do. Homes here are heated through a network of caves through to the steam springs deep in the mountains, are lit by expensive oil lamps and the walls are lined in the special pelts that are allowed only for royalty.
Moving away from the city center, however, this begins to break down. The solidly-constructed stone creations of the nobility give way to more raggedy stone homes with wooden roofs, to solid wood constructions, to ramshackle, crooked homes with thatched roofs. The fine cobblestone roads near the royal home break down, bricks stolen or broken over the years, until [in the outskirts] they have given way entirely to earth tracks, people taking only the time to push snow away and pack the dirt solid.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:14 pm
Surrounding
Llywdbeinn sits in the midst of a great mountain range: rocks and stone on all sides except one. In that direction lies the forest; not a green forest, lacking bushes or greenery, instead it is made up largely of tall pines and birch trees, browns and whites blending together with growth sprouting only at the highest branches.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:15 pm
The Blackwood
The edges of the forest to the south are untamed but unimposing. Tall trees, little undergrowth, snow on the ground even here, it’s easy to see through the scattering of trunks deeper into the wild. Small animals will run through the fallen leaves and dead branches, ripe for the picking, from the tinest of mice to great wolf-like creatures the size of small bears, who move with shocking silence. There is danger, here, and superstition will keep many from stepping even past the first line of growth, but many still make a life for themselves hunting or gathering what they might find.
It’s deeper in that the forest starts to show its true colors. Slowly, the trees gather more closely together, taller and with greater clusters of leaves above. This casts the deep forest into darkness, murky shadows even at the height of noon. This blocks the snow from hitting the earth, and here and three strange growth begins to crop up -- plants that cover the earth in a carpet of brilliant green, small strange stalks topped with brightly-colored petals. These are unfamiliar, strange and terrifying. The creatures here are bigger, as well: great black bears that tower two or three times the size of men, savage wolves and odd man-like things with nimble fingers. All of these will take out those who wander too deep.
Add to this the slowly-growing sense of foreboding, an almost atmospheric taste of panic and oppression, and few people are capable of spending more than an hour, maybe two, even at the edge of the unnatural part of the woods.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:16 pm
The Caves
The mountains surrounding civilization on three sides are black and grey stone, bits of clear rock that poke through, and burrowing throughout is an intricate network of caves. Some of these caves are natural, dead, good for shelter but possessing nothing useful like crystals, food, fish or animals. Some of these may be something like natural oases, with wildly-growing mosses and mushrooms, deep and cool water that is safe to drink.
Many, however, have been cultivated by the nobility and are worked by the common man. Here the wildlife is encouraged to grow and flourish, is harvested as it hits its peak to keep Llywdbeinn well fed.
Waters in the network that come from under the forest make some of the rarer, sweeter and more desirable fruits, or will help livestock grow up strong and healthy. However, this can have side effects of its own; some of this water, from too deep into the dangerous part of the woods, may be the cause of the strange colors that have cropped up in modern genetics.
Away from the forest, instead venturing toward the heart of the mountain, there is a hot central core. Springs that bubble up boiling instead of cold can be tapped into noble homes to provide warmth. Some people venture deep, believing these springs to have healing properties, as well.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:17 pm
Weather
No one currently alive has ever seen a hot day, has ever witnessed anything warmer than a not-quite-freezing rain that serves to wash away the worst of the snow. It is always cold, the earth blanketed in at least two or three inches of snow that shrinks but never entirely goes away. Most weeks, there is at least one day in which it snows, from a faint flurry at some parts of the year to wild blizzards at others.
Summer may be rather tedious above ground -- the snow is much heavier, wet from the comparative ‘warmth’, excellent for replenishing the ground waters but miserable for anyone engaging in hunting in the snowier areas. Waterproofing oils are invaluable that time of year to help try and prevent damage to the body from sodden clothing. The ‘seasons’ may be best denoted by changes in the quality of the snow.
Winter may have the most deadly snow: light weight in small quantities but at the same time flash storms may deposit 4 or more feet of snow on the countryside. There is a great deal of vocabulary dedicated to types of snow, snowstorms light snow, wet snow, pebbly snow etc.
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Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:54 am
The River
Through the center of the city, starting from the north and travelling down into the Blackwood, runs the Skhalsar -- a narrow river that runs quickly enough to be dangerous, and to keep the waters flowing. It is cold, and most of the year round, it is quiet, little worthwhile fauna swimming in its rapids, but it is a steady source of untainted water, and even when it freezes over, most people have tools at hand to cut a hole through.
In the spring, however, for a period of only a month or two, it is a frenzy of activity. This is when the wild skhal come up the waters to breed, the waters filled with multi-colored fish, enough that one can practically reach beneath the surface to catch one. With their coming, other animals venture out of the woods and caves to claim their part of the bounty, making for excellent hunting.
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