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Illuskans, also known as Northlanders, are the seagoing, warlike people of the Sword Coast North, the Trackless Sea, and the Dessarin river valley.
Although their ancestors founded Illusk, one of the earliest human civilizations in Faerun, as well as the great city of Waterdeep, Illuskans have long been seen as a barbaric people, having barely risen above the status of orcs in the eyes of many southerners. Illuskans are more than just barbarians, however, as their culture has given rise to powerful runecasters, fearless sailors, and legendary skalds.
They also farm, fish, and mine their rugged lands, trading their goods with southern merchants. However, long-fallen elven empires, barriers of geography, and a cultural emphasis on raiding over trade have conspired to ensure that Illuskan culture and bloodlines have not taken root in other lands.
Ecology[]
Description[]
Illuskans are tall, fair-skinned folk with eyes of blue or steely gray. Those who dwell among the islands of the Trackless Sea and in Icewind Dale are largely fair-haired, with blond hair predominating over red and light brown. Those who dwell on the mainland south of the Spine of the World are more prone to raven-black hair, an indication of significant Netherese heritage.
Personality[]
Illuskans regard themselves as a strong, proud people forged by the harsh environment in which they dwell. They feel they have earned, through strength in battle, the right to claim the lands they have settled. Illuskans regard most southerners as weak and decadent, two much-despised traits. However, they are fair-minded and always willing to make exceptions for those who have proven otherwise. Illuskans themselves are bold and impetuous, given to proud boasts, the consumption of prodigious amounts of mead and ale, and quick tempers.
Illuskans take their measure of another person by assessing strength, martial prowess, valor, and honor. From an early age, Illuskans are tested by their elders, their peers, and their juniors, and their response to such challenges are reflected in their status within the society. To an Illuskan, there is a natural pecking order in life, and those who are weak in any fashion do not deserve to hold a position they have not earned. Deceptions, lies of omission, and trickery are despised, while straight speech and forthrightness are to be admired.
Illuskans are typically drawn to adventuring for one of two reasons. Some Northlanders hope to prove their strength, valor, and martial prowess, earning them respect in their eyes of their kin and inspiring bard’s takes for generations to come. Others seek conquest and plunder, hoping to make up for the meager fare and wealth their homeland provides.
Society[]
Illuskans have little concept of class divisions, considering such artifices as an example of the weakness inherent in southern cultures. Honor and prestige in Illuskan society are earned through displays of strength and martial fortitude. Both magic and commerce are regarded with suspicion, for both are seen as upsetting the natural order of things.
Illuskans are expected to be self-sufficient from a young age. Those who must rely on others are treated well but not respected, although the elderly accorded the respect they earned before the debilitating effects of age set in. Those who hire strangers to do a task rather than do it themselves are considered suspect. Book learning is admired but not expected. Those who die an honorable death are burned in funeral pyres, preferably aboard a small ship pushed out to sea. Such ceremonies are believed to free the soul from its mortal tether.
Illuskans often have difficulty adapting to other cultures, particularly societies where battles are fought indirectly through words and gestures rather than openly with axes and war cries. Most expatriate Illuskans eschew the worship of “weak” local gods, and few can be bothered to learn local languages. Instead they find odd jobs, usually as mercenaries of some sort or the other, and then join their fellow expatriates in nightly drinking bouts in which prodigious amounts of alcohol are consumed.
Language[]
Most Illuskans speak Illuskan, a language derived largely from Old Illuskan (spoken by the folk of Old Illusk) mixed with a smattering of Netherese. They usually speak Common as well, but few are literate. Along the northern coast of the mainland, particularly in the city of Waterdeep, many Illuskans speak Chondathan, the language of their Tethyrian neighbors. Although Old Illuskan had an alphabet of its own, today it is only found in the ancient tomes of the Green Library in Ruathym and in ancient fragments of lore stored within the Host Tower of the Arcane in Luskan. Although rarely put in written form, the modern Illuskan tongue uses the Thorass alphabet introduced by Tethyrian migrants.
Magic and lore[]
Wizards are rare in Illuskan society. They are widely feared and assumed to be in some way affiliated with the Arcane Brotherhood. Of those who do study wizardry, perhaps the most common specialization is the school of Evocation. Sorcerers and bards are more common among Illuskans, as many Illuskans have a trace of draconic ancestry in their heritage. Unlike other arcane spellcasters, bards (generally known as “skalds”) are widely respected for their role as lorekeepers and poets. Among divine spellcasters, clerics and adepts are most common, with many adopting the runecaster prestige class. Druids and rangers are rare, and paladins almost unknown.
Religion[]
Although the inhabitants of Old Illusk venerated a pantheon of beast totems and passed this tradition down to the Uthgardt, at present most Illuskans worship the deities of the Faerunian pantheon. Illuskans largely adopted the gods of the Netherese pantheon in the mixing of cultures that occurred following Uthgar’s sack of Illusk, and then adopted the rest of the Faerunian pantheon as it grew beyond the ranks of the Netherese deities. The eight most prominent faiths in Illuskan society include the churches of Auril, Mielikki, Mystra, Oghma, Talos, Tempus, Umberlee, and Uthgar. Other churches with significant followings, particularly in areas where Illuskans and Tethyrians live alongside one another, include Eldath, Lurue, Malar, Milil, Selune, Shar, Shaundakul, and Valkur.
Auril, the Frostmaiden, has long demanded and received veneration in the cold climes in which most Illuskans dwell. She is seen as the bringer of winter on the world, to be appeased with offerings of food and strong drink placed upon rafts set adrift at sea during autumn and winter. The church of Auril is strongest among those Illuskans who dwell in the Frozenfar (the region of the Sword Coast north of the River Mirar), but a large temple to the Frostmaiden known as the Winter Palace stands in Luskan.
Patron of the Uthgardt tribes, Uthgar is worshiped through the veneration of a beast totem unique to each of the various tribes. Even non-Uthgardt Illuskans find the worship of the Tempus-son attractive, as the heroic virtues of Uthgar’s battle-won kingdom are still celebrated in the long sagas of the Illuskan people.
Relations[]
Illuskans judge members of other races and ethnic groups by the same standards by which they judge themselves. In other words, they respect strength, martial prowess, and the strength of one’s word. Illuskans get along well with dwarves, although the two groups have been known to war over disputed territory. Gnomes and halflings are seen as weak and given to trickery, inspiring scorn in most Illuskans. Similarly, elves and half-elves are seen as weak and overly reliant on magic, although dangerous nonetheless.
Illuskans of the mainland harbor a deep and abiding hatred for orcs, and few are willing to view half-orcs as any better than their porcine kin. Illuskans have nothing but scorn for humans from the South, particularly Calishites. Tethyrians, particularly those born in the North, are regarded with cautious respect, for the two groups have lived alongside one another and fought with each other for generations. Chondathans are viewed similarly to Tethyrians in the Silver Marches region, although their “southern” ties are considered more suspect. Planetouched are regarded with suspicion for, like elves, they seem to be creatures of magic. In particular, tieflings are seen as little better than fiends, though earth genasi are respected for their strength. Other humans are regarded with suspicion, for few Illuskans have ventured beyond the cold climes of northwestern Faerun except to raid and plunder, and fewer still have any knowledge of other cultures.
History[]
Although it is unclear when humans first settled the islands of the Trackless Sea, the first Northlander migration to the northern Sword Coast occurred before -3000 DR and led to the initial founding of the realm of Illusk by hunting clans and fishing villages along the coast. The capital of Old Illusk is believed to have been a city of the same name located at the mouth of the River Mirar, where Luskan, City of Sails, stands today. At the peak of its influence, Old Illusk held the Sword Coast from the Sword Mountains to the Spine of the World, cut off from the rest of Faerun by the elf-held woodlands of Illefarn. The early Illuskans learned rune magic from the giants of Ostoria during this era. The first incarnation of Illusk fell in -2103 DR, when a horde of orcs, led by giants and their ogre generals, crushed the realm. The few survivors of Old Illusk reverted to barbarism and migrated north and west to what is now Icewind dale, where their descendants are known as the Reghedmen.
In the century leading up to the beginning of Dalereckoning, the ancient Illuskan kingdom of Ruathym was wracked by intertribal strife stemming from a population that had grown too large for the island’s limited resources. Illuskan dragonships set sail for the other islands of the Trackless Sea, including Mintarn, the northern Moonshae Isles, and the Whalebones, where various Illuskan tribes established new colonies. The Illuskan emigrants settled the mainland of Faerun as well. Another tribe vanished through a portal that led to the Council Hills of the Eastern Shaar and populated the land of Dambrath in the South. In 95 DR, a Ruathym thane by the name of Uthgar Gardolfsson sailed east in hopes of finding ruins of Old Illusk hinted at in the skalds’ songs. Instead, Uthgar discovered that Netherese survivors had built a city on the site. Uthgar’s armies sacked Netherese Illusk and overthrew the ruling magocracy, but the inhabitants of the city fought back by burning the Illuskan dragonships and driving Uthgar’s army inland. Uthgar and his men survived, joining with the barbaric Netherese tribes of the interior. Uthgar died in 123 DR in battle with Gurt, Lord of the Pale Giants, on the site now known as Morgur’s Mound. By defeating the giant king, Uthgar broke the power of the frost giants and before his death claimed the lands between the Spine of the world and the Evermoors for his followers. By his deeds, Uthgar won the favor of the god Tempus, who elevated him to the rank of demigod. The descendants of the “Son of Tempus” are known as the Uthgardt barbarians
The Illuskans of the Sword Coast prospered and began expanding their holdings. Some migrated up the Delimbiyr Vale, settling the Barony of Steeping Falls (where the town of Daggerford now lies) in 133 DR and Athalantar (which lay between the High Forest and the River Delimbiyr) in 183 DR. Others migrated up the coast to settle the plateau above Deepwater Harbor (which later grew into the city of Waterdeep) in 52 DR, the city of Eiggerstor (now Neverwinter) in 87 DR, and Uthtower and Yarlith in what is now the Mere of Dead Men in 146 DR.
Athalantar fell to an orc horde from the High moor in 342 DR, and its inhabitants eventually joined with the Blue Bear Uthgardt tribe. (The Blue Bear tribe is now extinct, although its bloodline continues in the Tree Ghost tribe that broke off from the corrupt Blue Bears in 1313 DR.) The vale of the Delimbiyr was abandoned in 302 DR, when its chief city sank into the Lizard Marsh. Although Delimbiyran would be reborn as part of Phalorm, the Realm of Three Crowns, in 523 DR, Tethyrian and halfling migrants from the south quickly subsumed what remained of the Illuskan populace.
In comparison, Illuskan dominance of the northern Sword Coast collapsed quite suddenly. Netherese Illusk fell once again in 611 DR, as did Yarlith, to the illithids-led Everhorde of orcs. In 615 DR, battles between the Horde of the Wastes and the armies of Phalorm led to the inundation of Uthtower by the sea, forming the Mere of Dead Men. Phalorm collapsed later that year, in the wake of its army’s defeat. The founding of Mirabar by prince Ereskas of Amn and his largely Tethyrian followers in 626 DR marked the nadir of Illuskan influence. Moreover, it served to further segregate the Uthgardt tribes from their Northlander cousins along the coast.
An Illuskan renaissance began in 806 DR, with the establishment of the coastal realm of Stornanter by Laeral Silverhand, Witch-Queen of the North, with Port Llast as its capital. Laeral realized the importance of refounding Illusk and initiated a campaign to do so that led to the reestablishment of the city in 812 DR. Although the Realm of the Witch-Queen collapsed in 841 DR with Laeral’s abrupt disappearance, the city of Illusk and Stornanter’s former territories continued to prosper. Once again Illuskan dragonships ruled the waves, and Illuskan tribes seized control of the Dessarin river valley from the less warlike Tethyrian settlers of the region. In 882 DR, an Illuskan named Nimoar the Reaver vanquished the Bloodhand tribes dwelling on the plateau above Deepwater Harbor and established Nimoar’s Hold.
In the centuries that followed, Nimoar’s Hold grew in power and influence, with the name Waterdeep coming into common usage around 940 DR. Eiggerstor became known as Neverwinter, the Chondathan translation of its Illuskan name. Although Illusk fell to another orc horde in 1244 DR, it was rebuilt as the city of Luskan in 1302 DR and is now greatly feared for the presence of the Arcane Brotherhood.
Today, Illuskans dominate the northern islands of the Trackless Sea and the coast north of the Mere of Dead Men, as well as the Dessarin river valley and its tributaries. The Arcane Brotherhood represents the continued influence of the Netherese arcane tradition over Illuskan culture. An increasingly large fraction of Mirabar’s population is of Illuskan heritage. Waterdeep and Neverwinter reflect the best of both Illuskan and Tethyrian culture, and the establishment of the Lord’s Alliance reflects the common purpose of Illuskans and Tethyrians alike to oppose the endless wave of orc hordes that threaten civilization in the North.
Region[]
The Uthgardt are more nomadic and insular than the Northlanders of the coast or the sea isles.
Trivia[]
(TBA)