Brémeny

Description

Brémeny used to be just one of several gatherings of tribes of the sarkidéli people of Mészbanya, but now it is quite different. It has turned into a moderately industrialized city-state, and the only one within the region. It hasn't been like this for long, and its history has been fraught with difficulty.
The sarkidéli are originally fishermen and hunters, living in basic constructions made from densely packed snow. They are a mixture of human, goliath, dwarf and even the occasional Frost Giant. During spring and summer they would set out to fish and hunt along the coast, then retreat to their villages in winter (also called 'hojszaka', the long night). This changed when the sabaran people sailed down and found the region. They quickly ran into the sarkidéli and tried to communicate with them with some difficulty. The sabarans set up friendly relations and explored the land, where they quickly found the large mineral deposits. The iron and coal found here could make up for the lack in their homeland, but they weren't adjusted to the environment and conflict in these remote lands could be deadly, so they tried to set up trade for it. They taught the sarkidéli how to mine and how useful these resources could be with some basic metallurgy to further motivate them. In exchange for iron and coal the sabarans gave them the aforementioned knowledge, as well as food and clothing.

At first this relationship was mostly in the sabaran's favor, who even set up a trading outpost along the northern coast to transport goods through more regularly. But as trade caused more knowledge to come over (and in one particularly advantageous trade, a bound fire elemental that would later become a catalyst for change) from Sabara to here, the sarkidéli started to change as well, and the Brémeny tribes in particular. They began to use it in their favor and built up a city, using the iron to make more resilient structures and the coal to keep themselves warm. This ended up being both a blessing and a curse.

The Winter Wars

Not everyone liked or agreed with what the brémenyans were doing. Some of the other sarkidéli resisted, but also some of the nearby Frost Giants who hated their other kin for fraternizing with people. However, the most problematic adversary was a hidden one. Emée Szélanya, or Bába Szélanya, the Mother of Winter and first of the Bheur Hags. A powerful hag and Fae Lord who saw their attempts at banishing out the cold as straight-up blasphemous and against the natural order. She hated them for it.
She sought out the hostile Frost Giants and convinced them to join her cause when the next winter would come, promising them that they would then have the land to themselves. When the first night of winter fell, she opened up a rift at the center of the continent through which Godless winter Fae could pass and she sent her gathered legions through. Unlike what she promised the Giants, she did not fight to exterminate, but to conquer. She would have them live rightly again, to fear the cold of winter.
This would prove to be her downfall as infighting started and the Giants and Fae began to slaughter each other. This created an opening for the people of Brémeny who began to push back the invaders with the aid of a squadron of elite gensuhari soldiers from the Khuagawa Tetrarchy. Eventually a group of heroes, led by the (ethnically sarkidéli) Frost Giant Kurszán, were able to strike at Emée, weakening and banishing her back to The Weald , where she has been left to regain her power since.
They were able to rebuild and continue on their chosen road for the past decade, but many still live in fear of the Godless Fae. And tensions between the sarkidéli Frost Giants and humanoid races has grown thanks to the conflict with the neighboring Giants. If it weren't for Kurszán's existence and his undeniably instrumental role in the conflict, things may have gotten out of hand already. Not all is well, but for now, they will survive.

Culture

Recent events and technological advancements have caused a rift between generations who feel starkly different about the direction they should go. The Winter Wars were to many a sign that they were heading in the wrong direction, and that they should return to their more traditional way of life. Others see the comfort and stability that industrialism has afforded them and hold onto it tightly, unwilling to go back to living at the whims of the harsh environment.

Food and Fashion

The brémenyan people, like all sarkidéli, were traditionally hunters and fishermen. Today their food supply still largely consists of the whales, seals, birds and fish they hunt. This means their diet is very high in protein and especially fat, which is helpful in a climate as cold as this. They do not sow or farm as it is impossible in this climate, but they do gather the grasses, tubers, berries and seaweed that are naturally available depending on the season.
They make good use of every part of the animal, for example they use the naturally buoyant seal skins to cover their ships. Whale blubber has also become more valuable to sustain their new industry. The environment has also induced a mythology and oral tradition with many tales of hunts and animal spirits. They have traditionally animist belief and consider it important to grant respect even to the souls of the creatures they kill, but they also believe that these spirits can to some extend be influenced by beseeching the Gods if someone wanted a creature or object to behave in a certain way.
Even with the new tools granted to them, resources and manpower are somewhat sparse and they still rely a lot on older inventions such as dog sleds or seal-skin boats for transport. Their traditional clothing consists of animal skins as well, although recent advancements and trade with the sabarans have led to incorporation of other easily-produced clothes. For example, woolen cross-collar under-tunics and fitted trousers under thick animal-hide jackets or cloaks are common now. Richer classes wear outer coats with fur-trimmed sleeves and a sash.
Women traditionally have wider sleeves, whereas male clothing is narrower. Hair is typically covered, as are the sides of the head and neck. Jewelry is usually in the form of ivory bracelets, rings or brooches. Common motifs are animals or hunt-related.

Beliefs and Traditions

They also maintain old traditions such as the cairn burials, where they wash the body of the deceased and wrap it in animal hides before putting them somewhere far out in the tundra and stacking cairn stones around them to protect the body from scavengers. They believe natural light displays to be signals from the spirits of the dead, communicating that they have passed on properly. The sarkidéli whistle back against these lights to send off their dead and ward off evil spirits.
The past conflict has left its marks on the people here, who hold many superstitious (and also more realistic) beliefs regarding the Fae. They are careful not to anger them and there are many stories of what happens to those foolish enough to head out alone south, near the Godless Spiral. The ripples of the Winter Wars have also left an unusually high amount of sorcerous bloodlines among the people here, and many of these are considered to be a divine blessing granted to someone for their respectful behavior to the souls of other creatures.

Survive The Long Night

Type

Geopolitical, City-state

Alternative Names

Brémeny County, Iron Among Snow

Training Level

Trained

Veterancy Level

Trained

Demonym

Brémenyan, Sarkidéli

Location

Mészbanya