Hiems' Haven

Aye, she's a cold one, Hiems is, but she also has an ice-cold beauty of her own. The Haven is a perfect reflection of that - a blasted wasteland of ice and snow, cold enough to chill your blood and bring you down, but strangely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Mornings and evenings are an explosion of color, as drifting ice crystals create ephemeral rainbows that drift across the land. Icicles grow sideways from the few trees hardy enough to survive the bitter wind, or from the rock formations left behind by the passing glaciers. The glaciers themselves are slowly shifting walls, sometimes dark and opaque, sometimes crystal clear. I walked once through a glacial field that had become a mirror maze, finding a link to the Mother as I tried to find my way through. A week later, leaving the Haven, the maze was gone, and I walked a straight line to the ocean through one enormous glacier that had split in two.

Nowhere in the world will get you closer to the divine than the Haven, and if you wish, I can take you there.

— Callion Winter, Gothi of Hiems
Arashi, Empire of the Storm, 832 Af.

Geography

Hiems' Haven is a long stretch running northeast from the Cliffs of Despair to the northern ocean. Most of the land is covered by a thick ice sheet, which is constantly breaking and reforming into glaciers of various sizes. There is no free surface water in the Haven, although there are hundreds of subglacial lakes beneath the surface.

Most who view the Haven find it to be either a desolate wasteland or a place of pristine beauty. In many places, there is little to distinguish the land from any other spot, and the blinding white of the sun reflecting off the ground can make it difficult to see anything. Large stretches where it is difficult to determine where the ground begins and where the sky ends makes it easy to see the place as a wasteland devoid of purpose.

But for those open to it, it has a stark beauty of its own. The blinding sun beating down also creates glories and rainbows, both near the ground and in the air. Cracked fields of ice create intricate patterns that some say reveal the wishes of the Mother. Wind and frozen rain can create icicles pointing in any direction, making abstract sculptures out of any piece of ground. For followers of Hiems, or those seeking spirituality, it is often a deeply moving experience.

Localized Phenomena

Glories - halo like lighting effects from the sun or moon shining on floating ice crystals - and Hiems' Spectres - shadowy figures cast on distant clouds, fog banks, or other features when one stands with their back to the sun - are common phenomena in the region. Sometimes these are simply a trick of the light, and people have been known to fall to their deaths when chasing a spectre. People continue to chase spectres and glories, because they have been known to be vision provided by Hiems to her faithful or those she has taken an interest in. The devout of Hiems will often make a pilgrimage to the Haven, seeking to be shown a vision from Hiems that they can follow to receive her wisdom and guidance. Those who perish during the journey are considered by the other faithful to have been called to the Mother's embrace. Not receiving a vision at all is a worse outcome, as many of the other faithful will see it as a rejection of the pilgrim by Hiems herself.

Climate

The climate in the Haven is harsh and unforgiving. The average temperature across the region is below 0 degrees, and that includes the summer months near the Cliffs where it sometimes rises above freezing in the summer. The region gets regular storms, averaging about 20 inches of precipitation a year, but these are not the gentle rains of other lands. Precipitation in the Haven are driving blizzards or freezing rain, enough to cut through insufficient protection and freeze a traveler to the bone.

Fauna & Flora

No known flora or fauna exist on the surface of Hiems' Haven. There are rumors that some tribes of giants have carved out temporary steadings, and some devout of Hiems tell of abominable creatures that seem made of snow and can tear apart a human with their bare claws, but most visitors have reported back nothing but the cold and the wind. The subglacial lakes are known to have various life forms, both plant and animal, although they are sealed away from the surface most of the time. Some remnants of plants exist in the Haven, although none appear to still be alive. Occasionally, a glacier will dredge up some dead plant life from below and drag it along on the way to the sea, but they are long dead by the time they are seen.

Alternative Name(s)

The Haven

Location under

Conseptia

Owner/Ruler

Hiems