Frostfall Order

Frostfall is governed by a group of mages known as the Seci. The Seci operate as an oligarchic organization, bringing in new members with a 3/4 approval vote based on capabilities and loyalty to the order. Every 10 years a new archmage is elected by the members with no limit to how many times the same person can be elected. The members of the Seci live in and watch over the various cities and towns within their territory, meeting in Snowstor to debate and decide on important matters ranging from diplomacy to laws to war.

With year round snowfall, the people of Frostfall have become mostly reclusive, and magically dependent. Those who underperform in the academies will end up farming or mining in the mountains, while the rest either find themselves as enchanters or alchemists. There is a strong motivation pushing education, with the most capable mages having the chance to be brought into the Seci, earning their families luxurious lives in Snowstor. Many of the more independent citizens will travel abroad offering their educational services for a fee.

Much of the current populace are descendants of those exiled from Westerstrum in its early days, and still hold a grudge for forcing such hardship onto their families. Despite this, most people hold back their feelings to keep relations neutral with the empire.

Believing that, by staying ahead of their neighbors in intellect and magical capabilities, they can peacefully manage the land they have and keep war from entering their land, the order emphasizes greatly the education of its people in all fields from history to the arcane.

After the proper formation of the Westerstrum Empire, many people were exiled by the council of Westerstrum. While some would try and set up new lives in Harken, few where successful as the federation aimed to keep relations with the empire strong and would not give safety its exiles, at least those who couldn't afford new identities. Because of this, it was more common for exiles to either take their chances living as one with the Oakenbust clans, or to take to the seas and start a new life in the Sapphire Syndicate. Those who traveled through the mountains to the north found that the clans had little desire for combat, preferring rely on the vast mountain range to keep the empire a bay, and were willing to cooperate with those who equally wished to avoid conflict. Over time as more and more were exiled, the region grew into a rather developed area, with the clans present even coming to adopt a more structured way of life.

When in 122 a scouting party of the empire's was seen traversing the mountains, both the remaining Oakenbust authorities and the leaders of the exiles came to an agree that it was in all of their interest to keep the empire from expanding into the mountains and eventually their home. Frostfall had received many magically inclined exiles at this point and they, working together with the Oakenbust druids, cast a spell to bring an eternal winter to their land, making their mountains almost impossible for the empires war machines to traverse.

There are roughly 18 million people in Frostfall. The population is made up of many races, primarily humans, elves and orcs, however the region has always been welcome to any willing to live here. There are 4 major cities, Flatmere, Oakenmont, Snowstor, and Willow city. At one point an attempt was made to establish a city in the mountains, but it was mostly abandoned in 214. While some still live in Wastecrest it is mostly out of the orders jurisdiction.