Jotsplat
Jotsplat is the cold, wind-blasted heart of Cruski power—a fortress-city clinging to the edge of the Icy Sea, where glacier-swept cliffs plunge into stormy waters and wind-scoured battlements resist the fury of winter itself. It is not beautiful by southern standards, nor is it meant to be. Jotsplat is a monument to survival, built by hands calloused by frost and hardened by centuries of isolation.
To Cruski, Jotsplat is sacred ground—the stone from which their ancestors first carved a life from sea and snow. To outsiders, it is a cold, inhospitable place of frost-burnt pride and long memory, but beneath its stoic surface lies a city rich in tradition, wisdom, and power.
Purpose / Function
Jotsplat is not just a fortress—it is a spiritual and ancestral anchor. All major Cruski rituals are held here, including:
- Winter Solstice Sacrifices to Kord and the sea spirits.
- The Calling of the Oath-Raid, when a warband is raised by bell and blood.
- The Sea-Binding Ceremony, where a ship and its crew are ritually consecrated to survive the Icy Sea.
The High Thane—currently a stoic warrior-queen named Yrsa Ice-Marked—rules here, though she must balance clan rivalries, seaborne threats, and the growing curiosity of southern powers.
Architecture
- The city is carved into the granite bluffs of the northeastern Thillonrian Peninsula, using both natural cliff formations and laborious stonework.
- Tiered terraces rise from the frozen shoreline to the High Thane’s Hall, allowing for defense and drainage when the spring melt briefly comes.
- Whale-bone palisades and driftwood barricades reinforce outer defenses, lashed together with hide cord and iron pins.
- In deep winter, sea ice binds the harbor, while in summer, floating icebergs make approach treacherous—intentionally so.
The few trees that grow here are twisted and stunted, and most buildings use stone, turf, or bone. Roofs are steep, thatched with seaweed or seal hide to resist snow load and bitter winds.
Features and Districts
1. Hall of the High Thane
Atop the highest ledge of Jotsplat stands the Sky-Hall, seat of the High Thane of the Cruski. Built with massive blocks hauled from inland quarries and clad in slate, the hall is known for:
- A central hearth of ever-burning whale oil.
- Runes carved into the support beams, blessed by storm shamans to repel evil spirits.
- The Sky-Forged Bell, suspended above the hall in a carved stone tower. This enormous bronze bell is rung only when the clans must unite for war. Its deep toll can be heard for miles along the coast, and many claim the sea stills when it sounds.
2. The Fjord-Docks
Jotsplat’s harbor is small but strategically excellent:
- Natural sea caves and inlets form a sheltered dock.
- The Cruski longships here are stored on rock rollers, ready to be launched even in high surf.
- Fish-smokers, salt-houses, and ice-cellars make up much of the industrial activity.
3. The Bone Market
The central market of Jotsplat is not a place of coin—it is where barter rules, and value is measured in effort.
- Traders offer blubber, whale ivory, bone tools, furs, ironwork, fermented seal milk, and obsidian gathered from undersea vents.
- Outsiders are rare, and southern merchants are often overwhelmed by the harsh expectations of trade etiquette.
4. The Deep Hearths
Residential quarters lie carved into the rock beneath the city, known as the “Deep Hearths.”
- Here, warmth is retained even in deepest winter.
- Clan halls are insular, but visitors are treated with wary respect.
- The city’s hearth-priestesses tend sacred fires here, believed to link the people to their ancestors.
5. The Hall of Storm Runes
A school and sanctuary for seers, rune-casters, and shamans, where the Runewatchers of the Sea interpret signs from storms, bird flight, and aurora.
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