Hearthwild
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
Hearthwild crowns a storm-scrubbed mountain spine where River Okyanus leaps in silver ladders and windflowers grip the granite. Here Hiatea keeps two trusts as one: the High Hunt, which culls with care and teaches self-reliance, and the Hearth, which shelters kin, births, and wayfarers without fear. Ridge meadows, birthing lodges, and cliff-hung halls knit together by rope-bridges and goat paths host good-hearted giants, firbolg bands, and mortal mountaineers who’ve taken her vow of uplift before conquest.
Customs and Law
Hearth-Guest Right
Share bread, salt, and a name at a posted fire; frank speech and safety hold until the ember is ritually drowned.Balanced Kill
Cull old, sick, or needful to keep the web intact; trophy-cruelty turns paths long and shots wild until amends.First Fire Trial
Youths carry a living ember over frost at dawn without letting it die; success grants the right to guide.Challenge Before Chains
Disputes try art or gentle arms first—track, climb, archery, or craft—victory obliges uplift: lesson, tool, or safe conduct.Sanctity of Ladders
Rope-bridges, ladders, and ferry-lines are inviolate; spite upon them dims every camp’s fire until restitution.Geography
Notable Locations
The High Hunt
Sky-meadows, alder glens, and thundersteps where Okyanus drops in stacked falls; waystones mark ethical culls and migration lanes.Emberfast
Terraced hearth-halls and birthing lodges honeycombed into warm rock; midwives, oath-keepers, and teachers hold moots here.Cradle-Falls
Steam-veiled cascades whose bowls are used for blessing blades and newborns; mortai faces drift low in storm season.Goat-King’s Ladders
Ancient ironwood stairways up knife-ridges, tended by firbolg wardens.Bannerway
A wind-bayed procession road lined with pennons from friendly realms leading to a cliff court for treaties and rites.Travel and Access
Thunderstep Ferries
Chain-winch rafts portage the worst Okyanus drops; fare is a service oath kept within three days.Opal Tributary to Stormhold
A mist-bridge rises from Cradle-Falls during storm-calm, leading to Stronmaus’s Opal Pool of Two Shores.Root-Door to the House of Nature
Silver beeches above Emberfast open to Greenhall for those bearing a birth-gift or adoption pledge.Inhabitants
Hiatea’s Folk:
Good cloud and storm giants, firbolgs, voadkyn, and tall mortal wardens who mediate disputes, guide caravans, and teach mountain craft.Azatas and Agathions
Bralani lead rescue runs in bad weather; ursinals keep hospices; avorals patrol cols and warn of slides.Mediators of Iallanis
Peace-brokers who witness guest-right and soften hard verdicts without dulling justice.Petitioners of the Ridge
Hunters, herders, midwives, and way-leaders reborn with sure feet and clear eyes; they steward birthing lodges, way-shrines, and culling codes.Localized Phenomena
Gale-Shear
Knife-edged wind boundaries split a path; move with the shear or tumble end-over-end.Avalanche Chorus
A ridge’s song deepens before a slide; heed the note and the slope holds until you clear.Hearthlight
In whiteouts, true hearth-rings glow amber at the edge of sight for vow-keepers; oath-breakers see only gray.Mortai Etiquette
Crossing a lightning exchange mid-“sentence” is rude; cloud-lanes lengthen until apology or song is offered.Huntsense
Divinations for spoor, wind, and approach read crisp; glamers that excuse waste or cruelty tend to unravel.Hearth’s Mercy
Cure, remove disease/curse, neutralize poison, restoration, and calmings invoked to keep families whole or midwives safe take kindly hold.Windstride
Longstrider/air walk/wind wall/control winds cast on posted lull-marks travel cleaner and last a little longer.Camp-Oath
Protection from evil, sanctuary, alarm, and message-bindings set at a hearth-ring linger through the next dawn bell.Appointment Travel
Purpose-keyed teleports/way-walks to lodges, rescue cairns, or Bannerway courts arrive with uncommon precision; casual flits meander with the gusts.Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Normal. |
| Time | Normal. |
| Shape & Size | Finite pocket within Eronia; a terraced valley ~120 miles end-to-end with surface cairn-fields and the Barrow-Deep below. Quiet paths and name-stones can “lengthen” space, revealing hidden courts. |
| Morphic Traits | Divinely morphic within bounds—Hiatea can open cradle-caves, calm a gale, or call a teaching hunt; community-morphic hearth-rings remember oaths and keep them warm. |
| Elemental Energy | None Dominant. |
| Alignment | Neutral Good. |
| Magic | Survival, healing, protection, weather-working (nonlethal), divinations for spoor/terrain, [good] effects, remove disease/curse tied to family or lineage, longstrider/air walk/water walk during posted wind-lulls are enhanced. While Cruel fear-compulsions, enslavement, necromancy that harms life; uncontrolled fire magic sputters in hearth-rings are impeded. |
Type
Dimensional plane
Location under
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