WFRP Folk and Folklore of the North: Part 4 – Nordland

#WarhammerWednesday

Have you been reading our recent WFRP Folk and Folklore posts?

If you missed out, you can find part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here. Or read on for today’s 4th instalment – Folk and Folklore of the North – Nordland by WFRP Developer Dave Allen.

Folk and Folklore of the North: Part 4 – Nordland

‘Boris, my dear, the matter is entirely in hand. Your generous compensation was more than what was required to assuage the resentments lingering from the blunder at the Ruin. It is not an aspect of the true Nordlander’s character to harbour an unjust grudge. Remember: the people of Salzenmund worship you. Do stop being so disheartened about the whole affair, dear fellow. Now, let’s have a drink and remember dear Anika-Elise. She wouldn’t want you to be unhappy, would she?’

– Baron Werner Niske of Salzenmund

The people of Nordland are descendants of the Was Jutone tribe, and since their earliest history they have been eclipsed by the more numerous and warlike Teutogen tribe to the south. Dependent on Middenheim’s protection and patronage throughout its history, Nordlanders suffer under a number of patronising assumptions. That they are rustics, even though their small province boasts almost as many towns as Middenland; that the elves dominate their province, even though they have wrung a number of important concessions from Laurelorn’s queen; that they are halfway Norse, even though they bravely defy the bands of marauders and pirates who harry them incessantly from across the Sea of Claws.

In his palace in Middenheim, Graf Boris is largely unaware that a growing separatist movement threatens to incite rebellion in Nordland. His friends, the Niskes, to whom the Todbringers have been tied through marriage a number of times down the centuries, have assured him that they have the province firmly in hand, and that the folk there love and honour their liege lord.

But storm clouds are gathering. A fracas in the Salzenmund tavern of the Doom Lord’s Ruin was exacerbated by hot-headed troops from Middenheim, leaving many civilians dead or injured. The Niskes made the usual reassuring noises, and Graf Boris was moved to pay a modest sum by way of reparation. But the slaughter has not been forgotten — now many folk of Was Jutone heritage talk fervidly of their desire to be freed from Middenheim’s oppressive and unsympathetic rule.

They rally around a family of Salzenmund aristocrats, the Gaussers. Ambitious and strategically minded, they are steadily convincing more of their countryfolk to side with their cause, oust the lickspittle Niskes, and tell the Todbringers to cede control of Nordland once and for all.

Theresia Kleist – Nordland Sailor by Elisa Serio

More about the Niskes, Gaussers and Todbringers vying for power, and the degree to which the cause of Nordland separatism threatens to destabilise life in the region, can be found in Middenheim: City of the White Wolf, due out this year. The book also includes appendix information on generating characters from the city state, as well as those from Nordland and Middenland.

Dave Allen, WFRP Developer

Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd. © Games Workshop 2020