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Raevoring, Clan of the Sea
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The southernmost of the Clans, the Raevoring control almost the entire southern
coast of the Vold. They delight in nothing more than raids upon their neighbors,
traveling shocking distances to pillage and plunder.
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APPEARANCE & DRESS
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Raevoring Warrior (Thegn)
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The Raevoring are usually huge physical specimens, ranging from 6 to just over 7
and weighing in between 210 to 400 lbs, typically sporting massive upper bodies
honed from years of hard rowing and weapons work.
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Raevoring of the west coast are almost always redheads, while those of the eastern
coast are almost always blondes, and settlements in them middle are usually a mix.
Regardless, the Clan favors braided locks and flowing beards among the men and long
hair worn unbound by the women. Eyes are almost uniformly green with the exceptions
being blue.
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However, the Raevoring take many Slaves, and it is allowable and legal for a Slave
to father or bear children who are subsequently born free and some of these children
of Slaves become Thegns. Therefore, among the flaming redheads and blondes are interspersed
the occasional smaller swarthy-skinned fellow or dark-haired raider. Other than
their physical differences such oddballs are almost always inculcated into the Raevoring
culture and often strive even harder than their true-blood fellows to uphold the
traditional image of the Raevoring.
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Raevoring still wear the tartan but prefer to wear it as a cloak with a metal broach.
The western families tend towards aquamarine and other greenish-blue colors, while
the eastern families tend towards dark blues, grays, and incorporates less crosshatching.
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Raevoring are great looters and enjoy displaying their personal trophies; it is
not uncommon to see a Raevoring Thegn adorned with finery from a dozen cultures
in an almost random fashion.
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As far as native finery, many Raevoring are excellent wood sculptors and take great
pride in carving evocative images into their longboats and longhalls, and some wear
wooden tokens carved in a runic form. Some of these runic adornments even bear magic.
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Like their favored kin the Herodi, the Raevoring like tattoos, and many bear large
runic tattoos on their bodies and even faces; in addition to being fearsome many
of these tattoos are also magical.
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GENERAL CHARACTER
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Individually, the Raevoring are seen as lusty, glory-seeking pillagers that lead
simple lives of drink, rowing, and slaughter. While there is some truth to that,
it's a simplification.
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The Raevoring have a very distilled duality in their nature exhibiting markedly
different behavior in steading and on faring. Unlike the Thegns of other Clans,
Raevoring Thegns rarely have trades.
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The live out their time in steading from loot pillaged on faring. This guarantees
a constant cycle of going forth on faring to loot and pillage and it occurs on a
simple yearly schedule of raiding from the spring until the fall and wintering in
the Vold. That's not to say that the same Thegn stays at sea for three seasons (though
some do); most will go out, come back for a stretch, and go out again at least once
during this season.
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However some warbands, seeking greater riches and glory, go out raiding for a year
or more at a stretch on some great mini-quest. These epic voyages can see Raevoring
longships sailing to far-flung shores. Some of them come back eventually, most are
presumed lost after a while.
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There are also some Raevoring colonies here and there, wherever convenient to support
raiding. Some of these last a few weeks, others see use for a number of years in
a row or sporadically as Raevoring move on to more lucrative raiding, or return
years later after the fortunes of the locals have improved and they are ripe for
plunder again.
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While on these farings the Raevoring are very much all-business. They are fearsome
and grim-appearing warriors of the waves but they pay close attention to detail.
The dangerous nature of their trade demands it. Yet when they return to steading
they unwind and become boisterous bon-vivants, living for revelry and relaxation.
It's a very startling change for outsiders, but goes totally unremarked upon by
the Machtig.
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Many Raevoring, for all their appearance and reputation as mindless savages, are
able to make themselves understood in half a dozen languages and dialects and have
traveled far further and seen more different nations than one in ten other men.
Some of them are quite erudite and knowledgeable in a practical "been there
done that" sort of way if you ever get to know them.
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FISTICUFFS
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Due to the amount of time the Raevoring spend heavily intoxicated while in steading,
altercations are not unusual. However, the Machtig are never much for killing their
own save in matters of honor, and most of these altercations are settled via fisticuffs
and wrestling. Though occasionally weapons are involved, other Raevoring usually
intervene to divest the would be combatants of their arms.
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This has lead to a very widespread practice of brawling as both a hobby and a practical
art among the Raevoring, and often one of a would-be Raevoring Thegn's three weapons
with which they must prove competency is their fists.
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An unusual side effect of this is that where a Herodi or Wundvolding would draw
steel to settle a disagreement and a fashion most likely to end in someone's death,
a Raevoring is much more likely to brawl and wrestle until the opponent is unconscious
or concedes.
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BLOOD FUEDS
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Despite the custom of resolving things with bareknuckles, death and serious injury
still sometimes occur between Raevoring. Among more sober or honor bound clans this
is usually a matter of weregild paid to put an end to the matter, but the Raevoring
tend to be a little more hot headed about such things, and blood feuds occasionally
break out in rapid fury before the local Reeves or the Laird can step in and put
a stop to it.
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Some of these blood fueds have grown to massive proportions and lasted decades,
involving as much as roughly 40% of the Clan at times. Such fueds usually require
external intervention on the part of the Druids; but the Druids prefer to let such
things sort themselves out unless matters start to destablize the Clan or spread
into other Clans.
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FOREIGN RELATIONS
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As the Clan with the most contact with other Nation, Raevoring have to most impact
on how the Machtig are seen by others, and much of the Machtig's fearsome reputation
stems directly from a combination of Herodi warbands on faring and Raevoring raiders
pillaging by sea.
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The tales spread by those who have encountered the Raevoring and lived to tell
of it grow in the retelling, resulting in few merchants willing to brave journeying
to the Machtig lands and a tendency by most sane folk to avoid the Machtig if and
when possible.
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For their part the Raevoring are not xenophobic; quite the opposite, they like and
enjoy other cultures...primarily with an eye towards what they can take from them.
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The popular image of the Raevoring sweeping in and razing everything to the ground,
taking all they can see, raping all the women, and putting all the men to the sword
is pure exaggeration. If they did that, there wouldn't be anything to take the next
year. Though the Raevoring have done such things from time to time, such activities
were selective and designed to instill fear in other more profitable settlements
nearby.
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The non-glamorous fact is that most Raevoring raids are bloodless affairs, more
in the way of a tithe. The Clan Skalds back at Hafenstadt keep careful track of
known settlements, the last time they were tapped for tribute or plunder, and for
what.
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Further despite the apparent chaos and randomness of it all, there is a method behind
the seeming madness.
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Each warband that leaves the shores of the Vold has at least one Clan Skald in their
company whose primary purpose is to catalogue everything the warband sees and takes
as loot. These records are collated during the winter months at the Skalding Hall
in Hafenstadt and lists of places likely ripe for plundering are then distributed
by the Skalds for the next raiding season.
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When suitable time has passed a longship is sent to visit the settlement again and
collect their tithe, which is usually left out on the shore as soon as the locals
spot the mainsail of a longboat on the horizon
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In short, the violence is reserved for new settlements (for the initial shock value),
those who fail to tithe appropriately, and for the occasional at-sea encounter with
other ships. The Raevoring, true to their Machtig roots, understand the idea of
balance and are careful not to kill the gilded cow by overplundering it.
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Its hard to imagine for many, but the Raevoring have even been known to protect
some of their frequent raiding grounds from other predation by both rival Human
nations, Ungheuer, and occasionally even natural disaster and famine. They do this
to protect their own interests to be sure, but they do it all the same.
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TRADE
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Having poor lands the Raevoring rely on imports for several important items without
which they cannot do without. The first and most important is food, which they primarily
get by trading looted money and finery to Huarthmunn. The second most important
is wood both for their dwellings and their longboats. The third most important is
longboats; though there are some Raevoring shipbuilders particularly in the more
far flung steadings like Harnsby and Dorgenheim, many of the Raevoring longboats
are made by the Pargori who trade them down the Unien.
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ORIGINS & ORGANIZATION
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The Raevoring, like the Herodi, fought to clear the Vold of Ungheuer until the bloody
end, but rather than remaining in the lands they had cleared they returned to the
coast. Using the vessels that the Macthig had journeyed to the Vold in they began
taking to the seas to raid distant nations. They became the scourge of the coastlines
around the Sea of Osloanda, the Bay of Solace, and beyond. Masters of the mighty
longboat, they raid up rivers and tributaries as well.
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The early years were very bloody and violent, but as centuries passed and settlements
learned the cost of contesting with the Raevoring most just capitulated and began
offering tithes to them instead. Concurrently the Raevoring began ranging farther
and farther in pursuit of new venues to ply their trade upon.
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Unlike the other eight Clans, the Raevoring concept of a Reeve-halten is not very
static. The Clan Laird can reassign Reeves and sets the borders of their Reeve-haltens
as he pleases, and many Reeves have no physical Reeve-halten; often Thegns that
command large warbands or multiple longboats that are trusted by the Laird are made
Reeves and their Reeve-haltens consist solely of the men that serve them. These
Reeves are then able to act authoritatively when abroad as representatives of their
Laird and Clan.
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Land-bound Reeves tend to be older Sea-Reeves that have semi-retired from raiding
and been awarded a settlement to govern in their twilight years, although there
are some exceptions. This works out generally well and the Raevoring are happy with
the arrangement since it gives their most accomplished senior warriors a pleasant
retirement to look forward to.
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A very large Clan, the Raevoring number many Thegns and few Thralls, turns out the
fewest number of Druids per capita, but produces many Skalds. They also have some
Zauberer among them, mostly Runeforgers of the tattooing and carving variety since
most of their Obermancers switch Clan affiliation and become Pargori instead.
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PROFESSIONS
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The Raevoring Thegns represent about 60% of the population and are mostly composed
of Barbarians, Pirates, and Barbarian/Pirates. The remainder include some Skalds
(7%), a few Druids (1%), the occasional Zauberer (2%), some Fertigkeiten (5%), and
the rest are generally Thralls (15%) and Slaves (10%) .
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THEGNS
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Most Raevoring Thegns use the following Packages or some variation of them:
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Sea Reavers: approximately 80% of all Raevoring Thegns
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Berserker: approximately 15% of all Raevoring Thegns
- Approximately 5% of Raevoring Thegns have a fighting style or discipline unique
to their families or circumstances.
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ZAUBERER
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The vast majority of Raevoring Zauberer are Runecrafters of some sort, particularly
Illumin. They also have a handful of established Obermancers, typically
with a predilection towards Hydromancy and Aeromancy Spells.
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There have only been a handful of Aeldenaren among the Raevoring, and all of them
had very unusual backgrounds. There are none known in the modern day.
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LAIRD AND HUSCARL
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The Clan Laird is traditionally called the
Sea Laird. His Huscarls complement varies but range around 300-400 and are
called the Reavers, oddly enough. Unlike other Raevoring that go where the wind
blows them, the Reavers sail forth with more of a pattern for in addition to being
some of the hardest, toughest, most capable Raevoring around, they are also the
eyes and ears of their Laird and the standing militia of their Clan Hold.
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Thus, in addition to effectively patrolling the area against any interlopers, and
making sure of order in the other Raevoring settlements along the coast, some are
also occasionally sent out with specific missions in the service of their Clan and
Laird.
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The current Laird of the Raevoring is
Gunnar Bergthorsson.
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CLANHOLD
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Along the coasts to the south of the Vold are the lands of the Raevoring. Generally
rocky and inhospitable their land isnt very fertile, they have no mines, and they
lack pastureland. Most of their food comes from the neighboring Huarthmunn Clanhold,
and most of their income comes from sea raiding.
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Raevoring architecture is very consistent; they like their wooden longhalls and
don't see the need to experiment with other setups. However, the art of longhall
design is taken to great lengths and rarely are two longhalls adorned the same for
the Raevoring show the same painstaking care in carving their longhalls as they
do their ships.
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Many Raevoring are amateur woodcarvers, but some make it their trade and the most
skilled of these make good livings decorating not only ships but also longhalls.
Designs used in the decoration of longhalls varies by time period; the current style
revolves around the use of stylish patterns rather than any symbolic motif, but
examples of that style from previous times abound as well.
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Raevoring also name their settlements in the old way, after the founder (or conqueror)
of the settlement. This is a universal practice among them, to the point that they
find it strange to consider that some place names are seemingly just made up.
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CLAN SEAT
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The ancestral home of the Clan is Hafenstadt (HOFF-en-STODT), which is also the
first Machtig settlement in the Vold, located where the Unien River empties into
the Sea of Osloanda. As befits the oldest steading, Hafenstadt is large and spread
out. It also lacks any sort of actual pattern, with a broad array of longhalls built
in various time periods and somewhat disparate in style.
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The Druids enchant the structures to resist rot and corrosion so to the unaware
observer it would not be clear that the buildings represent the work of many different
craftsmen spread across two millennia. To the rare outsider that journeys here the
diverse stylings are just one more sign of the Machtig's unpredictableness.
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The Clan Seat at Hafenstadt is the quintessential longhall design that many lesser
Machtig structures emulate. Huge, vaulted, and expansive, the elaborately carved
and heavily gilded structure is very impressive in a barbaric fashion. The Laird's
Hall portion itself is several stories high internally, and open to the rafters,
making for a suitably ostentatious throne room.
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The decoration of the Laird's Hall varies with the current Laird as they hang all
their own trophies and whatever Clan trophies they like around the walls and rafters.
The current Laird has somewhat loud tastes, and the Hall is currently decorated
in a garish mess of various battle earned trophies and miscellaneous spoils of war.
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OTHER SETTLEMENTS OF NOTE
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Jorthanor: The westernmost settlement, Jorthanor does quite a bit of trade
with the Wundvolding and via Dunn Steinegbahn both. It's also a common layover for
Raevoring departing towards the west, so it has a lively air at the beginning and
end of the faring season.
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Harnsby: A fairly typical Raevoring settlement, Harnsby is notable for two
things; one it has an incredible natural harbor that goes mostly unused, and two
it rests in the narrowest part of the Raevoring Hold, a strip of land hugging the
coast roughly 10 miles wide. Harnsby is very close with small Huarthmunn settlements
in the area, and the Huarthmunn steading of Sudernhof is an easy days journey away
leading to a lot of cultural diffusion in this region.
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A major point of note is that Harnsby has a well developed shipyard and a clutch
of skilled shipbuilders. Many of the longboats of the western Raevoring start their
lives here, and many are brought back here for repair.
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Skaelorn: A larger Raevoring steading, Skaelorn actually has a walled enclosure
containing a Reeve Hall, and the area is home to roughly 17,500 Machtig. The land
to the northeast of Skaelorn, considered part of the settlement, is atypically pleasant
past the rocky shore and Skaelorn is one of the few Raevoring Settlements with any
sort of natural resources. Close to Sudernhof, there is a lot of diffusion between
the Raevoring and Huarthmunn in this region with frequent marriage across the border.
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Engerhaus: Nestled behind a massive cliff structure (called Zeeghorne, literally
the Ram's horns), Engerhaus is sheltered from the wind, but prone to unseasonable
humidity as a result of it. Fog also gets trapped in the cliff faces and drifts
through the settlement late into the morning and early at night. An overall gloomy
place, the Raevoring of Engerhaus are usually thought to be particularly grim and
hard-bitten folk.
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Thaleholm: One of the earliest steadings of the Raevoring, Thaleholm is large
and well settled, with nearly 15,000 permanent residents. On the other side of the
Zeeghorne from Engerhaus, prevailing winds keep the settlement on this side well
ventilated and it doesn't suffer from issues with the Marine layer either.
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Athegheim: Very similar to Thaleholm in both its era of founding, size, and
layout, Athegheim isn't quite as nice or quite as large but still clocks in with
a sizable community of around 12,000 permanent residents.
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Hakonthorpe: A fairly standard Raevoring settlement with around 7,500 residents,
Hakonthorpe has no particular distinction itself, but it's inhabitants are known
for their skill with Axes in a tradition that traces it's way back to the founder
himself, Hakon Horvissen of the Axe. His sons learned at his knee, others learned
from him, and so on and thus a tradition was born. The Thegns of this settlement
almost uniformly tote around large double-headed axes.
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Varaldshall: Unusual for a Raevoring settlement in as far as it isn't built
directly on the shoreline, or as close as possible While there is a smaller sub-settlement
on the shore to handle longboat docking, Varaldshall itself is situated some eight
miles from the shoreline on a rocky escarpment.
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The settlement also boasts a watch tower on the escarpment, another odd feature
for a Raevoring settlement. Extremely defensible, since there has never been any
need for defensive works in this area of the Vold it's not very clear what the purpose
of building the settlement here was. Even the Skalds claim to be baffled by it.
In the modern day the settlement houses approximately 6000 residents.
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Eadronshaus: Eadronshaus is a larger Raevoring settlement boasting a population
of nearly 17000. The waters nearby are particularly good for fishing, and thus the
population has a somewhat disproportionate number of fishermen, but other than that
there is nothing particularly memorable about Eadronshaus.
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Starthheim: Smaller than Eadronshaus, with around 8500 residents, but otherwise
much the same.
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Dorganheim: A very large settlement, Dorgonheim is tightly linked with Caranthanor
via shared history and common mindset. Home to around 16,000 residents, Dorgonheim's
Thegns are particularly active raiders, and along with Caranthanor effectively dominate
raiding along the Gersaan peninsula.
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Dorganheim also has a small shipyard and is a secondary provider of longboats for
the eastern Raevoring.
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Caranthanor: The easternmost settlement of the Raevoring, Coranthanor is
large and influential. Home to nearly 22,000 permanent residents, and very martial
in outlook. Caranthanor's Thegns are very active raiders, and Caranthanor is the
power in the region.
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Coranthanor has a large shipyard and is a secondary provider of longboats for the
eastern Raevoring.
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CLAN VIEWS
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The Machtig are an individualistic people, but nevertheless there are some generalities
about how the Raevoring think of the other Clans.
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- Herodi: Well, they aren't an embarrassment to the Machtig like some of the
Clans -- Ha!. The Clan most like us; what we do from longboats they do from their
own two legs. Just shows they arent smart enough to build boats and not get lost
at sea!
- Wundvolding: Cross them only if the prize is worth it; their Thegns
are like rocks upon which keels shatter. Of course peel them out of that heavy armor
or toss em overboard and it's likely a different story.
- Faendradi: Pfah. The
Druids want to save them. Why bother? Every family has it's useless cousin, and
they are the Machtig's.
- Huarthmunn: Good folk. Landhuggers, but good people
all the same. They've always been good neighbors, and they make the best ale and
mead!
- Ulthferen: The Herodi's attack dogs; har! Mighty warriors in truth,
and worthy cousins.
- Hengsting: Herodi on horses pretending to be Pargori.
They have proven themselves in many battles, but reluctantly.
- Pargori: Our
smart cousins. More like the weaklings we raid than true Machtig for the most part,
but they're family so what are you going to do?
- Jagrling:
Useful if you can lure them away from their damn trees. Otherwise it's like they
aren't even there. If you can get one to stop dreaming about taking down stags on
the run long enough to put arrows into enemies they are worth their bellyweight.
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