Evingard

[andrew]

7. More information on the Red Rat Clan! What exactly are their goals and methods? Are they still after Rolf? How do they interact with Magnus? Is Knutt a member? What is the nature of their relationship with Gunnar?

I'd say you run these guys as the mafia. It's a group that is led by a secretive ruling council, but they have false figureheads put into place so if anyone wishes to move against them, the figureheads may get whacked, but the ruling council lives on. The abhor open conflict, preferring to get their means by soft force (extortion, blackmail, etc). Due to those methods, a lot of their work is collecting information that could later be used as leverage. Like street gangs, they have tiers of membership, and new members need to prove themselves by taking on some menial jobs that put them in high risk situations. That makes the junior members the thugs. Elder members take on jobs that manage the flow of goods, move money around and work their way into the ruling class, examples:
- A merchant who has vessels at their disposal along with trade routes
- A tavern-keep that can collect info about the town from the patrons and can accept cash that needs to be moved from person to person
- An advisor to a king who can use some of the king's influence to get jobs done

So specifically how they relate to each character:
Fjalar: I have his as a member of the Red Rat clan
Grimm: Certain trophies can fetch a handsome price overseas, so they check in on him to see if they can buy any rare hunted monster heads
Gunnar: sells his excess wares to the clan
Hakon: he hates the clan, but tolerates them since they act as enforcers for him when he needs something done "off the books". They have a tenuous "truce"
Halfdan: is oblivious to their existence
Ingvar: he's heard of them, but hasn't had any interactions with them (as far as he knows)
Ivar: Ivar uses the red rat clan members for income and information
Jadvyg: the clan stay away from her
Knut is a member, but is in the clan only for his own betterment. He has no desire to increase his membership level, and is happy to keep his hands in both his own business and in Red Rat clan business.
Magnus: he knows a lot of the members and often does business with them. He sees them as a valuable tool. The clan also sees Magnus as the most powerful figure in Evingard and want to keep cozy relationships with him.
Rolf: they are looking for Fingers and have a hit out on him
Sven: he is mildly aware of their presence and for some reason, the Red Rats like Sven a lot and don't bother him.
Thorlaug: the clan avoid this fella
Ulfeid: He is a member and membership helps him indulge in his vices. The clan also has clear leverage on him and control him to a great degree.

I also had the Red Rat clan involved in the fresh raspberry trade between Ivar and Sven!
Enjoy!

[dafelsheim]

I really like your further details on the Red Rat Clan!

I'm thinking of making Astrid one of the ruling council. In my Fafnir's, she's paid close attention to the Dwellers (not in public) after they managed to seek out her establishment with the aid of a group of homeless orphans (simply called 'The Urchins') the Dwellers befriended. She's been acting as a source of stories and lore but never gives useful information for free, even if the form of payment is just entertaining her. The Dwellers's Skald did so well on his Skill Check to recount the tale of Hel's Needle that she took a lasting liking to the group. She's pulled them out of trouble twice. I also have her in an "It's Complicated" relationship with Knutt.

Only Astrid and Knutt know of the full extent of the underground network of passages and more importantly, all of the pass codes/traps/etc. They might have worked together to refine them from the underlying sewer system. The only time she's shown a break in her cool has been before Ivar, with whom she behaves like a twitterpated groupie.

[andrew]

8. Besides Jadvyg out of Hel's Stone and the... Incognito Godi of Loki, is there any other significant religious presence?

Until the mine is reopened abd the main quest line is unfulfilled, the folks that have gravitated to Evingard are pragmatic men and women driven by greed. Their faith was secondary to begin with, but now after the series of misfortunes, their faith has plumetted to new lows. The mine curse, the zombears and the emissaries of the gods and giants are just too much for most.

Now once the mine reopens, and Ragnarok is in full swing, tribal higher powers seek to claim the Cornerstone for themselves and their own cause. So for example, when the mine was reopened, the players were backing Aud (the son of Muspel) in the main quest line. They cleansed the Conerstone and reopened the portal to Muspelheim and helped Aud return with the ring. In return the Sons of Muspel flooded into Midgard and set up a strong base of operations there. Evingard went from a melting pot of belief, to a strict Jotun backer culture. This forced Magnus to flee (Battle Wolves seem to be aligned with the gods), but Ingvar was already aligned with the Jotuns, so he took sole leadership over Evingard.

[andrew]

9. Any more information on the Wolf Clan?

Yeah, they're among the second wave of colonizers coming to Islandia; the first being the missionaries. In 874 or thereabouts you get the first written testimony of settlement, but the history of the island assumes prior visits and partial settlement. Hagen was the pariarch of the settlers and his oldest son was Ingvar. With most being ulfhednar, they had no desires to be settlers, but retained their nomadic ways. Their bloodline maps back to Halogaland with many common cultural elements shared with the Sami of Finmark. Originally they came across with lots of reindeer, this would sustain them even if the lands they would venture to turned out to be barren. Overtime the reindeer multiplied, but were also culled by wolves. Other visitors brought dogs with them, and those that were left behind turned feral and became the wolves of the island. This is how a generation later you can find other apex predators on the island.

Ingvar's eldest son was Halfdan, and he was of very strong will. The clan members traveled the island looking for settlers. When they found some, they looked for suitable husbands and wives. They weren't of Vanir faith, so did not believe in clan intermarriage. This is how they stumbled upon the original Evingard in the mountains. Due to the magic and strange occurances, the wolf clan stayed away from there. Halfdan was a traditionalist and truly enjoyed living off the land. He viewed this as a struggle that validated their lifestyle. When his father made a pact with Magnus, Halfdan was pissed. There were many in the clan who disagreed with the founding of a new Evingard and regarded it as another aberration upon the land.

Ingvar negotiated a great deal, in exchange for mining rights and the building of an outpost, Ingvar's clan would be fed the best meals every day, would have an opulent hall built for them, and they would lack for nothing. Whatever they asked, Magnus provided, and so over time they became very complacent. At first Ingvar was seen as the sole ruler of the outpost, but soon most were turning to Magnus for leadership and organization. That is when Halfdan had a showdown with his father, and soon afterwards the troubles began: the Wight Sovereign, Hel's Needle, Fafnir's hoarde... Halfdan saw this as a curse from above. This caused the schism in the clan.

There's more, but I have a busy day ahead of me, so hopefully this gives you enough to go on.

[andrew]

10. Any secrets of the Hunters of the Lodge of the Silver Stag?

Whew.

Whew, we got through them all!

The last answer is tied back to one of my own dwellers. I played a Fardrengir (nomad in the old FOTN edition) named Grimm. His goal was to travel all of the realms and collect the antlers of all manner of exotic beast. With those antlers he forged a helm that imbued him with many esoteric creature powers. When he retired from his hunting-gig, he founded the order of the Silver Stag- a fellowship of hunters that followed in his footsteps. That lodge is one of his many lodges around Midgard, not to mention the many he has in other realms. Membership is strict with a very high bar, but hospitality and benevolence is one of the lodge's principles. While the hunters are very ominous and intimidating, they are very charitable with their aid and hospitality. This lodge has a great many visitors throughout the year and Grimm stays there for a few weeks out of the year. Its location isn't by accident, it was intentionally established near the Cornerstone of the World.

As a Norn, you should play up the hunter's lodge and its denizens as dangerous hunters where local rumours and steeped ion fear and distrust. After all, the clear-cut logging by the inhabitants of Evingard was stopped at the border with the lodge lands. The hunters erected fence posts with skulls to mark their territory and any loggers past those posts become fair game to hunt and kill. But if visitors are courteous and respect the hunters' rules, the lodge is very welcoming and friendly.

If Grimm shows up, he's a level 48 Fardrengir that rides a Silver Stag. He also has joined Odin on the Wild Hunt many times and has learned the how's and why's of this annual ritual.

[dafelsheim]

Wow. I have to say, I was HOPING for a response that detailed to my questions but wasn't expecting it. I'm happily surprised! I've got to say that your online presence and willingness to give feedback and answer questions on this forum is just great, Andrew!

You've definitely given me a lot more setting lore to chew on for Evingard. A decent amount lines up perfectly with some of my own ideas and home-canon and the rest I can have fun weaving together. I plan on continuing to use Evingard as the hub for the game I'm running. I'm a shameless setting lore fanatic so the more I can learn the better - and the more base material I have as a springboard for my own creations.

Have you considered doing something liken Evingard Gazeteer supplement?

[andrew]

I'm glad that my feedback gave you a springboard for your adventures!

A gazetteer? Sounds like a great idea, but with the in-flight projects, I have zero bandwidth for a new project. However, if someone could lead an initiative (you?) to compile a mega thread of gazetteer info about Evingard (maybe add the cosmopolitan trading hub of Avaldsnes) and there was community collaboration to add to it (with an info curator), I could envision us Kickstarting a fan-led initiative!

[dafelsheim]

Wow, I'd love to take that on! I'll be happy to start getting it together. Well, actually, I've already kind of started doing something like that here:

https://kanka.io/en-US/campaign/6811/campaign

Right now it's mostly just open templates and format blocks with lots of proper nouns, but if you look at Evingard I've been slowly filling in some of the info you gave me in this thread!