Fír Suthr

The folk of the Southern Archipelago, who call themselves fír suthr (literally, south folk), are a rough, hardy breed of people who have found a way to manage a relatively comfortable existence in the frozen south.

Of fair complexion, for they get little sun down there, the fír suthr are not considered part of, and do not adhere to the morays, either of faith or of custom, of the continent of Doma. This, despite their proximity to the continent itself.

Women, for example, are often found in their raiding parties, captain their own ships, have become rulers of their islands (the island's rídh), and even been elected ard rídh, a position roughly equivalent to high king on Doma. Work, too, is divided not along gendered lines, but along lines of ability and inclination. It is not unusual, therefore, to find a man tilling a field with a child on his back, while his wife is out raiding.

Claiming to be direct descendants of Stran of the Deep, the first High King of Doma (many of their epics recite clan lineages stretching all the way back to one or more of High King Stran's many, many offspring), the folk of the south are fiercely independent, even from one another. That said, they are bound as a people, and react together for mutual defence of the isles when threatened. This strange independence from one another (indeed, their favourite pastimes include raiding one another's islands, the source of many a small war, or, as they call it, 'squabble'), yet total interdependence has bewildered scholars and kings alike since time immemorial. It is, there can be no doubt, the reason why the islands have never been conquered. That, and they are the only ones who manage to sail their ships through those rocks without wrecking upon them.

The social structure of the islands is not unlike the social structures of the early waygar'i of Doma, in so far as we have been able to determine, with strong familial ties arranged in clans. One island may contain more than one clan (Tír Arnbjorn, for example, has an astonishing five). The heads of the clans are loyal to their island's rídh, and it is considered a great honour for one of their number to be selected to ride and raid with that rídh.

The faith of the islands, too, hearkens back to the continent's own heretical past, filled with local sprites, active ancestral spirits, and a dizzying multitude of deities. The folk of the south seem to be at prayer or at religious festival almost more than they raid. The religious life of the fír suthr is maintained and facilitated by a class of sages they call anu. The anu operate outside of society, and are not bound to its rules, save for the basics of decency and respect. Indeed, there are none more respected or afforded more power throughout the islands than the anu. Even the ard rídh does not have their sway over the fír suthr. The anu themselves have a hierarchy, with a council of elders who decide important matters. During times of particular strife, when needed, their version of an ard rídh, a hierophant, is elected by that council to lead the anu through the crisis.

Interestingly, an anu by the name of Gudbrandr was elected hierophant during the brief exile of the fír suthr during the events of The Great Man myth. There is no evidence of such an election occurring more recently, or even in the more distant past. This is not a surprise, as the anu are famously tight-lipped about their activities.

Death, it appears, is central to the religion of the fír suthr and a great deal of the festivals and ceremonies revolve around or include some symbolism of it. In accordance to ancient custom, the fír suthr cremate their dead and then inter the ashes in corbelled passage tombs. Each tomb contains several burials, usually all from the same family or clan. The burial ground for all islands and all clans is located in a valley on the western side of Tír Arnbjorn, with mourners from the other islands embarking on the dangerous journey between islands to bury their dead there. This is done during a pan-island festival once a year. The ashes of those cremated earlier in the year are stored in a special grotto beneath the deceased family's floor until that festival. The exception to this is the drowned dead of Tír Selr.

Another exception to this are the heroes of the Great Battle, who were all cremated and interred far from home on what was then the Ardean Killing Fields, and is now the Sacred Burial Grounds of Ardea. The fír suthr of that battle erected passage tombs there to inter their dead. They are known to the people of the area now as the Mounds of Heroes and are protected by the law of the land, and a fair amount of superstition (it is said the dead will rise in vengeance against anyone who dares rob their tombs).

The fír suthr have always lived in the Southern Archipelago, though they were, for a time, driven from their home near the end of the third epoch in an event now known as the Harrowing of the South. Those events saw the slaying of the ard rídh, Agmundr. His son became de facto ard rídh.

Since then, the fír suthr have remained in their archipelago and left the continent alone, though do venture out for the occasion trade and reaffirming of friendships or familial ties (ties with the Earldom of Ardea are particularly strong, lending some credence to the tales of The Great Man myth).