Norfjal is a province of snowy mountains and frozen lakes, separated by violent seas. This harshness has given rise to an indomitable people, as wild as the land they call home.

A Norfjal settlement is a longhouse and its out-buildings, a few lots of hay to carry the animals through the winter, and boats that leave before dawn for the fishing grounds. Winter arrives early and leaves late, so the year is organised around what can be stored, and a captain who keeps a crossing open through the dark months is owed more than any inland lord.

The Norfmund, as the people call themselves, read their land through its Chronikin. The runes speckling a Dyrekkr's hide match ancient script found throughout Norfjal, and the highland tribes revere it as a symbol of strength and conquest. A Freyline is welcomed to the hearth on a cold night; a Galdmara scurrying under the eaves is taken as a good omen by some and an infestation by others. Even the province's fears are wild ones.