Ports of the Jotun

Overview

There is one port of the Jotun available to characters with the fleet resource; Kierheim. The fortified port lies halfway along the northern shores of the inland sea known as the Gullet, far to the west of Wintermark, in the part of Jotun known as Kalsea.

While the Jotun are not great traders, and prefer to do their actual fighting on land, the northern Jotun have a long tradition of raiding along the shores of the Gullet. There are historical stories of a great navy, used to attack into Kallavesa and Bregasland in pre-Imperial days. There are probably other ports along the gullet, but they do not rival Kierheim in wealth or prestige, and their whereabouts and identities are unknown.

Privateering against the Jotun rarely involves direct attacks on Kierheim - the port is well defended and swarms with both Jotun war vessels and hardened warriors. Normally, an Imperial fleet tries to catch a Jotun vessel on its way out of Kierheim to raid, or returning from an attack against an Imperial settlement or ship, holds full of stolen loot.

Trading with the Jotun is a criminal act, but used to prove quite lucrative before the Senate implemented a network of civil servants to monitor Imperial shipping. It was also quite risky; while the Jotun are peripherally honourable, anyone trying to trade with one of their settlements risks being taken as a thrall and having their goods confiscated if they show the slightest weakness.

Kierheim (Southern Kalsea)

Mighty Kierheim is a walled town with long quays built along the entire side of a great fjord. Ruled by the Jarl of Kierheim, whose family line stretches back to the earliest days of the Jotun, it is a centre for ship-building and a common anchor for war-ships and the rare Jotun trading vessels. The best-known landmark is the great avenue that leads up to the fortified hall of the Jarl - lined with dozens of massive mammoth tusks, each carved with runes of strength and prosperity.

Privateering against the Jotun is not as common as privateering against the Grendel on the Bay of Catazar, but it can be just as lucrative. Rich cargoes of volatile ambergelt and polished orichalcum are common, as are supplies of the bladeroot that grows with great profusion across the cold battlefields of northern Jotun. Furthermore, a canny pirate or unscrupulous trader can acquire all sorts of valuable ores, woods, metal goods, rich furs, fine fiery mead and several exotic herbs and foodstuffs from the Jotun traders that fetch a good price in Imperial markets.

Trade here is a risky proposition - not only is it illegal, but there is very little law beyond the word of the Jarl and their favoured champions. The Jotun rule with an iron fist, and while the line of the Jarls of Kierheim has a reputation for being more subtle than the traditional Jotun this simply makes them more dangerous. Imperial visitors will turn heads, but humans are not unknown here - like most Jotun settlements, there are human thralls here - many of whom are employed as farmers or merchants by their orc masters.

Trade with Kierheim

It is not currently possible to trade with Kierheim; the Senate has placed civil servants aboard all Imperial ships making this action impossible.