Well here is what lore I have for the far north, where Ramus No-son hails from, it is mostly a rough draft and subject to expansion over the coming days.
The Frozen Wastes are the vast ice plains, and snow covered peaks and mountains of the far north where it is a constant war for any living being to survive against the myriad of predators, the unforgiving landscape, the bleak absence of hope in the white, windswept lands. The Wastes are a beautiful, but deadly thing as pure white snow, and light blue ice are the only noticeable features of the landscape short of the rare black shriveled trees that force their way into existence in the harshness of the Wastes. The Frozen Wastes are inhabited by only the most sturdy, and determined of beings, from the dwarves of the Empire of Icemourn to the nomadic human tribes that make their living hunting the large beasts of the plains, and rarely Hrathgin packs in hopes of being paid bounty from the Empire.
The Frozen Wastes are know to the people who live there as three separate areas.
The first of which is Snowfang Mountain in the far south of the Frozen Wastes, a towering mountain that shattered its way through the ice on the edge of the sea. The Snowfang Mountain is almost entirely surrounded by the chilly ocean waters, the only connection it has to the outside world is a bridge of ice barely wide enough for four carts to ride side by side. Snowfang is home to outcasts, dissidents, rebels, and all who despise the very idea of the Empire of Icemourn and here those same people have founded a city protected by the relative isolation of the Snowfang Mountain. Only once in (known) history has the Empire moved to subjugate the Snowfang, and to those with access to such well hidden records they would discover that it was a complete, and utter failure, of the two thousand soldiers sent only fifty-four returned. The rest had dropped to their deaths in the icy waters as the residents of the Snowfang collapsed the ice bridge that connects their would-be home to the rest of the Frozen Wastes.
The second area is the Ice Plains, home to the nomadic tribes, and coastal villages that are subjugated and ruled over by the Empire. The Ice Plains are a harsh place, to grow up there is to fight for your own life from the moment you can walk by yourself, the predators of the Plains are deadly and numerous beyond measure, and even if you are to survive those there is ever the chance that the Empire see's fit to enslave some or even all of your tribe to work the mines in the north. With roaming Hrathgin packs, sparse vegetation and shelter, numerous Empire slaver patrols, and the deadly temperatures of the Plains it is no wonder that those humans who grow up on them are a hardy people with such dangers to face. On the other hand the coastal villages are much better, depending on your race and the village, inter-racial hate is heavy on the coasts where the slaver patrols are fewer, and the predators fear to go for the numerous walled in, lit, and well guarded towns that dot the coast. For a human to enter a dwarf village, or a dwarf a human village means likely death at the hands of angry mobs out to take their anger out and earn some revenge for their plight. Needless to say the need for Empire intervention is needed heavily along the coasts which leads to several towns being emptied every couple of years as fights between towns bring the Empire's wrath down massacring innocent citizens and enslaving the rest.
The third and final are of the Frozen Wastes are the Ashborn Mountains, the 'glorious' seat of power for the Empire of Icemourn where its capital Dragon's Tear lies, and where the numerous slave mines of churn out the ever requested metals and gems of the far north. The Ashborn Mountains are home to the nobles, and royal family of the Empire, not to mention home to the Empire's most loyal citizens who benefit the most from the Empire' cruelty and are for the most part excluded from its mass murder and enslavement due to their ever present loyalty ... and the biannual tithes of dwarves fit for war to fuel the ever churning armies of the Empire. The crowning jewel of the Ashborn Mountains is Dragon's Tear, the mighty mountain home of the northern dwarves and the Emperor's seat of power from which he enacts his ever cruel and tyrannical rule, it is a city carved from obsidian, and basalt and built into the very side of the largest peak of the Ashborn Mountains. It is an impenetrable fortress, and a center of trade for the Empire, where ore caravans stop over before heading off across the Ice Plains to the coastal villages, and then beyond to peddle and sell the valued ores and gems, and where traders from all corners of the Frozen Wastes come hoping to make it big and become a prominent enough figure to avoid the Empire's wrath, conscription, and enslavement.
The Empire of Icemorn is the only nation to claw its way into existence in the bleakness of the Frozen Wastes, it was founded by the dwarves of the Ashfire Clan that were banished from the original dwarven homelands long ago. The exile dwarves took to this new land with pic, fire, and sword, carving out the land they claimed as theirs by any means necessary and killing, or enslaving any of the nomad tribes that called those lands homes, or holy grounds. The dwarves of the Ashfire Clan had been warriors, and raiders before their exile and this lent well to their rise to power as few of the nomadic tribes had any real knowledge of warfare and battle other then the constant struggle for survival in the Wastes, within time those that survived the savagery of the Ashfire Clan found a harsh, unforgiving kingdom founded in a land that had never known such.
With the rise of the Empire of Icemorn came an era of cruelty, and tyranny never known before, those same dwarves who had followed their clan leaders willingly in conquering this new land found those same leaders turning on them, forcing the weaker of the clan into servitude. For decades skirmishes, battles, and rebellions burned across the lands of the Empire, but no matter how hard the betrayed dwarves, or their inevitable nomad allies fought the Empire won out time, and time again. No one is sure how the Empire sustained such great strength, but it is rumored in legend and myth that the first Emperor of Icemourn and his most loyal soldiers made pacts with demons, and sorcerers to ensure the creation of their foul Empire. The subjugation of both the rebel dwarves and nomads was inevitable, and all in all these rebellions lasted only a mere decade before they were finally stomped out by the might of Icemourn's armies.
The Empire that now exists as a result of that subjugation, and endless warring, is a kingdom of absolute tyranny ruled over by the Emperor and his chosen council of advisers who ensure that Icemourn, and its nobility profit above all. Those deemed unfit for soldiering, craftsmanship, or other such vital tasks are forced to pull lots upon their seventeenth summer, five out of every six who pull lots become slaves and the one lucky of the six is allowed to remain free.
The Empire flourishes thanks to the vast network of mines that are spread throughout it, all worked by slave labor that produce much valued metals and gems for Icemourn to use and trade away to far off nations. Of course that is only half of the central economy, the other half exists from the merit that much of the free population in Icemourn find that the only way to sustain themselves in the wastes is to join one of the Empire's many raids upon foreign nations.
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