Too cold among these ice passages to take notes. Must find a recorder of some sort that does not involve writing things without gloves on. Am worried that I shall die of the freeze before I make it to the other side. May never see sun nor feel heat again. My guide, Poliarn, promises me otherwise.
~Naind Orend, notes from a mostly empty journal
who were once loved ones.
Most people of the Frozen South pray to one of a thousand or more ice gods called the Nacrescenti. Some people, in fact, believe that each person has his own Nacrescenti that watches over him. These spirits manifest (or so it is believed) in the blowing snow and the patterns of frozen ice, although never in greater frequency than on an annual holiday called Thousand-Eve, which falls on the longest night of the year. These gods have no organized religious groups or churches—an individual’s relationship with his Nacrescenti is far too personal for that. Instead, devotion is paid quietly in icons and amulets worn on one’s body.
Otherwise, most of the same assumptions one can make about the Beyond and the people who live there likely apply to the Frozen South.
Plains swept by cold winds present the most common terrain, followed by blasted wastelands of icy rocks. Trees are uncommon, but roots, tubers, and lichens grow in the permafrost. All manner of wildlife dwells in the region, particularly near the larger bodies of open water. And like everywhere else in the Ninth World, an unpredictable surprise could lie just over the next hill, so all of these conditions are broad generalities.
South of the Southern Wall lie five cities that have little in common other than relative proximity: Arxil, Antre, Cyanachor, Nus, and Moird. Each finds its own means of survival in the inhospitable cold. Amid the cities, a few (relatively) habitable regions contain a handful of towns and villages. Still, the entire population of the region might barely equal a single kingdom of the Steadfast.
Many people of the Frozen South are hunters or fisherfolk, and farming is almost unknown except in very specific areas. The people travel on the backs of snow loper
mounts or use sledges pulled by eurieg— creatures called “ice scuttlers” by some, which can only be described as part lupine, part arachnid. Wood is scarce in many places in the region, so buildings are made of stone, sod, or sometimes snow and ice. Metal comes only from scavenging, as is true of synth or glass. Ruins of the past are no less common here than elsewhere, but sometimes they are more difficult to reach, covered in millennia of ice and snow.
These are people isolated by choice as much as by environment. Even the people in the cities are distant, silent, and detached. They say that time alone in the white wastes can drive one mad, and perhaps all the people of the Frozen South are indeed a little mad. But some are more mad than others, and what is called “the evanescence” sets in. In such cases, an individual recedes from life to such an extent that he simply withers and dies from self-neglect. For an even rarer few, the evanescence manifests as a mania and a loss of any sort of identification with other humans, leading to a psychopathic urge to murder those around them—even those
WHY GO TO
THE FROZEN SOUTH?
Why on earth would anyone leave the warm(er) lands of the Steadfast and the Beyond to come to a hard-to- reach region of deadly cold? In a word: adventure.
The Frozen South is a perfect location for the end of a quest that began in more familiar lands. It presents challenges that characters won’t have faced before and offers locales unique even by the standards of the Ninth World.
In addition, creating player characters who are native to the Frozen South could set up an alternate campaign with a very different feel. An entire Numenera campaign in which the characters uncover ancient secrets and treasures frozen in millennia-old ice could be challenging and exciting. And that campaign could work in reverse, where the endgame leads the PCs over (or rather through) the Southern Wall to discover the warm, foreign lands to the north.
Snow loper, page 259 Eurieg, page 229
Aeon Priests are rare beyond the Southern Wall. In fact, the majority of the folk dwelling in the Frozen South know nothing of the Steadfast. Many don’t even know it exists. The people of the Frozen
South are far less likely to speak the Truth than even the folk of the Beyond. Most have their own languages, although in recent years more have begun to use the Truth as a sort of trade language when needed.
ADVENTURING IN THE COLD
The region south of the Southern Wall is cold enough that humans can’t survive long without proper protection. Barring a numenera device, that protection comes in the form of warm clothing, usually made from the hides of creatures native to these cold lands. A coat from a garbal seal or an aquatic noraun, for example, keeps out the cold very nicely, particularly when accompanied by similar gloves, boots, and a hood or hat. A person won’t last long in just a leather coat without proper boots, hat, or gloves.
Nonhuman characters might handle the cold differently. For example, a lattimor is better suited to the cold naturally, and a varjellen’s ability to reforge might allow it to restructure for warmth. Still, both races need some kind of external protection to survive long.
Even characters who are well protected won’t find the harsh cold to be particularly pleasant. Temperatures never rise above freezing and are usually far, far below that. In this region, it doesn’t take long before your breath begins to freeze around your nose and mouth, metal dangerously and instantly adheres to bare flesh, and frostbite of fingers and toes is a real danger. Another hazard is snow blindness—the brightness during the unending days of summer can damage unprotected eyes over time. Most natives of the Frozen South have fashioned visors or lenses of darkened glass or synth.
The icy wastelands are considered difficult terrain. Most people can cross only about 5 to 8 miles (8 to 13 km) in a day of walking.
Following are some of the unique items found in the Frozen South. Many of them are quite useful to survival in the region.