» Fri May 27, 2011 7:57 pm The Nordic Confederation
An exploration of the Nordic Confederation of Skyrim and Jehanna, as written by Voltaire du Guesclin
The Nordic Confederation of Skyrim and, after the recent Nordic invasion of High Rock, Jehanna is a very curious nation. Considering themselves successors to the Nordic Empire of old and the shield of the races of Man against the Dominion's expansionistic ambitions, this assembly of Nordic (and half-Nordic) city-states, ruled by kings or grand dukes, in fact has little to do with the first Nordic Empire, except perhaps the dominant race and the heartland of the two states. Not much more similarities can be drawn between the two asides from that, though, even if the Nords themselves would claim otherwise.
The most obvious difference between the two is that the Confederation lacks centralization of any sort ? all the city-states are nearly as autonomous as before, maintaining their traditions, coats of arms, armies, treasuries, rulership structures and everything else imaginable. And while the actions of the rulers are coordinated in the Council and the armies of the Nords no longer march against each other, when there is lack of a great danger to the existence of the Confederation the city-states would rather act alone. A fine example of that would be the invasion of High Rock which, despite the force consisting of Nords from all over Skyrim, is a matter where only the king of Solitude has a say.
Each city-state has its responsibilities depending on its location. Solitude deals with High Rock, Markarth Side and Falkreath with Hammerfall, Riften and Windhelm with Morrowind, Winter Hold, Solitude (as another responsibility) and Dawnstar protect the coast with their navies and occasionally provide naval support to invasions. Whiterun deals with Bruma but, seeing as the city is more Nordic than Cyrodiilian and no threat has yet come from it, it also has to provide support should the front be breached anywhere. Dragonstar is absent from the Council, and it is, in fact, not even considered to be a functional major city-state of the Confederation, having the same position as smaller cities like Karthwasten, Oakwood and the like ? namely, it has no say in how things are run and only sends troops in times of war. Should the city be fully conquered by Nords, though, it is very likely it would gain a position far more important.
Having covered briefly the way Skyrim is currently run, I shall now move on to explore some parts of the Confederation in more depth. Before that, however, I should note an interesting fact ? the Confederation is currently considered a vassal of the Empire, on paper at least. In the real world, of course, the Nords are likely growing to become stronger than the Empire, and diplomats are scurrying back and forth between Whiterun and the Imperial City, mostly those of the Empire, which is attempting to ensure the support of the Nords at the same time maintaining good ties with the other provinces that are growing more and more autonomous every day, which are not that happy with the behaviour of the Nords as of late (Morrowind and High Rock in particular, both of which can be expected to break off any moment now), launching invasions literally left and right.
With that said, I move on from the prologue to the more important part of my work, divided into several parts, during the course of which I hope to cover the Confederation as a whole with a bit more depth than some of my colleagues. I must warn the reader, however, that I do not intend to cover all the city-states in this work, merely to explain what they make up. However, I do intend to, eventually, write an article dealing with the city-state of Solitude, the direct neighbour of High Rock.
Skyrim: the land and how the Confederation adapts to it
Skyrim is an interesting land. The south-eastern half of it is nearly completely covered by the Jerall and Velothi mountain ranges, while around two-thirds of the north-western half is made up from lowland; forested lowland, but lowland none the less. This has formed two cultures in Skyrim ? the south-eastern highland Nordic and north-western lowland Nordic. Whiterun, Falkreath, Winter Hold, Windhelm and Riften fall into the highland Nordic area, while Solitude, Markarth Side, Dawnstar and the Nordic half of Dragonstar are all examples of lowland Nordic culture. In each city there are many variations of these two cultures, however some things the cities of the same culture all share.
For example, in highland Nordic culture, the staff of the rulers, minor and major alike, in peacetime and bodyguard in times of war, is made up from huskarls, who go to war as footmen, since the rugged terrain of south-eastern Skyrim does not allow for extensive cavalry traditions; in north-western lowland culture, however, Druzhinas fill in this position, fighting in times of war as heavy cavalry, mounted on small, sturdy Skyrimian horses or, on extremely rare occasions, Bretic stallions brought from High Rock (usually these horses are found only in the stables of rulers, although a particularly rich druzhina of a king or grand duke could own such a horse).
The mountains have added greatly to the adoption of a soft defensive frontier in the south-east employed against Dunmeri raiding parties and larger armies alike. The mountains hide a great number of small forts, most of them wooden and big enough to house only a couple hundred of men at most; rarely will you find one that could support at least a single thousand men. These forts usually don't have great food storages and the garrison usually gets all the food and water from the area around the fort. These forts are enough to pose a considerable challenge to a raiding party that would be unlikely to have any siege engines and even more unlikely to be able to haul them all the way up the mountains to the forts; however, these forts aren't large and, by themselves, dangerous enough to be worth the time and effort for a larger army to stop and besiege them.
The garrisons of these forts are made up of locals who know the mountains like the backs of their hands. These men, upon spotting the enemy, will begin harassing them with great skill and may cause a great lot of trouble to larger armies, disrupting march order, cutting off supply routes, luring away smaller units of men and doing all they can to make the enemy feel as threatened as possible by the time they pass by the fort, when another one will take up the task. Rarely will enemies advance far into Skyrim because of these fort garrisons disrupting as much as possible, especially when the threat of a real Nordic army marching out to meet the advancing enemy starts looming ahead the closer the enemy would get to a major settlement.
This defensive system, coupled with the nature of the Great Houses of Morrowind, has allowed the Nords to avoid conquests of Skyrim by the Dunmeri. While an unified Morrowind would have a rather good chance to conquer at least some land from the Confederation, a single Great House by itself could not attempt that seriously, particularly since throwing all the troops into the trap that is the Jerall-Velothi mountains would most likely mean destruction at the hands of the other Houses. And while the Redoran have managed to defend their home province for ages against Nordic incursions, attacks into Skyrim are rare, even raiding parties can be safely said to be far less active than the Nordic ones, who intrude into Dunmeri lands so frequently that Riften's internal happenings could be traced by these raids before the forming of the Confederation, a raid-less year telling us of what is likely to be a threat from another city-state or any other kind of major disturbance, like plague or famine.
This system of defence is partially found in the bit of Jerall mountains which separates High Rock from Skyrim, although it is by far not as threatening as the one found in the east; partially this is because war with Bretons is not as frequent as against the Dunmeri. Behind the mountains there can be found a chain of fortresses, however they are quite far apart from each-other; after Woodborne's invasion into Skyrim that is being remedied - the king of Solitude hopes to build a similar defensive line as that on the Skyrim-Hammerfall border, which is a fortress chain at its best: quite a large number of forts, built out of stone and possessing the great strength usual for Nordic buildings. It stretches from around Dragonstar to North Keep.
This chain of fortresses helps to keep a feeling of great security on the Skyrim-Hammerfall border, which contributes to the number of settlements behind the chain. Looking at a map, however, one may notice that further north, the lowlands are barely inhabited. This may strike some as odd, especially considering that, unlike the mountains for the most part, these lowlands could be used for extensive farming; indeed, this happened around Solitude, so why not further inland?
Things are not as simple as that, however. Although in the north, the lowlands are relatively clear, fit for growing horses, farming and whatever else that the inhabitants of Tamriel can come up with for a land of medium fertility, the further south the more forested the lowlands get. The forest offers shelter for a variety of miscreants, from starving packs of wolves to, quoting the commoners of Solitude, 'lads like them damned Dunmer'. During the period of endless wars between the city-states, the king of Solitude didn't have the resources to get rid of the forests to make the lowlands a very valuable part of Skyrim. Nor did he want to, in fact, as the woods were a great shield for Solitude from the south. However, after the formation of the Confederation, there was no more need to shield Solitude from the southern-more cities ? in fact, it started becoming a great problem, as messengers either had to make a trip to the port of Dawnstar or risk getting lost in the woods if there was a message to deliver. Armies could barely march through and even with locals helping them to find their way through the forests, things would be quite hard.
Only several months after the forming of the Nordic Confederation, the king of Solitude began the difficult process of conquering the land from nature's grasp. Obviously the first settlements to appear were little more than larger woodcutter camps with some guard posts. However, all the trees cut down soon opened up new possibilities. Merchants became intrigued in buying that wood to sell it elsewhere; this attracted more men who hoped to make some money off of delivering that wood to Solitude. These men would bring their families with themselves, building houses and expanding the settlements. Soon, blacksmiths and smaller merchants would move in to profit off of the needs of the settlers. Land would be bought by people who wished to become farmers; some of the woodcutters would turn into farmers as well.
The abundance of wood also gave Solitude's navy and economy a spur. Right now, the internal colonization has only just begun, however the advantages of it are becoming rather obvious to the king of Solitude, who is encouraging new settlers more and more. It can be expected that several cities will rise there soon, and they won't be the only thing to do so ? the economy and population of Skyrim will also take a boost, likely. This process of claiming the woods will also spread the Nordic population more evenly across Skyrim.
No such process of fighting the nature for land can be found in south-eastern Skyrim, however, where the bulk of the population lives. However, in terms of new settlement growth, there is a slower process at work, the 'Mead hall effect'.
In south-eastern Skyrim can be found a great number of mead halls. Particularly the mountain crescent between Riften and Windhelm can boast having many of these structures that signify Nordic culture is strong in this land. Since this area, previously the arena of battles between Whiterun, Windhelm and Riften has now grown increasingly safer with the forming of the Confederation, more people are heading to the mead halls not only for a drink, but to stay there permanently. Although these mead hall 'settlers' lack the numbers of those trying to conquer the woods in the east, slowly villages are cropping up.
While the new villages in north-western Skyrim grow around agriculture and woodcutting, these settlements are mostly about the selling and making of mead, relying on animal husbandry for food. This gives these villages a steady source of income, since mead has always been liked in Skyrim and the Nords claim that the best mead comes from mead halls, which is no great wonder.
One note I wish to make about these settlements created by the 'Mead hall effect' is that some of them have turned into monasteries of sorts, a concept previously not that widely found in Skyrim, if at all. The Confederation, upon forming, found quite the number of those mead halls empty, their inhabitants either driven away by the dangers of living in the mountains during wartime, or having went off to war themselves (mead halls are famous for providing the Nordic berserkers, terrible men who undergo some manner of ritual before battle that drives them mad and makes them feel little to no pain). The rulers of Riften, Windhelm and Whiterun decided that these empty mead halls should not go to waste and thus they were gifted to priests of the Nordic pantheon. These mead halls soon turned into something not unlike the Cyrodiilic monasteries, also becoming another difference between lowland and highland Nordic cultures, since in the north-west there can be found no such places (in fact there are little mead halls in north-west, too, thus there is a lack of the 'Mead hall effect'; their absence can be explained by a lack of remote places in the mountains further away from civilization where the inhabitants of the mead halls could throw their drunken feasts in peace, a most barbaric ritual, and for this reason I applaud the king of Solitude who forbid mead halls to be built in the lands conquered from the woods).
The head of the bear: the ruling of the Confederation
The Nordic Confederation is ruled by the Council of the Cities (Gorodskije Soviet (middle Nordic), Miestų Taryba (Nordic)), more frequently the Nordic Council (Nordski Soviet (mN), Nordų Taryba (N)), which is made up from, as I mentioned in the prologue, the rulers of the eight (now nine, although Rurik Far-Stride has yet to attend to a Council meeting) city-states: the grand dukes (Velikiy khnyazi (mN), didieji kunigaik?čiai (N)) of Riften, Falkreath, Windhelm, Dawnstar and now Jehanna, and the kings (koroli (mN), karaliai (N)) of Whiterun, Solitude, Markarth Side and Winter Hold. The meetings take place in Whiterun, which is the capital of the Confederation, although due to the lack of centralization within the nation that's little more than an honourable title.
The meetings take place twice every year, although they can be called if the Confederation is faced with a great threat, too much for a single city-state to handle. I've managed to learn of the set order of every meeting.
The Council first assembles in a place in Whiterun said to be one of the oldest temples to the gods, although it is primarily devoted to Shor; the altar of this temple can be found on the coat of arms of the Confederation. The king of Whiterun sacrifices a boar on the altar before every meeting, a ritual that still lingers in this one last temple, otherwise being long forgotten everywhere in Skyrim. The gods are asked to grant the members of the Council wisdom to solve their troubles; then the king of Whiterun proclaims that 'mortal voices shall be heard now', then the councillors proceed into the castle of Whiterun. There, the kings speak whatever important they have to say about their lands; once they are done, or if they have nothing to say, the grand dukes speak.
When one of the councillors presents some sort of a problem, he first asks for the king of Whiterun for his opinion (provided it is not him speaking); then, the king of Solitude is asked (again, provided this is not him speaking) and then the other rulers in whatever order that the councillor desires. While this tradition may suggest that the king of Whiterun is the mightiest of the whole Confederation, this would only be partially true, as many consider his power to be rivalled and maybe even surpassed by that of the king of Solitude.
The Council of the Cities ensures at least some manner of standardisation within the Confederation. Laws are enacted there, and the councillors must make sure they are implemented and obeyed in their individual lands. As an example, I could say that previously, the laws of succession differed from city to city in Skyrim; now, however, it has been fully decided that the eldest son gets the land and his other brothers, should there be any (and there usually are, since a family with five or more sons is not unusual in Skyrim, equalling some ten children in total; this means that the population of Skyrim grows faster than that of, say, certain parts of High Rock), may receive lesser cities to rule as vicegerents of their oldest brother; however, they have no real lasting power and are more of there to aid their king in governing the land more effectively than as a permanent ruling bloodline. This helps avoid the division of High Rock, where every single slightly larger noble is tied to his land and removing him could be met with fierce opposition (for more comparisons between the nature of division in Skyrim and High Rock, see my article on the subject, High Rock- the Kingdom of Splinters). More often than not one could find that marshals of the city-states are brothers of the king or grand duke.
I must make a note about the Nordic language. Currently, the administrative language is middle Nordic, which is more or less the tongue of the first Nordic Empire. However, the commoners and in most cases the nobility speak what is currently considered to be 'Nordic' in everyday situations, however to call the language Nordic is not entirely accurate ? it has formed under heavy influence from Colovian and Bretic languages, and as thus sounds little like middle Nordic (which is called so because the very first men that came to Tamriel from the north were said to speak a yet different tongue that can be found on old rune stones and its traces can still be found in some Nordic names; unfortunately, not many can read it and even less ? speak it fluently).
Another achievement of the Confederation is that it finally established which towns and smaller cities answer to whom, whereas previously border towns changed hands so frequently the inhabitants were known to sometimes call for help against allied troops marching through, uncertain if these were the enemy or not. Currently, the larger settlements of Skyrim are split between the cities thusly:
Solitude rules over Dragon Bridge and Dunstad; Markarth Side rules over Amber Guard, Lainalten and Karthwasten; Falkreath rules over Granitehall, North Keep and Neugrad; Whiterun rules over Nimalten, Riverwood, Oakwood and Dunpar Wall; Riften rules over Sunguard, Reich Corigate and Greenwall; Windhelm rules over Vernim Wood, Pargran and Dragon Wood; Winter Hold rules over Amol and Laintar Dale; finally, Dawnstar rules over Stonehills and Helarchen.
From this list, we can see that Whiterun rules over the greatest number of settlements; however, we must be mindful of two things: one, most maps are quite aged and do not account for the steadily growing new settlements that fall into Solitude's control; two, Solitude has went through nearly completely untouched by the Oblivion Crisis, whereas Whiterun had to suffer the horrors of a Daedric invasion (although it is recovering from this swiftly). Thus Solitude, apparently a weak city state if we were to guess from the number of major settlements, is, in fact, nearly an equal of Whiterun in power. So far, however, there have been little to no brushes between the kings of Whiterun and Solitude, since one of them is occupied with restoring his city after the Oblivion Crisis and the other ? with the invasion of High Rock and the war against nature fought south of his city.
This, then, sums up all that I wanted to cover about the Nordic Confederation ? its defensive capabilities, major inside happenings, a brief touch upon culture (if I were to attempt to cover it with more depth, the size of this article would increase drastically, as in each city-state can be found variations of the two main cultures ? lowland and highland Nordic ? all of which are enough to warrant exploring separately) and the way it is ruled and who rules it. I may later publish another article about the Confederation, namely the afore-mentioned article about the city-state of Solitude; however, nothing is certain and I make no promises. I do reassure my loyal reader, however, that further articles will come, no matter if they are about High Rock, Skyrim, or any of the other lands of Tamriel.
-Voltaire du Guesclin
