Locations
1. na-M)lnon Region 2. Tk'ikiktik Region 3. Fallen Sky
1. na-M)lnon Region
2. Tk'ikiktik Region
The Tk'ikiktik Region encapsulates multiple library-towns along the Northwest shore of the Northern continent. It's about as North as you can get with regular boat traffic - anything further North will see you hiring a crew yourself and making it worth their while. Tk'ikiktik is below the treeline but most definitely not below wherever the line for Reasonable Goddamn Weather is drawn. The harsh environment has bred a stubborn, hardy people of the locals and their livestock.
Tk'ikiktik towns are mazes of interconnected buildings, with the few buildings not directly connected to the rest often having ample reason to be that way. The towns center around common areas, multipurpose halls used for storytelling, lessons, and feasts among other things, as well as a library. The library, in fact, has grown from a humble seed to the beating heart of these communities over the past three generations.
Though the Tk'ikiktik peoples are today known as a scholarly kind, mere generations ago they barely had knowledge preserved in writing at all! The cause for this change was the interplay of two things. First, they had recently begun more widely cultivating trees which could be used to make paper. This species of pine grows in forests farther inland than the coastal tundra of Tkikiktik, but the flourishing trade route to a more temperate culture skilled in their craft of paper had led to paper-based art being in fashion in Tk'ikiktik and an exchange of knowledge that jumpstarted the cultivation of these pines on Tk'ikiktik shores.
The second reason, however, was a tragedy. A sickness tore through the population, decimating especially the elderly and the young. Oceanic wolves fled back into the waves and many matriarchs led them to different, unfamiliar shores as they tried to escape the disease. Families were torn apart by death, by grief, by the exodus of oceanic wolves and to a lesser extent the terrestrial ones as well, seeking shelter in other settlements and often being turned away as they brought the news of sickness with them. And with the elders fell knowledge. Generations upon generations of knowledge, tales told for the final time, wisdom that had scantly ever been written down, not in full, not within all necessary context, because before this, there had always been another ear that had listened and could remember, another mouth that could tell it again.
Not anymore.
In the dark times of this grief and directionlessness emerged a small group of individuals who started pushing for wider literacy, for written records, for collections of knowledge that can be consulted and shared. Though the loss could never be corrected, the gaps never again filled, what remained could be saved. What remained would be saved. The craft of paper that had come to Tk'ikiktik culture as exotic art was reshaped into something more utilitarian by need.
And this leads us to the library towns of Tk'ikiktik today. Terrestrial and oceanic both, these wolves are known as scholarly and open. One cannot survive a harsh winter on their own, a community cannot survive either if personal grudge is allowed to come before extending a helping hand. No one who knocks on these doors shall be left without shelter, without food, without the knowledge they seek.
Though the harsh climate and unusual diet (these Northern terrestrial wolves relying much heavier on meat and fish than their more temperate cousins) is not easy to adjust to for most travellers, the library towns are thriving, multi-cultural hubs. Most come for the libraries and classes, many others still for the art, or for the storied tradition of whaling.
Agriculture
The library towns are coastal towns and a large part of the local diet thus consists of fish, seabird eggs, and the meat and blubber of various whale and seal species. The rest is acquired by foraging, harvesting plants (especially roots and berries) from meticulously cultivated fields and forests nearby the towns, and livestock.
The Tk'ikiktik breeds of sheep are hardy, relatively large animals, with a long double coat of wool. They are all-purpose, kept both for their milk, meat, and wool. Their wool tends to come in a large variety of colours, though some shepherds breed specifically for lighter ones for dyeing purposes. Most breeds possess kemp, a rougher, hollow type of fiber as part of their coat, which resists dye and gives the processed yarn and fabric a frosted appearance. Barring extremely harsh winters, the sheep are out on pasture year-round though may be kept in the vicinity of simple shelters during the Long Night especially.
TBA: birds (ptamigan inspo), muskoxen
Whaling
TBA