Rjuvik is a hazardous and lawless place where traditional Rjurik nomadic life has almost completely died out, except in the extreme northern regions. The Blood Skull Barony threatens the north and challenges Fulgar's influence there. Elsewhere, Fulgar's jarls exercise the tyrannical oppression Fulgar demands. These corrupt and selfish individuals allow their people to engage in all forms of lawless conduct - for a cut of the take. Unlike the usual Rjurik jarl's body of housecarls, traditional swordsmen of elite status, Fulgar's men have bodies of club wielding thugs.

Rjurikers are hard working, honest people who prefer their farms and herds to raids and warfare. Their leaders, however are brutal thieves and bandits. Though officially forbidden from raiding neighboring kingdoms, Fulgar's jarls make most of their money from managing criminal activity both in their lands, and from piracy and banditry outside it.

There is little time for art in Rjuvik, and those who are artists in spirit, the skalds, tend to be offended by the bandit-king, Fulgar, clinging instead to the traditional spirit of the Rjurik and its values and encouraging the people of Rjuvik to cast aside the brutish ways of Fulgar and return to Erik's teachings.

Rjuvik is ruled by Fulgar, a reaver chief who usurped first the province of Yvarre then the whole kingdom of Rjuvik, deposing and killing any who would oppose him and establishing his friends in the highest offices of the realm. Fulgar is merciless in his hold on power and tolerates no challenges to his rule. Fulgar's Kanslern (Chancellor) is an assassin and enforcer. He gives his jarls wide latitude in their provinces, granting them absolute power over their subjects. In return he demands absolute loyalty, obedience and twenty percent off the top. Fulgar and his jarls are unconcerned with government and are entirely inattentive to the needs of the people or the duties that might come with power. In effect, aside from the oppression and taxation of Fulgar and his jarls, the realm is lawless. The state upholds no principles other than Fulgar's greed, and the people in the realm live in a constant state of fear.

Dankmaar is entirely composed of wetlands. This province is a lowland and naturally fills with water, inundating the land with shallow water. Dankmaar is mostly a swamp, with small, watery hillocks supporting substantial woody tree growth. The amount of vegetation in the swamps of Dankmaar are very substantial. The movement of water is quite slow, draining off into small creeks through Hollenvik in Stjordvik, supporting a considerable forest there.

Dankmaar has long been populated by trolls and lizardfolk. Rjurik adventurers and warriors would occasional attack those dwelling in the swamp to reduce the predation out of the swamp. Fulgar put an end to this many years ago, and now the population of those in the swamp is growing quite considerable.

Hjarrsmark

Hulak Ivarsson is Eorl of Hjarrsmark.

Hoeskal

Arnor Sharpeye is the Eorl of Hoeskal.

Nalhorske was long a victim of the Blood Skull Barony, and one of Fulgar's achievements was to regularly blunt attacks into this province. The fortress of Viborg was always a great defensive place for resisting the Blood Skullers, but Fulgar's Marshal, Thurak, prefers to attack the invaders before they do much damage, rather than withdrawing to the walled city.

Rokus Ceolredsson is Eorl of Nalhorske.

Viborg (Large Town): Nonstandard; AL CE; 5000 gp limit; Assets 615,000 gp; Population 2646 (human 96%, dwarf 2%, halfling 1%, other 1%).

Authority Figures: Fulgar the Bold (CE male Rjurik rogue 9/ fighter 12), King of Rjuvik; Rannar Olafsson (CE male Rjurik rogue 4) Jarl of Nalhorske; Agnar Hjarrer (N male Rjurik noble 2/ druid 5) Archdruid of Rjuvik.

Important Characters: Thurak Trollborn (NE male hobgoblin fighter 4/ bone warrior 4), Gruskarl (Marshal) of Rjuvik; Dagmar Arngeirsdotter (CE female Rjurik rogue 3/ priestess of Eloéle 6) Starfsmathr (Steward) of Rjuvik.

The walled capital city of Rjuvik is the official capital of the realm, owing to ancient traditions which Fulgar chose not to ignore on the druids' advice. Fulgar himself rules from his great palace on the coast of Yvarre, far to the south. Several of Fulgar's key officers are bound to be here imposing Fulgar's will on the country. The city is well defended, both as it is the cerimonial capital of the realm, but also as a key defense against the Blood Skull Barony. Viborg is a strange place where hardened warriors grimly wait for the next orog raid, theives and outlaws walk the streets vying with pirates who call themselves merchants and more-or-less honest tradesmen for a slice of the economic pie. Much work is available for adventurers and mercenaries in Viborg, but the risks are correspondingly high.

Sjarkhoelle

Njaral Gunnarsson is the Eorl of Sjarkhoelle.

Svarkannek

Yvarre had been a center of trade for the Royal Merchants of Rjuvik, when the aaolfers domainated the waters of Yvarre. But even then there had been reavers who put out along the coast to raid shipping and prey on commerce. Björn Ironside rose to prominence as chief of the reavers, and actively recruited ships from the aaolfer fleets. Because of their success, the reavers grew in numbers as ships flocked to the banner of Björn's fleet. When Björn died, he was succeeded by one of his most successful ship's captains, Fulgar the bold.

When the Shadow drove the five tribes out of Aduria, the Rjuven took to their longboats and travelled the great salt road until they arrived in what is now Halskapa. Tired, weak, and in a strange land, the Rjuven clustered together for security.

Fulgar the Bold deposed the king of Rjuvik, Edvard Halvarsson.

Rjuvik is a violent bandit kingdom ruled with ruthless efficiency by the chieftain Fulgar. Under Fulgar, Rjuvik had abandon the old tradition of the raid, but in its place came the pratice of the bandit. The raid was a practice that had not only captured loot from others (mostly lifestock) but was pratice for the traditional style of Rjurik warfare. The bandits rob travelers on the roads and demand protection money to prevent raids from towns and villages. They want coin. The values of aristocratic Rjuvik have been supressed in favor of the bandits who now run the country. An ethos of parasitism is being practiced by Fulgar and his agents. The law holdings today protect no one, they just prey on the weak. The guild holdings produce only a minimum, they mostly just distributed the loot. In the early years of Fulgar, a few of the eorls stoof up for the aristocratic values of honor and justice. They resented the way every man was out for himself and the strong, far from protecting the weak, preyed upon them. The number of thrall increased by an order of magnitude. But Fulgar isolated, assasinated, and harrased the nobles, weeding out the proudest and most honorable. Over the years some of the eorls put their organizational skills to work for Fulgar, others just retreated to the long houses. Few were not comprimised by the bandit ethos in some way, even if it was just accepting Fulgar's coin to free captured bandits preying on the noble's community.

The skalds have kept the old aristocratic ethos alive in song and poem. The young nobles, born during the reign of Fulgar have been inspired by these tales of purpose and nobility. The young dryten have sometimes form counter-bandit hirds (warrior bands) and hunt the bandits. When they have too much success and retributions begin, sometimes they just lay low for a while, but they often go to other Rjurik realms to serve in honorable households as huskarlar where they are seeing the Rjurik traditions in full flower.

Fulgar names no heir, to prevent that heir from plotting against him and replacing him. He hopes to be able to designate an heir at a point close enough to his own death to ensure a natural death, but no closer than neccesary.

Interestingly, the role of the druids run the full spectrum. Some druids hate Fulgar and supported the traditional order. Some druids feel that Fulgar's policies are favorable to the natural world, since it focuses on inter-human parasitism rather than trying to make nature yield a greater bounty. Farmland acreage has declined under Fulgar and forestry is ignored (the foresters were on their own, without guild or royal support). Some druids take no interest in what should be (should Rjuvik be aristocratic or should Rjuvik be less intrusive to nature) and just go about their business as things are. The Oaken Grove control temples with just a smattering of sources where they are strongest, while the Emerald Spiral is weak in Rjuvik and only holds a few temples. The Spiral normally has a strong base of support holding sources in the undeveloped areas, but two wizards have claimed these and deny the Spiral its base of power. Quirad al-Dinn and Adriala the Dark are two wizards who maintain powerful control of the sources in Rjurvik, and have an arrangement with Fulgar, who tolerates them for the service they can render him.

• Fulgar the Bold, King of Rjuvik
  
• Gunnar the knife, Kanslern (Chancellor)
  
• Thurak the Trollborn, Gruskarl (Marshal)
  
• Dagmar Arngeirsdotter, Starfsmaðr (Steward)
  
• Hulak Ivarsson, Jarl of Hjarrsmark
  
• Njaral Gunnarsson, Jarl of Sjarkhoelle
  
• Ingvas Gunnarsson, Lord of Hoechvik in Hoeskal
  
• Djarrik Vidarskeeper, Guildsman of Svakennek
  
• Rannar Arnorsson, Guildsman of Nalhorske
  
• Arnor Sharpeye, Jarl of Hoeskal
  
• Volund Sigurdsson, Jarl of Dankmaar
  
• Quirad al-Dinn, Khinasi Wizard
  
• Adriala the Dark, Brecht Wizard
  
• Esben Whitecloak, Archdruid of Rjuvik
  

• 1 Rjkar Hunters: one Ranger and two Warriors
  
• 2 Bandit: bandits demand tolls
  
• 3 Patrol: one Fighter and two Warriors
  
• 4 Animal: deer, elk, or moose
  
• 5 Traveler: various; druid, skald, merchant
  
• 6 Special: rare encounters
  

Encounter detail (Rjuvik)

Domain Table: Rjuvik

Province	Law	Temple	Guild	Source
Dankmaar (0/8)	-	-	-	QD (3)
				AD (3)
Hjarrsmark (1/5)	Hu (1)	GB (1)	Hu (1)	AD (3)
Hoeskal (1/5)	Ar (0)	-	WW (1)	AD (3)
Nalhorske (2/3)	FB (1)	GB (2)	Rn (2)	QD (2)
			WW (1)
Sjarkhoelle (1/6)	Na (1)	GB (1)	Na (1)	QD (2)
Svarkannek (2/4)	FB (1)	GB (2)	Dj (1)	AD (2)
Yvarre (4/3)	FB (4)	GB (4)	FB (3)	QD (2)
			WW (1)
Abbreviations: Ar=Arnor Sharpeye; Dj=Djarrik Vidarskeeper; Na=Njaral Gunnarsson; Hu=Hulak Ivarsson; Rn=Rannar Arnorsson; WW=White Witch; FB=Fulgar the Bold; OE=Günther Brandt (Oaken Grove of Erik); QD=Qurad al-Din (Undermålsrike); AD=Adriala the Dark (Shadow Obelisk).