Serydina crest

The Serydina Isles

Nine mist-shrouded bones in the Weeping Sea

Misted archipelago of the Serydina Isles

Overview

The Serydina Isles rise from the Weeping Sea like the broken bones of a primordial giant—nine major islands shrouded in pearl-gray mists and bound by currents that change with a mind of their own. Foremost lies Snuuflund, crowned by Mount Solnyi Plach (“Salt Weeping”), a dormant volcano whose crater lake bleeds brine down its flanks in eerie crimson threads. The smaller isles lay close like mourners round a bier, each with its own coves, kelp forests, and ruin-snagged shoals.

Life here is hardship braided with ceremony. The clans keep longships and lore in equal measure; grief is fermented into mead and sung into the Saga of Sorrows, an epic that lengthens each year. When the Althing of Depths meets in the Bone Mead-Hall—a parliament carved from the ribs of a titanic whale—judgment is rendered beneath bioluminescent kelp banners.

Beneath the waves, whole forests of petrified longships stand in Utgård Bay, where pilgrims dive for counsel from drowned jarls. Some who rise again speak in the language of whales for days.

Outsiders arriving at the Serydina Isles must first undergo the Rite of Salt-Welcome at the harbor of Snuuflund, where they drink seawater mixed with spiced rum and speak their truest sorrow aloud before the assembled crowd. Those who refuse or lie find their ships becalmed, unable to leave until they offer genuine grief to the sea.

Trade must be conducted through the Merchants' Mourning, where foreign goods can only be exchanged after sharing authentic tales of loss and regret. The Serydinki prize stories above gold, memories above silver, and will pay handsomely for accounts of distant tragedies.

Isles & Holdings

  • Snuuflund — central isle; Mount Solnyi Plach; Bone Mead-Hall.
  • Utgård Bay — submerged longships; pilgrim dives.
  • Outer isles — sheep/goat holds; storm watches.
    • Stormskar — “scar of the storm,” jagged islands lashed by tempests
    • Kravenholm — "home of the crows/ravens”
    • Eirvik — “bay of mercy”
    • Brimholt — “sea-wood,” only island where trees grow
    • Varðeyjar — Steep sided plateau

Orders & Customs

  • Althing of Depths — clan jarls convene in the Bone Mead-Hall.
  • Saga-keepers — add yearly verses to the Saga of Sorrows.
  • Tide-readers — chart the shifting currents & fog (lore-keepers).
“Here, sorrow is a sail—catch it, or drown beneath it.”

— Elder at the Bone Mead-Hall

Trade & Tides

  • Salt & smoked fish; whale-bone craft; amber and wreck salvage.
  • Limited port-days for outsiders; barter under Althing writ.
  • Storm-season stores: kelp-rope, oil, and brined meats.

Rumours & Hooks

  • Currents “choose” victims—tide-readers seek a pattern in the fog.
  • Crimson brine from Solnyi Plach thickens each year (omen?).
  • Whale-song rites awaken something beneath Utgård Bay.

Places of Note

The Bone Mead-Hall of Jarl Grimheart

The Bone Mead-Hall

Carved from the ribcage of a titanic whale that beached itself in grief, this great hall serves as the primary meeting place for the Althing of Depths. The roof is formed from interlaced whale ribs, and bioluminescent kelp hangs like banners between the bone pillars. Here, the Serydinki gather to share the ritual mead brewed from fermented fish and recite the Saga of Sorrows—an epic poem that grows longer each year as new griefs are added to its verses.

The Sunken Longships of Utgård Bay

The Sunken Longships of Utgård Bay

Beneath thirty fathoms of black water lie the preserved hulls of the original Viking fleet that brought the Serydinki's ancestors to these shores. The salt water has turned the wood to stone, creating an underwater forest of petrified dragon-prowed vessels. Pilgrims dive to these depths seeking wisdom from the drowned jarls whose spirits still hold court in the flooded halls, though many who descend too deep return speaking only in the language of whales.

Mount Solnyi Plach (Salt Weeping)

The Weeping Rune-Stones of Sorrow's Point

Standing stones carved with runic inscriptions that weep tears of liquid silver mark the northernmost tip of the main island. Each stone records a different aspect of the great catastrophe that drove the ancestors from their homeland, but the runes shift and change when viewed directly, showing each observer the particular grief that matches their own heart's wounds. Scholars who attempt to transcribe the runes find their notes dissolving into salt water before the ink can dry.

Mount Solnyi Plach (Salt Weeping)

The Frost Giant›s cauldron

A massive tidal pool formed in the crater of an extinct volcano on the isle of Morid-Heart, this natural formation is said to be where the last frost giant wept himself to death watching his kin perish in the great thaw. The water never freezes despite the northern winds, and strange fish swim in its depths—creatures with human faces that mouth words in the old tongue. The Serydinki cast offerings of carved bone and braided hair into its waters, believing the giant's spirit can carry messages to the realm of the honoured dead.

Mount Solnyi Plach (Salt Weeping)

The Corpse-Light Beacon of Maiden›s Rest

Built from the fossilized bones of a fallen maiden, this lighthouse guides ships through the treacherous approaches to the main harbor. The beacon burns with corpse-light—a cold flame that provides no warmth but can be seen for leagues through even the thickest fog. The lighthouse keeper is always a volunteer who has lost their entire family to the sea, and they serve until death, tending the flame while composing death-songs for sailors lost in the surrounding waters.