Location/Boundaries: Located on the shores of the Bay of the Moon north of Gallacia, the Fisher folk also have settlements in the passes to the Northern plains.
Government: Each town or village is ruled by a council of elders. These councils nominate representatives to attend an inter-village meeting or 'Althing' each summer. It is at this meeting that major disputes are settled, representatives to the other near-by political entities are chosen, marriages are arranged, and rituals done to ensure the bounty of the land and sea for the coming year. Both men and women are equally involved in government. Age is greatly respected in a leader, as is a talent for channeling magick.
Laws/Legal System: Loosely codified and, though written down in one or two places, are generally held in the memory of the 'lawspeaker'. The lawspeaker will be a village elder who has the task of resolving local disputes and crimes. In many cases trials are public affairs and the citizenry participates freely. Punishment includes exile, weregild, or corporeal punishment that can range from a whipping to the removal of a hand or eye to consignment to death at sea by exposure and dehydration.
Social Classes/Status: The Fisherfolk have little hereditary nobility as such. Character traits such as bravery, honesty, and wisdom as well as age and evidence of being favored by the gods translate into social status. Priests and Priestesses as well as the village elders (often the same individuals) are held in reverence by the rest of the population. Religious positions are sometimes hereditary, but still merit based.
Cities/People: There are three main cities: Drava and Bataszék in the north and the capital Tolna, in the south of the region. Tolna is the largest at about 4500 permanent residents. It has large populations of Gaels, Dwarves, and northern Kingdom peoples there for trade. The northern cities have a population consisting of Fisherfolk, settled and visiting Plainsmen, and traders. The towns and cities themselves are constructed mainly of wooden buildings, some with mortared stone foundations. Most of the buildings are only one or two stories high. Only the three cities are walled (with stone and wooden palisades and an outer ditch). Roads are unpaved both in and out of the towns, and the technology is generally at a "medieval" rather than a "renaissance" level.
Military: None standing. Civilian forces will be rallied if necessary. They have few firearms and generally still rely on crossbows, short bows, and hand-to-hand weapons. The Fisherfolk are excellent sailors and their fishing vessels can be used for war if need be. Since they are not designed for ramming and cannon are rare in the north, they will generally be used for boarding actions.
Education: Village elders and other old people who can no longer go to sea consider it their responsibility to tutor the young in the traditions of the people. As they near adolescence, youths will be apprenticed in a trade: ship-building, fishing, sail and net making, smithing, etc.. There are no universities or other schools of formal education.
Technology: Lower tech than the states to the south. Homes and amenities are simple. Life has changed very little here in the past several hundred years. The revolutionary devices from the south presses, firearms, clocks, etc. are only just beginning to catch hold in the Fisher cities and larger towns. The Fisher towns do not have things like street lights, publicly charitable funded hospitals, pavement, sidewalks, etc.
Production & Industry: Ship-building, forestry, and fishing are the main industries of this region. There is also some mining for various ores in the mountains. The folk undertake some whaling as well and provide ambergris and other luxuries to the south. Amber, jet, and mother of pearl are also harvested and traded. Most families are part-time farmers, keeping some goats, sheep, and fowl as well as raising a few hardy crops. Most industries: smithing, weaving, etc. are cottage industries.
Foreign Relations: Very friendly with the Gaels with whom they have trade agreements and a mutual-aid-at-sea-treaty (ship in distress). They also have a strong relationship with the dwarves. Diplomacy and Dwarven military aid helped them establish peaceful relations with their plains neighbors some generations ago, and it is through the pass towns that the Plainsmen trade skins and horses for many pastoral goods. They have good relationships with the other southern states, but distance keeps much interaction from going on. Oddly enough, the Empire often has a ship or two here for trade or to wait out the winter.
Religion: The Fisherfolk are polytheist. They worship three main deities, two of which are followed in different forms in Gallacia: the Tri-part goddess of death and rebirth and her consort, the Huntsman. They tend to be harsher and yet more sensual and even blatantly sexual in the aspects in which the Fisherfolk worship them. They also worship a mysterious and amorphous sea god, Lir. Unlike Mannanan, worshipped farther south, Lir is neither anthropomorphic nor mild-tempered. He gives great rewards, but those who venture into his realm take great risks. There are also a host of lesser animistic spirit beings that are called on for aid, some of which are very similar to those consulted by the Plainsfolk shamans and others of which are creatures of the sea.
Magick: Only channelling is widely recognized or accepted. There are many rituals involving the gods, some of which are very sexual in nature. There are also rituals for dealing with spirits of the dead or evil beings. Ancient and arcane sea/sailing magick is no longer practiced here but plays a role on the mythology of the people and would be accepted. channellers from other cultures are also generally tolerated and their gods seen as different versions of the Lady and her Consort.