More Fantasy History
Real World Inspiration Behind the City of Herkeby
Last week, I talked about the real-world inspiration for the Norrønian city of Bense.
Today we’re going to look at another city, the city of Herkeby (map by cartographer Rob Lazzaretti).
The layout of Herkeby is unique in Norrøngard, with its perfect circular defensive earthwork walls and orderly streets. That’s because it’s base on the design of trelleborgs, the Viking ring fortresses. Here is an illustration of a trelleborg.
You can see that Herkeby is essentially a giant ring fortress.
The jarl of Herkeby, Inga the Undaunted, is one of my favorite NPCs. Here’s a bit of her description from the Norrøngard Campaign Setting, some parts of which were inspired by Scandinavian sagas:
“Inga was born on a farm on the outskirts of Herkeby’s territory. When a young linnorm came out of the Dragon’s Wood to prey on their cattle, her husband and his freeman feared to do anything about it, hoping the creature would tire and move on. But the wyrm returned and killed Inga’s children instead. Rather than grieve, she took her husband’s axe, an heirloom of his family, and went after it. Inga came back three days later bloodied and exhausted but dragging the linnorm’s head. She tossed the grisly trophy on the grass outside her longhouse at the feet of her husband and declared herself a free woman. Then she left for a life of adventure. Three years ago, after amassing a considerable reputation, she challenged the former jarl of Herkeby, defeated him, and took over the leadership of the town, though her rule is not without controversy. One year into her reign, having tired of the many suitors for her hand who insisted that a woman needed a husband to rule so large a territory, she invited all of her would-be spouses to a dinner in a mead hall outside the city. Inga then slipped out, chained the doors shut, and set the hall on fire. Since this bold action, no one has sought marriage from her or questioned her right to be the jarl.”
Now notice that small village outside the city, Neðarheim. This is a community that has grown up around the Temple at Fornuppsalir, the most famous temple in Norrøngard. This location is based pretty heavily on the real world Temple at Uppsala. The well and enormous tree reported to have been at Uppsala get exaggerated here, with the well possibly leading to the afterlife and the tree… well, the tree is one of my favorite pieces of setting and lore. Again from the Norrøngard Campaign Setting:
“The tree is said to have been planted by the god Mót, keeper of secrets, from a branch of the World Tree. A large, wide limb that extends level with the plateau allows supplicants to walk across to the trunk. Totems representing prayers and wishes are hung in the accessible branches to either side of this well-trod limb. Secrets never told to anyone that are whispered into a large knothole in Mótmeiðr’s trunk go directly to Mót’s ears, and if the Keeper of Secrets is pleased with what he hears, he sometimes whispers a secret in return.”
How’s that for a plot hook? Just what could Mót whisper to your character? What did you have to trade to hear it?
You can learn more about Herkeby and the rest of Norrøngard in the campaign setting. The Temple at Fornuppsalir is also featured in Chris Willrich’s wonderful novella, “Runefall,” one of the Norrøngard-set stories in the anthology Tales from Stolki’s Hall.
That’s it for this week. Please check out our forthcoming Kickstarter.
Please let me know if you are enjoying this series of peeks behind the curtain and feel free to comment with questions you’d like to see addressed in future posts.
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