Garafrax

Garafrax is a small settlement on the northwestern coast of the White Sea. Heavy ice on both sea and land make life difficult for the residents, whose lives revolve primarily around the hunt for seals, whose bounty provisions the residents with materials for food, clothing, tools, and a variety of other purposes. The fat of fresh-killed seals, eaten raw wrapped in a savory local ice-growing lichen, is a favoured traditional dish.

Garafrax is too minor to merit status as a satrapy of the Realm, but it remains of interest to some involved with Realm politics for its relations with the Immaculate Order: the locals are devout Immaculate adherents, and while the legal relationship is not so codified, they function in many ways as a tributary of the Palace Sublime, providing labour and supplies to support the Order’s undertakings in the far North. The most important duty of the Garafrax is to help feed and maintain the Dome of the Sapphire Stele, an Immaculate monastery and pilgrimage site inland to the north of the community.

The people of Garafrax benefit from this close relationship due to the protection the Order’s presence grants them, both from tribal raiders and domineering spirits, and the blessing of sermons from visiting Dragonblooded monks. The village temple, the Temple of the Frozen Shore, is also a fine stone building, able to resist fierce storms (and shelter the villagers during such disasters), with an attached pier to allow sea-going vessels berth for trade (albeit requiring donatives to the temple).