Castles of Ice
Seelie
Most of the commoners in Oulu are of a Seelie bent, especially the Troll huskarls and their retainers.
Nobles
Few Seelie nobles are in Oulu. Those few tend to be serve the ruling Unseelie lords as advisors, nothing more.
Commoners
Most commoner Kiths are represented in Oulu. Trolls have long ruled the land and ruled well, fairly, and justly. They maintain the largest freehold in the Oulu region from Snowhill Fort, called Caer Lumian (Level 5 Holding), a manor hidden within Putäänselka Forest, which lies in the metropolitan north of the city proper, in the Haukipudas District. Huskarl Onni Niskala rules there. Other mews and hearths and motleys persist around the city, governed primarily by the other huskarls and their retainers.
Unseelie
Since the Swan Accords, the Unseelie nobles have called the shots in Oulu. However, these aren’t vile Balor overlords or domineering Ailil. These are Aesin: though vain and sometimes as cruel as the winter, they are honorable and forthright. Deceit is the tool of the weak, and the weak do not endure in these lands.
Nobles
Only two holdings belong to the Unseelie lords at this time. Duke Armas Soro ap Aesin rules the greater of the two, Cat Ramnia, from an ice castle manor in Letonniemi Forest. The woods dominate this peninsula north of the city proper. Meanwhile, Countess Janika Tuomela ni Varich controls Cat Jarva, located ten miles east of Oulu. It is a rare Isle holding located in the middle of the woodlands-surrounded Kalimeenlampi Lake. Though the island itself is the freehold, she also rules from a mansion seemingly made of ice.
Commoners
The few Unseelie commoners endemic to the Oulu area were secretly pleased by the outcome of the Swan Accords. The Nockers in particular were happy to put their talents to work for mighty (and well-paying) nobles for a change. Besides, the huskarls were painfully and boringly Seelie and rarely let these fae have any real fun.
Merfolk
The only true Gallain in the area are the Merfolk inhabiting the Bothnian Bay. From Ur’cho’pagin, the City of Pale Rime (a city made of chimerical coral so translucent and pale as to look like ice), King Asmo rules his people with stern and mighty command of the winds and sea. The local Selkies also cooperate with the Mer. The Selkies frequent Hailuoto Island, and so any Kith who wish to entreat the Mer must go there. It is considered “neutral territory”, per the Swan Accords. Few Kithain know Ur’cho’pagin’s location, which is in the Lönkytin Deep (a “mere” 160 feet down: close enough to see from the surface if the water wasn’t so dark).
