Geography of Torvaldsland
Torvaldsland is a general area on the Gorean map, almost like a large country. It is not simply a specific city or town. The area is generally considered to begin near the end of the northern forests and continue northwards up to frozen wastes. The Skerry of Einar, by the Torvaldsmark, is thought to mark the boundary of the Torvaldsland and the southland although the men of Torvaldsland say the border ends where their serpent ships take them, no matter how far south that maybe. These men of Torvaldsland or Jarls, as they are known by, like to claim that their boundary encompasses anywhere that their ships land and s have been known to journey as far south as Schendi and Bazi and as far west as Tyros and Cos.
In the legends of Torvaldsland, the founder and first Jarl, or ruler, of the land was Torvald and sailed a serpent ship known as the Black Shark. The god Thor allegedly bestowed a special gift to Torvald in exchange for a gold ring. This gift was the Stream of Torvald. This Stream is a current in Thassa Sea that moves eastward to the coast and then northward. It is like a wide river in the sea, several pasangs wide. The temperature of the water in this current is warmer than the surrounding sea and is much like the gulf stream of Earth that flows upwards near the United Kingdom or British Isles. This stream helps produces a milder climate as the cold polar air passes over it, providing warmer, more humid air that helps warm and provide moisture to Torvaldsland keeping it from becoming a frigid wasteland. The warming caused by the Stream allows agriculture to occur and without it, Torvaldsland would be more akin to the arid frozen wastes occupied by the Red Hunters.
The Torvaldsmark is a tall rune marked stone that looks like a needle pointing to the sky. The region known as Torvaldsland ends near the frozen sea areas, at the polar lands of the Inuits or Red Hunters. This Northland is a harsh and rocky land with many cliffs, inlets and mountains. Its geography resembles the Scandinavian countries of Earth such as Norway, Finland and Iceland. Productive soil is rare and only, found in thin patches and is therefore extremely valuable which results in most of the farms are very small. The scarcity of the patches of soil and the terrain of the region itself results in farms and settlements being spread out throughout the region. The terrain is not conducive to land travel thus most settlements are located along the many fjords or narrow inlets of the Thassa sea that stretch inward passing through the valleys formed by the high mountains.
The people of Torvaldsland communicate between these isolated farms by means of the fjords, using small boats. The use of signal horns is also well known as the sound from the blowing into these specially made horns resounds through the rock walls of the valleys.
Due to the scarcity of arable soil, the harsh climate and short growing season famine is not unknown to the people of Torvaldsland. During those times the people are known to exist on the bark of the thinly distributed trees, lichens and seaweed.
The growing season of Torvaldsland is similar to that of Norway, about one hundred and twenty days. Sa-Tarna a grain is the primary crop and is commonly sown in the fall, a month after the harvest festival. This allows the crop to develop a strong root system before the deep frost comes that temporarily stop its growth. Tospits, peas, beans, cabbage, onions, suls, fruit trees, and radishes are also grown though southern plants that produce the fruits such as larmas cannot grow there. Tospits are of particular importance to the men of Torvaldsland; these fruits are high in vitamin C and are also called "seaman's larma," because they are carried with the men on the long sea voyages to be eaten while at sea to prevent certain nutritional deficiencies. This is much like citrus fruits being used by the sailors of Earth to prevent scurvy. The health of the men while at sea is of utmost importance, without the raiding, trading and sea travel the people of Torvaldsland would not be able to survive for long in their native land.
Due to the harsh climate and high altitude of Torvaldsland there are few trees able to grow in the region, the trees such as ka-la-na and temwood will not grow there making these woods very valuable in the Northland. Most dwellings are made from soil and stone with the walls being as much as 8 inches thick. The roofs too are made from sod and have no windows and one, maybe two doors at the most. A hall constructed of ka-la-na wood would be seen as a great luxury as most of the wood would go towards the building of the serpent ships.
Torvaldslanders do raise some domestic animals such as milk bosk, verr and tarsks. During the warmer months the bosk and verr will be driven into the mountains to the high meadows to graze. These herds would be driven down to the settlements as the cooler weather approaches and spend the winter in the sheds built to house them during the harsh cold. Bees too are also kept to produce honey and pollinate the orchards, the honey they produce goes towards sweetening the foods and more importantly in the making of a favored fermented drink of the people, mead.
There are a few geographical areas in Torvaldsland specifically mentioned in the book of Marauders. The Inlet of Green Cliffs and Inlet of Iron Walls are mentioned but not described. The Skerry of Vars is a bleak rock that stands about fifteen to twenty feet above the water. It is about one hundred feet Gorean square. Though it is a bit rough, it is generally flat. Thorstein Camp is a group of warriors located a bit north of Einar's Skerry. The Camp is built on an island in an inlet and is surrounded by a wooden palisade. The Camp's Jarl is Thorstein and he claims control of the land for about fifty pasangs around this area. The inlet was once called the Inlet of Parsit because of its bountiful fishing. Ax Glacier is considered the northern boundary of Torvaldsland. It lies in a valley between two mountain chains of the Hrimgar Mountains.
I regarded the vast map on the floor of the chamber. I could see, high on the map, Ax Glacier, Torvaldsland, and Hunjer and Skjern, and Helmutsport, and lower, Kassau and the great green forests, and the river Laurius, and Laura and Lydius, and lower, the islands, prominent among them Cos and Tyros; I saw the delta of Vosk, and Port Kar, and, inland, Ko-ro-ba, the Towers of the Morning, and Thentis, in the mountains of Thentis, famed for her tarn flocks; and, to the south, among many other cities, Tharna, of the vast silver mines; I saw the Voltai Range, and Glorious Ar, and the Cartius, and, far to the south, Turia, and near the shore of Thassa, the islands of Anango and Ianda, and on the coast, the free ports of Schendi and Bazi. There were, on the map, hundreds of cities, and promontories and peninsulas, and rivers and inland lakes and seas... The beast had been taken southeast of Ar, while moving southeast. Such a Path would take it below the eastern foothills of the Voltai and to the south. It was incredible.
Tribesmen of Gor - page 7
Torvaldsland is a cruel, harsh, rocky land. It contains many cliffs, inlets and mountains. Its arable soil is thin and found in patches. The size of the average farm is very small. Good soil is rare and highly prized. Communication between farms is often by sea, in small boats. Without the stream of Torvald it would probably be impossible to raise cereal crops in sufficient quantity to fee even its relatively sparse population. There is often not enough food under any conditions, particularly in northern Torvaldsland, and famine is not unknown. In such cases men feed on bark, and lichens and seaweed. It is not strange that the young men of Torvaldsland often look to the sea, and beyond it, for their fortunes. The stream of Torvald is regarded by the men as a gift of Thor, bestowed upon Torvald, legendary founder and hero of the land, in exchange for a ring of gold"
Marauders of Gor - page 54
Rune stone of the Torvaldsmark is taken by many, to mark the border between Torvaldsland and the south. Many of those of Torvaldsland, however, take its borders to be much further extended that the Torvaldsmark. Indeed, some men regard Torvaldsland to be wherever their ships beach, as they took their country, and their steel, with them."
Marauders of Gor - page 45
The Torvaldsberg is, all things considered, an extremely dangerous mountain. Yet it is clearly not unscalable, as I learned, without equipment. It has the shape of a spear blade, broad, which has been bent near the tip. It is something over four and a half pasangs in height, or something over seventeen thousand Earth feet. It is not the highest mountain on Gor but it is one of the most dramatic, and most impressive. It is also, in its fearful way, beautiful."
Marauders of Gor - pages 220 - 221