Glorium

Glorium was a small gate-town leading to Ysgard from the Outlands.

"What is life, but struggle? What is struggle, but conflict? What is conflict, but battle? What is Glorium, but all of the above?"

- Flatnose Grim

Description
This small gate-town consisted a number of longhouses, shipsheds, smokehouses, workshops, and a port occupied by a number of longships and a couple of galleys. And many of the town's longhouses were actually built from repurposing the halls of ships. The harbor was reached by descending a steep staircase and notably had a complex winch to raise and lower cargo from ships.

Glorium didn't bother with stockades or walls, feeling that nature provided them with sufficient defense; all they had was a wooden tower. The town was also lacking in any places to accommodate travelers, such as inns and taverns. Though Glorium's meeting hall, which everyone gathered to at the end of a day, served the role of a tavern.

At the edge of Glorium stood a small temple dedicated to the Norse pantheon but primarily to Odin and the Norns. The pantheon's other members were only acknowledged in an offhand way.

Like all gate-towns, Glorium was strongly influenced by the nature of the plane to which it was linked, Ysgard. It exhibited enough distinctions to prevent it from being pulled into that Outer Plane, but its inhabitants recognized that they were increasingly picking up Ysgardian habits, though they were unconcerned about this fact.

Geography
The land around Glorium consisted of green meadows, rolling hills, and open forests. Glorium itself was nestled between towering mountains on the shore of a great fjord, a little-known tributary of the River Oceanus. Most resourceful travelers preferred to reach Glorium by sailing down this fjord.

There was only one tangible road leading out of Glorium. Crossing through glaciers and skirting cliffs, it was a rough trail leading into the back of the Dwarven Mountains. The road didn't see much traffic.

Gates
There were two gates near Glorium&mdash;uncommon for most gate-towns, which usually had one&mdash;with both exiting into the plane of Ysgard. The best known of the two was a a big swirling maelstrom, referred to by locals as the Watergate or Whirling Gate, which was situated near the mouth of the fjord and was big enough for ships to sail through. Twice a day, the Watergate reversed itself, allowing people to come through from Ysgard.

The second gate near Glorium was at the end of the sole road leading out from the town. By following the trail one would come to a cavern, wherein resided one of the plane-spanning roots of Yggdrasil. What one could classify as being among the more well-known and reliable branches of the tree. However, there was a number of side passages within the cavern,  running deep below the surface of the Outlands, some to quite unpleasant places, like the Caverns of Thought or Gzemnid's Realm.

Defense
Glorium had a milita of freemen known as the hird, of which every resident was a member. They would quickly assemble upon the sounding of a war-horn, with one member remaining behind in the town's wooden tower to watch for incoming ships. The only time they were summoned in full was on the rare ocassions when they were being raided by the petitioners of Gzemnid or Ilsensine.

Trade
The people of Glorium made their living off of fishing, hunting, and some degree of farming. They also conducted trade with the petitioners of the Dwarven Mountain, though not to a great degree, because of the treacherous nature of the road leading out to it. Their main exports were herbs, ore, and wood.

History
At some point, a group of adventurers from the Prime Material world of Toril came to the city of Sigil, having purchased a map from a sage in Shadowdale. When the group's fighter unfolded the map they began scanning it in search of Glorium, only to quickly be corrected by his rogue ally that they were actually looking for the gate-town to Bytopia.

Later when the Rogue March passed through Glorium, the town's inhabitants left the modrons to pass by peacefully as they marched their way to the portal to Ysgard as they had reasoned that, since the modrons weren't interested in fighting back, there wasn't any glory in fighting them.

In the, a merchantile caravan from the Torilian city of Ravens Bluff that was sponsored by local Ravenian noble Lauren DeVillars traveled to Glorium by means of a color pool. Accompanying the caravan was a group of Ravenian adventurers who were on a quest to find the legendary Well of Mimir, hoping to learn from it how to destroy a githyanki device known only as the Great Machine.

While there the adventurers were first greeted by a githyanki named Ilkaren Tysor, who dressed in the local attire and was at the time busy earning a meal by raising a longhouse. He met them later at Glorium's meeting hall, where he revealed himself to be a member of the Bleak Cabal and that his mysterious benefactor Silver Mask would pay each of them a sapphire worth 1,000 gp in return for the information they were questing to obtain. Their meeting was cut short by the intervention of an imposing female planetar named Lithuriel, who made a deal to grant them a boon in return for the same information, with her benefactor Garthiel aiming to use the Great Machine for the cause of lawful good. Finally, they were approached by Verigrim, an arcanaloth in disguise, who desired the same information solely so he could sell it to other interested parties. He gave information on the Well, as well as offered each adventurer a merchantile favor and a gemstone of their choice that would be worth 500 gp. When the adventurers finally tired of the meeting hall, they went to Glorium's docks and hitched a ride on either the Fyrfload or Laughing Gull to Ysgard proper.

Inhabitants
The bulk of the 300 residents were living humans and petitioners of humans, strongly influenced in both appearance and attitude by the Norse pantheon. They stood tall, averaging about in height. They dressed in rather plain clothing made of strong wool, but accentuated with elaborately tooled leather bracers, belts, and girdles. A few of the wealthier Gloriumers wore broad rings around their arms made of either gold or silver.

They were a proud people, who highly valued notions of courtesy, honesty, and respect. They didn't take insults lightly and were not eager to forgive slights against them, instead challenging offenders to duels that would last until either blood was drawn or one of the participants fell unconsciousness. Despite this, Glorium's citizenry weren't quite as battle-crazed as the inhabitants of Ysgard.

The living inhabitants of Glorium were mostly fighters eager to venture away from town to make a name for themselves, making them willful henchmen and hirelings for outsider adventurers. Locals were also willing to rent out space in their homes to travelers, with prices ranging from 5 copper pieces to 10 gold pieces depending upon how well-off the resident was.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Flatnose Grim, the chieftain of Glorium and a human ranger. He was a short, bear-chested warrior who was equally renowned for his capriciousness as his strength. He often took great sport in showing the latter off by wrestling guests, bending horseshoes, and staging contests in which one threw boulders.
 * The Freki twins, a pair of ship-builders known for making very refined longships.
 * Hildegrid, a woman known for her delightful homebrew alcohol.
 * Kostbera, the nagging wife of Flatnose Grim.
 * Thumur, a blacksmith who made relatively affordable weapons. Some claimed he enchanted his wares, but the smith himself denied this.

Notable Locations

 * Meeting hall, the closest thing the town had to a tavern.

Rumors & Legends
According to rumors, the deity Gzemnid sought to annex this town and its gates. In relation to this rumor, some claimed that creatures in service to Gzemnid haunted the mountains, having reported seeing strange creatures within the cavern. Some had also reported seeing carved markings in the cavern that could be secret signs of Gzemnid's priests.