After writting the Guide to Vvardenfell (and showing that I should go scuba-diving more frequently, since I didn't know whenever Vivec was built on the bottom of the sea or magically hovering above it), I became bored so much. And since writting two chapters in a row for a single story could lead to low quality, I decided to take advantage of the fact that I'm hauled up with TES maps of all kind... One of them Solstheim. And thus comes the 'Guide to Sosltheim', by the one-and-only cartographer-mercenary Ciritus the Redguard.

Guide to Solstheim

Up in the North from Vvardenfell, which I described in my previous writing, lies the island of Solstheim. Up until lately I didn’t care about its presence there, before writing the ‘Guide to Vvardenfell’ in which, if any remember, I mentioned that perhaps I would one day visit the frozen island. Well, as you can guess, I did, and I must say – it is beautiful. That is, if you don’t mind snow storms and angry animals.

The only means of reaching Solstheim are either by the ship from Khuul – I must say, since my budget was not at its best, I had to slip aboard and hide in the cargo haul – which is the more comfortable route, or by the means of magic, though you’ll have to invent spells necessary to get there yourself, seeing as there is no Mages’ Guild. Nords or mad people could attempt swimming, but that would be quite risky – there are many hungry Dreugh and Slaughterfishes along the coast of Vvardenfell, and the closer to Solstheim, the colder.

The first region I will cover here is Hirstaang Forest. It’s tongue-breaking, I know, but you must blame Nords for inventing such titles. At least it’s not as bad as ‘Isinfier Plains’.

Hirstaang Forest is what the name suggests – a forest. The only region of Solstheim not covered with snow, I could say that after the Ashlands of Vvardenfell, the air seems wondrously clean and fresh. The trees that grow here are, in my rough guess, at least several hundred of years old. Unlike the trees in Vvardenfell, these ones don’t bear leaves – only spikes. I think they’re all either pines or firs. Maybe both. But in the end, it’s all the same, unless you’re a Bosmer – they’re trees, they have spikes, and they’re very, very large.

Rumor has it that there are vast deposits of Ebony in one particular area of the Forest. The East Empire Company seized the opportunity soon enough, which resulted in the construction of Raven Rock – a nice little village, though I’m not really happy that they cut that many trees in progress.

There are a couple of odd objects in this area – all of them stones. One is a very strange location where lies a couple of large oval stones. They seem to bear an… aura of some sort. I’m not really into the whole ‘nature’ thing, but I must admit, there’s something very alive to these stones. The people on the island call that place ‘Brodir Groove’.

The second odd object is actually two objects – two large stones, seemingly crafted. The moss on them suggests they’re here for some time already, perhaps even longer than the trees, but who could’ve crafted them escapes me. The local Nord tribe, the Skaal, doesn’t seem to be capable of such level of stone-working. And the oddest thing is, there are more of those stones, spread throughout the whole island. And all of them look the same, except for an odd symbol that can be found on all and every one of them. My guess is they’re some sort of ritual stones.

Moving further North, you’ll find yourself in Isinfier Plains. Another ‘great’ name from the local Nords, no doubt.

Isinfier Plains is where things start getting really hostile. The snow storms aren’t as frequent as up in Moesring Mountains, but they’re still present. Snow covers the land, as well as the trees. There are a couple of Nord burial places, ‘Barrows’ or something of the like. Also, I’ve stumbled into an altar of some sort, along with a raven resting on one of the rocks that were lying there. Creepy place, I’d recommend staying out of there.

North-West you will find the Moesring Mountain chain, and to North-East you will stumble into the Felsaad Coast.

On the edge of the Isinfier Plains and the Felsaad Coast, one can find a massive frozen lake. As in any other body of water in Solstheim, swimming in it would be a suicide. That lake is named the Lake Fjalding and East of it you can find the Thirsk Mead Hall, but more on that later.

The lake itself is mostly covered with ice, except for a casual open spot. Many horkers can be found there, and I’ll say – they’re nice creatures. At least they’re a welcome change from the Mudcrabs that can be found along the coasts of Vvardenfell.

A bit earlier, I’ve mentioned the Thirsk Mead Hall. Let me explain what it is.

The Nords were always fond of their drink, Mead. Many mead halls are said to be built in Skyrim, though none in other lands. Well, Solstheim is an exception – it is, after all, Nordic to the bone. And every Nordic land has to have a Mead Hall, or so they think. I personally have nothing against them, as long as the whole Mead Halls don’t turn into hide-outs of Berserkers.

The Mead Hall was created by a group of Nords that left the Skaal Village. It is nothing too exceptional in the overall architecture – simple large Nordic house. Inside, though, you can find endless bottles of mead, ‘imported freshly from Skyrim’, as they claim. ‘They’ meaning those who live there all the time. Other visitors are just passers-by, adventurers, or, on the rare occasion, cartographers like me. Though I’ve yet to me a cartographer-mercenary like myself. But I did find both mercenaries and cartographers there, though only separate people.

When you head further North from the Fjalding Lake, you’ll find yourself in the Felsaad Coast. It is, besides the Moesring Mountains, the most hostile region in whole Solstheim. Snowstorms, snow bears and wolves, rieklings, you know what I mean. All of the mentioned things are nasty, though the Felsaad Coast bears one of the only sparks of civilizations – well, to a degree. The village of the local Nord tribe, the Skaal can be found there. For my several first weeks in Solstheim, I kept mistaking ‘Skaal’ and ‘Felsaad’. Too many ‘a’s.

The village itself is quite a nice place, if you can get along with the local Nords. I myself did get into somewhat ‘friendly’ state with them after they found out I wanted to find out more about the lands, and wasn’t here to build forts and villages. Their basic respect for me probably has something to do with me being a Redguard as well – after all, the Skaal honor warriors, and my kinsmen are famous throughout Tamriel for their skills in battle.

It was from their chieftain and shaman that I learned about Mortrag Glacier and Castle Karstaag, because otherwise, I would not have been able to figure out what they were, and would’ve probably met my death trying to find out.

At the mention of these objects, I move on to the Moesring Mountains – no doubt, the most mysterious and legend-shrouded region of all Solstheim. None of my other travels gave me so many things to think about.

At the first sight, the Moesring Mountains can seem nothing special – only a chain of mountains, with some ice and a castle-shaped mountain at the North-West most edge. But in truth, it is a very mysterious place, associated with at least three interesting locations I, as a cartographer, found extremely interesting.

First has to be one particular section of the mountains shaped as a wolf. I believe they called the wolf ‘Ondjage’, and legend had it that it was the thing to slay the first chieftain of Thirsk, Hrothmund. Rumors say that there’s a barrow in the place where the eye of the ‘wolf’ should be, and only the one that can say the name of the wolf that slew Hrothmund properly can enter. If the password is said incorrectly, the barrow is sealed forever. I’ve actually found a barrow in that place, though didn’t try to enter it – the password was highly tongue-breaking, and I didn’t want to risk the eternal closure of such an interesting place.

Moving towards North, one will find what might appear to be a mountain. In truth, it is an ice castle, supposedly the home of rieklings and their ruler, the frost giant Karstaag. Many rieklings patrols lurking nearby suggest that this is true, and I would highly recommend staying away from the castle – another rumor has it that Karstaag eats Men and Mer. And I wouldn’t want this book to end up in the stomach of a giant, along with its owner.

And then the last object of importance and interest – the Mortrag Glacier.

It is a giant mountain of ice, shrouded in much more legends and mysteries than both Castle Karstaag and Hrothmund’s Bane both. All I managed to learn is that there is a Prophecy of some sort, though I only learned that ‘when the Bloodmoon rises, the hunter walks the earth among his hounds at the end of the circle’. Doesn’t say much, and I can only assume that the ‘Hunter’ can be either a Nordic hero (or fiend) of some sort, or the Daedric Prince of Hunt, Hircine. As for ‘his hounds’, nothing comes to mind at the moment.

And this pretty much covers the whole beautiful island of Solstheim. Even though I travelled it through-and-through, conversations I’ve had with the shaman of Skaal suggest that I only barely scrapped the surface of this unexplored, wild island. Fryse Hags roam the island, and not much is known about them. The whole Prophecy sounds very mysterious and interesting, as is everything unknown. The Frost Giant Karstaag’s origins remain unknown, with no known witnesses of him. The barrow discovered in Hrothmund’s Bane is left untouched for now.

But I am only a mere cartographer and a mercenary, and not a loremaster or a historian. And while these things are very interesting to me, there are still many lands left to travel, many maps incomplete. And while there is but one blank spot in any sea or land, I will try my best at explaining the unexplained, recording the unrecorded.

At your guiding service,

-Ciritus.