Njord is a quite unusual moon as it has the overall shape of an enormous Viking dragonship. From the snarling dragon-like stem to stern Njord is 1,500 miles long and 300 miles wide. White-capped mountains are the gunwales, running down the sides of the ship. From the mountains the land drops drastically into fjords and coastal plains that line the central sea. Ethereal masts, sails, and oars rise into the sky, visible throughout the entire moon, guide Njord through the night sky.
A gravity plane bisects this moon about a few miles below the sea floor. The moon is about 100 miles thick at its thickest parts. The gravity plane cuts through this at about 10 miles “below” the mountainous gunwales. The result is that the gravity along the top of the ship is fairly flat. The underside is a different matter, and is somewhat curved like that of a sphere-shaped world. Thus both the topside and the underside have “normal” gravity, despite a somewhat odd shaped gravity plane. The transition from one side of the plane is not difficult and is not noticeable, due to inner folding of the plane.
The “underside” of the moon is the part that most resembles the hull of a ship. It is buried under mountains and glaciers. There are only a few broad valleys that break the mountainous terrain. The valleys are warmer than they should be, with temperate climates. Thick arboreal and alpine forests grow in these valleys, possibly accounting for the unusual warmth.
The movements of this moon are somewhat erratic. Its course will not change for centuries at a time, circling its home planet at a regular interval. Every few centuries, however, it undergoes drastic course changes and takes up a new orbit. The last such change was about three centuries ago. Njord’s current course is highly elliptical and takes 6 standard weeks for Njord to complete.
Njord is a cold, wet world where spring all but unknown. Snowfall is common at the higher elevations. Some lowland plains receive cold, driving rains followed by thick fogs. Wind is frequent and can be quite strong. Some coastlines freeze regularly, locking ports in thick ice. Visitors are advised to dress warmly and be prepared for blizzard conditions.
From a distance that allows one to view all of Njord in all of its glory, the moon appears as a great, frost-covered Viking dragonship, complete with wispy sails and oars. To the inexperienced eye, the moon could be mistaken for an actual dragonship that is a bit obscured by strange mists (the moon’s clouds). A common trick for veteran sailors to play is to raise an alarm that a boatload of frost giants is approaching to send green crewmen into a panic.
There are no continents on Njord, and the standard compass points do not work. Instead the directional points are similar to a ship, with north being bow, east as starboard, south as aft, and west as port. The starboard coast is known as Fjordlund and the port coast is Sturmlund. The underside land of mountains and valleys are the Keelfell.
The most distinguishing landmark of the moon is Jormunhellar, the dragonhead-like mountain at the bow of the moon. The mountain is enormous and impossibly shaped. By all rights, the mountain should collapse under its own weight. At the summit, in the jaws of the dragon, is the lair of a Flame Linnorm dragon.
The mountains that line the gunwales of Njord are very large. Carved into the outward facing mountainsides are gigantic runes. These are the personal crests of the dwarven royal houses of Njord, carved into the mountainsides in the same manner as Vikings who line their longships with shields bearing the personal crests of the warriors. The mountains have become known as the Shield Mountains.
The sea that lies between the Shield Mountains is the Jormungerak. Crossing it is a dangerous prospect due to innumerable storms and icebergs. Worse still is the great serpent-like Sea Linnorm dragon that lurks at the bottom of the sea. It rises from time to time to devour ships that dare to cross its territory.
Little lives on the rugged surface of the moon. The seas and underdark have much more vibrant populations of wildlife, most of it imported by the dwarves. The surface has wildlife typical to a cold, sub-arctic climate, with forests of pine trees, peat bogs, wolves, ravens, reindeer, sheep and goats, Irish elk, and a number of small game animals. The seas have many types of cold-water fish, seals with some silkies, crabs, great white sharks, and even a few kraken in the deeps.
The underground grottos, caverns, and halls are home to many underdark monsters like undead, hook horrors, slimes, molds, umber hulks, and even a few grell and beholders. None of these creatures are very numerous, but they are individually very powerful and avoided at all costs. These monsters are confined to a series of caverns and abandoned halls deep underground, far below the basements of the mountain dwarf halls.
The primary inhabitants of Njord are dwarves of various breeds. Each type of dwarf inhabits a certain niche. With the exception of the Sundered dwarves, each clan is ruled by a single dwarf wizard. The rest of the clan are his servants, extended family, and henchmen. In rare cases, brother wizards will rule a clan. Only male dwarves may be wizards; female dwarves are witches (sorcerers) instead. Sundered dwarves have no wizards or witches in their ranks, the reason for their banishment.
Magic use is very important to the dwarves, for they use it in crafting powerful magic items. The dwarves prefer subtle spells like illusions over blasting spells. Guile and trickery are their way, not deadly battle-spells.
The mountain dwarves, with the most wizards, dwell deep within the mountains, rarely venturing from their secluded halls. These clans have the most powerful wizards and thus are the richest clans. They use their hill dwarf cousins as go-betweens, clans ruled by lesser wizards. Hill dwarves are the traders of their people, dwelling in halls and towns accessible by off-worlders. Many witches are born to these clans. The Sundered dwarves are poor or outcast clans without halls of their own. Their crude villages dot the surface, where they scratch out a meager existence. Their magic is the weakest and their bloodlines thinnest. Occasionally a rising dwarf wizard without a clan of his own will accept Sundered dwarves as henchmen. For many young dwarves of the Sundered clans, this is the hope and dream in their otherwise wretched lives.
Deep dwarves are said to dwell at the very heart of Njord. These creatures are said to be dwarven wizards who have taken their magical abilities and forge skills to the limits of their mortal vessels, and shed their frail bodies to advance even farther. Little is known about them, for they are secretive and powerful. The few that have encountered this breed of dwarf report they appear to be living stone, able to vanish into the dark tunnels of their home at a whim. The limits of their magical might has never been fully tested.
The other races found on Njord have little power. Most are individual monsters that at best might waylay lone travelers or the smallest and weakest of parties. Trolls creep in the bogs and the darkest forests, wretched creatures said to have once been dwarves but were cursed for crimes of betrayal and murder. They are unlike standard trolls, being a bit smaller and of orange color rather than emaciated and green. Use the statistics for dark dwarves in place of the standard statistics of trolls.
There are no more than a double handful of hill and frost giants in the hills and mountains. Their impressive timber halls are found deep within the mountains. All of the giants are powerful sorcerers as well; even the dumbest has enough still to master simple first and second level spells. The giants and dwarves largely ignore one another, although sometimes the giants will commission a dwarf to construct a magic item for him.
There are no more than a dozen dragons on Njord. Each is a unique, named creature that holds some importance. These creatures are left alone, for their rages are legendary and they do not like to be disturbed. Only under the direst of circumstances would a native dare to disturb them, and always with generous gifts and bribes. Would-be dragon-hunters need beware, for these creatures are many centuries old, are devious in their ways, and have a mastery of magic that vastly exceeds that of any dwarf or giant, to say nothing of their considerable size and physical strengths.
Everywhere the land is rocky and harsh. There are few places suitable for farming. More common are herds of rugged goats and rothe. Fish is another source of food, although the rough sea keeps fishing from being exploited fully. The forests and mountain valleys have plentiful game for hunters and trappers.
Njord is rich is precious metals, “common” metals like iron, nickel, and copper, and all manner of gemstones. Likewise the stone makes for excellent building material, although it is of hard quality. Masons and laborers will wear out several tools working with this stone. Architecture built from Njord stone is quite durable and resistant to weathering and the passing of time.
These resources are not traded, but horded away by the greedy dwarves. Magic items are their trade. The wizards craft and sell a multitude of magic items, especially weapons and armor, jewelry, and clothing. Their items are always of the highest quality and hold potent magic.
There are few sizable communities on this stark moon and even fewer that are built in places where spelljammers can land and conduct trade. Spelljammers generally set down at a small village called Graniton. There are two rickety piers and a muddy field for ships to put down. The town is at the far end of a sheltered bay, probably the most protected port in all of Njord. The downside is that the port is also prone to frequently icing over, either entrapping ships until the ice thaws out or magic is used to free the ship.
The town is the domain of three clans of hill dwarves and many sundered dwarves, with a total population of about seven hundred dwarves. The dwarven wizards can craft a few low-powered magic items (potions of healing, continual light lanterns, minor weapons and armor). If more powerful magic items are requested, they will send runners to their contacts in the mountain clans to contact the appropriate clan and see if the clan wizard is interested in taking the commission. Depending on the magic item sought, the process might take a few days to several months or even years.
The dwarves take payments in gold and gemstones. They rarely trade for goods they cannot craft on Njord, such as luxury goods and exotic foods. It is unknown what they do with the excess gold that they stockpile, which must be a trove of remarkable size and value.
Though the dwarves of Njord have a written language, their preferred means of retelling history is through epic tales often embellished and modified as time wears on. Accurate records are kept only by the eldest graybeards of the mountain clans, and even those are kept in hidden libraries that none but they know of.
As the dwarves tell it, Njord began when the Seven Dwarf-Fathers built a grand stony vessel to sail the stars. Though it took a thousand years to complete, the great stone ship as large as the moon rose into the sky. The Seven Dwarf-Fathers brought their families aboard the craft, and set sail into the starry night.
The rest of dwarven history is a series of epic adventures and battles against invading giants. There are even tales of powerful Gods contacting and commissioning the dwarves to build for them artifacts of great power. One tale goes so far to claim that an elven goddess spent nine nights with nine dwarven smiths to convince them to craft a bejeweled necklace of great power. She is believed to have given birth to nine daughters, and from those daughters arose the sorceress bloodlines of Njord.
Orbiting Njord is a silver-white orb about 5 miles across called Silvuna. It is claimed by a cabal of nine dwarven sorceresses who claim to be the first-born daughters of the elven goddess. Powerful spell-casters one and all (minimum ability at 12th level) and they are all also aasimar. This cabal acts as a go-between for their dwarf brothers and gods seeking to hire them to craft artifacts. Their magnificent halls are well hidden; they can only be found by deities or the trusted agents of deities. To all others, the surface of Silvuna is a barren wasteland.
