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Upon first impressions, the Plane itself is quite dazzling. At this time of the year (Bone Moon), the weather is not at its harshest; if I recall correctly, the coming next few months will bring the bitter ice and snow.
Groups of ice elementals are regularly encountered, the natives of the Plane regard them somewhat akin to dogs.
The inhabitants themselves appear to be humans; their skin has a somewhat frosty appearance and there are visible cracks on their exposed skin where the icy weather has taken its toll. They were unanimously confounded by the appearance of the obvious foreigners: High Priest Shard Farsight (an Ice Elf), and myself.
Their society is two-tiered. The lesser of the tiers described themselves as “the invisibles”. The nobles are referred to as “The Spoken”. The Spoken acquire their position through blood ties. The land of the Plane is partitioned into sections owned by different Houses. There is no hierarchy between these Houses: they are essentially equal. I did not learn how many Houses there are (although there are at least seven). The nobles rule with a firm hand, and will punish the slightest transgression by their underlings. If one of The Spoken desires something, he or she merely publicly announces his/her wish, and it will be effected by one of these underlings as immediately as possible. The Spoken ignore their servants’ presence, unless of course a servant errs. I did not witness what happens when a servant is given conflicting orders. The Spoken value law and order over everything else. They regard their actions as “keeping order”, and compliment themselves that this way of life means that they do not have to live “hand to mouth”, but are able to farm the harsh landscape. They will always be hospitable – and freely so, it would appear – to someone that they consider of sufficient or equal importance.
We visited the House of the Spoken Lord Dane of the 4th House of the Land of Ice and Chill. He was not himself present, attending a meeting of all the Lords of the Houses a distance away. However, any of The Spoken can “speak” on his behalf. I talked at large with his brother, Spoken Crack, who is the 2nd of his House. Each of The Spoken who were present commanded a different skill. Crack himself followed the way of the sword, another of his brothers sat down and invoked the evil sphere while we were present. There were four or possibly five Spoken present in the building which we approached, and they were served by just the one underling that I noticed. He was greatly afeared of his masters, and one of our healers noted that he was severely wounded.
Kevralyn Soulfire, note to Archive, Snow Moon, 11AR
"Farther into the night we walked across that cold and beautiful plane until a light was seen in the distance. A small manor house, as the Invisibles described, was scouted out then and approached. We were greeted at the door by a subservient invisible whose master soon made an appearance. These nobles allowed us to enter and eat at their table, with a variety of discussion taking place. They seemed affable enough, users of the Evil Sphere some certainly were and cruel to the Invisibles whom they saw as less than they (which in a way they are), but it was not within our power to change the plane even if we had a right to, we merely sought a safe hold for Ranga-Fel. After much talking Ranga-Fel agreed to stay with the nobles and they offered him place as an honoured guest... "
Shard Farsight, Mission report, Wind Moon, 11AR
