Nordheim is both a city and the state it rules, a rough-hewn town perched on the forbidding slopes of the isle of Aktau in the far northeastern end of the archipelago. Its founders were Skandr pirate crews who wintered on its shores when far from home. Over the centuries, this temporary camp grew into a regular settlement.
Over fifty thousand men and women live within the rough stone walls of the city, making their living by crafting for the villages that farm the volcanic soil of the mountain slopes and fishing the rich waters that surround Aktau- when they're not out plundering their neighbors in regular raids. Those villages that belong to Nordheim's city-state are those who buy their protection at a given rate of tribute. While there is little love for their dark-haired overlords, most count them a better master than the goblinoids.
Nordheimers look much like their Skandr forbears, with pale eyes and skin and dark hair. They are a hard and ruthless people much given to feuding that even their Jarl cannot entirely quell. They have wary but peaceable relations with the dwarves of Angrimmr in the nearby Ingval Mountains. Some suggest that the chief reason for this is the difficulty of plundering dwarves.
Many Skandr ships reached Nordheim when the Red Tide came, a distant refuge seeming to be a good one to the fleeing men and women. These newcomers adapted soon enough to the ways of their island brethren, but the population increase still strains the limited resources of the city-state. Most agree that the Jarl will need to drive out more goblinoid tribes if he is to claim enough farmland to feed the city.