The morning mist still clings to the edges of Skalvik where the cold air carrying the scent of pine, sea salt, and last night’s hearth smoke. The village is already awake—women tending fires and stores, men checking weapons and nets, children running between the long shadows of the timber walls.

Skalvik is a place bound by law and honor, where a woman’s word carries weight and her household keys mark her authority, and where every man is expected to defend the land or answer for his failure.

Outsiders are met with caution, allies with respect, and strangers with questions they are expected to answer truthfully.