The Kingdom of the North
The Frostian Monarchy · the Age of Davard and Sigmund
The Kingdom of the North (c. 1010–870 B.F., before the split) was the united monarchy of the The Rimefolk in their land of promise (the Northmark / Hoarmark) — the golden age of the Chronicle of the Kings of the North, the era of King Davard and King Sigmund the Cold, and the founding of Wintermere as the holy city.
The Founding
After the turbulent age of the Drift-Wardens (Book of the Seven Winters), the people demanded “a king to keep us, like the warm nations.” The prophet Isar the Seer warned them what a warm crown would cost, but at the Hoarfather’s word anointed first Haldor the Tall (who “grew warm with the Glare” and was rejected) and then the shepherd-boy King Davard of Hollowfrost.
The High Kings
- King Davard — the Frost-Singer; united the realm, took Wintermere as capital, brought up the Ark, and received the Frost-Promise: that of his line should come the everlasting Winter King (Connor Frost).
- King Sigmund the Cold — Davard’s son; wisest of kings; built the First Frosthall at Wintermere over the The Glacier Heart; presided over the realm’s height of peace, wealth, and learning.
Significance
The Kingdom is the Frostian image of the rightly-ordered realm — a people and a king together keeping the Cold, justice flowing, the Frosthall at the center. Its glory was real but fragile: it depended on the king “keeping cold,” and when Sigmund in old age “took warm wives and warm gods,” the seeds of division were sown. The Kingdom’s true and lasting fulfillment is the eternal kingdom of the Winter King — the Cold Kingdom that Connor proclaimed, “not of this warm world.”