On the face of it Norisca is a basket case of a nation. Forever fighting, forever underdeveloped and so internally disorganised it can scarcely be called a single country. Paradoxically, though, it has actually been one of Teraf's more predictable, if not exactly stable, factors. It was first formally established in the First Partition of 77. And while many nations set up by that pact have vanished, Norisca is still here; and as others disintegrate, Norisca seems likely to continue. Its turbulence is built into its nature and actually a sign that it is working as it should.
Norisca nowadays occupies about three quarters of the Noriscan Peninsular. (Which is still called a peninsular though has technically been an island since the cutting of the Narlat Canal.) It's a harsh land. The north is a high plateau covered with tundra, which gradually turns into plains of permafrost dotted with huge frozen lakes. The Noriscans have slowly pushed up to the north coast and, in Raz, established the most northerly settlement on Teraf. Much of the area is uninhabitable, however. Likewise large areas of the south, which rise up to the Krakk Mountains. Most of the population are confined to the coast and to a broad band in the centre, stretching down from Norisca City, across the Enwich Hills to the Arglyon in the west.
Two factors have been essential in shaping Norisca. One is the Church of Torgu, which holds a virtual monopoly everywhere except the Arglyon. Torgu is generally called the God of War. This is a lazy description of a faith which has a fairly complex philosophy, much of it concerning family relations. More than any other church, though, the Torguns do encourage physical activity as both an expression of the soul and a settler of disputes. This has many expressions in Noriscan culture; from teenage boys being left alone in the wilderness as a test of their maturity to the widespread love of hunting and wrestling to the veneration of broad, stocky women as the feminine ideal. Most basically, though, it has created the – often true – cliché of a Noriscan whose most prized possession is the family axe and who will use it given the slightest excuse.
The second factor, also encouraged by the Torgun religion, is the clan system. A clan is simply an extended family. Types vary from region to region, but most have a single head – usually the oldest fit male – and a few lieutenants, generally his brothers. There is often a single matriarch too but she only has authority over the female members; women are very subservient in the clan. What's most important is that each Noriscan sees their loyalty as belonging almost exclusively to the clan. Notions of king or country are very faint. Groups of neighbouring clans form what is known as a pula; villages in the countryside, districts in towns. There is a council governing the whole pula, composed of the heads of each clan, who impose a few laws and arbitrate in disputes. However the latter role especially is strictly limited. If two clans have vendettas, which they very often do, they are encouraged to fight to settle it. The pula councils simply decide the terms of the battle. These vary from a single contest between two champions to a koluk, a war not decided until all the male adults of one side are dead. The constant clan vendettas give the impression of Norisca being in a perpetual state of anarchy when it is actually following a fairly tight set of rules.
The country is divided into around forty regions, each controlled by a lekko (or henchman). The lekko's authority is even more limited, his chief activity generally being trying and failing to get clans to pay their taxes. Essentially a lekko is just the head of the strongest clan in the region. Likewise on a national scale for the king. This is currently Lord Baran, whose Bludak clan have ruled for fifty fairly unsuccessful and unambitious years. Contests for the throne have been frequent and bloody over the years but it is essentially just an honorific title. Kings and lekkos only really directly control their subjects in times of war; maybe another reason why they're so keen to fight them.
For such a strong and aggressive nation, though, Norisca has shown little interest in fighting them. Sometimes it pushes outside the Peninsular, most commonly westwards across the Bay of Disune. It has neither the organisation or the inclination for empire-building, however. Noriscans only really enjoy the initial invasion; and the looting and raping which follows. These raids are carried with virtually no excuse, and the eastern Flaugian nations like Narkusk and Dell have suffered particularly in recent centuries. A garrison might be left in the defeated lands. It's usually a small one, though, which is swept away by the first serious counter-attack. Norisca currently has only one patch of land outside the Peninsular, on the northern shore of the Bauxan Sea. Half of this has been gulped up recently by Grail and the other half may soon follow. Typically, Norisca's chief role in Terafan history has been as a wrecker of empires. They took on the Jurick at their strongest with an invasion of ludicrous over-ambition in 213. Though Norisca got the worst of it, including a famous defeat at Kuka Vale in 224, the cost of the long war helped undermine the whole structure of the empire. Later the Erish Empire had the temerity to overrun half of Norisca. But Berg Dorunding had his revenge in 955, providing half of the Twin Strike which rapidly annihilated the whole edifice.
Raids aside, most of Norisca's serious wars have been against Bedral. These have been many and there has been little point to any of them. The nominal prize is control of the whole Peninsular. But though Noriscans might like the Dwarfs' gem mines, they're unlikely to flourish in their mountain cities. And it has been centuries since the Bedrallans have shown an interest in coming down to the lowlands. The two countries keep attacking each other, however, without reasons at the start or proper resolutions at the finish. The borderline as squirmed and wriggled but only on paper. On the ground it's hard to say who controls what. Twenty miles either side of the border you could get attacked by Noriscan soldiers or Dwarf ones or – most commonly – bandits exploiting the vacuum.
The most serious recent situation for Norisca has been the revolt of the Arglyon, which began in 1315. The Arglyon, in the south west corner, has never been wholly part of Norisca. The climate is milder, arable rather than pastoral farming dominates, gods like Ferlan and Hargi challenge Torgu's hegemony and the clan system is less formal. The lekkos are more powerful too and it was the ambitions of these lords, particularly the masters of the towns of Hitch and Mastt, which started the rebellion. Bedral supported the Arglyon and the affair soon led to yet another full-scale war between the two countries. For several years the fighting was spectacular and gruesome. Norisca's forces were eventually beaten away and the Arglyon achieved nominal independence. The war is currently in abeyance rather than at an end, however. Lord Baran is gathering another full army, always a slow process in Norisca. Meanwhile Bedral is steadily retreating from the dispute and the Argylon's lekkos are coming apart. It is widely believed that the next Noriscan invasion will crush the rebellion.