The Rime-Kin

The Rime-Kin

Beyond the Wall, deep into the brutal cold, a unique tribe thrives: the Rime-Kin. They are not merely survivors but true masters of this world, having forged a symbiotic relationship with the cold itself. Their existence is a testament to extreme adaptation and a profound understanding of their harsh environment. They are not remnants nor are they corrupted. They are something else entirely. The Rime-Kin are the Cold’s children, not by blood, but by adaptation.

They do not speak aloud. Their language, if it can be called that, is a network of shared emotions, concepts, and images called Grave-Tongue. To an outsider, it would seem like silence, but among themselves, they understand one another completely and instantly. 

Their settlements, called Rime-Holds, are not simple villages. They are deep, glacial sanctuaries carved into stone and ice, self-heated through two overlapping methods:

• Geothermal venting, where heat from deep-earth cracks is stored and redistributed through layered crystalline structures

• Body-metabolic looping, where the architecture itself traps and circulates the heat produced by breath, movement, and community presence.

Everything they do is built for silence, conservation, and psychic clarity to endure the cold. While in the wild, they move like shadows, using a ritualistic, sound-minimising walk.

While sharing core beliefs and characteristics, the Rime-Kin exist in more than one scattered community, known as "Rime-Holds," across the cold side of the Wall. These Rime-Holds may have slight regional variations in their practices, but they are all united by their mastery of cold survival.

Physiological Adaptations

The Rime-Kin possess unique innate traits:

• Dense, Circulatory Fat: An internal extra layer of fat, effectively working like a "heat battery", efficiently insulates their vital organs.

• "Glacial Veins": Specialised blood containing natural antifreeze proteins, giving their skin a subtle, pale blueish tint.

• Enhanced Lung Capacity: For efficient oxygen exchange in thin, cold air.

• Heightened Senses: Exceptionally low-light vision and ability to discern the Cold's true movements and intentions from its illusions.

Culture & Survival:

Their entire way of life is designed for the cold:

• Breath-Weave Garments: Form-fitting, multi-layered clothing from treated hides.

• Ice-Forge Tools: Weapons and tools crafted from cooled metals and crystalline structures, resilient in sub-zero temperatures.

Kraelg: Ancient Spirit of the Cold

The Rime-Kin's apex beast, which they hunt, is known in their native "Grave-Tongue" as the “Kraelg” (meaning "ancient spirit" or "silent watcher").

These immense, hulking creatures are covered in shaggy, pale fur and possess massive crystalline horns. They move in silence and with surprising speed while leaving very few, if any, tracks.

“Before the Kraelg appears, even the Cold holds its breath.”

A Kraelg's coming is marked not by noise but by a profound silence, a dampening of the Cold's usual whispers and a brief, unnatural stillness in the air. This "dead air" is a sure sign of the beast's immense, ancient presence. 

Kraelgs are hunted rarely, never casually and never without loss.

Their flesh does not freeze, but neither is it warm. Rime-Kin prepare it through a long ritual fermentation process, not for taste, but for endurance and other effects.

Life-Core: Muscle tissue that provides a long-lasting and powerful boost to metabolic heat, crucial for deep exploration and endurance.

Sight-Essence: The marrow within the Beast’s bones, when consumed, provides a temporary enhancement to the Rime-Kin's physical and sensory abilities. This manifests as sharpened vision, improved endurance, heightened hearing, and faster reaction times, allowing them to navigate the cold side with greater precision and resilience.

Ward-Bones: The bones of the beast, when carved into small tokens or talismans and carried, provide protection against the "bad spirits" of the cold side. This is common knowledge among all cold-side tribes; these tokens act as a psychic ward, preventing the Cold's psychological attacks, such as hearing disorienting and haunting voices, helping to keep the mind clear in the maddening cold.

A.O

“The Cold does not speak and neither should we.”