Dev Blog written by Scott Crawford, Content Designer

The Ten-Towners

The people who dwell in Icewind Dale are as hard and unyielding as the land they call home. Only the strong survive for long in these bleak northern lands, and the people of the Ten-Towns as strong as they come. Over the years Ten-Towns has gained a reputation as a place where outcasts and fugitives can go to find tolerance, if not acceptance – as long as they carry their own weight and didn’t make trouble.

The region was originally settled by those who came seeking the ivory-like bones of the native knucklehead trout, a fish that can be found only in the frigid lakes of Icewind Dale. The early settlers formed nine small settlements clustered around the shores of these lakes. Initially these towns had as little as possible to do with each other, but once it became apparent that cooperation was required for survival, a tenth town, called Bryn Shander, was founded to serve as a place of refuge and a hub of commerce.

Icewind Dale is also home to barbaric Reghed tribesmen who have lived their nomadic lifestyle here for countless generations. More often than not, interactions between the Ten-Towners and the Reghed tribes have been hostile, but there have also been times of trade and peaceful interaction and many Ten-Towners have at least some Reghed blood in their veins.

The Ten-Towners are fiercely independent and each town is jealous of its rights. Conflicts, rivalries and feuds are common as each settlement competes for meager resources, but time and again, the Ten-Towners have proven they can unite in the face of a common threat.

Recently a new resource, the mysterious black ice, has appeared in Icewind Dale. The Ten-Towners are united in the belief that if profit is to be made from black ice, then it should be made by those who have long endured all that Icewind Dale has thrown at them.

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