The Linnorm Kings rule a frigid, rugged land of rich taiga, treacherous marshes, and great boulder-strewn moraines left by departed glaciers. The coastline is bracing and cool, and it rains half the year and snows heavily during the rest. Farther to the east, the land grows increasingly cold, up to the frozen borders of Irrisen.

Life is hard for the natives of this realm, particularly in the depths of winter. As a result, many able bodied adults engage in trade in the summer months, bringing from the south additional food, luxuries, and various oddities of the Inner Sea. Such travelers also pack their axes and small, circular shields, in case an opportunity to plunder presents itself. Every citizen is a Viking at heart, and distant lands are less dangerous than his cold homeland.

The land itself is dotted with small, fortified steadings and a few large, stone-walled cities, with nothing but wilderness between them. Fell beasts come up to the city walls at night, pawing even at the gates of Kalsgard. The wilderness between steadings is also dominated by fey creatures and linnorms, for a rift between Golarion and the First World runs over the hills claimed by the Linnorm Kings. The faerie peoples are common here, along with gnomes, trolls, and nature spirits.