Shelter Island and Broad Glacier

This subarctic region is covered in ice much of the year. Snows begin late in the winter, giving way to rains in the early summer. Despite this precipitation, the dry air and strong winter winds have created an arid environment.

There is one culture here, though memories of others remain. Shelter Island boasts a vibrant city on a long plain under the shadow of a glacier. The folk are commercially dynamic for the fish they catch, abundant barley, and some small trade in ermine that the outlying farmers trap during the long winter. Carved hard by the elements and long watches against pirates and ice raiders, the culture is practical and gruff. In the endless night of winter they sit by the fire and ruminate on the nature of beauty.

Once there were merchants who came from the north to ply their modest wares—by canoe in the short summer, and sledge over the sea ice that joins the islands in winter. Before their decline one long past season, they often shared news from the great city over the mountains and past the broad glacier. Now the surly, persevering people of Shelter Island set out to follow the old stories over bare rock and deep snow, hoping to find a valley rich in fish and furs.