I absolutely loved the green inside the city. A city where elves live has a LOT of green. The landmarks were very well executed as well.
My only remark (after a lot of thought in order to find one) would be the proportion of the Efirhal hill towards the city, which should be smaller, but that's only a minor issue.
The important thing is that the painting emits what I had in mind when writing about the city. Wow...
I have been off for some time, occasionally lurking for another time and now I am really glad to see that the world is evolving!
Artimidor: The Helcrani nomenclature will be on my list. I will try to gather my old notes (gotta search my backup cd's and) and find my ewuivalent to the "nomenclature template".
Rayne: The island north of Efirhal is called Midlanir.
The 12 are occasionaly worshiped in Milkengrad and there are their temples there, but not by the Helcrani (or maybe considered something like personifications of Ava's powers, if there is need to have them there as well).
The Centoraurians worshiped the 12 but after centuries with the Helcrani their beliefs became copromised a bit. My intention was to keep them with the 12, but it is not set in stone...
Mina: It is a mispelling. Grad is the "city". The equivallent to -gard is -garth
You are right about the Byzantines, but you should remember that they were very religious and considered their empire as the realm of God on Earth and the Emperor was his regent (a continuation of the Roman Pontifex Maximus, as they thought themselves as heirs and "descentants of Greeks and Romans " as the last Emperor said. That's why they had trouble with the Holy Roman Empire. A similar copyright dispute like the modern between Greece and Fyrom over the name of Macedonia).
And you are right about the name. It's Midlanir, (middle island). Took me some time to remember and then read your post.
Just one note. (If the duchies are not set on stone) I think that the Milkengradians would "demand" the island at their north to be included at their duchy as they fought very hard for it against the Erpheronians...
Indeed the Helcrani would not have a temple of any other than Ava. In fact they have a "humanised" version of the elven beliefs. The elves among them are just like the rest of the elves in tems of worship, while the dwarves, although they too believe in Ava have a more "material" form of religion...
Border forts -especially at the bridges- would be more a common sight at the Centoraurian-Erpheronian border. Ruined ones farther south at the Kyranian (ar the Kyranians weren't a serious match for the Centoraurians)
The main core is ready as I see. Now all these information should be developed and elaborated. The topography is the easiest part while the political and social evolution is the hardest. My proposal is to start from the easy and move to the more difficult parts
Let us not forget also that the condition in the icelands are really harsh, so a banishment period or a very complex or "philosophical" system would be out of place IMO.
Would naval enterprises be desireable for the Ice Tribes? In my view they couldn't have warships, but small naval vessels, unsuitable for a good fight...