Gulags in Nor Curndia
"It depends on where you get them from, lad. If you steal some free folk away from their cushy village, without neither a lord to swear to and drag them in chains here, of course they are bleeding miserable. Drag the same beast from the Great Horde, tell them they now work as servants of the Tsar, an' allow them to worship that shadow they love so much, they'll practically be huggen ya. Tis why when we go raiding, you always look for Ratik ships. Their galley slaves are worth a lot more to us than they are to their former masters." -North Curdan Taskmaster to an apprentice

The natives of the great ice peninsula of the north, with its mighty forests and trees, were numerous small Beastfolk communities cut off from the troubles in the Far East. As the Great Horde was forming, Ratfolk and numerous other small Beastfolk communities dwelled in the forests of what is now Nor Curndia in small tribal villages, communal societies which worshipped the shadow in peace, with even the Wildar tribes who roamed that land being unfamiliar with what happened out in Aran'Burdur. This ignorance as it would turn out would be very costly, as human colonies forms along the far south shores and then suddenly went from being trading partners to their conquerers. The northmen were cruel to their new subjects, making many into effectively slaves and moving them around, breaking languages and cultures as many were forced into work camps in which most were broken into serviles who 'willingly' served their new masters with iron collars about their necks, as is Ratik tradition.

The gulag settlements, often times simply called the Gulag cities or just Gulags are massive prison cities and pens where slaves of various non-human races were crowded into. These massive settlements are walled off to keep the slaves penned inside, tightly controlled by a warden and its people broken down into adopting the Curdan language and religion. However, as time wore on, the Curdans of Nor Curndia added the Shadowed Pantheon to their own, bringing a relief to many estranged slaves who still held the Shadow and his two godly minions as their highest deities. Although slavery in Nor Curndia is usually no different than that of the Great Horde, the humans of the north are less restrictive and cruel towards shadow worshippers and are even respectful of their necromancers and shadow shamans.

Unlike other nations where there is individual ownership, every slave in Nor Curndia is officially owned by the Tsar himself. Slaves are required to swear numerous oaths of fealty to their new liege and are often set to work doing menial tasks as a 'rent' to other lords, who can return them to the Gulags should they displease them. Beastfolk are not the only ones subjected to this fate, as Ice Elves, other Humans, Dwarves, Kobolds, Goblins, and even Roasarch are seen in the lands of Nor Curndia. The only creatures deemed unworthy of servitude by the slavers are the Kerks, who had one time once fulfilled their threat to send a suicidal fleet of Blackshirts to the shores of Nor Curndia, murder its people, and purge its capital in revenge for a raid done on its vassal realm of Cousland. Although it is deemed unwise, Nor Curndia is one of the few realms who will enslave Yul'Wendigos if given a chance, as it is considered an act of courage and prestige to own one of the cursed foe as a meager servile.