The Little Ice Age

The autumn of 1567 is defined by an unseasonable climate. The global shift in atmospheric patterns broke the normal cycle of the seasons and locked Northern Europe in a multi-decade cooling trend. The freezing temperatures stunted the surrounding harvest and rotted crops right in the furrow. Packed ice clogged the northern shipping lanes, while a thick sea fog rolls into the mouth of the River Tweed, coating the dockside taverns in a constant crust of frost. Inside the stone borders of the town, this has triggered food shortages, inflated grain prices, and left the town freezing behind closed windows.