L'Armorique has a unique culture, slightly different from the rest of Bretonnia. In part, this is because of its location. Cut off from the heartland of the kingdom by the Arden Forest (and now also by the desolated area around Moussillon), the region has always been a bit of a backwater, and cultural changes take longer to penetrate here. With Moussillon gone, and L'Anguille increasingly steering its own course (the city is peripheral to the province and tends to look east rather than west), L'Armorique lacks any major urban settlements, giving it a highly provincial, antiquated, feel. Historically, this region was a centre of Norse settlement, and many of its strange and archaic customs can be traced back to Norse origins. The southern cults have never established themselves here to the degree they did elsewhere, and in the more isolated rural areas of the province worship of the Lady (and, less commonly, the Old Faith) is quite prevalent. In the coastal towns and surrounding fishing villages it is the northern cults of Ulric, Manann, and Taal that are most influential. Gradually, however, merchants are starting to have influence here as the cash-strapped nobility turn to them, even in some instances allowing them to marry into their families to avoid financial ruin.