Next Session - 8/1
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Character Backgrounds
Background:
Trained by my father Adrink from 20 – 68 age
Vondal and Balian were very close and both would go into the wilderness and would track, hunt, fish, and survived many outdoor adventures. Age 15-34
Balian: Survived the Dwarf Wars of the Black foot. One of the youngest Dwarves in combat with my father and brother. During the battle I gained a scar on my face which taught me to be mindful instead of going head first into battle without thinking. 35-40 age – Which my luck in battle was odd/but could have been helped by the ring which we know little about.
My mother was killed in a mining accident when I was 45 years old. Before that she showed me how to use and identify armor and other precious metals. During that year she died she gave me a ring which is a family heirloom from her father, she only knew little about him since he was banished when she was at an early age, due to his use of magic.
Balian at a young age was trained by his father Adrik Captain of the Kings Guard and Defenses. I have been learning his roles and responsibilities of being a captain. King Kildrak of the Golden Southern Hills had an evil son named Flint, even though he was the kings son, he was evil and the kingdom knew that if he became king war would be forced upon the southern kingdoms. Our argument was started by Flint who accused me of being weak and a coward, our fight was just. Since Flint Died in battle his brother is now the rightful heir to the throne.
I was on my way to King Dain’s (Lord of the hidden mountains). Before being attacked/raided by the wolf clan, at which I killed a great warrior among their ranks, at which time they captured me but treated me well since they knew I was a good fighter. During the year I spent there, I learned about their norther ways of honor and raiding. As I was there, one day my ring made a spark and was glowing for no reason, at which they noticed that I had a family ring which was magical and they sent me to the Boar Clan.
Background:
Never really knew my father, he died adventuring. My mother and older sister were the only family we had. A family friend, Jokul Starrisson, helped us survive for a while in our modest house. However he eventually claimed to have less to help us. He suggested he had a way for my mother to make a living and feed her children. My mother refused at first, but eventually it was that or begging (and begging in Wolf clan is far more dangerous). We were alright for a time, until Jokul moved another woman into the house. She too was desperate. Eventually, my big sister and I were on the streets most days and nights, as our rooms had been given away. When the streets became too dangerous, we stayed in the wilderness. We learned to survive together.
One night, less than a year ago, Jokul was in town (he was a traveling merchant). It was winter and my sister had been married that Spring, so I was alone. It was so cold, I was spending my nights near the hearth at home. Jokul was staying with my mother, when I decided to see what I could find in Jokul’s things. I was relatively quiet and relatively smart, but I rumaged through Jokul’s pack a glow came from within. Curious, I pulled out the glowing object. IT was a flat stone with a strange carving in it. It glowed ever more brightly as I handled it.
I was so enraptured, I didn’t notice others were emerging from the bedrooms. “Magic…” someone whispered and then “MAGIC!” another yelled. I claimed it was Jokul’s, but he said it was not and that how could he have hidden a glowing rock like that. I don’t remember much from that night after finding the stone. Someone threw a blanket or sack over me and several blows rained down. I was thrown on a horse and never saw my home, mother, or sister again.
I know how rough life can be so I am trying to stand up for the weak.
I want to learn as much as I can to help others.
I have been studying under the only other “priest” in the Boar clan and have mastered simple tricks and common powers to help others and defend myself.
Background:
Erfidi Eirikrsdotir – Me
Eirikr Endreson – Father
Elof Eirikrson – Brother (King of the Clans)
When King Elof was a child, his other died in a raid. When he was 10, our father, the foremost Skald for the Stag clan, was on a raid to the Elven settlement and captured my mother, a beautiful elf. He fell in love with her and kept her with the clan after the summer months had ended. She became pregnant with me, but died in childbirth. My father used his influence to keep me, even though I was a half-elf. I grew up knowing he had loved my mother and loved me because I reminded him of her. My brother tolderated me for my father’s sake and allowed me to follow him around Laurelsong, learning from him the basics I would need to build on if I ever wanted to be a successful raider in the clan. He continued this throughout my youth, building on the knowledge I learned in training with my father.
When I was 6, Elof walked in my room one day to see if I wanted to practice hand to hand combat and found me playing iwht a ball of lightning, tossing it from hand to hand and watching the sparks in fascination. A look of horror overcame his face as he harshly whispered my name. As I looked up at him, the lightning fizzled to a memory. He came close and, though he was shaking, grabbed my hands. “NEVER do that again! If anyone else were to find out that you have powers that should not be, you will be sent away from me and father forever!” From that day forward, I took those words to heart and did everything I could to keep my p0ower contained, though I could feel it continuing to grow as the years went by. I had a few times where it escpaed me, but only once was it witnessed by anyone other than myself, and that was in front of my father. He pretended not to see and never spoke of that day. I did all I could to be a valuable clanswoman and prove my worth through my prowess in battle on our raids to avoid any closer looks that could give other clansmen a hint that all was not as it seemed with me.
When I turned 21, I thought my life was laid out for me, with my skills in battle improving and my suppression of my magic all but complete. But then everything changed on the fateful day that my brother was chosen to be king of the clans. His honor would not allow him to remain quiet about my true nature when he took on the mantle of responsibility for all of our people. When he took the King’s Vow, he swore to never live and confessed that in the past he had lied to the clan, but would do so no longer. He then told them of seeing my magic and knowing I had abilities that should not be permitted. The clan elders immediately had me sent away to the boar clan, on a pilgrimage from which I am never meant to return. The last time I saw my father, I could see an immense ocean of grief in his eyes that will haunt me forever. I understand my brother’s reasons, but some part of me burns with hurt and anger that he could not hold his peace for me and father, when I have so well been able to keep that side of my nature restrained. But what is done is done, and now I have chosen to embrace my fate and harness the power of the storm, as much as I am able, to bring riches and glory to the Boar clan in the hopes that someday the other clans will see that we can be more than they expect.
Background:
Family: Stag Clan
Father: Brethel Trollsplitter – Respected Warrior, Openly disgusted at me, secretly sad
Mother: Embla – Proprietor of the Mead Hall, sadded by my banishment, will not tolerate ill words about her son
Oldest Brother: Herger the Dour – Respected Warrior, apathetic, at best, about Skeld’s plight… but family is family
Older Brother: Weath the Musician – wants his brother back
Older Sister: Gudrun – a healer that wants her brother back
2nd Oldest Brother: Edgetho the Archer – (Possible sorceror… may not be the son of Brethel… conflicted… Skeld’s actions saved him from banishment, but caused him to be locked into a lie, he went opn a long adventure to avoid the issue altogether.)
Younger Sister: Frigga – preteen… misses the brother who paid attention to her and wants to find a way to bring him back.
The beloved baby boy of the family, Skeld was a gregarious and entertaining host at his family’s mead hall. He learned to turn the tales he eavesdropped in the tavern into stories to entertain his mother’s guests. While Skeld was more than happy on his path to becoming a Skald, he admired and respected his father and older brothers’ statuses as seasoned Viking warriors who consistantlhy brought honour to the clan. Being the “runt of the litter”, he felt he was better suited expousing his family’s tales of glory.
One day, while the festivities took the patrons outside of the mead hall, Skeld walked back into fill his drinking horn when he stumbled on his brother, who was in the midst of having Eldritch energy pouring out of his hands accidentally. The noise brought the clan running in to see what happened. Despite the clan’s law and taboos about lying, Skeld quickly took responsibility for the events and even casted “Thunderwave” to convince the crowd it was him that caused the ruckus. Skeld did this to protect his brother and family’s honour, but in doing so, he locked himself and his brother into a lie. Skeld was subsequently banished to the Boar clan and his brother, not knowing what to do, went on a long adventure with a particularly adventurous Viking explorer.
Background:
Thorkatla was born into the Bear Clan to Vathlauss.
A woman scorned, Husband brought home a woman from the southern realm.
Born to the Bear Clan, married into the Raven Clan. Was originally drawn to the Raven Clan for traveling & raiding, but slowly became distrusting of the Raven Clan. Was not happy with the southern influence on the clan and the lack of honor of the clansmen. After her husband tried to bring home a younger woman from the southern realm, she takes off and leaves in the middle of the night.
Doesn’t make friends easily.
Background:
My name is Sigurd Gudbrandsson. I hail from Silver Keep. I come from a line of warriors including my father, Gudbrand Valisson, his father and his father’s father. My father served Jarl Krumm and died in his service. I was also brought into his clan to protect his values and family. He was fair, kind, and noble, but when he passed his daughter took over as the Jarl. Her name ius Jarl Merula Krummsdottir, and I had to leave because I just could not bring myself to serve under her. I became disenfranchised with her as she never took her role seriously. The final straw was due to her bringing a Giant into her service as her bodyuguard. She allowed Tannen Inksson to control the clan’s soldiers and he is entirely loyal to the Jarl. This led me to leave the clan and join the Boar Clan.
I was trained by my father and the Jarl and was instilled with a sense of protection of others and servitude.
I am completely proficient with all hand-held weapons but prefer a weapon in conjunction with a shield all the time. I am fully ambidextrous while wielding weapons and shields. Fiercely loyal to my compatriots and will do all I can to ensure unity.
My mother is Tove Halvordottir. She still lives with the remainder of the clan, knowing that I am restless, she told me to move on and figure out what I needed to do.
World of the Northmen
The game world will be divided into two main regions cleverly referred to as The Northern Realms and The Southern Realms. In regards to the Southern Realms, I’ll keep it brief here except to say that they can generally be thought of as medieval Germany, France, and English type settlements and kingdoms and the fodder for the raiding viking clans that the PC’s will be a part of (sort of).
Northfolk/Northeners/Clanfolk
The Northern realms are, then, made up of various clans, each of which possess slightly different lifestyles and moderately different philosophies, but, in general, are the raiding, hide-wearing, barbarian vikings that we’re all here for.
Raiding, hunting, farming, and a little bit of mining.
Might makes right. Strong survive. Weak die or survive at the whims of the strong.
Honor is big. Killing to achieve dominance is big. The strong deserve respect and should be honored or killed. The weak do not deserve respect and should be dominated or ignored.
Lying is the worst crime. Lying = death. Especially wearing the colors of a clan you are not in.
All clansmen are humans or half-elves. Other races are not allowed to join the clans, except the Boar Clan.
All are lead by a king, who is currently a member of the Stag Clan. Each clan, including Stag, has its own Clan Leader.
Low Magic World
You asked for it, you got it. In the Southern realms, magic is beyond rare and harshly persecuted.
Children who show signs of magic usually don’t survive to see another sunrise.
Because the Northfolk have a heritage that blooms a bit more from the primal and mystical, they are slightly more tolerant. In this case, ‘slightly more tolerant’ means magics users are not outright killed, but they are sent away to live out their days as members of the Boar Clan, sequestered from the rest of the Clansfolk.
Magic ability is considered to be an extremely bad omen and it’s also considered an invitation to catastrophe to keep a magic user around. Magic users are treated only a step above livestock, and the outright murder of a magic user found wandering in the territory of another clan would generally be considered to be a positive and honorable deed.
Because magic, even divine, is essentially banned throughout both the Northern and Southern Realms, priests are all but extinct, the miracles of the gods that they worship are simply unwanted. Divine beings, when referred to at all, are simply called ‘the gods’. They are not worshipped or praised, victories are not attributed to them, and catastrophes are not blamed on them. Only the most dedicated of scholars and researchers would even know the names of specific gods. If someone wants to play a cleric, that is fine, but the target of your worship is not more specific than ‘the gods’ (the upside is that you can take whichever domains you want).
In olden days, magic users would be allowed to leave their families behind and spend time with the Boar Clan with the idea that they would learn more about the older, more magical ways. They would then return to their own clans and families with their new found knowledge. This was called a pilgrimage. For the last thousand years, that term has changed to mean ‘get sent to live with the Boar Clan and to never return’, thus removing all magic users from functioning Clan society.
Twice a year, on the two Equinoxes, all the clans meet to discuss current events. The Boar Clan can send a small group to attend. Most other meetings between the clans, and any War Councils that get called, generally do not involve invitations to the Boar Clan.
All Clanfolk are humans, except for a very small percentage of half-elves (usually born to some highly honorable Clan member who is too powerful/respected to have their child denied to them). Otherwise, the clans do not extend clanhood to non-humans, except for the Boar Clan.
Taking hostages/slaves during raids is a common practice, but without special circumstances they are not kept through the winter months. Instead they are let go to return to their homes (rather than having to feed them through winter, when food is harder to come by). Slaves that happen to have special skills can be invited to stay for longer to teach their craft. Such individuals are generally celebrated and
treated well.
The vast majority of Southerns are also humans. There exists a small elven settlement and a medium sized dwarven garrison, but those are the only non-human nations. The other races from The Player’s Handbook can be found scattered around, but they are fairly uncommon.
The PC’s will be members of the Boar Clan. There will be some restrictions on race/class/clan combinations to align with the narrative. In general, there are three ways a PC would have found themselves in the Boar Clan.
- You were born in to the Boar Clan by parents already in the clan, at least one of which (and probably both) was a magic user themselves.
- You were born in one of the other clans and taken from your home when you started to show signs of magic use.
- Non-human southerners are generally considered to be a little bit magical whether they can use magic or not. Sending non-magic using, non-humans to live their lives in the Boar Clan is a common practice. Some magic users actually like this since being found out to be a magic user in the southern realms is all but certain to be a death sentence. Only Dwarves avoid a 100% chance of this happening if they are captured in a raid (their crafting and mining skills earn them a pass if they do not use magic).
Note: The campaign will start at the beginning of spring, when the heavy snows of winter are starting to break. Every PC will have been in the Boar Clan, or have been ‘of age’ in the Boar Clan for less than a year when the campaign begins.
| Crude Map Provided to the PCs for first impressions of Clan Territory: | Detailed Map Purchased by Thorkatla in Laurelsong during the Clan Moudet: (Does not include Greenmoot/Boar Clan as the other clans prefer to pretend they don’t exist) |
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The Clans
- The Bear Clan
- The Goat Clan
- The Stag Clan
- The Wolf Clan
- The Raven Clan
- The Boar Clan
- The Fox Clan (No Longer Exists)
 
 
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Values: Strength, Personal Discipline, Honor
The Bear Clan is of the mindset that the best way to survive in the harsh north is for everyone to pull their own weight. Members of this clan tend to instill the importance of character and self-reliance on their youth.
Anyone who can hold their own, be it in craftsmanship or battle, is worthy of honor. Anyone who needs a hand, isn’t worth lending a hand to. Anyone seen as needing or taking more than their fair share is sure to raise the ire of any Bear Clan members.
At their best, the Bear Clan is dependable and strong, at their worst, they are cold and gruff.
 
 
Values: Survival, Loyalty, Community
The Goat Clan is of the mindset that the best way to survive in the harsh north is together. Members of this clan tend to treat each other like family, even if they’ve never met. This warmth does not always translate to members of other clans, however.
The leadership of the Goat Clan tends to value survival above all things, but that can mean that even honor, otherwise highly valued among the northfolk, can be seen as being of lesser importance in times of struggle.
At their best, the Goat Clan is friendly and benevolent, but at their worst, they can be xenophobic and dishonorable.
Values: Glory, Victory
The Stag Clan is of the mindset that the world comes in two halves, working hard and playing hard. Staying strong, fighting hard, and utilizing clever strategies are just as important to the Stag Clan as to
the other clans, but the Stag Clan believes that celebrating victories, honoring the fallen, and sharing the stories of legendary deeds is just as important.
As a saying in the Stag Clan goes: strength wins today’s battle; a mythic reputation wins tomorrow’s.
At their best, the Stag Clan can be boisterous allies and enthralling story tellers, at their worst, they can be debaucherous and unfocused.
 
 
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Values: Honor, Victory
The Wolf Clan is of the mindset that might makes right. Though there is a certain way to behave, in regards to being honorable, what matters at the end of the day is who won. Strength, speed, cleverness, as long as you competed honorably, it doesn’t matter what your ability of choice is, only that you bested your opponent.
At their best, the Wolf Clan is proactive and highly capable. At their worst, they are violent and obsessed with winning.
 
 
Values: Pragmatic, Shrewd
The Raven Clan is of the mindset that the mind wins every battle and that a stronger opponent can always be out strategized.
The Raven Clan values keeping an open mind and always looking for clever, if unorthodox, solutions. As a result of this open-mindedness, the Raven Clan has begun trading with Southerners, who are considered little more than scared cattle by the rest of the clans.
In mixing with the Southern cultures, the Raven Clan has adopted some of their practices and technologies, transforming themselves into a merchant clan that tolerates almost all things in their ports, much to the chagrin of the more traditional within the other clans.
At their best, the Raven Clan is clever and resourceful. At their worst, they can slip into activities that are considered dishonorable or spiteful of clan tradition.
 
 
Values: ??
The Boar Clan is more a collection of the northfolk’s unwanted than a cohesive clan. Some members have been forced into the semi-exile of the Boar Clan because of magical abilities, others still are stuck in the clan for no crime other than being the offspring of magic wielding parents. A scarce few have even chosen exile in the Boar Clan for one reason or the other.
Still, amongst the motley population exists a spark of the old ways and the nearby Gnarlrune Forest seems to keep many secrets from a forgotten and arcane antiquity.
 
The past existence of this clan was discovered by the PCs in the course of the campaign. They were a high magic clan that lived far to the north. They were eventually wiped out by the Wolf clan (presumably for their use of magic).
They had trained dire arctic foxes with magical abilities (seemed to be able to phase in and out of the plane of existence/stealth). The PCs came up against some of these in their first mission as a group and killed them, not knowing what they were.
The Jarl of the Boar clan was originally from the Fox clan. She escaped the massacre of her clan as a small child and came to live with the Boar clan.
Campaign NPCs
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