₪₪₪₪₪
01-25-11, 08:48 PM
“My heart would be yours if 'twere of silver bright,
and I would give it 'twere of gold,
but my wanderlust heart 'tis of iron-wright
and I'd not have it make you cold.”
- Álfljotr Svadilfarn, "Under the Ashen Tree"
Name: Frølich Tyrsdottir
Age: 24
Race: Half-Direling
Hair Color / Eye Color: Blonde / Blue
Height / Weight: 6'2” / 152lb
Occupation: Shaman
Appearance: When Frølich lies in a snowbank, her skin blends in nearly perfectly with the snow around her. Without blemish or mark, her skin is white and pure as a cloudless winter sky. Her hair, too, is incredibly light—naturally blonde, but bleached by the cold to the extent that it looks white. Her eyes are a cold, icy blue, shockingly clear and with a ring of gold around the pupils. Her nose is broad and flat, and she has a strong, wide jaw. By human standards she's tall, and by direling standards she's tiny. Either way, her build is slender, and she has long, thin limbs and a narrow torso. She inherited her hands from her mother, and her fingers are lengthy, slender and delicate. Her feet, however, are large, and her shoulders are broad.
She dresses in thick, warm layers of furs—clothing suitable for the harsh cold climate of northern Salvar. She wears big boots lined with wool, a tunic, and a long-sleeved coat pinned at her chest with an ornate metal brooch. A band of fabric wrapped around her head keeps her long hair together, and a long hunting knife hangs at her side. She isn't vain about her appearance, but she does wear wooden and whalebone necklaces and bracelets that she carved herself. These have less to do with aesthetics and more to do with her position as a shaman, though.
Personality: Frølich's moods are as flighty and unpredictable as the weather. She's quick to anger, and when she is angry, it's like a ferocious blizzard—but she's quick to forgive, as well, and harbors no grudges or resentment towards anyone. Her life as an outcast on the edges of society meant coming in contact with almost only her sister and mother, and that seriously influenced her social development. In general, she is cheerful, but slightly quiet and hesitant to speak to strangers. She's a loner, and has no problem spending lengthy periods of time on her own—as a child, she frequently disappeared from home for days at a time with no explanation, just to walk around the woods and be by herself. She's easily distracted and prone to daydreaming and non-sequitors. She's seldom talkative, but when she does speak, she does so with unexpectedly elegant mannerisms and a hearty sort of honesty that is hard not to appreciate.
For the most part, she's pragmatic and concerned first and foremost with her and her sister's safety and well-being. Questions of “good” and “evil” rarely cross her mind. She isn't ever cruel or mean, but she doesn't care much about the well-being of strangers, either. For the most part, she's just indifferent to anyone other than her family and friends, and doesn't care about broader matters of morality. Like most of the hardy people of the dangerous north-lands of Salvar, survival always stands as the top priority in her mind. She does, however, care deeply about animals, and she often forms a connection with them. She never takes more than what she needs when hunting, and always gives respect and thanks to the spirits of the dead animals.
Skills:
Survival – After an entire life of living in the harsh northern climate with only her mother and sister for support, Frølich is excellent at surviving in the wild. She knows how to hunt, follow tracks, and can tell what plants are safe for eating and which aren't. She can construct shelters, make fires, and knows a variety of basic and advanced wilderness survival skills.
Rune-writing – Frølich knows the secret language of the runes gifted only to direling shamans, and can write and read in that language very effectively. She was taught by no one, but learned the secrets of the runes through a spirit quest—the same quest through which she attained her magical and shamanic abilities.
Flyting – An important aspect of direling and northern Salvarian culture is the practice of “flyting,” a form of verbal sparring that takes place in the form of an exchange of insults in the form of poetic verse. Frølich is verbally gifted and naturally talented at such contests.
Abilities:
Direling Traits – As a half-direling, Frølich inherited a number of strengths of the race from her father. She's exceptionally resistant to the cold, and needs much less heat and food to keep her energy up than an average human. She's immune to frostbite and hypothermia, and while she could still theoretically freeze to death, it would take quite extreme temperatures before that would happen. She's also somewhat stronger and faster (ten percent) than the average human man, despite her relatively slender build. She's resistant to ice magic—it barely affects her at all.
Shamanic Magic – Frølich's most significant learned ability is her magic. To attain her magic, Frølich went on a spirit quest of physical and spiritual endurance. For nine days and nine nights, she hung from the branches of an ash tree by her feet and meditated. During this time, she communed with the Thayne and the ancestor spirits. Through this spirit journey, she learned the secrets of rune-writing, and gained the spark of magic that she would, through training, develop into a shamanic talent.
Using her magic, Frølich can predict the weather a week in advance with a decent amount of accuracy. She has a great amount of control over her dreams, and is sometimes visited in them by spirits and has secrets revealed to her. She understands the flight patterns of birds and the migratory patterns of animals, and she can communicate with them fairly well. It can't really be said that she speaks the language of animals, because birds and beasts don't speak the way that humans do, but she understands their body language and seems to just have an uncanny knack for bonding with creatures.
[She also has a fair amount of arcane and mystical knowledge, and knows a great deal about spirits and gods and magic. However, there is a humungous difference between magical knowledge and skill. While she knows a lot about these things, she isn't yet able to put most of that knowledge to practical, everyday use. Her shamanic abilities are only those as listed above (weather prediction, dream-walking, animal empathy).]
Bow Skill – Frølich is average when it comes to skill with the bow. She's not a bad shot, but she's not a particularly good one either. She depends more on her knowledge of the forests and animals when it comes to hunting than on her marksmanship.
Weaknesses:
Direling Traits – As a half-direling, Frølich inherited a number of weaknesses of the race from her father. She cannot tolerate the heat, and suffers immensely in hot climates. Any temperature over eighty degrees would be seriously dangerous to her health, and in a desert climate (over ninety-five degrees) she would probably die. Her skin burns easily in bright sunlight, and turns bright red and peels for a period of weeks—and she will never tan, just cycle between paleness and sunburn. Fire magic affects her much more than the average person, and she burns quickly and severely.
Physical Combat – Despite her increased strength and hardiness, Frølich is fairly inept at hand-to-hand combat with another person. She's physically clumsy and uncoordinated, and is just as likely to hurt herself as the other person. She has little experience in fighting other people. While she does carry a knife, she uses it for practical purposes, not for combat. She only fights hand-to-hand if she absolutely has to.
Equipment:
Seax – At her hip, Frølich carries a short iron hunting knife known as a seax. Intertwining snakes are engraved into the blade, which has a hilt carved out of narwhal horn.
Yew Bow – Strapped to her back, Frølich carries a bow made of ash and a quiver full of arrows with iron tips. She's very careful about how she uses her arrows, and tries to retrieve them whenever possible.
History: Frølich's mother, a beautiful woman by the name of Brynhild, was once the wife of a human noble by the name of Lord Dagmær. Frølich and her twin sister, Skogul, are not products of that arranged marriage, however. Rather, to escape from the cruelty and stupid greed of her detestable husband, Brynhild had an affair with a direling warrior named Tyr. For a time they had a love of incredible proportions—the sort of forbidden romance that minstrels write songs about—but when Lord Dagmær discovered their affair, he surprised the lovers and killed Tyr before the direling had a chance to defend himself. He then exiled Brynhild from his domain. The incident gained a large amount of notoriety throughout the north, and lead to greatly increased tensions between the direlings and the humans.
Brynhild made her way, pregnant, to the very edges of Salvarian society. She settled far, far to the north, in a port town called Brigantia. There she raised her daughters, at first with some charitable help from her neighbors, and later on her own. At first, the townspeople welcomed her, thinking she was a widow of some sort. Once the twins were born and grew, however, it became clear that they were...different. Their mixed heritage wasn't immediately evident, but their extremely pale skin and abnormal growth and height caused people to mutter. Brynhild and her daughters were shunned practically to the edge of the village, and forced to fend largely for themselves. Frølich and Skogul hunted together and brought back food for their family. At the same time as Frølich was developing her shamanic skills, Skogul learned smithing from an old master blacksmith in town who was desperate for help. Eventually the town came to depend on the sisters—on Skogul for her smiting, and on Frølich for her weather predictions, empathy with animals, and general spiritual guidance.
That's not to say that the townspeople didn't resent the sisters, though. At best, they viewed them with some mixture of jealousy, fear, and admiration—and mostly fear. The Tyrsdottir sisters were “wyrd,” with their abnormal height and exotic looks and obvious direling parentage. Rumors were even spread about them being witches, and hostility towards the pair only mounted as time went on...
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Salvar (unbeknown to Frølich and her family) the story of her mother's affair and the death of her father grew to nearly the status of a legend. Among the Direlings, Tyr was seen as a folk-hero, and among the humans he became a monster and a bogeyman. Lord Dagmær's rule over his province became only more tyrannical. A famous Direling bard by the name of Álfljotr Svadilfarn wrote a song called "Under the Ashen Tree" that goes as follows:
Under The Ashen Tree
A winter's day, a winter's day,
through chill winds in Salvar fair,
Lord Dagmær's wife rode up on her sleigh,
to meet her lover Tyr.
Oh, Tyr, he was a direling strong,
who wandered far and free,
and for him Brynhild did sing a song,
as he loved her 'neath the ashen tree.
“From you I cannot bear to part,”
said Brynhild, lady fair,
“Pray tell me that you'll give me your heart,
We'll flee south and make a life there.”
“My heart would be yours if 'twere of silver bright,
and I would give it 'twere of gold,
but my wanderlust heart 'tis of iron-wright
and I'd not have it make you cold.”
Fat Lord Dagmær hid in the holly bush,
and he listened to the lovers speak.
His round face was all up in a flush,
when he leaped out with a shriek.
He pointed a finger at his wife,
which bore a wedding ring.
His other hand held a hunting knife,
which he prepared to swing.
“Strike me, Dagmær, if you dare,
And strike me if you can.
But would you have it known in Salvar fair,
that you slew a naked man?”
Well Dagmær struck an ugly blow,
and hurt poor Tyr sore.
The lady screamed, for blood was on the snow,
And Tyr spake no more.
Then Lord Dagmær shoved his wife,
against the ashen tree,
saying “Who do you like the best of us,
that brutish man or me?”
And then spoke up his own dear wife,
under the ashen tree,
“I'd rather a kiss from dead Tyr's lips,
than all of your finery.”
and I would give it 'twere of gold,
but my wanderlust heart 'tis of iron-wright
and I'd not have it make you cold.”
- Álfljotr Svadilfarn, "Under the Ashen Tree"
Name: Frølich Tyrsdottir
Age: 24
Race: Half-Direling
Hair Color / Eye Color: Blonde / Blue
Height / Weight: 6'2” / 152lb
Occupation: Shaman
Appearance: When Frølich lies in a snowbank, her skin blends in nearly perfectly with the snow around her. Without blemish or mark, her skin is white and pure as a cloudless winter sky. Her hair, too, is incredibly light—naturally blonde, but bleached by the cold to the extent that it looks white. Her eyes are a cold, icy blue, shockingly clear and with a ring of gold around the pupils. Her nose is broad and flat, and she has a strong, wide jaw. By human standards she's tall, and by direling standards she's tiny. Either way, her build is slender, and she has long, thin limbs and a narrow torso. She inherited her hands from her mother, and her fingers are lengthy, slender and delicate. Her feet, however, are large, and her shoulders are broad.
She dresses in thick, warm layers of furs—clothing suitable for the harsh cold climate of northern Salvar. She wears big boots lined with wool, a tunic, and a long-sleeved coat pinned at her chest with an ornate metal brooch. A band of fabric wrapped around her head keeps her long hair together, and a long hunting knife hangs at her side. She isn't vain about her appearance, but she does wear wooden and whalebone necklaces and bracelets that she carved herself. These have less to do with aesthetics and more to do with her position as a shaman, though.
Personality: Frølich's moods are as flighty and unpredictable as the weather. She's quick to anger, and when she is angry, it's like a ferocious blizzard—but she's quick to forgive, as well, and harbors no grudges or resentment towards anyone. Her life as an outcast on the edges of society meant coming in contact with almost only her sister and mother, and that seriously influenced her social development. In general, she is cheerful, but slightly quiet and hesitant to speak to strangers. She's a loner, and has no problem spending lengthy periods of time on her own—as a child, she frequently disappeared from home for days at a time with no explanation, just to walk around the woods and be by herself. She's easily distracted and prone to daydreaming and non-sequitors. She's seldom talkative, but when she does speak, she does so with unexpectedly elegant mannerisms and a hearty sort of honesty that is hard not to appreciate.
For the most part, she's pragmatic and concerned first and foremost with her and her sister's safety and well-being. Questions of “good” and “evil” rarely cross her mind. She isn't ever cruel or mean, but she doesn't care much about the well-being of strangers, either. For the most part, she's just indifferent to anyone other than her family and friends, and doesn't care about broader matters of morality. Like most of the hardy people of the dangerous north-lands of Salvar, survival always stands as the top priority in her mind. She does, however, care deeply about animals, and she often forms a connection with them. She never takes more than what she needs when hunting, and always gives respect and thanks to the spirits of the dead animals.
Skills:
Survival – After an entire life of living in the harsh northern climate with only her mother and sister for support, Frølich is excellent at surviving in the wild. She knows how to hunt, follow tracks, and can tell what plants are safe for eating and which aren't. She can construct shelters, make fires, and knows a variety of basic and advanced wilderness survival skills.
Rune-writing – Frølich knows the secret language of the runes gifted only to direling shamans, and can write and read in that language very effectively. She was taught by no one, but learned the secrets of the runes through a spirit quest—the same quest through which she attained her magical and shamanic abilities.
Flyting – An important aspect of direling and northern Salvarian culture is the practice of “flyting,” a form of verbal sparring that takes place in the form of an exchange of insults in the form of poetic verse. Frølich is verbally gifted and naturally talented at such contests.
Abilities:
Direling Traits – As a half-direling, Frølich inherited a number of strengths of the race from her father. She's exceptionally resistant to the cold, and needs much less heat and food to keep her energy up than an average human. She's immune to frostbite and hypothermia, and while she could still theoretically freeze to death, it would take quite extreme temperatures before that would happen. She's also somewhat stronger and faster (ten percent) than the average human man, despite her relatively slender build. She's resistant to ice magic—it barely affects her at all.
Shamanic Magic – Frølich's most significant learned ability is her magic. To attain her magic, Frølich went on a spirit quest of physical and spiritual endurance. For nine days and nine nights, she hung from the branches of an ash tree by her feet and meditated. During this time, she communed with the Thayne and the ancestor spirits. Through this spirit journey, she learned the secrets of rune-writing, and gained the spark of magic that she would, through training, develop into a shamanic talent.
Using her magic, Frølich can predict the weather a week in advance with a decent amount of accuracy. She has a great amount of control over her dreams, and is sometimes visited in them by spirits and has secrets revealed to her. She understands the flight patterns of birds and the migratory patterns of animals, and she can communicate with them fairly well. It can't really be said that she speaks the language of animals, because birds and beasts don't speak the way that humans do, but she understands their body language and seems to just have an uncanny knack for bonding with creatures.
[She also has a fair amount of arcane and mystical knowledge, and knows a great deal about spirits and gods and magic. However, there is a humungous difference between magical knowledge and skill. While she knows a lot about these things, she isn't yet able to put most of that knowledge to practical, everyday use. Her shamanic abilities are only those as listed above (weather prediction, dream-walking, animal empathy).]
Bow Skill – Frølich is average when it comes to skill with the bow. She's not a bad shot, but she's not a particularly good one either. She depends more on her knowledge of the forests and animals when it comes to hunting than on her marksmanship.
Weaknesses:
Direling Traits – As a half-direling, Frølich inherited a number of weaknesses of the race from her father. She cannot tolerate the heat, and suffers immensely in hot climates. Any temperature over eighty degrees would be seriously dangerous to her health, and in a desert climate (over ninety-five degrees) she would probably die. Her skin burns easily in bright sunlight, and turns bright red and peels for a period of weeks—and she will never tan, just cycle between paleness and sunburn. Fire magic affects her much more than the average person, and she burns quickly and severely.
Physical Combat – Despite her increased strength and hardiness, Frølich is fairly inept at hand-to-hand combat with another person. She's physically clumsy and uncoordinated, and is just as likely to hurt herself as the other person. She has little experience in fighting other people. While she does carry a knife, she uses it for practical purposes, not for combat. She only fights hand-to-hand if she absolutely has to.
Equipment:
Seax – At her hip, Frølich carries a short iron hunting knife known as a seax. Intertwining snakes are engraved into the blade, which has a hilt carved out of narwhal horn.
Yew Bow – Strapped to her back, Frølich carries a bow made of ash and a quiver full of arrows with iron tips. She's very careful about how she uses her arrows, and tries to retrieve them whenever possible.
History: Frølich's mother, a beautiful woman by the name of Brynhild, was once the wife of a human noble by the name of Lord Dagmær. Frølich and her twin sister, Skogul, are not products of that arranged marriage, however. Rather, to escape from the cruelty and stupid greed of her detestable husband, Brynhild had an affair with a direling warrior named Tyr. For a time they had a love of incredible proportions—the sort of forbidden romance that minstrels write songs about—but when Lord Dagmær discovered their affair, he surprised the lovers and killed Tyr before the direling had a chance to defend himself. He then exiled Brynhild from his domain. The incident gained a large amount of notoriety throughout the north, and lead to greatly increased tensions between the direlings and the humans.
Brynhild made her way, pregnant, to the very edges of Salvarian society. She settled far, far to the north, in a port town called Brigantia. There she raised her daughters, at first with some charitable help from her neighbors, and later on her own. At first, the townspeople welcomed her, thinking she was a widow of some sort. Once the twins were born and grew, however, it became clear that they were...different. Their mixed heritage wasn't immediately evident, but their extremely pale skin and abnormal growth and height caused people to mutter. Brynhild and her daughters were shunned practically to the edge of the village, and forced to fend largely for themselves. Frølich and Skogul hunted together and brought back food for their family. At the same time as Frølich was developing her shamanic skills, Skogul learned smithing from an old master blacksmith in town who was desperate for help. Eventually the town came to depend on the sisters—on Skogul for her smiting, and on Frølich for her weather predictions, empathy with animals, and general spiritual guidance.
That's not to say that the townspeople didn't resent the sisters, though. At best, they viewed them with some mixture of jealousy, fear, and admiration—and mostly fear. The Tyrsdottir sisters were “wyrd,” with their abnormal height and exotic looks and obvious direling parentage. Rumors were even spread about them being witches, and hostility towards the pair only mounted as time went on...
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Salvar (unbeknown to Frølich and her family) the story of her mother's affair and the death of her father grew to nearly the status of a legend. Among the Direlings, Tyr was seen as a folk-hero, and among the humans he became a monster and a bogeyman. Lord Dagmær's rule over his province became only more tyrannical. A famous Direling bard by the name of Álfljotr Svadilfarn wrote a song called "Under the Ashen Tree" that goes as follows:
Under The Ashen Tree
A winter's day, a winter's day,
through chill winds in Salvar fair,
Lord Dagmær's wife rode up on her sleigh,
to meet her lover Tyr.
Oh, Tyr, he was a direling strong,
who wandered far and free,
and for him Brynhild did sing a song,
as he loved her 'neath the ashen tree.
“From you I cannot bear to part,”
said Brynhild, lady fair,
“Pray tell me that you'll give me your heart,
We'll flee south and make a life there.”
“My heart would be yours if 'twere of silver bright,
and I would give it 'twere of gold,
but my wanderlust heart 'tis of iron-wright
and I'd not have it make you cold.”
Fat Lord Dagmær hid in the holly bush,
and he listened to the lovers speak.
His round face was all up in a flush,
when he leaped out with a shriek.
He pointed a finger at his wife,
which bore a wedding ring.
His other hand held a hunting knife,
which he prepared to swing.
“Strike me, Dagmær, if you dare,
And strike me if you can.
But would you have it known in Salvar fair,
that you slew a naked man?”
Well Dagmær struck an ugly blow,
and hurt poor Tyr sore.
The lady screamed, for blood was on the snow,
And Tyr spake no more.
Then Lord Dagmær shoved his wife,
against the ashen tree,
saying “Who do you like the best of us,
that brutish man or me?”
And then spoke up his own dear wife,
under the ashen tree,
“I'd rather a kiss from dead Tyr's lips,
than all of your finery.”