Getting to know you

Hi all.  Sverrir here.  Just wanted to start a topic where we can get to know each other, our real names, our Viking names, our interests in crafting, interests in fighting, and maybe a bit of a back story.

Please post in the following format:

Real Name:
Age:
Viking Name:
Nationality:
Crafting:
Warrior:
Backstory:

Real Name: Joseph Potosky

Age: 35

Viking Name: Sverrir Helhundr

Nationality: Norwegian

Crafting: Leatherwork

Warrior: Seax, Axe, Spear, Sword, Florentine

Backstory: Was taken as a slave by the Vitharsons near Trondheim as an infant.  At 13, village was attacked by Danes who took me as a slave, selling me in Byzantium.  Sold to a Persian.  At 18, escaped slavery in Persia, returned to Byzantium, captured as a thief. Released by an ex Varangian guard, escaped to Greece, then sailed to Alexandria, Egypt.  Travelled the north coast of Africa, sailed across to sicily, then to Rome. Travelled the alps into Europe.  Worked my way back to Norway to find nothing left of my village.  Travelled to England.  Joined a Dane/Swede/Norwegian war band.  Defeated and taken as a slave. Escaped again, and ran into a Dane named Dagaz, through my oath, Dagaz tosses me a weapon, an epic fight ensues, we escape to the safety of the Sons of Fenrir camp.  While I hold an oath to the Sons of Fenrir, my oath to Dagaz Kolson comes first. After years of service with the Sons, I was promoted to Hearth Guard and given the priviledge to train newcomers on how to fight

Real Name: Tracy Stubbert

Age:50

Viking Name:Grimnir

Nationality:Great Dane

Crafting: Almost anything, specialize in leather. Working on bone and antler carving.  
 
Warrior: Yes. Absolutely. Any aspect of the combat arts.  

Back story:
From Hedeby/Haithabu, a trading settlement in the Danish-northern German borderland. When the churches showed up and the city became so crowded and filthy, that was it.. I jumped on the first Drakkar that would have me and off I went víkingr. With Meili and the All Father as my guide, down to Ribe I went and back up to the Sognefjord to distant Miklagarðr and off to Svealand where I met Ljufa. Then The Sons came into our lives. Its been a full life of hardship and battle and love..but these stories are best kept for around the fire with my brothers and sisters, full of mead and safe within the pack.

Real Name: Scott Svendsen

Age: 23

Viking Name: Sven

Nationality: Norwegian

Craft: Leather Work

Warrior: Axe & Seax

Backstory:
I was taken captive at age ten after my family died defending our land from christians who demanded we either convert or submit our land too them, after they claimed everything we had I was shipped like cargo to a monastery to be converted and forced into a life of monkhood. We were treated like slaves, escape had become impossible as their methods became more severe. After several years they had tuaght me their language and began explaining what was happening, how we had to forget about our heathenistic upbringing and surrender to their god, and so i planned my escape. I had been sharpening the wooden cross i wore by night with the stone beneath my bed, to where the bottom resembled an axe head sharp enough to kill the monk who held the key in his sleep. Then taking a lit torch from outside and jaming the door shut with the shapened bloody cross I lit the monastery ablaze to avenge my family and my pride as a norseman. After living off of wildlife and stealing food from passers by in the countryside for four years I met a fellow norseman by the name Hakon. Hakon was a blacksmith by trade but knew much about woodwork and leather work, he tuaght me what he could and provided shelter from the law. It was him who gave me my seax that I might not be taken for a slave but as a brother, togeather we heard of a band of northmen and women who fought as wolves and bore the demon wolf Fenrir for a banner and claimed kinship to him. We gathered what provissions we could carry and forged new axes for the journey ahead, that we might be deemed worthy as Sons Of Fenrir

Real Name: Jay Clarke

Age: 41

Viking Name: Dagaz (the Lucky) Kolson

Nationality: Danish

Crafting: Chainmaille, woodwork, leatherwork, naalbinding, Poetry

Warrior: Is there any other way? Proficient with Seax, axe, spear and sword.

Backstory: I was born Kol Kolson, Son of Kol Jorundson in a small town several miles north of Hedeby. My mother died during childbirth and my father left when I was still a boy. I was taken in by a man I knew as Cutter who taught me the ways of the sword. Cutter was killed by a raiding party seeking shelter during a terrible storm. I fought for my life and managed to escape. Once at the coast I joined the warband of Jarl Thorfinn and travelled coastlines everywhere raiding with his crew for many years. It was during this time that I met Herjeisa and was forced to flea after she poisoned the hearthguards evening meal. We took to the seas in a small faering and were almost destroyed by a vicious storm. Eventually we washed up on the southern shores of Englaland and met the Sons of Fenrir. We pledged our oath and took to feeding and training with the pack. After numerous years in service our Jarl took ill and was forced to journey far to seek a remedy. It was then that I became Jarl and swore a new oath to protect my group until my final breath. We are warriors. We are wolves. We are Sons of Fenrir!

Real Name: Andrew Nickel

Age: 26

Viking Name: Odaudlegur Bear Claw Vitharson

Nationality: Norwegian

Crafting: woodwork, leatherwork, starting on bone and antler work

Warrior: Axe, Seax, Spear, Dane Axe

Backstory:I was bigger then all of the children my age so my father had started training me in the combat arts. I was just a young boy when the Danes raided my village. My father handed me an axe and told me to defend our village, but alas i was struck down cut down from collarbone to navel. The cut wasn't overly deep but being such a young boy i passed out from the shock of it. I awoke a few days later to a pile of dead bodies and burnt houses. As i wandered through the village i came across my fathers and older brothers body both laying there without their heads. There was another in my family who wasn't of our blood line his name was Sverrir, now even tho Sverrir was not true kin to me he was my brother in my heart. And when i could not find his body I patched up my wound gathered some gear and set out to try and find my brother thinking that he had hopefully escaped. But after a few years of searching I said my prayers to the gods to look after my lost brother and carried on in my journey of life. I lived off the land for many years travelling into Daneland, Germania,and eventually to southern England where i met the Sons of Fenrir and to my surprise was reunited with Sverrir after years of thinking he was dead. I offered my axe, sheild and life to the wolf clan, and for now the rest is a tale waiting to be told...........SONS!!!!

Real Name : Amy Cripps

Age : 29

Viking name: Kanina

Nationality : Hiberno-Norse

Crafting : na'al binding, story telling, camp stuff

Warrior : 2h spear (not that I fight much)

Backstory : Born on a small farm just south of the Hillfort of Dunaad in Scotland. My father used to trade goods and tell stories at the market when visitors came. I met Fiskr there and ran away with him. Well... I think I ran away. He may paid my father off ... I'm not sure. He just shrugs when I ask him about it ...

Real Name: James Sigurdson

Age: 40

Viking Name: Thialfi Grimmson

Nationality: Icelandic

Crafting: Farming, Carving, Story Telling

Warrior: Axe and Seax

Backstory: I was only 7 when my father took me to the Thing. The local Hersars had gathered to make plans for who was going to stay and look after the farmlands and who was to go out on the Longships and go raiding. That was the last time I saw my father as it was determined that I was to go with one of the Hersirs and tend to the farmland. While my father joined the expedition to Ireland, an expedition that never came back. That was 33 years ago that I was to serve the local Hersir as farmhand and help keep peace within the district until recently.
The past few winters brought terrible crops and killed a large portion of the livestock. I was given a choice to go with the family and the remaining freemen that chose to stay and start over again with Eric the Red in Greenland or seek a destiny of my own for the first time in my life. I chose to take what little possessions I could and seek passage on a merchant ship to Ireland where I seek my own destiny.
I have acquired many skills and suitable strengths in my time serving the Hersir and hope that I have chosen wisely. I remember the story my father told me when I was a child of how Thor went to the land of giants with Loki and acquired his faithful companions - Thialfi and Roskva. My father Grimm named me after Thialfi who in the story was the fastest in all the lands. My father would be proud as I lived up well to his expectations. I hear that there are men of reputation and many bands of brothers seeking fame and fortune. I will try to join one of these bands and plunder and seek a day when story's may be told of my exploits. I shall seek out the Sons of Fenrir, for there exploits have reached the shores of Iceland. I heard a story once of how a pack of wolves took down a bear once. I've never seen a wolf in action or a bear either, yet I've imagined it my whole life since that first night After my dad left the local Hersir had a Bear hide and I asked him what it was that he had. I hear these animals are a beautiful thing to see. Very majestic and strong. All we have are mostly sheep on Iceland. Does strange things to your imagination when you tend sheep all the time, a man can get lonely out on the pastures. It would be nice to hear a animal growl, no more bahhh's would be a welcome change.
I boarded the merchant ship sailing to Ireland and have arrived on the shores of Ireland close to a settlement named Dyflin while the merchants gather information from the locals and set plans as to where to journey next. Word has gotten back that the Sons are close and the merchant has provided passage for me on another ship to seek contact as my intentions have been well known. This new crew looks pretty rough and one ugly woman keeps looking at me. She reminds me of Grendal the Troll as one arm is longer than the other and she walks with a weird limp and when she smiles she missing her front teeth, looks like they we're knocked out. I wonder if anyone will miss her if I throw her overboard..........
Needless to say I almost threw her overboard as I kept repeating that I was going to if she didn't stop staring at me. I did throw one one person overboard as he thought it would be in his interest to attempt to steal my possessions as I slept. I doubt anyone will miss him now that less things will go missing on the boat. When asked if I had seen the man I said that he shouldn't pee in the ocean and curse Jormungand the sea serpent. For he probably was eaten and that we were lucky that Jormungand spared our lives. I think I put the fear into the captain cause he made landfall quickly and set me in my direction. I have made contact with someone who knows a man named Grimnir of the Sons of Fenrir and I hope that my history is about to be written.........I guess time will tell.

S.....O......N.......S.........,

Real Name: **** *********
 
Age: 18
 
Viking Name: Albi Fenrirson
 
Nationality:(unknown) Raised as a Norwegien
 
Crafting: none
 
Warrior:Axe and Seax
 
Backstory:All that i can remember from my past is hearing my mothers screams as i hid, and the fear in me i just sat there crying, minutes passed i heard argueing and laughing seeing a man open the closet and he just stared at me, that man is nameed sverrir, he took me under his wing and into a raiding group called the sons of fenrir, that is the only real memory i can recall from my youth. ever sinse that day sverrir and all my brothers taught me how to fight and understand the feeling of having a family. I never remembered what my name was before, but when i expierenced my first battle my jarl Dagaz Coleson threw down his spare gear to me and ran off to battle, blood thirst in his eyes and glory in his heart. i frantically put on the gear, scared out of my mind I strapped my helmet on my head, shield and axe in my hand, and arm bracer on my legs. . .
         I ran into battle seeing my brothers fight in their shieldwall. Ansgar pucturing bosses with his spear, Odaudlegur swinging his dane axe down on the head of his enemies, Dagaz leading his wolfpack to glory, Grimnir lobbing of heads of his enimies and the man who became my mentor and my brother Sverrir charging at the enemy wall with two axes in hand with the intents to kill. I join in the wall with my brothers, seeing the battle in their eyes and trust in eachother. i managed just to defend the man to my right Hrothen, but did not land a blow on the enemies and just saw them run. The Battle still surging through me i still wanted to fight. I swung at anyone who came near me but i came back to my senses seeing The Jarl dagaz standing in front of me and just stared, laughing as he pointed to my legs "those go on your arms boy" looking down i see one of the arm bracers and a stab mark in it thanking the gods for my luck. I bent down untied them and put them were they belonged. ever sinse that day i was called LB (Leg bracers) which later turned into Albi. Years later i am now a adult and a brother of all these feirce warriors who took me in and raised me, loved me, and fought alongside me. i became a son to this warband, i became Albi Fenrirson.
 
SONS!

Real Name: Kyle Hupe
Age:27
Viking Name: Hakon
Nationality: Norwegian.
Crafting: Blacksmithing, leather work, carpentry, hand stitching.
Warrior: Hand axe, seax and shield.
Backstory: The bastard son of a traveler named Rig, disowned by my mothers husband upon his return in the spring from the summer raids. He would constantly remind me how lucky I was to be raised as a slave in his house until the day finally came when I was sold to an explorer from Gotland. We set sail heading west across a great sea. After a few days the navigator fell ill with a strange sickness I had never seen before, we drifted for weeks and the men slowly began to turn on one another until finally the sickness claimed the life of the navigator. The men claimed we were cursed by the gods and would never see dry land again. The next morning I woke to the sound of gulls and what looked like land off in the distant west, I put my life in the hands of the gods and lept from the boat and swam faster than the tide itself. After landing on shore in a strange new land with the sea to the east I headed west until I came to town called York where I was taken in by a blacksmith as his apprentice. Years had passed and I grew bored of the life of a blacksmith that is when I met a fellow norseman by the name of Sven who told heroic tales of a warband who fought with the ferocity of the great wolf Fenrir. It wasn't long after that we found ourselves wandering the countryside in search of the Sons of Fenrir.

Real Name: Jennifer Ann Frazer

Age: 30

Viking Name: Alfrùn

Nationality:

Crafting: sewing, trying to learn tablet weaving, trying to learn to work with leather, and i'll try pretty much any other craft too.

Warrior: axe

Backstory:
Born in Hedeby, Denmark. My mother died when I was an infant, and when I was six my father decided to return to the seafaring life, leaving me with an uncle who already had children and really did not want one more. My father was killed 6 months later, and a man from Olso turned up at my uncle's house claiming to be my mother's brother and offering to take me to my mother's family in Norway, which offer my father's brother accepted.
Once in Norway, however, it became very clear that I was not brought to my mother's family, but rather taken as a slave. When i was 14 I ran away, but was deceived by one who offered help and became enslaved once again. Years later a friend helped me escape again on a merchant ship supposedly bound for Hedeby, but once again deceived, the merchant instead brought me to Caithness as a gift to a man with whom he sought favour.
After quite a while a friend helped me escape and I came to Anglia where I met the Sons of Fenrir.

Real Name: Joshua Clarke

Age: 23

Viking Name: Einar Raudulfssen

Nationality: Danish

Crafting:Leather Working

Warrior: Seax, Axe, Spear, Sword

Backstory:

My story begins with My father, Raudulf or more well known as The Red Wolf of Denmark, a warrior of renown known from Constantinople all the way to the shores of England. He served the Emperor of Miklagaard with Grimnir Bernardsson in the Varangian Guard, when he returned home I was now 16 years old. Serving our Jarl he made the decision that I would come on the next raid from Denmark into Mercia against the Saxon filth. We traveled the whale roads and made our way across the sea into the green lands of the Saxons and carried out a raid. It was successful and on our way back to our ship we were suprised, not in a good way, there standing on the beach before us what the Saxon Fyrd led by an Eoldorman named Aethulwulf. our numbers were fairly matched and it would have been a fierce battle but when Aethulwulf sent out a challenge of champions my father the Red Wolf accepted, and the two men met in a brutal fight, Aethulwulf was a large man his maille was shining in the light, his helm rimmed in brass and his sword sharp and quick. Pagan and Christian met, and my father fell, I rushed out in my rage and attacked Aethulwulf swinging wildly with little control, and that man laughed and shoved a two handed spear into my hip, I fell cursing to the ground. He refused to kill me telling me he wouldnt take the life of a beardless youth, he threw me my fathers sword and told me to return when I was man. They gave us my fathers body for our pagan rites so he could be burned with a weapon in his hand. They took the treasure and shamed our Jarl and sent us on our way. We buried my father that day, I took his Maille and wargear, his shield and his sword, and we burned him with spear and seax, axe and shields. Returning home the wound began to fester, and many feared I would die, but I rode out the fever and my rage and vengeance kept me breathing, waiting to return to Mercia and kill the man that took my fathers life. Years later when my healing had finished and i had continued to train I shamed our Jarl by calling him a coward for not returning for Vengeance, my Oldest brother Horik who ran our barley farm would not protect me so I left my home in search of adventure. Sailing the Northern seas I went to all manners of strange places fighting in raids or trading or helping a merchant row across the seas. When finally I found my self in England once more, I met Dagaz the Lucky in an inn in Northumbria, we spoke, he heard my tales and sagas but was not yet interested in adding this unknown warrior to the fold of his pack. Luckily for me Grimnir Bernardsson was present and in hearing the story spoke up for me as he had fought with my father many years before. I was accepted into the Sons, and never looked back, as I know one day I will have a chance to kill the man who took my fathers life, and all my brothers will stand with me in the wall that day never will I be more proud.