North of the Wind (Inactive)

Game Master dien

Ulfens and tigers and bears, oh my. Except no tigers.

Combat map
Mount statistics
Mini-region map for PCs

Loot tracker


Glossary:
These are a few of the more commonly used words in the campaign, here for quick reference (as much for your GM as for you guys...)

goði - a lord, akin to the chieftain or mayor; the goði also has religious responsibilities as the chief priest
húskarl - a lord's retained warrior, a personal bodyguard or trusted lieutenant
jarl - a lord or member of the aristocracy. Note that in Ulfen culture, this is not a layabout position: you are required to be an active, and brave, warrior, who leads others into battle. The title of 'jarl' miiight go to a non-warrior, but it'd be the exception, not the rule
Jól - Yule, the day of the midwinter solstice
karl - a normal citizen, a legally free man/woman. Most karls are farmers or craftsmen
ljósálfar - "light elves", literally; it is the Skald word the elves use to refer to themselves
seiðr - loosely, 'magic', but generally referring in this context to arcane magic rather than divine. Among the Ulfen, it is seen as women's magic, and men are not supposed to practice it
stalla-hringr - "altar-ring", a ceremonial arm-ring kept in the temple and worn by the goði for important business
thrall - a slave/servant/bondsman. Thralls are paid a wage, but it's not much.

I use this Norse dictionary. Note you are not required to pepper your every post with Norse-isms. There's such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Hofn, from the air

About Hofn:
Hofn is a village of about 500 souls, nestled on the southern coast of the Thanelands in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings.

Map of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings

If you note the settlement of Asleifar, and the river to the west of it, Hofn is about halfway between those two points. The word 'Hofn' means 'harbor', and that's what the town is. In summer, Hofn looks something like this: about thirty-five buildings are nestled inside the bowl of a small valley formed by two ridges. A wooden palisade encloses them. There are many villagers who live outside the palisade, on their own farmsteads, but in times of crisis they retreat inside the village walls.

In many ways, Hofn is just another fishing-and-farming village, although a prosperous one for its small size and position on a bleak and mostly-rugged stretch of coast. This is probably because of the elves.

For as long as anyone in the village can remember, Hofn has had a treaty with some elves. Once a year, representatives of the elves come to visit, leaving behind gifts, taking gifts in turn, and often leaving some of the women pregnant. The elders of the village believe that this brings good luck to the village, and ensures that winters are mild and harvests plentiful. Nobody knows where the elves live, or has any contact with them for the rest of the year. As a result of all this, there is a higher-than-average-for-the-region amount of elf blood in the village, even if it's quite diluted.

Hofn also maintains peaceful relationships with a clan of dwarves that dwell not too far distant. Human children are sometimes fostered with the dwarves, and vice versa.

Hofn's primary enemies are raiding bands of orcs and other Ulfen humans, who come to loot, pillage, and take slaves.

Some NPCs, to be used and abused for connections as you need them:

Hrolf Half-Hand is the goði of Hofn. He came by the name because he is missing two fingers on his left hand. He is regarded as a fair, generous, and wise leader. He has a number of children by his wife Dagmmar, the oldest of whom (Leif and Harald) are in their late teens.

Astrid Eikbrunr is the right-hand woman of Hrolf Half-Hand. She is a notoriously violent warrior. Her name, which means 'Ship-breaker', came from an incident in her youth, where at fifteen she was taken captive by slavers and taken away in a ship. Not only did Astrid free herself and kill a number of her captors, the story goes that she sank their ship as well, and swam through the frigid seas back to land. She has a violent temper and wields a large axe.

Thorgal Magnisson is another of Hrolf's elite war-band, the third-in-command. He still stings over the revelation, several years ago, that his son Eysteinn was practicing witchcraft. Though he has disowned his son, talk of Eysteinn is still a sore point to the aging warrior's pride.

Torgi the Blue is one of Hrolf's war-band as well, though a bit farther down the totem pole. He has a good head on his shoulders, and Hrolf often consults him when needing less incendiary advice than Astrid or Thorgal are likely to provide. He is the father of Little Dagrun, and the younger brother of Thorgal Magnisson.

Old Palli is one of the village's healers. A childhood injury rendered him lame, and ensured he would never be as useful in battle as other men, but his value to the village as a healer is considerable. He uses Halla as an apprentice, despite her strange ways; before she entered his service, she was one of Sven's thralls.

Old Hilde is Palli's wife, and the oldest person in the village. She is half-elven, and a hundred and twenty years old. while her back is hunched and her face extremely lined, she shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Everyone in the village refers to her as 'Grandmother'.

Signy the Fair is (one of) Old Hilde's many great-grand-children. She is, by all accounts, the prettiest girl in town. She's also a spitfire who dreams of leaving Hofn to see the world.

Yngvi Wyrmtongue is the skald of the village, charged with remembering its oral history. He's a lean, blond-haired warrior in his forties, with a quick mind and tongue.

Rikissa runs a butcher's, and her (second) husband Halvar sells many of his fish-catch through the shop, as well. Rikissa is the mother of Knute Iversson.

Njall Bjornsson is the village blacksmith, a bear of a man who fostered among the dwarves as a child.

Red Alf is Hrolf's master-of-the-hunt, an expert tracker and huntsman.

Sven Audigr is one of the richest men in Hofn, a jarl whose fortune has come not from battle, but from trade. His ships bring valuable goods from the rest of the world.

Grinmer is a seithr-practitioner... and a woman as far as the village is concerned.

Language references:

Varisian = Irish
Elven = Finnish
Dwarven = Swedish