--------------------------------------
Appearance:
--------------------------------------
The mountain of a man is dressed in a ragged motley of tunics under a well-worn set of mail. His face is roughly clean-shaven and his hair is thinning, balding earlier than it should. When he speaks, you can see flashes of runes carved and tattoed on his tongue and the inside of his lips and cheeks; similarly, his back and arms are covered in curving wolves, eagles, and a single bear fending them off. His axe is notched and stained with sap, his shield has been scarred by claws and fire but is still sturdy.
--------------------------------------
Personality:
--------------------------------------
Einarr is cold and calculating; he knows the limits of his own intelligence and works within them. He avoids complicated plots, doubting his own ability to carry them out. Get a few drinks in him though, and he becomes roaringly good-natured and much more willing to talk - even trying to match wits with the poets, though his tongue is slow and sluggish. In battle, he prefers to be up-close and personal, flanking opponents with his fellow fighters.
---------------------------------------
Background:
---------------------------------------
Einarr is from a small, remote village built into the walls of a fjord in the far north. His mother was a völva, a witch of no small skill and his father a warrior, though Einarr never knew him. Some two years ago, when his mother's feet were cold and her hair grey, a great storm swept through their village. The hillside fell into the fjord and took the road with it; the rain and the mud toppled the houses and sank the boats. As the night wore on, arrows of hail struck down men, women, and children where they stood while the wind tore the tops off trees. By sunrise, the village was gone and only Einarr and five others were alive. Scavenging the ruins and burying the dead, the survivors soon fell prey to infighting as tempers rose. Soon, amid recriminations and accusations, one survivor pronounced the Wulfbann - the wolf curse.
That night the first howls were heard, the next morning the speaker and all the bodies of the unburied dead had vanished. Einarr and the others fled, the wolves snapping at their heels and driving them further into the wilderness. One by one the survivors fell; when they did their bodies warped, bones shifted, and skin sprouted hair until they rejoined the chase on four legs. At last, at the banks of a river, only Einarr remained. With a half-circle of wolves surrounding him, he used the last of his strength to throw himself into the water and reach the other side. There, crawling and spent, he could only watch as the wolves tested the freezing waters before turning and walking away. As his vision died, Einarr heard a howling wind that rose until it split the heavens. It sounded proud.
