Post by gamedave on Oct 22, 2012 19:23:40 GMT -5
ULFEN
The days of raw pillage from the north are mostly over, as the Ulfen have largely settled down into villages and kingdoms, mainly in the Ulflaw. At the same time, the Ulfen are hired as sailors, marines, and bodyguards widely throughout Andoroth, perhaps because they combine great seamanship, ruthlessness, and exotic looks. It has become quite fashionable in Taldan lands to hire an Ulfen bodyguard for his towering height, his pale skin and hair, and his vile stench, which is considered a mark of distinction among bodyguards in southern lands.
The Ulfen have a reputation abroad for being strong, dumb, and quiet, as well as having strange accents and smelly furs. Most Ulfen are quite tall, with men starting at 6 feet and the women just a few inches shorter. Their skin is pale and their hair blond, straw brown, or red. Both men and women wear it long and braided, with the women prone to more elaborate braids. Men usually wear beards.
Ulfen men and women set great store by personal appearance, valuing their flowing locks, tight braids, and well-kept furs of ermine, mink, and fox. They wear necklaces of amber carved horn, and bone, as well as finely-worked bronze and silver in a braided style. They consider themselves the handsomest men and women in all Andoroth, and the damnable thing about it, to other peoples, is that they are often right.
Ulfen men are fond of competitions both athletic and alcoholic. Their athletic contests often occur at the approach of winter or the start of spring and include climbing ice walls, hurling timbers of various sizes, ax throwing, sled pulls, and races on foot and on snowshoes. Swimming is not a skill that the Ulfen value, although sailing and rowing are. The drinking competitions happen during great feasts, when the Ulfen men boast of their ability to down kegs or even barrels of mead, ale, and cider. Outsiders tend to take away from this a view that Ulfen are boors and louts, which is not entirely true. Their boorish loutishness tends to be confined to special occasions—Ulfen men who try this approach on other than feast days find that Ulfen women mock them mercilessly. Few repeat the experience.
As a group, Ulfen are more adventurous than most, but most Ulfen are not heroes, of course, but rather trappers, hunters, farmers, and fisherfolk, according to the season and their own family heritage. A few in each generation become skalds—half-wise, half-drunken singers and jesters to the great men and women of the Ulfen kingdoms. These skalds tell the sagas that record Ulfen history, and they are often the most literate in a village or town. Skalds have no
immunity from reprisals, but most consider it unlucky to lower oneself to answer a skald with personal combat. Defeating a skald in a drinking contest, on the other hand, is considered quite a coup.
In general, dueling and feuding are popular pastimes among the Ulfen, with great emphasis on personal honor and the value of a sworn oath. Insults are usually answered with ax and shield pushes, and while dueling is always considered purely a temporary argument, fought to the first blood and forgotten as soon as it is over, feuding is a more serious thing. In a feud among the Ulfen, entire families can go to war over a conflict as simple as the proper way to mend nets or the rights to a particular salmon spawning ground. Sheep and cattle raiding are also popular pastimes.
Family Names: Ulfen typically take the name of their father, appended by –sson for a man and –dottir for a woman, as a last name. Hence, Asbjorn Birgersson or Asta Birgerdottir.
Male Names: Asbjorn, Birger, Eilif, Herger, Hyglak, Jens, Kjell, Kriger, Niklas, Olaf, Ragnar, Sterk, Storhoi, Tallak, Varg
Female Names: Asta, Birgit, Dagny, Eva, Gerda, Gunda, Hege, Ingegerd, Ingrid, Jorun, Magda, Nanna, Runa, Signe, Tine
The days of raw pillage from the north are mostly over, as the Ulfen have largely settled down into villages and kingdoms, mainly in the Ulflaw. At the same time, the Ulfen are hired as sailors, marines, and bodyguards widely throughout Andoroth, perhaps because they combine great seamanship, ruthlessness, and exotic looks. It has become quite fashionable in Taldan lands to hire an Ulfen bodyguard for his towering height, his pale skin and hair, and his vile stench, which is considered a mark of distinction among bodyguards in southern lands.
The Ulfen have a reputation abroad for being strong, dumb, and quiet, as well as having strange accents and smelly furs. Most Ulfen are quite tall, with men starting at 6 feet and the women just a few inches shorter. Their skin is pale and their hair blond, straw brown, or red. Both men and women wear it long and braided, with the women prone to more elaborate braids. Men usually wear beards.
Ulfen men and women set great store by personal appearance, valuing their flowing locks, tight braids, and well-kept furs of ermine, mink, and fox. They wear necklaces of amber carved horn, and bone, as well as finely-worked bronze and silver in a braided style. They consider themselves the handsomest men and women in all Andoroth, and the damnable thing about it, to other peoples, is that they are often right.
Ulfen men are fond of competitions both athletic and alcoholic. Their athletic contests often occur at the approach of winter or the start of spring and include climbing ice walls, hurling timbers of various sizes, ax throwing, sled pulls, and races on foot and on snowshoes. Swimming is not a skill that the Ulfen value, although sailing and rowing are. The drinking competitions happen during great feasts, when the Ulfen men boast of their ability to down kegs or even barrels of mead, ale, and cider. Outsiders tend to take away from this a view that Ulfen are boors and louts, which is not entirely true. Their boorish loutishness tends to be confined to special occasions—Ulfen men who try this approach on other than feast days find that Ulfen women mock them mercilessly. Few repeat the experience.
As a group, Ulfen are more adventurous than most, but most Ulfen are not heroes, of course, but rather trappers, hunters, farmers, and fisherfolk, according to the season and their own family heritage. A few in each generation become skalds—half-wise, half-drunken singers and jesters to the great men and women of the Ulfen kingdoms. These skalds tell the sagas that record Ulfen history, and they are often the most literate in a village or town. Skalds have no
immunity from reprisals, but most consider it unlucky to lower oneself to answer a skald with personal combat. Defeating a skald in a drinking contest, on the other hand, is considered quite a coup.
In general, dueling and feuding are popular pastimes among the Ulfen, with great emphasis on personal honor and the value of a sworn oath. Insults are usually answered with ax and shield pushes, and while dueling is always considered purely a temporary argument, fought to the first blood and forgotten as soon as it is over, feuding is a more serious thing. In a feud among the Ulfen, entire families can go to war over a conflict as simple as the proper way to mend nets or the rights to a particular salmon spawning ground. Sheep and cattle raiding are also popular pastimes.
Family Names: Ulfen typically take the name of their father, appended by –sson for a man and –dottir for a woman, as a last name. Hence, Asbjorn Birgersson or Asta Birgerdottir.
Male Names: Asbjorn, Birger, Eilif, Herger, Hyglak, Jens, Kjell, Kriger, Niklas, Olaf, Ragnar, Sterk, Storhoi, Tallak, Varg
Female Names: Asta, Birgit, Dagny, Eva, Gerda, Gunda, Hege, Ingegerd, Ingrid, Jorun, Magda, Nanna, Runa, Signe, Tine