[center][img]http://coolvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Fantasy-Art-Jon-McCoy-Viking.jpg[/img][/center][i]
[center]Bodvar Bjarki ploughed into them now, hacking two handed, his only thought to do as much damage as he could before he fell. And now they fall in heaps before him, one on top of another, and both his arms are bloodied to the shoulder, and he felled so many, the dead were stacked all about him. He stormed on as if he was insane.
[b]~ The Saga of Hrolf Kraki[/b]
[/center][/i]

[h3]Summary:[/h3]
[list]
[*] A low fantasy world based upon the Roman Empire at its peak
[*] Characters are members of a warband within a larger Viking inspired invasion of said fantasy equivalent Roman Empire. Warriors of great kind and a ruthless reputation, how this actually plays out depends on the players.
[*] This is a roleplay about a very interesting clash of distinctive cultures and how said clash affects and shapes the rest of society oh and the journey of this warband through this campaign
[*] The idea of the roleplay is to have fun both with the combat and telling the story of this war and the characters that live within it, while the main focus is upon this warband there will be occasional snippets of information of the rest of those moving and dealing within the world
[*] The Roleplay starts right at the beginning just as the Warband’s longship crests upon the shores of the empire and will progress from there.  
[*] There is going to be a lot of lore and world building below, not all of it is necessary to read but it will give you a better sense of the world in its current state. :)
[/list]


[h3]In Character Information:[/h3]
[i]This is a story following a small warband in the midst of a massive clash of cultures. Our tale begins in the 900[sup]th[/sup] year of the Red Age but to warriors of the north knew it without number, in the midst of an endless eon of snow covered plains and raging seas: the year of the landfall. The great Vattin Empire stands in the midst of the peak of its expansionist policy. This great empire have come to conquer most of the outer world subjecting all that may resist underneath their dominion. These imperialists efforts bring with them the “benefits” and “privilege” of civilization crushing tribal identities in a subjected class system and enforcing the strict worship of Keyshaw god of war and glory, and patron god to the imperial throne. This conquest has gone unchecked for some time the might of the massive professional army that the Empire can field for its military action crushing those that resists and forces the hands of those that would rather surrender to pledge allegiance to the Empire.

And yet there are now rumors of longships landing far to the northwest in the territory known as Tysk, huge in their proportions as long as  seventeen men arms stretched out touching finger to finger on its side. Thirty sets of oars jutting out from the wood, with large sails adrone with the image of a great snarling beast. The warriors that step off of these boats were tall and strong covered in hides of bear and mail easily cutting down any resistance that the northern fishermen tried to put up. The Provincial Governor of Tysk, Calirus Morrant a veteran of the Vattin Military quickly rose up part of the Provincial Guard to quell these barbaric invaders only for his own troops to be slain to the last man by this warriors from the ships but taking a large portion of the warriors with them, the peasants having witness these battles telling tales of men and women fighting with the strength of twelve men and shattered shields in single blows.

This would be the first clash between the Vattin Empire and those whose name would become synonymous with fear the Drengr. These warriors came from across the sea from the lands beyond in seek of new foes and glory. The name translates roughly to “Those Of The Warrior’s Heart”. These warriors come from an entirely different culture and world thousands of miles away from the known world, a culture not dominated by emperors or bureaucratic planning but of survival and war, for hundreds of years they were little more than nomadic tribes waging war against one another for food and survival but today these former tundra nomads are united under a great Warrior King, the embodied will of the Great Spirits that drives them not to kill one another but to kill those who are weak and so deserve it. Having swept through their own lands they know crossed the sea smelling the scent of blood and the call of challenge that awaits them.

They are warriors, and now they have their prey.[/i]

[indent][h3]OCC Information:[/h3][/indent]

As you may have already guessed this is a story about Vikings... well fantasy vikings but vikings still the same - the Drengr coming from a land across the sea have landed in the known world and are ready to set set fire to it all. These warriors while seemingly barbaric in nature have spent many years in their own land crushing those that would stand against their warbands and have adapted over time to become an organized force if one that rallies on strength and speed rather than sound tactics and unit placement. But they have never fought a foe such as the Vattin Empire whose on imperialistic tendencies have forged their armies into strong and disciplined forces who prove a willing challenge to the Drengr. This is the story of this conflict.

The warriors of the north think that this will be another great slaughter and the  Empire thinks they are little more than barbarians and the Empire has put down more than a few barbarians in its years. And yet what would follow would be one of the longest wars ever recorded in the history of the known world and certainly the bloodiest of them. A conflict that would shape the history of the world to come, where peasants become heroes, warrior kings die in glorious combat and empires teeter on the edge of ruin.

And yet there is more. This as mentioned above is also a story of a clash of cultures. The Vattin Empire is already filled to the brim with at least a dozen races who have been subjected by its army and all of these races each with their own cultural identity all more less stuck together. And now they have the Drengr coming from across the sea whose on cultural ideals and practices are much different than that found common within the empire. And as these warriors march south this conflict of ideals soon becomes apparent as The Empire fights to keep order, to maintain civilization and with it prosperity, while the Drengr fight for glory and with it freedom to those that can take it.

The Characters will be part of one of the many Drengr warbands that set foot in the known world. Men and women, young and old chosen not by rank or status but by skill of the blade as is the way of the Drengr. They are either Drengr proper or they are slave folk captured in battle and having proved that they have skill were assimilated into the Raed as the Drengr do not care for race or origin only for skill. And in this way they are sent to kill those that would try and stop them. To bring down the enemy and ravish in their still fresh blood.

[hider=Map of the Known World]
[img]http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b604/Falling_Phoenix/55de6a0a182db398_zpsnint2w1h.png[/img]
[/hider]

[Hider= The Drenger Raed]
[center][img]http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4kz0nAGLg1rwdg5wo1_500.jpg[/img][/center]
[center][b]Honor In Death, Glory In Battle[/b][/center]

[Indent][b]Organization and Structure[/b][/indent]
The Drenger forces are made up of about 2,000 warriors in total those further broken down into 5 bloodpacks who divide the 110 individual warbands into 22 separate groups.

[b]Raed Leader:[/b]  Brynja the Ironbreaker, the youngest child to the Warrior King himself, but in charge of the Raed to prove her worth as a warrior and prospective heir. A fierce warrior.
Tactician: Egill the wise,Tactician of many campaigns, an old man at this point showing his age mind still working well though.

[b]Bloodpacks:[/b]
Each Bloodpack has a pack leader who are in charge of discipline and keeping his or her blood pack in check and following the orders passed down to them. The five packs are Wulf, Bear, Eagle, Wyvern and Jotun. the bloodpack the party will be part of will be determined at the start of the roleplay via vote.

[b]Warbands:[/b]
Within each Bloodpack there are warbands, a warband usually consists of about eighteen members strong under the command of the member of the warband that is as with everything else in Drengar tradition the strongest and usually the most experienced member of the group.

Drengar warriors usually in melee carry either carry long poled  axes very similar to the make of Dane Axes or swords in similar make to those of Ulfbehrt make. These weapons are made strong and designed to withstand the heavy blows that are characteristic of Drengar warriors and can hold up fairly well against extended bouts of combat without shattering. Another addition fairly unknown in the lands of the Empire is the warhammer, counterbalanced in the back those who have mastered this weapon make terrible enemies shattering armor and shields with large felling blows. Spears are also common among some that prefer reach. In actually it all depends on the user as weapons are not provided by the army but are each warrior's own installing the respect that they treat these weapons.

In the defense department Drengar carry large round wooden shields with an iron boss in the center. These shields are relatively thick and able to deflect most blows that come their way. The armor is generally consists of heavy leather and fur padding with mail underneath, the Drengar warriors trying to balance speed with protection as full suits and the like would only slow them down. Armor is kept pretty simple for the most part these northern warriors preferring simplicity over style and show with no fancy designs or emblems. In their eyes armor is meant to defend and nothing more a warrior shows their pride and skill in battle not crafting.

In the ranged department they used a smatter of bows and slings depending on what the warrior has. The slings are simple things made of cured leather and launch small stones at the enemy with enough force to crack a few skulls or leave some very heavy bruising. The archers carry bows that are typically between 1.6 and 2 meters in length with an effective range of about 200 meters. Usually though archer types would not attack lone usually firing in mass barrages at the enemy as they draw closer before putting their bows away in favor of swords or axes.

Discipline among warbands is usually kept pretty tight with most in the warband having worked together for long periods so can work together as a team and follow order fairly well. While Dregar are naturally fiercely independent in war they show a fierce discipline towards the cause.

Bloodless is the name to refer to non Dregar conscripted into a warband. These warriors and others are picked from sacked villages for their skill and prowess rather than being slaughtered with the rest. They are considered cannon fodder until proven their worth and once that happens they are treated as any other warrior in the warband as equals. The Dregar just want to make sure they hold their weight first.
[/hider]
[hider=The Vattin Empire]
[center][img]http://flag-designer.appspot.com/gwtflags/SvgFileService?d=4&c1=0&c2=2&c3=0&o=7&c4=2&s=7&c5=1[/img][/center]
[center][b]Magnificent peace, glorious war[/b][/center]
The Vattin Empire is the most dominate force in the known world. Starting out as one small city slowly over time it began to slowly all those that surrounded it and encompass all before through diplomacy and military action. Swallowing tribes and smaller nations into its large force and mass. Such an Empire needs a large army to enforce it and such the Empire can field an impressive 450,000  professional soldiers at any given time not counting the civilian militias conscripted into the fight when things get rough. This force is further split into thirty three individual companies each headed by a company commander. And out of the thirty three companies they are split into three legions commanded by a general who dictates the movement of the 11 companies underneath him.

So in hierarchal standing it would look something like this.

[b]Emperor:[/b]  Merrus Tennaro Sirvell the Ninth, mortal hand of Keyshaw and Emperor of His Domain. The present emperor of Vattin. Merrus lives in the capital in the grand Imperial Citadel separated from the rest of the world by its high walls and dominant fortifications. Suffering from a respiratory illness he rarely leaves the Citadel  these days. An aging man at his point the weight of ruling shows heavily upon him.

[b]The Imperial Advisor:[/b] Borio Tenian, Imperial advisor and tactician to Emperor Merrus. A childhood friend of the emperor his shrewd diplomatic skills and cunning mind has proven useful to his old childhood friend. Handles most of Merrus public affairs these days to help keep the public from question the few public appearances of the emperor.

[b]The Imperial Fist:[/b]  Zevran Autillio, The Imperial Fist. The man in charge of the Imperial army in all its might and mass. An older gentleman he proved his worth fighting as a soldier under the Emperor's father as a lad. Years of combat experience has made him shrewd and pragmatic willing to waste a few hundred lives to slaughter the enemy. The three generals answer directly to him who in turn answers directly to the Emperor.

[i]The Three Generals:[/i]

[b]General of the First Legion:[/b] Bakrah Tyne, the oldest and most experienced of the generals having proven himself in the crushing of ten individual barbarian tribes in a matter of weeks.

[b]General of the Second Legion:[/b] Carnin Vulta, the youngest of the generals and the least experienced, replacing the former general who died of illness a year earlier. Carnin is already proving as an effective leader having lead the most recent territorial conquest in absolute victory for the Empire.

[b]General of the Third Legion:[/b]  Iria Listoeli, the only female of the group and the one with the most to prove because of it. A master tactician and effective leader sometimes pushing herself too hard to prove that she can keep up and swing harder than the boys.

Legionnaires are some of the most feared soldiers in the known world. Valuing skill and discipline above all else, these professional soldiers spent most of their leaves training and keeping in top physical form to defend the empire. Taking from all races any who can meet the requirements and make it through the trials, these warriors are proficient in shield, spear and sword moving in strong formations and ranks. Routing in the legion is punishable by death and so Legionnaires never run but they do die standing.

They are backed by peasant militias that each of the provinces are responsible for fielding. These peasants mostly stick back as ranged combatants using mostly hunting bows to pepper the enemies and weaken them for the Legionnaires to come in and finish the job.
[/hider]

[Hider=The Races of the Known World]
[Hider= The Vattinai]
[img]http://img04.deviantart.net/37db/i/2010/053/d/6/roman_soldier_by_kego44.jpg[/img]
The people upon which the Empire is named and one of the more dominate races in the Known world in terms of population. They are descents of warriors tribes of the fertile plains in the southern regions of the known world. Naturally charismatic and prideful they make good merchants, bureaucrats and warriors each in its own turn. Their skin is naturally an olive tone and hair is predominantly black in color. Average height for the males is about 5’9” and average height for the females is about 5’7”
[/hider]
[Hider= The Seeq]
[img]http://img04.deviantart.net/2673/i/2006/242/c/e/forest_elves_by_werdandi.jpg[/img]
Basically this world’s equivalent of elves. They were one of the first groups assimilated into the empire and so it is not uncommon to see Seeq of high standing. These people were once nomadic wanderers of the horse, hunting down their prey from the backs of their steeds with their masterfully made recurve bows. Their skin is naturally of paler composition than that of the Vattinai and most are considered conventionally beautiful with sharp facial features and long dexterous bodies built to pull back huge draw strengths or use the occasional blade. Average height for a male is about 5’11” and for a female about 5’10”
[/hider]
[Hider=The Bika]
[img]http://belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2000x2757_4041_Dwarf_slayer_for_warhammer_online_2d_fantasy_dwarf_warrior_picture_image_digital_art.jpg[/img]
A tribal race that lived mostly in the hills. These warriors are of great strength and were the closest thing to the Drengar before the Drengar arrived in terms of combat. They believe armor only slows them down, instead decorating themselves in war paint they charge ahead brandishing axes and clubs. Used mostly as Imperial shock troops. Average male height is 5” and average female height is 4’10”[/hider]

[Hider= The Kisro]
[img]http://orig10.deviantart.net/d867/f/2010/173/1/f/lizard_man_by_koutanagamori.jpg[/img]
One of the more recent people to come into the fold of the empire, they have a natural affinty to water and tend to stick by it. With a natural resistance towards poison, their  scales surviving as  armor and their ability to breath beneath the seas. They serve primarily with the Imperial Navy as marauders to be used in boarding actions to seize the enemy ships. Average height for male and females is about 6”
[/hider]

[hider=The Gur]
[img]http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/142236/Beastman.jpg[/img]
Savage beastmen barely sentient or so most would think. Having be subjected years ago they are used commonly as slaves of labor carrying equipment too heavy for those of normal size. Most people don’t even think of them as people for the most point.
[/hider]

[hider=The Drengar]
[img]http://www.imgbase.info/images/safe-wallpapers/miscellaneous/fantasy/28772_fantasy_vikings.jpg[/img]
The Warriors who came across the sea to find a foe worthy of their blades. They are naturally tall humanoid like beings with male and females having an average height of about 6’6”. Most are very muscular looking like they could stop a charging stampede with their bare hands. Their skin is naturally of a paler composition similar to that of the Seeq. Living for the most part in frigid arctic climates they are naturally adept to the cold which does not bother them for the most part. An entire race of warriors they are naturally filled with pride, anger and the desire to hit things really hard. They are pretty scary[/hider][/hider]