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[H2][center]Khünbish[/center][/H2]

[h3]Jarl:[/h3]
[indent][b]Erlend the Kingbreaker[/b][/indent]

[h3]God:[/h3]
[indent]Like all in the savage north the Khünbish hold special reverence to their gods as they come as one of the only solid foundations in the chaotic quagmire that is the north. Though they have always held a special reverence towards Ymir himself proper as theirs has always been a history of bloodshed and battle. This 'bond' of sorts is further strengthen by the legend of the tribe's founding as taught down by the skalds around the campfires to entertain the children. These legends focus on a particular item that the ruling Jarl holds in their possession a great sword kept in a simple leather sheath that they always carry with them. The pommel is black in color and the blade itself while always in battle ready condition  is worn and shows signs of age. This blade is known as the World's Tooth and legend has it that Ymir himself gifted it to the founder of the clan and the Great Wolf of Khünbish himself Hávarðr to mark him as one of his chosen warriors.

Because of this particularly strong worship of Ymir, the men and women of Khünbish are some of the fiercest warriors in all of Ethica due to a culture, religion and history  revolving strongly around raiding, conquest, bloodshed and generally other things involving crushing the weak beneath their feet. Children began basic martial training at a young age. How it works is generally children born in the same year or so are placed together in what are called bloodpacks. This packs are designed to form cohesive bonds between the children which will generally end up being stronger then family bonds, as your pack becomes your family. Here they are taught the ways of warriors and to uphold the values that Ymir places upon them, basically strength and honor are key. In this way they also weed out those unfit for battle to work as supplementary forces at home supporting the raiding efforts. 

One of the odder social customs of the Khünbish are their ceremonial executions. Half of Khünbish prisoners in raids and battle will end up being used as slaves, the other half will in a ceremony conducted by a Khünbish shaman have their throats slit and their blood collected in large ceremonial urns. These urns are then brought to the highest hill or peak in the surrounding area and cast in a large fire. As they serve as an offering to Ymir to placate and please him. While those in the south would considered savage barbarism in Khünbish eyes it is in many ways an honor to those that the execution is bestowed upon. Because while their fellows will usually die from being overworked slaves, they are killed by the blade and their blood is burned meaning that they will rise directly into the skies towards Ymir allowing them to be judged by the Storm God almost immediately.[/indent]

[h3]Clan and Kin:[/h3]

[i]Close Family[/i] 
Erlend the Kingbreaker, age 55: Erlend is a massive man even for those among the nordheim. His frame is tall and stout the muscular figure of his youth having slowly been shed away and replaced with a layer of fat and yet even still he is capable of great feats of strength and his surprising amounts of dexterity for a man of his size being able to swing the  World's Tooth with precision and skill. Hair and beard of gray with falls long, wild and knotted. In his old age Erlend has calmed from the battle hardy warrior of his youth and spends most of his days at home dealing with domestic affairs leaving the raiding to those young and eager to prove themselves in battle. Despite that if the Khünbish ever truly want to war, Erlend would be the man in front leading the charge. As a proud seasoned warrior who understands the needs of a bloodthirsty people, he is well loved and respected by those that fall under his domain. 

Vala the Merciful, age 45: Erlend's Wife and a warrior of great skill in her youth. She actually came from another tribe of slightly smaller size than that of the Khünbish and the two were married young when Vala herself was only fifteen to consolidate the lands and help secure Erlend's rule having just been made Jarl of the Khünbish a year earlier impressing the peoples with his skill and the great amounts of prizes he brought back from the South while raiding. 

Lasse Erlendson, age 29: The couples eldest son and yet not the one most favored to succeed his father. That is because from a young age Lasse had strange dreams and visions being plagued by 'demons' in his sleep. Taking this a sign that he was touched by the gods, Lasse went down the path of a Shaman. Lasse is what those in the south may describe as ruggedly handsome with windswept blonde hair, closely trimmed beard and gray eyes that color of approaching storm clouds.  

Trine Erlenddotter, age 26: Trine the eldest daughter and second oldest child is the most likely out of any of Erlend's children to succeeded him. A warrior from a young age her path of greatness started when even as she was the smallest of the children she manged to become leader of her bloodpack in the normal fashion, a no weapons fisticuffs brawl where the last one standing gets to be in charge. After that she's proven herself a proud a strong and steadfast warrior leading many successful raids and bringing glory to her own name. Because of her skill in combat and the belief that if she became ruler that she would adhere to the old ways of blood and battle she is a favorite candidate to take her father's place. She is beautiful if a bit rugged with long blonde hair kept in a single braid and the characteristic stormy gray eyes of her family.

Egil Erlendson, age 22: In every family there is the disappointment, the odd one. Egil is that case. Egil is not a strong warrior like his sister or has any particular repertoire with the gods like his brother. Egil is a thin and willowy young man who looks like a strong breeze could blow him over. More importantly Egil likes books and reading, something that is well not usually looked well upon by those in the North. He had one of the slaves captured during the raids teach him, a monk from the South and ever since he devours books that his sister and uncle bring back from the raids especially for him, despite his father's protests that no son of his is going to spend his days reading. But having a son versed in history and knowledgeable of the politics of the South may be useful one day.

Airi Erlenddotter, age 13: The youngest child of Erlend. A girl who is proving to be a very skillful sailor and at home at the seas. She is the precious little gem of the Jarl's life and her overwhelmingly positive attitude about things is a well deserved changed from the generally stern and bitter personalities that the Jarl has to deal with in the North.

[i]Arls[/i]
Arnleygur the Shipmaster, age 46: Vala's older borther and a close friend to Erlend. He and Vala home tribe were master sailors who dominated the seas and raiding sea routes in the South. A skill that the tribe now uses as part of the Khünbish. Arnleygur is the principal in charge of the tribes raiding fleet and so more generally the raids themselves. He organizes them and makes sure that all the logistics check out. He's taken Airi under his wing of late noticing the girls aptitude at handling seafaring craft.

Atsur the Fox, age 32: Atsur is the other arl and another close friend of Erlend. A man with great skill with throwing axes and a shrewd mind. He's currently sort of watching over/ tutoring Egil teaching him how the mind can be just as an effective weapon as the sword.

Sauneq, age ?: While techinally not an Arl, Sauneq is the head shamanness for the Khünbish people and acts as their direct line of communication with the gods. Because of this she holds about the same amount of prestige and power as the two Arls maybe even more so because of her duty as the spiritual leader.
  
[i]Thanes and Housecarls[/i]
WIP
Brunkil the Red, age 30: Erlend's housecarl, a quiet and monolithic warrior most notable for his hair which is bright red in color. Rumored to have a sexual relationship with Trine.

Tribe Bio: 
The Khünbish are a storied people who have been plaguing the south since history had been recorded. They trace their heritage back to Hávarðr the Great Wolf, a warrior who was the last remnants of a once powerful clan. His clan was defeated in battle and he was taken as a slave by the rival clan. Hávarðr proved his worth as a slave and eventually was freed from his bondage to become a true warrior. Eventually becoming the housecarl to the Jarl that had once slaughtered his own people. The old Jarl passed away and Hávarðr took control of the tribe after receiving the World's Tooth from Ymir and using it to slay a great leviathan to prove his skill and worth in battle.  Hávarðr then lead his tribe on a campaign of expansion taking over many of the surrounding tribes in the area and swallowing them into his own people. These tribes would eventually form a new people group all together collectively known as the Khünbish. The name which was the result of a mistranslation by a southern explore stuck and the Khünbish people were born.

The Khünbish have always been a militaristic culture one that was at home with raiding and warfare, only fitting for a clan founded in blood and battle. Most of these battles and wars were small affairs as they assimilated smaller neighboring tribes into their fold. The Khünbish identity being a conglomeration of all these small tribes that ahd fallen under a larger banner. Though the Khünbish are known through the south for a more particular reason, a odd sort of historical phenomenon know as the Khünbish Expansion or Khünbish Bubble. This refers to a cycle which can be traced since their founding. The general premise is that every two hundred or so odd years once their armies have built back up, their lands reconquered and their people ready for another bloodbath, the Khünbish will push down into the south very rapidly and very aggressively. In this attacks Khünbish raiding parties push far into the southern core burning and destroying everything in their path. Even so these attacks are considered nothing more than really minor threats to the southern kingdoms as while the Khünbish are very good at carving paths and killing, they are very bad at holding lands and generally don't conquer land as much as they destroy it meaning that pushing them back is usually a relatively easy affair once you can hunt down all the war bands. 

Khünbish history besides that of Hávarðr and the first five rulers that came after him and those periods during the Expansions (as recorded by Southern scholars with the general biases that come from such things) is generally a murky thing. What little can be gone on is retold generally by skalds who have a habit of bending history to make the better story. What can be gathered is not much of the history remained the same throughout, they are if nothing else a very predictable people following the same cycles of raiding and civil war to a point. The characters may change and their motives and stories will different but the generally themes will remain. It's the same old story of bloodshed, honor and glory and usually ends up with a lot of people dead for some reason or another.

Though Elrend himself is an interesting case in that he's predecessors as Jarl was none other than his own father, Aurvangr. Aurvangr was a peculiar man if nothing else steadfast in his beliefs and yet opened minded to new ideas which he could use to better his people. During his reign the raids on the South subsided substantially with attacks still occurring but not on the almost ever present bases that they once where. Instead Aurvangr tried his best to focus on more domestic problems trying to focus on promoting fishing and agriculture. Because of this Aurvangr was not the most popular ruler in the world and had to keep usurpers from taking his position as Jarl almost constantly though in that regard Aurvangr was always a strong warrior and was able to easily best them. But eventually the pressure became too great and Aurvangr was killed at a feast being held in his honor, poisoned with bad mead and then stabbed to death. Thus at the age of eighteen Erlend was thrown headfirst into a war of succession. 

Elrend himself was a strong and capable warrior with many allies in the younger generation and among his father's closest confident but many others older and stronger thought that they could rule the clan better and so a grand little civil war of sorts began. The war itself lasted six years before Elrend had finally finished mopping out those opposed against him. Many died and the Khünbish were weakened. Enemies were all about them in the North and so Elrend began to quickly consolidate his power as Jarl: marrying into Arnleygur and Vala's clan to bring their raiders into his fold, and revoking many of his own father's reforms to bring back public trust, moral and opinion. Eventually he found stability and a sense of normalcy.

The population has been rebounding and the armies getting stronger. It's been a little over two hundred years since the last expansion. Elrend's armies are hungry for war and they see a South fractured and easy for the taking. Elrend does not just want glory and honor for himself, he worries for his children those that will come after him. He wants their positions in life secured and if they helped him successfully ravage the South? His family could be Jarls for generations past him. Maybe even High Kings one day.

Military: