Okay so like... This took a while since I was working on something with Vita (I've collaborated on setting details with her a lot before but this kind of snowballed a bit more than usual) but um... So here we go! [hider=Signy] [list][*][u][b]Name[/b][/u]: Signy Ironblood [*][u][b]Age[/b][/u]: 26 [*][u][b]Gender[/b][/u]: Female [*][u][b]Race[/b][/u]: Ingvarr [*][u][b]Rank:[/b][/u] Five of Swords [*][u][b]Appearance[/b][/u]: [url=https://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1235639]"Wolf Father, give me strength."[/url] [*][u][b]Personality[/b][/u]: A proud warrior of the Ironblood clan of Ingvarr, who is supremely confident in her combat prowess and ability to survive the harshest conditions. Usually rather stoic and expressionless, Signy reserves her emotions for two occassions. The first is, naturally, whilst in battle; it is rather jarring for some to see her become a mad berserker, tearing apart enemies like a wild animal and spilling blood in the name of the Wolf Father. The second is [i]after[/i] the battle is done, whilst celebrating over copious amounts of mead and ale; she is in fact quite the boisterous reveler once she's drunk, fond of loud chanting and singing as she praises both her faithful allies and fallen enemies. Another way to briefly break her from her usual stoic act is to mention her horns; Signy is rather sensitive about how small and "pathetic" her horns are, and at the very least will pout and become rather despondent if they are pointed out. And whilst she'll try not to show it too much, Signy has a weakness for cute things that is rather unbecoming of a proud warrior like herself. [*][u][b]Brief Backstory[/b][/u]: Living up to a heroic legacy isn't easy, especially when you're part of a culture that prides itself in its martial prowess and aptitude for survival in the harshest conditions and against the most vicious of foes. Signy's grandfather, Ragnar Orcdoom, is a legend amongst the Ingvarr for not only protecting his lands from orcish raids but for causing all but the most brave and foolhardy to steer clear of the Ingvarr lands altogether, becoming something of a bogeyman amongst the green horde. As Signy herself puts it, [i]"There aren't many orcs in my homeland. My grandfather's name was [b]not[/b] an exaggeration."[/i] And despite his vaunted, legendary status and despite her pathetic, stunted horns, Ragnar always treated Signy kindly, as though she was his most beloved grandchild. Signy in turn idolized her grandfather, and when he passed his axe onto her on his deathbed she was filled with determination to prove herself worthy of both his legacy and the honour of wielding his weapon. Still, no matter how much she trained and how many vicious beasts and deadly enemies she slayed, she could never shake off her feelings of inadequacy, that compared to Ragnar she was nothing more than a pathetic weakling with stunted horns. She still needed to prove herself, and with that in mind once she turned twenty years of age she bid her people farewell to pursue a career as a mercenary down south, hoping to return with tales of legendary exploits fitting for a descendant of Ragnar Orcdoom. [*][u][b]Equipment[/b][/u]: Signy wields the mighty battleaxe [i]Slayer[/i], an ancestral relic once wielded by her grandfather Ragnar Orcdoom. Despite not being inherently magical, the amount of orc blood it has shed causes a sense of almost supernatural fear in any orcs who gaze upon it. In addition, she also carries a non-descript but functional dagger, and wears a suit of mail armour with a breastplate for additional protection. [*][u][b]Skills[/b][/u]: Subtlety isn't exactly part of Signy's fighting style; rather, her ability to viciously kill just about anything with her axe is both remarkably unsubtle and self-evident. In battle she is like a whirlwind of death, hacking apart any foe who dares come near her. Even worse for her enemies, if pushed into a corner Signy has trained herself to be able to enter a berserk state, where she seemingly feels no pain and fights with the strength that surpasses what she is usually capable of. However, she is only willing to utilize this state if there is no other option, as after she calms down any injuries she sustained will catch up to her; not only this but her seemingly enhanced strength is merely her shutting down the mental blocks that normally prevent people from overexerting themselves and thus no matter what she [i]will[/i] be drained and exhausted at the very least afterwards. Due to the harsh territory she hails from, Signy is naturally well trained in the arts of survivalism, hunting and tracking.[/list] [/hider] Uh so... The thing we were working on was basically trying to flesh out Barukstaed (which has never really had much detail put into it before aside from "not-Scandinavia) and this kind of... Ended up basically making a race of horned not-vikings I guess. I've talked over this with Vita a [i]lot[/i] and this all had her approval so hopefully this looks okay. [hider=Ingvarr] The Ingvarr were concieved from my want to make a "viking" and Vita's long-held desire to include a "horned race" in the setting, so both ideas got pooled together into a race of horned not-vikings from the grim frostbitten north. Due to the two of us using the Draphs from Granblue Fantasy as initial visual standins, the race tends to have large, impressive horns and notable sexual dimorphism: the males tend to be tall and buff, whilst the females are short (although not as short as Draphs themselves, averaging at about 5'2") and possess a lot of insulating fat to cope with the cold (ie. they're pretty curvaceous). Horns are considered a mark of strength and virality amongst Ingvarr, and a pair of large impressive horns are deemed very attractive amongst them. They tend to be exceptionally strong and hardy, although this is largely due to their environment forcing them to be if they don't want to die. Their culture has a large emphasis on honour and martial prowess, although unlike the Hundi who are more based on chivalric romance, the Ingvarr take more from sword and sorcery; this emphasis exists because it is required for them to actually survive the harsh conditions and constant threat of sabercats, mammoths, dark elves, frost giants and worse. Notably, they don't really get along very well with dark elves, considering them to be "without honour", although since the dark elves mostly live underground the two races have never been at outright war with each other thus far. Ingvarr are carnivorous, subsisting on a diet of mostly meat, and tend to be expert trackers, hunters and survivalists. Whilst a Hundi will propose marriage to someone who defeats them in single combat, an Ingvarr will propose vengeance until they are able to assert their martial superiority in a rematch; whilst Hundi and Ingvarr don't have much contact with each other, this specific cultural difference [i]has[/i] caused some confusion between members of both races in the past. The Ingvarr are roughly split into three different cultural groups: firstly, honourable "not-varangians" who often work as mercenaries, although they're still a rare sight down south; Signy is a member of this group. Secondly, there are your typical raiders and piratical types who sail south every winter for plunder; the "not-vikings" of the type who'd raid Lindisfarne. Finally, there are the "not-Chaos Warriors", brutal barbarian warlords whose concept of "honour" does not extend beyond their own people and whose culture promotes both racial superiority and their inalienable right to plunder, rape and slaughter anyone other than their own kind. Naturally, this third group is shunned even by other Ingvarr. The Ingvarr worship a pantheon of gods, and although Reon and Mayon are less important to them than to southerners they still worship them in a form as "Sun Queen and Moon Queen". Their most notable three gods are loosely based on Odin, Thor and Loki (naturally, as they are not-Norse and all). The Wolf Father is the god of wisdom, lore and war, the Thunder Lord is the god of thunder, courage and strength, and the Fire Princess is the goddess of fire, trickery and chaos. The Fire Princess holds a rather strange place in the pantheon, as whilst her ways can be seen as dishonourable they also promote the kind of pragmatism necessary for surviving the harsh lands of Barukstaed. One notable legend about her explains that in the past the sun and moon were never seen in the sky together, but one day she introduced Sun Queen to Moon Queen. The two were so taken by each other that they made love for a full week, and this is the tale of the first eclipse... [i]However,[/i] whilst the two were distracted, Fire Princess snuck into Sun Queen's palace and stole some of her sacred fire for the Ingvarr. When she found out, Sun Queen was so angry at both the theft and the fact that she was [i]going[/i] to give the Ingvarr fire anyway and felt so embarrassed by Fire Princess gifting it to them first that she swore never to show her face in Barukstaed again. Thankfully Moon Queen was able to talk her down, but even then Sun Queen still rarely shows herself out of shame. This is the tale passed down by Ingvarr explaining the origins of the eclipse, the gift of fire, and the reason why the sun shuns Barukstaed so much. [/hider]