[b]Name:[/b] Skall the Thirsty [b]Age:[/b] 28 [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Race:[/b] Nord [b]Appearance:[/b] Skall is one of the most stereotypical Nords one could hope to meet in all of Skyrim. A towering giant of a man, he stands head shoulders above lesser men and his chest is broad with rippling muscle. His arms are as large as tree trunks and end in great shovel like hands. A long tangled mane of golden hair spills down his powerful back, interwoven with braids and locks. Much of his wide face is covered with a great bristling beard and moustache of similar colour. His face is large and square, mostly taken up by features that would seem monstrous on the visage of any other man, but curiously seem to make a somewhat cohesive whole on Skall's own face. The brow is low and thunderous, the nose like the prow of some titanic ship, each nostril capable of inhaling small passing songbirds. His lips are full and red, and pull back to reveal a smile that could comfortably sit in a draught horse's mouth. Skall's left cheek is adorned with a spiralling blue tattoo of a Nord Berserker, it trails down onto his corded neck and there joins a myriad of other tattoos that adorn his whole body. Invariably Skall dresses in thick furs, often leaving his arms or chest exposed to show off his impressive physique. Around his wrists and on his neck are torcs of wrought gold, depicting animals twisting and swirling around each other. On his back he wears the pelt of a bear, its flayed head sometimes serving as a hood in cold weather. [b]Personality:[/b] Heroic. Noble. Glorious. These are all the things Skall wishes to be. Unfortunately his own behaviour is somewhat less inspiring than this. He is a drunken lout with more brawn than brains with an indignant temperament and a crude sense of humour. He has a fierce temper when he perceives someone is mocking him or has slighted him. He also struggles with discipline and self-control, especially when it comes to money - Skall will happily eat and drink himself out of a fortune. This is not to say that Skall isn't a good person. He knows right from wrong and will most often err on the side of good. However, his fondness for drink and his general lack of wit prevents him from acting in the way he aspires to. He is generally affable to those who do right by him and don't make fun of him. Fortunately for those around him, Skall is more of a merry drunk than a particularly angry one. He has a curious soft spot for older women, he was very attached to his mother as a child. [b]History:[/b] Skall was born and raised in Rorikstead in Whiterun hold by his mother, called Marne, who worked as a farm hand in the fields there. From an early age he was larger and stronger than almost all the other children in the village, but was of a relatively sweet and gentle temperament. He was raised on the stories of Skyrim's great heroes: Hakon One-Eye, Ulfgar the Unending, Felldir the Old, and most of, Ysgramor who let the Atmorans across the sea to Tamriel. It was at this age that Skall decided that he too would be a great Nord hero, a warrior of wondrous repute and fame. The problem was how was he to do so? Skall had naught but the equipment of a farm hand to train with, so he made do, and picked up the wood-axe. He became stronger and stronger over the years as he learned to swing his axe with deadly precision and tremendous power. None in all of the Whiterun hold could split logs thicker and more gnarled than Skall of Rorikstead he boasted. One day, when he was come of age he made the long journey to Jorrvaskr to try out for the legendary guild of fighters, The Companions. But it was late by the time he arrived at the city and so Skall made his way to tavern, something he was most unfamiliar with coming from such a small and rural holding like Rorikstead. It was here that Skall was introduced to the world of intoxicating liquor, and his life was forever changed. The next morning he had awoke with a dull and throbbing head, sprawled in a pile of sick and sawdust that was strewn across the floor. He had overslept. When he rushed to the hall of The Companions he found them hard at training. They laughed at this slow boy, clumsy with drink and stained in a night's shameful revelry. They laughed him out of Whiterun and all the way back to Rorikstead. But Skall was not deterred. He gave up on joining the ranks of The Companions, but they weren't the only way one could become a hero in Skyrim. First he went to Solitude, to try and become of the warrior-bards that did great deeds and wrote songs about them. But Skall had no talent for writing poetry and making sweet music, so he was laughed out of Solitude as well. Then he tried his hand at soldiering, serving as a guard in Morthal and Dawnstar. By this time he had come to rely upon his drinking as a method of coping with his shame in his failures in heroics. He would show up drunk for duty and oversleep before his shifts. He was swiftly dismissed. It was around this time he acquired his moniker, Skall the Thirsty. When the civil war came to Skyrim Skall then went to Eastmarch to enlist in the ranks of Ulfric Stormcloak. For a while he excelled, as by now he was a competent fighter and had a great capacity for bravery and boldness. But as always, his fondness for mead got in the way, and after sleeping through one too many Skirmishes, he was dismissed once more. Since the war Skall has been somewhat aimless, wondering and adventuring on his own when he can, making ends meet by doing manual labour and foresting when he can't. [b]Skills:[/b] Major: - Two handed: Skall can use his immense strength in combination with the added leverage of two handed weaponry to deliver devastating blows that can cleave through flesh and bone like butter. His great height and the increased length of these two handed weapons also give him a reach advantage over almost all of his opponents. - Axe: The axe is Skall's preferred choice of weapon. It is versatile, being able to hack, slash, hook and deliver powerful blows that can damage armour and break bones. It also comes in useful in a variety of other ways - such as finding employment chopping logs or felling trees when adventuring isn't going so well. Minor: - Light Armour: Acquiring some skill in light armour and its use was inevitable considering Skall's long term use of it. However, his style of fighting makes it clear he believes strongly in the maxim that a strong offence is the greatest defence. - Blunt: Fighting with blunt weapons is quite similar to fighting with axes, but easier in many ways. However, since Skall does not prefer to fight using this method if he can, he is no master of it. - Unarmed: You can't be in as many drunken tavern brawls as Skall without learning to throw a decent punch. [b]Equipment:[/b] In battle Skall carries his trusted Iron Battleaxe and wears his fur armour. He has an iron dagger and a woodaxe for carrying out everyday tasks. A large flagon filled with mead or ale almost invariably hangs at his side, along with a cloth sack filled with roasted meat or cheese. The only luxury item Skall carries is a small goatskin drum. Most of his wealth is tied up in the torcs, as evidenced where he had to chip some metal off them in the past to pay his way. [b]Birthsign:[/b] The Warrior [b]Miscellaneous:[/b] Skall believes himself to be a bard and likes to compose and perform terrible skaldic poetry, loudly banging tunelessly on a drum while doing so.