Partisan

the Nordland Saga

Wodan is not pleased with the lack of interest.

the Nordland Saga

the Nordland Saga
The OOC/IC thread

“In the name of Wodan, how does one fail such a simple task. How does one lose a longboat, how does one lose a warband? Questions like these would make even the smartest men like me twist their head in confusion.” The man with the beard was speaking to a small group of norsemen and women, a group no bigger than ten. Some of the other villagers were watching in silence, as this group was the last remaining bit of the warband of fifty vikingr the chief had sent out. It was still unsure what had happened to the others, as there are mixed accounts between the remaining part of the group. However one thing they all agreed on - it was a slaughter. Not only had they lost valuable lifes in this raiding trip, they also brought back nothing of value. To the chief, this was a great offense. Not only were they now short men and women for the harvest, they also had nothing to show for it. Such an offense must be punished.. but how. The chief leaned his elbow on the arm support of the seat he was sitting in, twisting his short pointy beard. After some time he rose on his feet and extended his arms to the group. “I don't know how one did all the things you did - lose a boat, get a warband killed, return with no spoils of battle. Yet you dare show your faces here. I cannot say what you did to anger the gods, as I am no god. Therefore I do not know what the gods would have seen your punishment be. And as such, I have to exile you from my village. The gods shall decide your fate. Truly, I hope Wodan stays by your side.”

---

Hello everyone, thank you for reading through that. If that short introduction was to your liking, then please keep reading. I had an idea for an RP with a setting I had not really seen before - and anything closely related to it was just not suitable enough for me. And if you feel the same way, or you are just looking for a nice RP about a group of people doing what they have to do, then I think you might be interested! If you think so too, please continue reading so I can explain the setting I had in mind.

The Setting

The setting I had in mind for the Nordland Saga would be one where survival is at the center of the story, and no, don't worry. I do not intend for this to be solely a sandbox roleplay. Think of it as such: a group gets thrown into the wild with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing at that time. The first thing they would do is walk away, as this place is no longer their home! After some time they would decide, together or apart, that they needed a place to stay in. And then they realize, they don't need just a place to stay, they need food, water, warmth. And possibly, if your character is sensible enough, he'll realize he needs brotherhood, companionship or in some cases, bloodshed and the call of Valhal. This is what I had in mind when I say ''survival.''

Besides that, it's also a social experiment: what happens when you throw multiple people (okay.. multiple vikingr) together in a group and then see how they react to new situations and new things happening around them? Will someone take charge? Will they stay together? These are all questions that solely depend on the characters - one person might take charge, the others might want a say in what goes on as well. Some will believe companionship will keep them alive, others might think they are better off alone.

In short: this story or roleplay will be about people being banished or exiled from their village and forced out and building a new life. It will also be about norsemen and their corresponding traits.

The Story

What has happened so far, you might wonder? In short, your characters were sent out with the warband to raid a certain area. So, they got in a longboat and sailed! These men and women were however not battle hardened, and the amount of ''experienced raiders'' were countable on two hands. But, the case was the same in the villages they were raiding; most men were part of the militia, or poor farmers who grabbed a pitchfork to protect their homestead. What happened afterwards isn't sure, as all characters could have a different remembrance of the happening. Some could say it was Wodan and he smited and struck down the warband. Others could say it was a trap laid by the enemy, and they were ambushed. Others would simply not remember (''I was asleep, chief!''). Everything is possible, and I would find it interesting to see what people will think happened.

After the death of the majority of the warband, they would head home, without longboat, in a long trek across land. However the chief of their village wasn't all too happy - he lost valuable men and women, he got no new spoils of battle, and he had possibly angered Wodan by losing his warband. To avoid any further conflicts with his own villagers or the gods themselves, he exiled you and your group. What you do afterwards is your call, but keep in mind not to anger the gods too often! Wodan is not very forgiving.

What will you do?

Now one might ask how they will fit in with the group - that's very simple. It's completely up to you! Since the warband consisted mainly of carefully picked men and women from all ranks and professions, you can come up with anything! This is not me saying you can be a dragon, nor is this me saying you can be Wodan's son in human form. However, if you want your character to be a simple carpenter that survived somehow because he held out his spear at the right time then that is what he shall be. If you want your character to be a seasoned raider who knew what to do at the right time (or not, maybe he was a clumsy raider that was just always lucky) then you can be that as well.

I'm trying to say here that you can be anything as long as it's not too crazy. If you think of something but fear it might be a bit too much - just ask. Questions don't hurt me (secretly I love questions, they're fun) and in my country we have a saying: you always have a no, and you can only get a yes by asking.

However do keep in mind the fact that you'll have to survive somehow. A carpenter is probably not very well trained in the art of warfare, so he will probably spend most of his time in combat playing a supporting role, if any role at all. In the same way, a raider or soldier is most likely not well versed in anything but that - fighting or maybe leading. Therefore I suggest a more or less balanced party. But I in no way want to confine you to such, if you want to go full soldier survival then be my guest.

What do I expect?

From this all I expect people mainly to be open minded to other people their ideas, to be unafraid to tell others your ideas and I love getting feedback about everything. So tell me what you think! If you are too afraid that I might find you rude, I'm Dutch and I'm used to it as it seems to be our natural heritage to be rude whenever we can. If you think, well this can be better, then tell me! If you found the last post awesome, then tell me!

Besides that, I am but a man and I can possibly run out of ideas, so I do expect some form of self-sustainance in the form of you sometimes giving me a few ideas for plot or story development. If you want something to happen IC for your character or the group, then just ask me. I'll probably not say no unless it's really stupid. (no dragons damnit.)

What can you expect?

After that list of ''demands'' what can you get in return? An epic story-driven roleplay created by us all. I will try and listen to ideas, suggestions, feedback and actually use it. I will listen to your criticism and try to use that as well. If there's a problem you can't fix yourself, I will help you.

Besides all that, I am ofcourse going to RP with you so I hope you guys will find me a nice guy to RP with as that's generally all this is: just an RP. We should be having fun with it and I truly think with this RP we can.

Now, before we start getting excited I should maybe ask if anyone read through all that and still thinks, YES, this interests me?

In the name of Wodan,

GIVE ME STRENGTH!

Tribal Matters [Hibbie x Partisan]

As the bear tribe marched in like a rag tag warband of grown men armed with spears and rough bows, it became apparent that the Wolf tribe had brought along the elders for the trek as well. A bit strange, considering the long trek, but it was also known the Wolf tribe lived like a true pack of sorts so naturally they wouldn't leave anyone behind. Admireable but strange, in the eyes of Audrun atleast. When Audrun came to see the tribe, Jogdeir was already talking to the Wolf Alpha male. Or atleast, the alpha wolf seemed to be doing a lot of talking and Jogdeir listened closely. “Bleddyn, old, old, older friend...” Jogdeir stressed the part about Bleddyn being old, whether or not it was true, but atleast Jogdeir said it with a smile. “Your pack has grown.” he stated, simply looking at the Wolf pack behind Bleddyn. Rearing around and facing his own warband, then back towards Bleddyn, he continued. “.. some of these men are Wolf exiles.” The men he was talking about were exiled for killing a man in the Wolf tribe without adhering to the proper rules to do so, namely that they must be killed in honorable combat, but many tribes had their own set of rules for this, and the bear tribe leader wasn't familiar with those of the Wolf pack, so he didn't know how big the offense had been.

The men he was talking about seemed a bit more restless than the other bear tribe members. In comparison, the exiles seemed nervous and had their weapons more ready than those other members, some of which were actually smiling and greeting the people they knew from the Wolf pack from afar, waiting for the final handshake. An obvious difference, as even Audrun noticed, and it made him a bit uneasy. These exiles were always the hardened battle ready side of the tribe that his father had always warned him to stay away from, and many others felt the same way Audrun did - they may be part of the tribe, but they were weird and often stayed far away.

“Are you at ease with them staying here, too?” Jogdeir extended his hand to that of Bleddyn and shook it, bowing his head in the process. He was certain the exiles had no ill intent whatsoever as he had taken them in himself, an act of forgiveness to the exiles, who are now bound by honor to follow him to death. Ofcourse, they were also bound by honor to adhere to the rules of proper combat, and they hadn't followed them then either. But the handshake said enough - the Bear tribe would keep an eye on the exiles as would the Wolf pack, they had no chance to try anything. And with the handshake, the members of the bear tribe walked towards their Wolf brethren and greeted them, lowering their weapons as would the wolf pack. Audrun didn't really know anyone, so he followed some other members of the bear tribe who would start working on the fire, which would be a grand one as tonight they would eat together with the Wolves, and thus they would stay up late.

Together with them he started work on the fire, being put on wood gathering duty, something generally done to younger members of the warband or tribe as it was an easy task fit for anyone no matter what age. He grumbled. He had come of age, and joined the warband at such a young age as normally most men had to wait until they were 20 to even be considered. He was a man.. not a boy. Why was he sent to collect wood and not some girl? That Jogdeir.. Audrun was willing to bet that it was him that set him up with this lousy job as revenge for speaking on the matter before. He bended over and grabbed another stick, adding it to the pile he was already carrying. He stepped forward and grabbed another stick, mumbling to himself. “Jogdeir the strongest man.. ha! My father can sling a rock twice as far as him..” Audrun stepped forward a few steps again and grabbed another stick. “And his breath smells of deer shit..”

Audrun turned his head around as he heard excited yells and screams behind him of men laughing and conversating. In this moment of carelessness, he stumbled over what he assumed to be a loose root or stick, “Deer shit!” was exclaimed as he fell over a boulder and dropped his pile of sticks over the boulder. He managed to catch himself with his hands planted firmly in the snow, but realized the sticks he had gathered were now wet from the snow. Audrun got up slowly, then turned around, only to find himself stunned with another realization. The boulder was not actually a boulder, it had been a girl from the Wolf tribe that had been out here as well. As Audrun stepped forwards to help her he almost fell again, stumbling just to stay standing up. “M-medveds apologies, I hadn't seen you!” he managed to blurt out, trying to help her up by supporting her or giving her a hand. Secretly he was hoping she hadn't heard him mumbling earlier. “I swear I didn't see you! Um, my name is Audrun, son of Frej so I'm sometimes called Frejson.”

Soon after however, Jogdeir and Bleddyn showed up, each with their own little group of warriors, come to inspect the exclamation of deer shit Audrun accidentally let out. “Accalia, are you okay? What happened?” Bleddyn asked, but Jogdeir wasn't having any of it and walked closer, grabbing Audrun by the arm and quickly taking him back to the large fire. As he passed Bleddyn, Jogdeir spoke to him quickly. “Sorry for this one, he has just turned into a man but has yet to learn proper manners it seems. Sit with me at the fire, so we can talk more.” After that he dragged Audrun back towards the fire, the warriors in tow, laughing and being amused by Audrun's situation. Audrun wasn't laughing, though. Jogdeir dragged him back to the man with the black hair and dumped him there. “Ulvar, you like this boy so much, you keep him in check.” Ulvar nodded and looked at Audrun, then as soon as Jogdeir left to sit somewhere else at the fire, he spoke to Audrun. “Audrun.. hehe.. what did you do this time. Did you pull Medved's tail?” Audrun didn't answer and looked down at his hands, then pulled them into his cloak. This day.. it had been deer shit.

Streets on Fire

Assasination GOGOGO.

Tribal Matters [Hibbie x Partisan]

Snow fell as snow does in these mountains - slow but a lot at the same time. The cold north had tormented the northlands as it does every winter, but this winter had been an unusual long one. There was talk amongst the Bear tribe that something, somewhere had angered the Kaúdi, the gods in the sky. And rumors spread fast among the tribes, especially around the yearly meeting of the tribes. Due to the high level of traffic in the area - messengers had to trot around between the tribes almost constantly - these rumors spread easily. From the bear tribe, to the wolf tribe and the seal tribe, and from there to the deer tribe and salmon tribe. Soon the tribes would meet, and they would speak of the hunt, the fishing and the foraging. They would discuss hunting territory, treaties of access and permissions and use diplomacy.

But they would also sacrifice their own blood for the Kaúdi in order to please them, slicing in their arm with a bone knive, dripping the blood of the elders onto a ceremonial stone encarved with runes. And if the Kaúdi were not pleased.. they would pray to the spirit animals for protection and strength during the oncoming hardships. The meeting was merely a few days away, and scouts from all sides had reported spotting travelling parties of the leaders moving towards the meeting place. Normally these scouts would be considered an act of aggressiveness towards the scouted party, but during these times it was well known that all leaders employed them. That, as well as the fact that there were many travelling free men, exiled men and women and hunters travelling, trotting about in the snow covered wildtrails, or the dirt trails in the heath and forests. It would be impossible to check who was who, and therefore most leaders chose to not act upon any of these things and let it be what it was.

Audrun's shoulder brushed on a pinetree, the needles shaking the snow off of them as if they were dogs shaking the wetness out of their fur. He sighed in annoyance and brushed the snow off of his shoulder, uncovering his bear pelt patch on the right shoulder. As his fingers went over the patch he bowed his head down and mouthed a silent prayer to the Bear. Audrun believed the rumours, something had angered the Kaúdri, and struggle would be upon them soon. He could only hope the crime against the gods wasn't commited by someone wearing their patch. That would mean the Bear would forsake them until the criminal had been caught and offered to the Bear as a sacrifice. But, everyone in these lands knows that when you are forsaken by your spirit animal, you are as good as dead. Strength and power siphons from your body until you are a mere husk of a human, walking around thinking of only survival. There would be no spirit present, no thought, no social interaction.. no tribe. Just husks.

He shook his head. It could never be someone from the Bear tribe. They were all good people.. he had met most of them at the tribe meetings, and even though there were a few weird ones out there, they would never commit a crime against the Kaúdi. It was bad to have such thoughts, Audrun's father always said. A strong man has a positive mind and a strong heart. “Audrun, or Slow-one we should call you! Hurry, you are falling behind.” Audrun looked up and spotted the black haired man with the rugged beard and ponytail. He was waving at Audrun making wide motions with his hands. Audrun smiled and started walking through the thick snow again, trying to catch up.

At the pace they were going they would arrive to the meeting place in a day or two, but Jogdeir halted the travelling party. Jogdeir was the current tribe leader, chosen by the tribe itself. As Audrun caught up to the party he noticed a newcomer - a man with short blonde hair. Across his eye ran the scar he had gotten in a fight against the Seal Tribe. This man was a bear tribe hero, and even Jogdeir treated him with respect. “Augir One Eye..” Jogdeir spoke. “.. please, join the party and tell me what you have seen.”
However Augir bowed his head and touched the bear patch on his shoulder, then straightened his head and spoke softly and quickly, so only Jogdeir would hear.

Jogdeir nodded a few times as Augir spoke, leaning close to Augir to hear what he whispered to him. Once Augir was finished he backed off again, and as Jogdeir turned around as well towards the party, Augir dissapeared into the snow covered pine trees, which slowly started making way for different kinds of trees that Audrun had never seen before. And they weren't even covered in snow.. “Men!” Jogdeir opened, then looked at Audrun and continued. “.. and boy. I am afraid we have an issue, Augir One Eye has spotted the Wolf tribe pack ahead of us, and they are armed as we are. Now.. we are on good terms with the Wolf Tribe. But I would prefer to avoid any issues that may arise. I say we have a vote.”

The men gathered around and sat down in the snow, ice cold to the touch, but true bear tribe men don't flinch from cold. Audrun had trouble, but he managed to sit down and act natural. He sat straight across Jogdeir, being the youngest member of the group and only being allowed to come because Audrun's father asked Jogdeir personally after a four day trek to Jogdeirs camp. Jogdeir opened the vote by saying that he was against meeting the Wolf pack and motivated the choice by saying that he wishes for a peaceful, quiet journey, and that problems might arise during the confrontation of the two tribes. He passed the word of vote to another man by saying his name, and so on and every man said their choice in the manner and their motivation. Some said they had a certain feeling, others based their choice off of the fact that they were allied, or that they were armed.
Before Audrun got to vote, Jogdeir stood up and declared that they were at a tie. Audrun, not wishing to disrespect the bear tribe leader, held his tongue and said nothing. “And since we are at a tie, I get to declare what happens, and speak for Medved. It is as I say.”

But right then, the man with the black ponytail and rugged beard stood up, pointing his spear at Jogdeir. “Jogdeir! I am sure you had forgotten about it, as we are Bears, but only in our own form. It seems you forgot Audrun had come of age last winter, when the snow was heavy, and as such he earned his vote in the matter.” Jogdeir looked at the man and was clearly angry. But he extended his hand and agreed. “You are right. I forgot, Ren. Audrun, speak.”
Audrun tried to clear his throat and spoke to the group in a soft voice. “I-I say we go an-..” Before he could finish the man with black hair shoved him in the back, and laughed as he spoke to Audrun. “Stand boy. You are not a child, so stand and speak like a bear. You are a son of Medved, not some deer-tribe sissy.” The other men laughed with him as did Audrun. Audrun stood up and spoke loudly this time, his voice ringing between the trees. “I say we meet the Wolf pack. The bear doesn't hide from the wolf, and neither shall we. I break the tie, so as I say it is.” Some of the men got up, and started moving towards the Wolf pack, others slapped Audrun on the back and congratulated him with his coming of age. All Jogdeir did was look angrily at Audrun and his black haired friend before moving on towards the pack. The black haired man slapped Audrun on the back again. “Spoken like a true bear, kid.” Together the last bits of the party moved towards the pack and waiting to see how they would react.

Tribal Matters [Hibbie x Partisan]

We shall RP here.

Streets on Fire

Sorry for the crappy posts but wanted to show I was still around. Also if yoshi is gone, how shall we dispose of D.J? Again sorry for the crappy post but needed to post just cause. :(

Streets on Fire

Minato looked over his shoulder and noticed the cyborg dumbo swinging his arm right into a security guard. He guessed the smarts were not something he possessed. He looked forward again and noticed D.J was gone. “KSU. This night is turning from fun to.. well fun.” He came to the railing of the upper area, where the bar was, and was faced with a decision. Either turn around and face more gorilla's and possibly a cyborg mutant ninja gorilla or jump down. That decision was swiftly made, so he gripped the railing and swung his legs upwards, completely oblivious to the fact that the security gorilla's had stopped chasing him favoring the larger prey.

Mid air Minato heard two loud claps, but amidst this chaos the last thing he'd think they were are gunshots. Never the less the following mass of people flowing towards the exits gave him a good idea of what was going on - someone had just fired shots and since the security was up in arms against that gorilla cyborg supermutant from space, they were probably shooting him. Atleast, that was the conclusion Minato made. He landed on the floor with a loud thump, going through his knees flimsily and standing straight up again afterwards. Once again he brushed the dust off of him, looking at the general area people were headed in. Amidst the group he managed to spot D.J, moving at a conciderably slower pace than the rest and seemingly seemed to be swaying side to side. Was she alright? Maybe she was the one that got shot instead? Minato slowly started walking to her, then walked faster, going into a jog.

When he got to her, through the confision and mass of people, he grabbed her by the shoulder and swung his other arm around, grabbing her other shoulder. In any case, if the guards would try to control the crowd, they'd be going the way everyone else was going. Minato spoke out loud, not really realizing it and continueing his thought train. “Ah, so we must get another exit.” This would ofcourse seem like somewhat related - but not very sensical brabbling to D.J but it didn't matter, she seemed to be in some sort of shock from the sheer fact that yes, even she could look womanly. It would probably be because of the chaos, but whatever. “D.J, are you alright?” Ofcourse she wasn't Minato, you baka. Minato pulled her away to some backdoor which they opened by pressing in the bar on the door.

However once they got outside, there was some guard standing there smoking. Obviously he missed the part where the club was under attack or being stolen from. It was still a bit unclear to Minato what the hell was going on and he hadn't noticed the strongbox under D.J's arm yet. “Ksuuu, this is like some cliché action movie where there's bad guys around the corner, isn't it.” The guard let a ''Huhhh?'' slip from his mouth before Minato punched him in the throat.

Except it didn't do much. The guard felt his throat and then looked at Minato. “Oi, scrub. Twigs o' 'er kind ain' spose' to be throwin' punches.. ki' like you nee' to use 'er head.” Minato looked at hist fist and then nodded at the man. What a strange situation. “Oh, I get it.. like this?” He pulled his head back and swung it forward towards the mans forehead again, headbutting him and causing the mans head to slam backwards into the brickwall. The man slid down against the brickwall and tried to get back up but failed miserably, opting instead to go and lay down and take a nap of sorts. Nevermind the blood guzzling from the hole in his head.

Minato grabbed D.J again and pulled her up the concrete stairs to the left which lead back up to street level, but had no real idea what to do now. He looked around the corner and noticed groups of people being lead out by the guards. He was still unsure whether or not they were after her or not but she was acting rather strange. He turned round again and faced D.J. “Oioi, Disc Jockey.” He grinned at his stupid joke. “What happened? Oi, what is in that box? Oi, were they after you? And oi, do you know where I can buy a dog?” God damnit Minato. You're a fucking retard. The worst part was - he was serious. This was gonna be a long night for D.J if she was gonna deal with this A-class social wreck.

Streets on Fire

Making 2 spaces unused/inactive. I was talking about the anime girl/guy that got let in after someone dropped out/got kicked.

Streets on Fire

Alive, yes.

I think there was room that we were going to fill up but the person that was gonna fill up never made a char, check with Blitz or Dark wind, they're the GM's and they know everything (yes, they even know when I go to the toilet). We also had lots of people WANTING to get in, but they never got back to us either I think. Either way I wouldn't know what happened behind the screens, but, yes, we are very much alive.