Treachery of Men Discussion/Planning Thread

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

I'll edit the hunters to three, too.

Then again, if Kath wishes Bregr to be a loner, then Huntha and my character might be the two...

PS. I'll come up with the Bio at least later today... I hope to make the first post too, but lots of it hangs on what is decided here.

[Child of the 7th Age]

From Child's and Kath's posting one gets the impression that these people live in houses but Lalaith talks of Embla's tent where Khandr visits. So tents or houses? Khandr seems to be an important man enough that he could have been shown a built lodging or a luxury-tent for his temporary visit - which could include a desk as Child describes the place. But how about we three (Fordim, Kath & myself)? If we belong to the same party, shouldn't we at least live around?

Good points, Nogrod. I definitely envisioned my envoy staying in some kind of a solid building, whether a house or set of rooms, but can edit if needed to put him in a "luxury tent". I also agree that the hunters would likely be in tents.

Can I assume that Khandr would know the other hunters? (I think that would be good.) Perhaps Khandr can invite the hunters to a dinner party at some point in the story, and we can gossip about how difficult the Ulfangs have become of late!

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

For my part, I imagined Hunta as a tracker/hunter for the "hunting party"...you know, the guy of somewhat more humble origins who goes along with the aristrocrats to find game, flush it out and then help with the actual hunting/killing part.

For his part, Hunta is happy living in a house, in a tent or out in the open! He is, after all, a woodsman of the highest order.

[Nogrod]

So how about we "hunters" live in tents beside the building that has been given to Khandr and his wifes? (Kath surely must have her word on this) So we would have come to the Ulfing settlement with him... I like Child's idea about Khandr inviting us to share a meal in his place and to talk things straight!

I have already agreed with Child that my character will be Khandr's retainer. So he might live in a tent - not a small trekking tent but a nice one with rugs inside... I guess Huntha would be just nicely taken into this kind of party. One pair of arms more while travelling the unsafe countryside would be good and he seems to have his own "adventure-reasons" to join?

So what does Kath think? I think your character might be a friend of mine, even another retainer for Khandr? But surely we might handle another loner too... and if the situation gets more tense, we would have reasons to pull together as Borrim, even though we wouldn't all know each other so well beforehand?

[piosenniel]

Anguirel

Once Nogrod has his post on board, please leave me a list of of the order for First Posts by player name.

Thanks!

~*~ Pio

[Nogrod]

LINKED TO CHARACTER/PLAYER LIST ~*~ Pio

Okay. Here is my BIO. I'll try to come up with the first post but please do go on even without it. It will be here soon enough (I hope).

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Nogrod's character


NAME: Fastarr

AGE: 35

RACE: Easterling (Borrim)

GENDER: male

WEAPONS: Fastarr’s favourite weapon is the heavy quarterstaff he carries with him all the time. It has decorated rings of bronze in the middle and sharpened iron tips on both ends. He also carries knuckle-dusters in his pockets. On his belt he wears a kind of half-scimitar (it’s longer than a normal knife but not as long as proper swords would be). That serves to him as a hunting knife, an everyday utensil and a defensive weapon in need. In his packages he also has a sturdy longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows for hunting.

APPEARANCE: Fastarr is the big guy on easterling standards. He’s a strongly built man topping 6’. Fastarr has a long dark brown hair that is tied to a ponytail with a leather band. Occasionally he will shave the beard from his cheeks but is very reluctant to touch his chinbeard which he braids with tin-ribbons. His face is somewhat round and gives out the impression that he is a lot younger than he actually is. He has dark brown eyes that usually look like they’re sleeping, but in anger or enthusiasm will lighten with fire. He wears a standard woollen tunic and light boots. For cold weather and warfare he also has a reindeer-skin jacket.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Fastarr is overtly loyal to the Borrim and highly suspicious of other people – not to say of other races. Amongst other Borrim he is relaxed and well-wishing. And good-hearted towards his companions he surely is. But towards others he is very reserved and in the worst case – if he thinks he or other Borrim are threathened or mocked – very quick-tempered indeed. Fastarr is not exactly the brightest guy around but when action is called for, he really knows what to do and how. He has a clear vision about what is right and wrong, what is good and bad. He acts on those principles without hesitation, even if some hesitation would have been called for in certain situations.

HISTORY: Fastarr’s family has long been renowned for the staunch warriors it has produced. To this Fastarr is no exception. When Khandr was in need of a new retainer or two, Fastarr was his choice. His father had had Fastarr’s uncle among his household in a similar fashion.

Fastarr had been tall and strongly built already from his childhood and very soon his father and cousins had started to teach him the different skills in arms. In the age of 13 he had won the local youth-masters in wrestling, some of his adversaries being almost 16 at the time. To his father’s disappointment he never became a fluent swordsman, but he loved the quarterstaff. With his reach he could safely knock out any opponent in his village with it and with his size he could outwrestle anyone managing to get too near for the staff to be useful.

At the age of twenty he fell in love with a Bairka-girl called Aud. The feeling was mutual and they were married the next summer with modest celebrations suitable to their social rank. They had twins the next winter, but the winter was exceptionally harsh and they both died before reaching three months of age. After that also the relationship between Fastarr and Aud cooled considerably. The next summer Fastarr saw Aud with a Bairka-man and hid that secret into his heart untill he met the very same man, Starkadr, at the harvest-party. There was no stopping him. Fastarr killed the man barehanded, banging his head to the floor until he was dead.

There were lots of talking and lots of rumours after the incident. Fastarr’s family paid Starkadr’s family a headmoney and Aud moved back to other Bairkas. From that on Fastarr sweared he would stay unmarried and commit himself to the duty of defending his villagers from the treachery of others.

It took almost ten years before he got an invitation to go and serve Khandr. Meanwhile he had cooled off considerably serving different smaller households and earning a reputation of a good man. He was not anymore a youth, but a man in his best age. That was six years ago to this day.

Now he had followed Khandr to the Ulfing settlement where he would negotiate some marriage-agreements. “Marriage...”, he thought to himself as they had at last gotten the Ulfing-village to their sight, “shouldn’t we all be happier without them?”


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Nogrod's post


It was getting dark as Fastarr came back to his tent. He lit the greaselamp and took off the boots he had worn all day. The stench was bad enough. Slowly he streched out and dropped the boots between the first and second linen walls of the tent. Then he got up and took the lamp into the tent itself. Even though the rugs on the ground were thick they felt a bit cold to the feet. The spring seemed to have taken a few steps back.

Fastarr took a couple of the firewood and lit a small fire. Only after the fire started dancing did he took his belt and scimitar away. It was a bliss to be on one’s own after a busy day. The kettle he had put on the fire started hissing slowly, marking that something was happening but that there was no hurry whatsoever. Lazily he studied his stores to find some tea, honey and wine. Ah, the water is almost used. I should get some more. It’s easier to do it now than as a first thing in the morning... Well, not just now...

The water boiled. He added similar amount of wine into the water and waited for the right sound to emerge from the kettle. Then he put some leaves to his cup and carved a piece of solid honey to join them. As the wine-water was about to boil, he poured it over the leaves and honey and put them aside to steep. The sweet and comfortable fragrance spreaded all over the tent and took him over.

Fastarr laid on his back waiting for the tea. Why is Khandr still waiting? Can’t he see that this is not going to work? Too much power-play, too little love, I say. We should go home the first thing tomorrow. I should tell him that. And all these rumours, and the Ulfings in the first place... What do we do here? We should be with our own kin if something does happen, not here among strangers who wish us no good...

He was feeling so nice and lazy laying down on the rugs that had only started to warm up under his body that he had to really make an effort to sit back up again and take the tea before it would get cold. The air outside really felt chilling right now. But the cup happily was still hot and the scent of the drink filled his head. It was indeed hot enough to burn his mouth so he sipped it carefully, turning the cup around between his fingers as not to burn his hands. He could feel the warmth of the drink going down his throat all the way to his stomach. Life’s little luxuries this is... this surely is...

It surely had been a busy day. From the early morning onwards Fastarr had been on the move. First he had taken Khandr’s and his wifes horses to an outing in the surrounding countryside. They had made a good sport of it and the horses seemed to be happy with it, as usual. After the lunch he had walked around trying to hear what people were talking, making a few discussions with the locals himself too. That was not something he especially liked but he was told to do so and so he had to do it. There was lots of talk, lots of ranting and lots of just mere boasting. There was nothing he could report Khandr about, if not for the overall tension and talk of evil that clearly surpassed his taste in quantity as well as quality, even if it was just joking. Maybe it was just the way these Ulfings were?

In the afternoon Briga had asked him to join her on her way to the market and he had made her company. Even though it had ended him carrying all the stuff she had wished to buy, he liked Briga. She was a Borrim-lady of the house with all the qualities and good to her husband’s retainers. Fastarr had nothing to complain. But shopping with ladies were a lot of work.

The evening had went with a lengthy bargain with a local smith who was trying to take a preposterous payment for the little work of changing one of Hengst’s horseshoe and changing some worn parts of the bridles. He had actually managed to settle the dispute to a reasonable level but was more than angry afterwards. It was near he ran over a couple of kids that called him, the foreigner, names when he was getting down the street with Hengst towards their place.

But still he had had to take a tour on the local inns to hear the latest. There had been nothing new tonight. Just the usual gloating and whispering outside the hearing of the stranger. No one was friendly and Fastarr saw no reason to be friendly either.

The tea run out soon enough. Fastarr took the last draught of it and got slowly up. He went to his bed and draw the quilt over him. Different persons he had met today whirled through his mind. Embla... she was one of the Bairka, one of those who had turned his life into a misery a long time ago and now she was there everyday to remind him of it. And still it was unsettling to him. But it was not just hate he felt.

[Nogrod]

Here is at last my first post.

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Moved to your Character Bio post.

~*~ Pio

[Durelin]

Sorry, but those Borrim names are making me crack up...though not in a bad way! Not at all! I just can't get the English words they (well, all but one, really) can sound like out of my head, and I find them very amusing...

So...excellent names!