Wägemunding

When humans crossed the Land Bridge of Lagash into Laurentia, a group of them known as the Wägemundings traveled north and settled in the continents northwestern most region. The Wägemundings named this land Thule. Thule is a harsh and beautiful land full of lush forests, high mountain peaks, and clear waters that flow through mighty rivers. The region is known to have nice cool summers and harsh winters. When the Wägemundings made the land their home, they split into different tribes and forged their own kingdoms bringing themselves everlasting fame. Bravery and honor are common traits among the Wägemundings, as well as a strong warrior tradition. Physically, the Wägemundings are a tall and imposing people with light wavy hair, light skin, and lighter eye colors. They tend to have narrower noses, defined chins, and a slender body type.
In the southern most part of Thule are the Skofnung. Like their other Wägemunding kin, they have a strong warrior tradition and eventually became renowned sea-farers. These people are known to strike out of nowhere, take what they desire and be gone in the blink of an eye. Other than being fierce raiders, they're also skilled traders and have made names for themselves around the Thetis Sea. Four clans or tribes lived in southern Thule and came together forming the Skofnung. Their first king was Halga the Good, and he was chosen by his peers. The Skofnung continue this tradition by having their nobles elect their king from the leaders of the great clans.
The Heruls were a group of Wägemundings that came to inhabit the eastern most regions of Thule. They came together as a loose confederation of tribes and named their land after the Herul River. All among the Wägemunding are known to be fierce warriors, but the Heruls especially so. Like their Skofnung brethren, they are quite skilled sea-farers (but not to the extent of their kin) and have braved raiding the western coast of Lyonesse so much, that the Lyonessians called it the "Herul Shore." When Ceredgion began expanding its borders, they tried the lands of Herul but were thwarted by her fiercely independent people. The Heruls were led by a warrior named Swerting. Rulers of the Herul are chosen from the house that Swerting established. One succeeds to the throne of Herul by proving that they're the strongest among Swerting's house.
The Namdals were the western most people of the Wägemundings. There were three main tribes that came to inhabit these rich and fertile lands. The Vendel and Sogn were known for their epic conflicts and struggles for supremacy. Eventually the Vendel fell to the Sogn, and the Sogn emerged as the dominant tribe in the area. As for how Namdal came to be formed as a kingdom isn't fully known, but sources name a figure known as Eormenric the Victorious to be Namdal's first king. The Namdals credit themselves with being the tallest of the Wägemundings and are quite gifted on horseback as compared to their kin.
During the Great Calamity most of Thule sank into the sea with the exception of Skofnung. The lands of Skofnung are now an island archipelago, and their sea-faring traditions have served them well. With the almost utter destruction of their homeland, it left them with very few natural resources for quite some time. Thus, the surviving Skofnung continued their tradition as raiders and set out to take what they needed. They would frequent the shores of old Lyonesse and created unsteady relations with the kingdoms of Hebrides and Caledonia which have lasted to this day. A group of Heruls fled the Cataclysm as well, and made their way east across the Laurentian continent. They would pick up, adopt, and integrate themselves with some of the different peoples along the way until they reached the lands of Dalraddia. They were invited in as mercenaries, and were eventually allowed to settle. They would break off and create their own kingdom, but they now had a new identity due to their intermixing. They were now the Rheged. To this day, the Rheged and Skofnung remain as the last survivors of the Wägemundings.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Alfhild, Ase, Aslaug, Auda, Audhild, Birghild, Bodil, Brenna, Brynhild, Dagmar, Eerika, Era, Gudrun, Gunhild, Helga, Hertha, Hilde, Hillevi, Ingrid, Iona, Jorunn, Kari, Kenna, Magnhild, Nanna, Olga, Ragna, Ragnhild, Ranveig, Runa, Saga, Signe, Sigrid, Sigrunn, Solveig, Svanhild, Thora, Torunn, Tove, Unn, Vigdis, Ylva, Yngvild

Masculine names

Agni, Anvindr, Arvid, Asger, Asmund, Bjarte, Bjorg, Bjorn, Brandr, Brynjar, Calder, Colborn, Egil, Einar, Erik, Erland, Fiske, Folkvar, Fritjof, Frode, Geir, Halvar, Hemming, Hjalmar, Hjortr, Ingimarr, Ivar, Knut, Leif, Liufr, Manning, Oddr, Olin, Ormr, Rannulfr, Sigurd, Skari, Snorri, Sten, Stigandr, Stigr, Sven, Trygve, Ulf, Vali

Family names

Originally, there were no family surnames among the Wägemunding. They would identify each other by using the names of either their father or mother and put "son" or "dottir" at the end. For example; say there is a Skofnung father named Ornulf, and he has a son and daughter. His son's surname would be Ornulfsson -- which means son of Ornulf. His daughter's surname would be Ornulfsdottir -- which means daughter of Ornulf. A group of Wägemundings known as the Skofnung eventually divided themselves into five different clans that ruled over their own respective territories. From these clans, families started to adopt surnames to differentiate themselves within their respective clans. This practice would soon take hold for all the people of the Wägemunding. Some of these family names are:
Finstad, Ohmseer, Dahlby, Gudmundson, Anker, Lunder, Lunde, Kleve, Hoem, Wiland, Andreasen, Rud, Waaler, Amondsen, Aaberg, Hanevold, Bohle, Bergrum, Fossen, Rindahl, Johnsrud, Kjos, Ulvestad, Salvesen, Grinde, Hofland, Sund, Kittleson, Borseth, Volle, Hegg, Ottosen, Nyland, Berg, Breeland, Haestad, Torvik, Osmundsen

Other names

When the Wägemundings started giving themselves permanent family surnames, they took their old tradition of family names and turned it into middle names. So now, instead of someone having "son of..." or "daughter of..." as their last name, it became their middle name. For example a full Wägemunding male name would be: Agni Ornulfsson Lunder. While a Wägemunding female's full name would be: Ylva Leifsdottir Hofland.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Wägemundings are one of the few groups of humans in Laurentia to have their own distinct language. This language was known as Old Thulian. Old Thulian was spoken throughout the region and two distinct dialects started to develop. In the south, the Skofnung began speaking a dialect known as South Thulian, while Namdal and Herul came to speak North Thulian. South Thulian would eventually turn into its own language known as "Skoftunge" -- or just Skofnung in the common tongue.
Once the Heruls had ventured east across the continent, their North Thulian dialect turned into the language of Rheged. The Rheged and Skofnung languages have their similarities here and there, but they have developed so much over time that one must learn the other's language to understand each other.

Culture and cultural heritage

To the Wägemundings one's reputation is everything. Their ultimate goal in life is to achieve a sort of immortality through their name being known and sung throughout all of time. One's strength and honor are held in high regard as well as one's word. To achieve this immortality or "word-fame," the Wägemundings are supposed to perform great deeds through heroism and warfare. This is the basis for their warrior tradition as they fight for their honor and to increase their word-fame.
Any able bodied man or woman is allowed to go on raids as long as they're able to provide their own equipment -- mainly weapons and armor. Every Wägemunding child is taught to fight at a young age. Raiding parties are not just made up of the warrior elite, but also made up of farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, shop owners etc. Almost every single member of Wägemunding society knows how to fight. If a shop keeper decides to go on the next raid, his or her shop is usually taken care of and managed by whatever family that stays behind.
Family and marriage are also two other important aspects of the Wägemundings society and culture. Family units are particularly close as their blood and bonds to one another are heavily emphasized. This is also why marriage is such an important thing because two family's are now becoming one. This further strengthens bonds and ties and is an important way in making new allies (especially for nobility).

Coming of Age Rites

There aren't any known coming of age rites for the Wägemundings, or at least that's what it appears to be. The closest thing that can be equated as such is that around the ages of 12-14, children are often brought on their first raids. They don't necessarily have to participate, but they are brought along to see what a raid entails.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Cremation is the typical form of burial among the Wägemundings. Before the Calamity there were different customs such as the burial mounds of the Namdal. But now with the Skofnung as the dominant group, cremation has taken precedence. The lavishness of the cremation usually depends on one's social standing. If one is a king, queen, or jarl they tend to be burned in a funeral pyre with all their belongings on a great ship. For great warriors this is sometimes the case as well, but for others they tend to just have a regular funeral pyre.

Common Taboos

To go back on one's word is seen as quite dishonorable. Even though there aren't any significant repercussions in terms of one's own well being, their reputation on the other hand will be somewhat stained, and will continue to be seen as less reliable if they don't do anything to rectify the situation.
Betraying or murdering one's own kin or family is seen as a huge taboo. Familial bonds are important to the Wägemundings and if those are broken then the individual who did the betraying or killing is often times disowned by the family or cursed to not enter Valhalla (the ultimate afterlife for the Wägemundings).

Common Myths and Legends

The Skofnung believe that out of the Great Cataclysm three worlds came into being. The realm of fire, the realm of ice, and the great void in between known as Ginnungagap. In the ice realm, the very first frost giant Ymir was born. From his armpits sprung the first giants. Eventually, from Ymir's sweat was born Buri. Buri mated with a giantess, and they had a son named Bor, and Bor mated with a giantess producing three sons: Odin, Vili, and Ve. The three brothers worked together and waged war on the giants, and killed Ymir. They used Ymir's skin and spread it over Ginnungagap to make the earth, his skull the sky, one eye the sun, the other the moon, his blood became the sea, his bones became mountains, his hair the grass, and his teeth the rocks and trees. Odin and his brothers created man from the mud, elves sprung from the trees, and the dwarves came from maggots. Other gods came about during the time of fire, ice, and abyss, and they created their own plane and realm known as Asgard and Vanaheim. The Skofnung also believe that some giants went to the realm of fire, and became the fire giants, but the fire giants live in their own plane of Muspelheim.

Historical figures

• Beow the Mighty
• Halga the Good
• Swerting
• Eormenric the Victorious
• Melnir Oldbone
• Gris Blackhand
• Alette Bow-Singer
• Egil Iron-Arm
• Ignatia Ohmseer
• Solveig the One-Eyed

Ideals

Gender Ideals

Out of all the peoples in Laurentia, the Wägemundings tend to be the most progressive on the ideas of gender roles and ideals. In their earliest days they were a strong patriarchy with men dominating the social scene. Men were rulers, warriors, and controlled most aspects of life. Even though women originally didn't have much prominence in social life, they were still allowed to divorce their husbands, own property, and have inheritance. There were rare occasions where women would actually becoming ruling jarls (local lords). Women were expected to be peace keepers and not be disruptive in any sort of way.
After the Great Calamity this dynamic changed. Since there was now a lack of natural resources in Skofnung and a smaller population due to deaths from the Cataclysm. Women began to now have a stronger presence in society, stepping up to become warriors and leaders in their communities. Both men and women are now held as equals in society, and it is generally accepted that whatever one can do the other can do as well.

Courtship Ideals

Like any relationship, a male and female must fancy each other for there to be courtship of any kind. As for exact traditions or specifics during courtship there really are none. When a man is ready to propose to his future wife, he will usually gather a couple friends and make their way to the house of the future bride to propose. The bride's family will usually then give a symbolic vocal gesture of approval.

Major organizations

• Skofnung
• Namdal
• Herul

Viking by Brian Matyas

Diverged ethnicities

• Rheged

Encompassed species

• Human

Related Organizations

• Skofnung