Norsken

Although the berserk raiders of the frigid North are mostly lost to legend, the Norsken are still skilled warriors, savvy merchants, and able seamen with a love of glory and combat. They build tiny villages there, where they work as fishermen, shipbuilders, and fur-trappers; not nearly as barbaric as Ralindor's tavern-talk would make them out to be. The Norsken tower above most other men, and have fairer skin, blond or reddish hair, and blue or blue-green eyes.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

• Examples of female names include: Alfhild, Brynhild, Gudruun, Hilde, Ragna, Sigrid, Solveig, Tove, Vigdis, and Ylva.

Masculine names

• Examples of male names include: Arvid, Bjorn, Einar Fritjof, Geir, Hjalmar, Ivar, Leif, Oddr, Peer, Sigurd, Svein, Ulf, and Vildar.

Family names

• The Norsken typically take patronymic names, that being, they are taken from their fathers. Men are given the suffix "-sen" or "-son" (meaning "son"), while women are given the suffix "-dotter" (meaning "daughter"). For example, Arvidsen, Bjorndotter, etc.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

• The Norsken speak a version of Common informed by their old tongue. They usually speak with thick accents and a vocabulary heavy with words of their own design.

Shared customary codes and values

• As a predominantly martial culture, skill in battle is the Norsken's single most important virtue, and has taken on a quasi-spiritual distinction.

• To fight is a privilege awarded by birthright. Much like nobles in southern cultures, in the North, warriors must be born.

Funerary and Memorial customs

• The ground in the North is far too cold to allow for traditional graves. The bodies of common folk are typically interred in bogs or marshes, where they are mummified naturally.

• Great warriors, clan chieftains, and others of great status are pushed out to sea on funerary barges, or burned on pyres.

Major organizations

The Norksen are organized into feudal confederacies under lands owned by Jarls. Their possessive nature has led to a lack of unified cultural identity, and frequent blood-feuding. The Norsken are loyal only to their families and their Jarl. The Jarls are quite unlike traditional nobility; great warriors and other men of deed may be granted land as a reward, which has led to the diminishing role of the upper-class in Norsken society. Instead, the warrior-class has become the dominant social role in their culture.

Encompassed species

• Men

Related Locations

• The North

Norsken

Ability Score Increase Your Strength score increases by 1, and one other score of your choice increases by 1 point.

Size Medium

Speed 30 ft.

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Bonus Skill. You gain proficiency in one of the following skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Stealth, or Survival. Alternatively, you may choose to be proficient with water vehicles.

Bonus Feat. You gain one feat of your choice.

Languages. You speak Common, and one other language of your choice.