Helti Enginnson, Druid 4

[Starhawk]

Helti Enginsson, Druid

Character Profile

Male Human Druid (Wild Whisperer),

Level 4, Init 2, HP 28/28, Speed 30'
AC 19, Touch 12, Flat-footed 17, CMD 15,

Fort 6, Ref 4, Will 9,

CMB +3, Base Attack Bonus 3   
 

Shortspear +3 (1d6, x2)
Dagger +3 (1d4, 19-20/x2)
Sling   +5 (1d4, x2)

Darkleaf Leather Lamellar (+4 Armor)

+1 Darkwood H. Shield (+3 Shield) +2 Dex

Str 11, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 10

Condition None 

Clan: Ormrung

Age: 27

What do you look like?

I've never been good looking, but for a man ability is attractive. Slimmer than most of clansmen, somewhat shorter too, I stand apart on account of not being to grow a beard worthy of the name. I use a blade to cut it back. Some wit once said I could be mistaken for a girl if not for my face. A good one. My grey hooded eyes may be a little un-nerving, but my stature is far from imposing and my red hair is common. I wear armor for I gather from places where things wish to gut me, maybe eat me.

What was your childhood like?

Nothing was expected of me, I was left alone. Thought fey and strange, the other children were told to steer a different course. So, I shadowed my foster father, Jurtir Andersson, on his moss and weed foraging expeditions. He taught with silence and could watch, or not, my choice. Sometimes he would draw in sand, some instruction or other, when the mood took him.

We rarely visited the Great Hall. My grandfather was a huscarl there and his face darkens when he sees me, even now. My foster father brought mushrooms and 'other things' to the baresarks there.

I would spend a good deal of time talking to myself, walking along hand to my ear, listening to the sound of my own voice. Seeing me others thought I was not right in the head. I learned to love words more than food, since food was always on hand while words were not.

Who are your parents/siblings?

My mother is Sigridur, Powerful Silence in our tongue, and aptly named. Still some called her Skritio, Strange, but not to her face. She kept her own counsel, even when young, and no-one knew her mind. When she was fifteen and to be married to Lofnir, a rich local boy, she wandered off and could not be found. A year later she returned, with a baby, me, in her arms. My father is Enginn, literally No-one, since no-one knows who he is, and my mother will not say. My grandfather Haldir, called the Oak, on account of his ability to endure shame and hardship, mostly my mother and me, was a huscarl but now is old and taciturn. He trains the guard now. Lofnir, my mother's betrothed, was forbidden to marry my mother after that, though he still wanted to. My grandfather had to find a new match for his daugher, but none would have her save for Jurtir Arnirsson, a failed druid become a maker of woad and other such things. The rumor is a good deal of coin changed hands.

I have a half sister, Eydis, a few years younger than me. She is beautiful, for Jurtir is accounted a handsome man, if shy and withdrawn, liking rock and sea more than people and my mother is a beauty, even now.

Eydis, is everything the rest of my family is not. She is well liked, even my grandfather's face lights up on seeing her. When younger I would hold her hand and watch his expression, shame and anger on seeing me, pride and joy on seeing her, war with itself.

Eydis schemes to marry Jarl Magnus' son. So, publicly she has nothing to do with me. Privately, she calls on me for help on this and that, ever at my foster father's longhouse, never mine. I am of use.. apparently. Yes, I am being used, but blood, even half blood, is blood.

What has your character done since growing up?

When I came of age, I was deemed worthy of training by the clan druids. Were I a cynical sort, I would say that they did not appreciate my father, a failed druid, teaching me more of their ways than he should have. So, it could be they took me in to keep me in line and keep a close watch on me. But who knows.

As a new druid I was granted a piece of barren land. I took it and did what druids do.. brought life to it. I've married, fathered a whole heap of children and generally done quite well for myself. I was an outsider. I made my own inside.

What is your occupation?

I am a druid, a giver of healing, medicine and such. I am more practical, pragmatic than most. Hired by a family on a small island haunted by rats, I was a weasel for a week. No more rat problem. Still, I was drinking spiced mead for a month to get the taste out of my mouth.

What is your social class?

I am a Jarl, but I am a druid, This makes my social status.. fluid. It seems to depend on where I am, what I am doing and how much people need me to do it.

What motivates you?

Keeping everyone safe. Within my reach I hold the happiness and prosperity of many. My women, unwanted for various reasons, have found a place they can call their own. My friends, Jort and Canute, have found a place where they can live out almost a full measure of happiness.

What is your greatest ambition?

I recall hearing of a man of whom it was said that he sired an army out of his own trews. I've worked hard to build a village in which I, and others like me, would be happy. The prospect of having a truly enormous family, raucous, rowdy and rich would allow me to die a happy man, many years from now, in my bed. It would be nice if my mother and foster father were to come to my longhouse, such that perhaps someday four generations could live in the same longhouse... not my grandfather though.

What do you fear the most?

My true father. Nothing is as scary as an unknown past. Is there anything I could, unknowingly, be passing onto my children?

What is the history and current status of your romantic life?

My romantic life is complicated. I am something of a lodestone for the clan's outcasts and semi-outcasts. It seems to suit the clan that all the strange can be found together within one set of four walls... namely my longhouse, which stands well apart from others. Ingibjorg Olafsdottir, the Eohling Exile, shares my bed on occasion. Gudrun, the Squint, can be found there on other occasions. Birta Hranulfsdottir, the Redskin, makes three. Gudrun and Birta have a dark family past. The men, who do not share my bed, are Jort Torsson and Canute Rolfsson, inseparable to the point where one starts a sentence and the other finishes it. My landholding, once a barren rocky headland, is now bountiful, and we all tend to it. Jort and Canute mostly concern themselves with crafting dragonheaded longboats. Jort and Canute, are good fathers but are not inclined to be husband in private, save to each other. In public, Jort is the husband of Gudrun, while Canute is the husband of Birta. Thus far the Lodge has welcomed a total of six children, ostensibly from three different couples, from seven down to barely a year old. They're all mine but only the red haired children, Magnus Heltisson, Eydis Heltisdottir and Wulf Heltisson do I lay public claim to. Art Jortsson, as white blonde as his mother Gudren, makes four. Brida Jortssdottir, also white blonde, makes five. Ragnar Rolfsson makes six. The adults are all outcasts, in one way or another, but the children will be like unto a warband.

What is your relationship with the gods

I worship the Norns. Holding to the opinion that 'what will be will be', has kept me sane. One of my birth circumstances could drive himself mad pondering the whys of things. The skein of my life was woven long ago. All I can do is accept that, revel in it and enjoy the time that's been given to me, for I will not live a moment longer than I am fated to. I worship the Norns, perhaps someday with their vision they will throw me a bleeding bone, hopefully one from my real dad.

What are your likes and dislikes?

I dislike stupidity, especially willful stupidity of the bone headed variety. I am not a bad man, was never really a bad child, quite the opposite. I've suffered a good deal due to wilful stupidity, folk holding to ideas when their senses should have guided them better.

I love the Clan Lord, he's subtle, leads with a feather light touch. He makes up his own mind and that mind has been at the very least on the fence about me. Though I suspect he rarely thinks of me at all. I consider my future welfare to depend on whether his oldest boy takes after him or not when the current lord passes on.

Other than that my likes are of the simple sort, nothing gold wound or gold plated. Women, particularly those that need me, are right up there at the top of the list. I am a fool for women who need help. Sala of the Krakung uses this to pull me on raids, which I secretly enjoy.

What are your quirks and mannerisms?

Well, I answer a question with a question, after walking face first into leading questions one too many times for me not to learn. I think indirectly, talk indirectly, act indirectly. My wife tells me a direct approach would kill me and that I am wheels within wheels within wheels.

What do you do to pass the time?

Well aside from being the head of the household, fathering children, brewing medicines, flying as an eagle over the island, tending to the land and the like.. I offer my services where I may. I endeavor to be useful. See, I say if you can't be loved, and I'm not lovable, then be indispensable, dependable, reliable. My life has made me strong, stronger than my grandfather.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a great father and maker of great things. I am not the do'er of great deeds, the slayer of this or that, the leader of men. Those things I leave to others. Likely I will be remembered as a pain in the ass in some quarters, but one of the measures of a man is in the enemies he has.

Describe at least two people you would consider your allies:

Halfdan, the leading druid on the island. Rumor is when it came out I knew a good deal more about druidry than I should before being initiated. Well, there was talk of having me and my foster father killed. A couple of weeks later Sirte's body washed ashore on the surf. Rumor is Sirte, Halfdan's rival, is the one that wanted me dead. I don't know if that's true or not since you shouldn't go looking for answers unless you know what they will be, but yes I think it was a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object with the unstoppable force later being found face down in the surf. Anyway the druids on the island are courteous and if this didn't come down from on high I don't know where it came from. Halfdan drops into my longhouse on a fairly frequent basis, paying social calls, bouncing my youngest, whether or not they bear my name or not, on his knee.

Sigridur, my mother. She could have given me away, could have done a lot of things. She didn't. Once, when I wandered in my various wanderings onto the wrong land, when I was like eight. Una, a jarl on that land beat me bloody. My mother, the day after, found Una, and beat her bloody, dragged her around by her hair. She drew a line around me when I was a child, and declared in more than words, that anyone who crossed it would have her to deal with. Mother's scary. She could've been a huscarl, like her father, and to this day, trains like one. Clan politics is a web of whispers and maybes. Though my grandfather hates me, I am still his grandson. If he wanted me beaten to a pulp he'd do it himself.

Sala. She's a druidess on the mainland, not part of clan politics. Sometimes she's in need of an outsider, and I've helped her out in the past. She's of the Krakung Clan and so I've raided with her on several occasions. I've saved her life and she's saved mine.

Describe at least two people you would consider to be your enemies:

The lord's current sooth sayer, whose role it is to find the path, seethes in my presence. It could be that she sees in the bones related to my birth some future danger to the clan. It could be that she sees in my growing power a threat to her own position. It could be any number of reasons, but she keeps her reasons to herself and to her lord. Then again, she could just be running with the crowd. Who knows? It would amuse me if she were acting as she is in order to protect me from something, perhaps Lofnir? Who knows?
 

Lofnir Ranuldsson, my mother's betrothed until she disappeared, hates my guts. His father found a new bride for him, another good political marriage, to Leira Knuttsdottir. Though it seemed like a good match at the time it subsequently became clear that Leira was a living nightmare in human form. I think he truly loved my mother, so none of his anger at the gulf between what might have been and what actually came into being has, I believe, been directed towards me. That anger, in its entirety is directed at his wife and at me. I try to avoid him, but he's the sort that will use the word bastard in every sentence he directs at me. I believe he managed to use it five times in a single sentence. Tell me bastard, what does a bastard think of a bastard house, born in misbegotten bastard circumstances, rising socially? When I started counting on my fingers each time he used the word bastard with a grin plastered all over my face, I do believe he frothed at the mouth a little. He's the head of his house and a person of wealth and influence. So, I need to tread carefully.

Idunn Leifsdottir of the Eohling Clan, has her own longship and raiding crew and would very much like to see my wife's head adorning the front of it. Apparently, it was an argument over a man, with said man 'accidentally' dying in the feud between them. My wife, Ingibjorg, was a witch of those lands, where to be a witch can be a dangerous occupation, and so fled to our island, with Idunn's longship coming soon after. In the interim, after arriving and before Idunn could get to her, between dusk and nightfall, she married me. She's broad minded. Either that or she thinks I will die young and she'll be matriarch. Anyway, the fact that I went to Eohling lands to get her, Jort and Canute with me, as she and I were trading partners before getting married, the fact that I married her into my clan, the fact that through me she got the protection of my clan through marriage and the fact that I am a druid when the druids of her clan string up witches, only makes her hate me more. The hatred is apparently more than the sum of the parts involved and since there were a lot....

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Starhawk (see edit history)

[Starhawk]

Party Role: Tracker, Herbalist, Healer, Brewer of Concoctions, Shapechanger (eagle)

Edited August 26, 2023 by Starhawk (see edit history)

[Ace Bronson]

awesome, thank you. I'll check it out in detail