[hider=Baldr][b]Name[/b]: Baldr Úlfhéðinn Donarsson.

[b]Gender[/b]: Male.

[b]Age[/b]: Early thirties.

[b]Occupation/Title[/b]: Jarl of Jomsborg.

[b]Appearance[/b]: The northmen from the Nordlands are known for their iconic height, golden hair and icy blue eyes. In this manner Baldr is no different from his contemporaries, being of average height among his people, generally taller than many Southern peoples, with long hair the colour of wheat, tied at the back and briaded on either side of his face. His face is lean and unscarred, though characterised by signs of weariness about his cheeks and forehead, and his mouth and jaw are concealed by a golden beard. His single eye is the colour of blue ice, the other having been sacrificed to Mímir many years ago, leaving a diagonal scar across his left eye socket. His great body, broad muscular and from his former life as a farmer and carpenter, is decorated with intricate designs honouring the northmens' pantheon, with woven knots on his chest and along his arms.

Despite being jarl of Jomsborg, a relatively prosperous region in the western Nordlands due its bountiful landscape, Baldr wears simple clothing when at home, consisting of faded green or earthy brown tunics and trousers, tied with a simple rope belt. He owns a single pair of brown leather boots with iron studs under the toe and heel. During the winter months he wears a wolf pelt draped across his shoulders, with the head as a hood, giving rise to the name úlfhéðinn, or 'wolf-pelt', as he is sometimes obsequiously referred to by skalds in Jomsborg's great hall. In the rain he is likely to wear a simple wool cloak and hood.

When raiding, Baldr usually exhibits himself in the full panoply of war in honour of the gods, to the extent that verses have been written about him in the newest sagas. During his rise to power from a simple labourer to jarl he has collected a sizeable fortune in the form of valuable armour and armament, some of which was taken as weregild when he succeeded the former jarl, other pieces were given in tribute or bought. He wears an iron byrnie, belted with brown leather and clasped with an intricate silver buckle, on which he carries a short shafted axe and an extravagantly decorated iron sword, more valuable than half of the possessions in Jomsborg. As with any other karl, or freeman, in the Nordlands, he also carries a simple scramseax on his belt. On his head he wears an iron helmet which encloses the sides of his head and forehead, as well as protecting his nose, allowing him to see through two small holes. His shield is decorated with imagery of two opposing serpents, the tails of each coiled around the other at the bottom of the iron boss, and the heads at the other, painted green against blue boards and rimmed with hard leather and iron studs. He owns, and frequently carries, a nine foot spear common to his people, tipped with iron, and also possesses an iconic daneaxe, over five feet in length with a huge, bearded iron head. Baldr's armour and armament are the most valuable of his possessions, more so than anything else in Jomsborg, and are a clear indication of his social status.

[b]Personality/History[/b]: Baldr was born in a fishing village many miles from Jomsborg, to fisherman parents. His father raided annually, but with the former jarl Olafsson's tendency to raid weak neighbours who possessed no wealth, whether in the form of food or silver, his family was no richer when he returned. Baldr's father, Leif, demanded an audience with the jarl some weeks before the summer raids one year, and attempted to convince the jarl to sail west, to a land he had heard whispers and tales of, called Brythunnia, wherein untold treasures lay waiting to be taken. Baldr never saw his father again after that night. Leif had been exiled or killed following Olafsson's great embarrassment at being spoken down to by a fisherman in his own hall. It was likely, Baldr thought, that his father had at first been exiled and then killed out of spite, as was Olafsson's way, to prey on the unsuspecting or unprepared.

Baldr's village had little need for him to become a fisherman, with so many already undertaking that work, and so he was instructed in carpentry. He learned the skills of a hammer and saw, how to file and carve wood and cultivate trees. Over the next decade or so Baldr became a lean mass, and had also married into possession of a farm away from his childhood home in the fishing village. His wife, Sigfinnä, was daughter to a furs merchant, called Halfdan, who had been waylaid by wolves one night while travelling, to be saved by the timely intervention of Baldr, who was sleeping rough on his way to Jomsborg. Baldr's generosity exhibited itself again when he repaired damages to Halfdan's wagon after it had steered into a ditch in the dim light of an evening. Halfdan had been travelling with Baldr and spent valuable time with him, inviting him to stay at his own home in the city, wherein Baldr met his future wife, a blonde-haired baker who had taken to the rough carpenter upon first sight. Within only a short time Baldr had proposed to Sigfinnä and Halfdan had given them possession of one of his two farms outside Jomsborg as a gift.

Baldr began to have what he considered at the time to be nightmares, disturbing dreams of dead men and women, images of eagles and serpents, of fire and great waves. After visiting the seer in Jomsborg, he came to understand that he was not having nightmares, but rather receiving visions from Donar himself, the northmens' god of thunder, seafaring and war. Weeks passed and each night the visions would become more and more powerful, each ending with him waking moments before he could see in his dreams what his future would entail. It was then that he disappeared from his farm, leaving his wife and son, Leif, for three weeks as he climbed into the mountains and found his way to an ancient grove within a colossal cave, within which trees grew and streams flowed, fed by a roaring waterfall, behind which was a stone basin, appearing natural and yet too perfectly shaped to be coincidental, filled with water, which he knew to be Mímisbrunnr, or Mímir's well. Baldr preyed to the gods, in particular to Mímir, for knowledge and wisdom and gave his own eye in sacrifice as he drank the water. He began to see more detail in his visions, which became more frequent and meaningful. He began to consult with the seer in Jomsborg, and understood the meaning of what he saw. He was the eagle, his people were the great waves, and the serpent was the treacherous jarl. Remembering the stories of the gods, that Donar would slay the world-serpent in the End Times, Baldr called himself Donarsson and understood his fate.

Baldr prepared himself for nine weeks, testing his body to extreme lengths, before taking his iron axe from his farm and going to the great hall in Jomsborg. It was here that he spoke out against Jarl Olafsson and challenged him to single combat. Olafsson laughed and dismissed him, but was challenged by the audience in the hall who, despite their loyalty to him, called him craven, as to refuse a direct challenge was against their culture and an insult to the gods who had decided their fate. Olafsson reluctantly agreed to fight Baldr and, after attempting to poison and murder him during the previous night, was killed with an axe blow to the stomach and a scramseax in his throat. As was custom, his wife declared Baldr the new jarl and knelt before him. Baldr took Olafsson's land as weregild for his father, and therein resided there with his wife and son. The local karls, or freemen, swore fealty to him and presented him and his family with gifts, including jewellery and armour, on the promise that Baldr would take them raiding west to Brythunnia.[/hider]