Username: @Shorticus

Character Name: Bjorn the Bearblooded

Race/Species: Human (Norsca, Skaeling)

Gender: Male

Age: 34

Career (if any) and Skills: Bjorn is a hunter, trapper, and wrestler of bears. Yes, really. He makes for a handy man to have around in the wilderness. He's no ranger, but he's nevertheless as perceptive as he is huge and sturdy.

Sailing is a specialty of Bjorn's, and sailing is where he thrives. Others may be better fighters, but few people can handle oars or steer a vessel quite like Bjorn. He's been on a dozen different longships, and since then he's been on Empire vessels as well. To say that he's an experienced seaman is a grave understatement.

Bjorn's chief profession, though, is that of fighting, especially with an axe or sword coupled with a shield. He's a warrior born, having been a raider and attacked the Empire's lands long before he ever started working as a mercenary. Having fought alongside the sorcerers of Chaos, he also has good knowledge of their tricks and can share secrets on how to defeat them with his fellow mercenaries.

Weapons: Bjorn carries on his person a large battleaxe, two throwing axes, three javelins, and two different daggers, all of which are of Skaeling make. He has a worn scabbard at his hip in which he keeps an Empire longsword whose blade is emblazoned with the twin comet of Sigmar. He also keeps a large, round metal shield with a human skull cast at its center. Bjorn claims that putting the dead man's skull in front of him encourages bad luck to hit the dead man, not him. The skull has been chipped a dozen times over despite the iron cast.

Attire: Bjorn dresses in a mish-mash of Empire armor and Norse furs. His cloak is made from a massive, chaos-touched white bear, and his clothing was fashioned by rugged Skaeling hands. His armor, however, is rather typical of an Empire spearman: a metal breastplate bearing the skull emblem typical in the Empire. He wears boots, gauntlets, and pauldrons of similar make, though his armor seems to have been looted from half a dozen different corpses. On Bjorn's head is a horned helmet with an open face, the sort you'd find in Norsca.

Equipment/Other: A tinderbox, spare rations, rope, and two separate flasks from which to drink are Bjorn's other chief possessions. He also has a coinpurse, of course, but he doesn't seem to need much else. The man is used to much harsher climates than can be found in the south.

Physical Description (as detailed as possible please, pictures not accepted.): To call Bjorn "big" would be an understatement. He's much like the bears he's named after: huge, broad of shoulder, hairy, and altogether a fierce sight to look upon. The Skaeling stands at a whopping 6'8" and towers over regular men (though not over men of Chaos) and has the sort of build that conjures up images of bodies being snapped in half like twigs. He's got his fair share of fat around his stomach - it helps him stay warm in the winter - but he otherwise is an imposing figure to say the least.

Most would describe Bjorn's face as "wild." He has a habit grinning enthusiastically at the mention of combat, and green eyes turn crazed and red when the fighting gets good, potentially a mark of Chaos. His red hair is long and unkempt, kept in check only by a series of braids that knot it up in a thick whip that goes down to the middle of his back. Bjorn's large nose flares like a bull's nostrils when he gets worked up. His beard is not nearly so long as his hair, and he's gotten into the habit of shaving his chin and neck, leaving a sort of upside down "U" to grow on his face.

Mental Description/Personality: One of the more interesting qualities of Bjorn is that he, like many Norsemen, has a rather eclectic pantheon of gods. Chief among the deities he worships are Mermedus (believed to be Manaan), Ulric, and Sigmar. He also calls on his ancestors for aid and on spirits of the north (which may be daemon princes). An Inquisitor would probably have a grand old time torturing him. Still, he's a religious man, and he respects all his gods rather equally, trying to curry the favor of each.

Bjorn is also a rather cheerful and rowdy fellow. He loves nothing more than fighting and following the bloodshed with a round of ale or mead shared with good, stout company. He particularly enjoys going up against wild beasts and monsters: the bigger the better. Most would call this typical of the Norse, but they might wonder why Bjorn isn't raiding and plundering as well.

Of course, there's more to the giant man than just drinking and fighting. Bjorn is a man who regrets much of what he's done, though he doesn't enjoy talking about that. He fights for money because that's what he's good at and because that's how he can see the world. And he sincerely does want to see the world, as much of it as possible, because in his eyes he can only redeem himself by walking across as much of it as he can and killing the biggest, baddest, meanest monster he can possibly find. He would, perhaps, sympathize quite well with slayers.

Background/History: Bjorn was born into a society from which the Chosen of Chaos are picked. He is a Skaeling, one of the Norse peoples of Norsca, and like most strong boys he was brought up to fight, to raid, and to plunder. It must he said that he was damned good at it, too: Bjorn used to collect fingerbones to commemorate his successes on the field of battle, each of them taken from a different enemy, and he'd worn them on a necklace to proudly show off his terrible skill at murder. In those days, he praised Khorne gladly. It's very likely that he would have become a Chosen of Chaos.

But he found himself face-to-face with a Warrior Priest of Sigmar perhaps eight years ago, and he was astonished by both the man's ferocity in battle and his raw tenacity. Bjorn had crippled and maimed the man over the course of the fight, but somehow he'd managed to muster enough will to defeat the Norse warrior nevertheless. Bjorn would have died then if not for a timely shot from an arrow by an ally. As he stood there, Bjorn realized that Sigmar's devotees were just as strong as his brothers, and so he began to respect and even revere the God among his others.

Bjorn continued fighting for his people for a year or so more before some of his fellows realized he had a small altar to Sigmar in his home alongside the shrines to the other gods. They also saw him watching how Empire soldiers fought, even mimicking a few of their moves. It was believed that he had grown soft and weak, and before long people that Bjorn had known for his whole life decided the best course of action was to throw him out into the wilderness and let him die in the wastes rather than kill him immediately. A death by the sword was too good for him, after all.

Of course, Bjorn survived. He had to kill a huge bear in the wilderness, which is where he got the fur to make his cloak. The exiled warrior traveled south and eventually made his way into the lands of the Empire.

Not much more needs to be said. Since then, Bjorn has worked as a mercenary in the Empire, fighting both on land and on ships. He's an experienced veteran with over a decade of experience. Any mercenary company would benefit from having this northerner around.