Name:Lord Banweald Gudethbill-Eordhweall
Gender: ♂
Age: 46
Rank: nobleman
Personality: The Lord of Cirencester is boisterous and mirthful. He is a prized hunter, with many war dogs and horses in his keep. Banweald yearns for a male heir, and as he realizes his wife cannot give him this, he has been looking among the thegns for a new one.
History: As a young man, Banweald was a knight under Offa the Great who fought in several campaigns against the Welsh. For his glory in battle he was made a thegn and given dominion over the recently assimilated Hwicce, and resides at a lavish estate just south of Cirencester called Celnaer Manor, which is connected to the barracks and dungeon of the region. He took a teenage pagan as his wife, and proceeded to live a debauched and drunken life of fresh meat and wine. After ten years, Hwithryth has yet to bear him a living child, and his patience with such things is wearing thin and his eyes are drifting to nearby towns, searching for a concubine.
Loyalties: Coenwulf the King of Mercia, and The Church when it suits his purposes.

Name: Hwithryth the Barren
Gender: ♀
Age: 24
Rank: noblewoman
Personality: Icy and distant, cold and calculating. It's no secret that she despises her husband, who killed her pagan kinsmen and married her for her beauty when she was just a child.
History: Before Hwicce was fully assimilated into Mercia, pagans were given reasonable freedom within the Wych to do as they pleased. Hwithryth and her family lived there, and she was meant to become a prophetess. After 780AD all pagans who didn't flee or convert were put to the sword, and she was taken by Banweald as a wife at just 14. She has been seething and stewing ever since, waiting for an opportunity to escape him.
Loyalties: the Wych

Name: Winoc the Dog, or more formally "Winoc Beordhorthinen Draefends-Ealdgeneat"
Gender: ♂
Age: 33
Rank: freeman
Personality: Winoc is a gentle, quiet Welshman. When he does venture into town he is known to be kind in his dealings, never overcharging for whelps, and a good listener in conversation. Despite his typically distant nature, he's often very curious about foreigners and newcomers. Some pious among the community find it odd how much time he spends "hunting game" in the Wychwood, but his good nature deters most serious suspicions.
History: Winoc grew up on a modest piece of land along the River Churn where he and his parents raised sheep and sold their wool. His parents died of sickness when he was just thirteen, leaving him to tend the farm alone. He took in a wild dog shortly thereafter and named her Queen Brig; she lived for half a decade and had many litters in that time, each more profitable than the last. Since then he's become quite wealthy breeding, training, and selling hunting dogs, each a descendant of Brig herself. He now resides on a sizable estate of two hides on the northwestern side of the Churn past Cirencester. He lives a simple life, seeming to spend all of his time tending his estate, raising his hounds, and more recently reading old manuscripts at the local abbey. It's rumored that he helps hide pagans who are trying to escape to Jutland, but no hard evidence of this has been found.
Loyalties: the Wych

Name: Mildemaer of Crowland
Gender: ♀
Age: 15
Rank: freewoman
Personality: Mildemaer is fiery and talkative, disrespectful towards her elders and unafraid of holy men. She's full of energy and has a nosy thirst for knowledge, not shy about asking improper questions or striking up conversations with strangers. She loves animals of all kinds, from sparrows to stallions. It's rare to catch her without a chicken or pup in her grasp. Her resourcefulness and quick thinking make her a force in the market, but with such a short temper, she's been known to get into screaming matches when merchants won't deal fairly with her. In the short time since she came to live in Cirencester, Mildemaer has made herself quite a spectacle; she no interest in marriage or in becoming a nun, and often prefers belted tunics and trousers more typical of a small boy than a young woman.
History: Mildemaer was born in Crowland, near East Anglia. She was the only child of a Celtic scholar and a Welsh dairy maid; both Christians who frequented a large cathedral. She lived in a tiny village near the coast just outside the marshes of Crowland her whole childhood until just two years ago, when the church and the town were victim to a viking raid. She claims that she fled into the marsh, pursued by two vikings, and was saved from a gruesome death by the lost Icling Queen of Mercia. Naturally no one believed these claims, and her only proof is an odd war axe. She was sent thereafter to live with Winoc, her only living relative. She now helps him around the estate and frequents the markets in town.
Loyalties: The House of Icel

Name: Justiciar Alexius
Gender: ♂
Age: 47
Rank: nobility
Appearance: {image WIP} Alexius is a very tall and quite lean man, with severe features and dark, sunken eyes. His hair is dark brown and already graying, particularly on his face. He almost always wears dark robes typical of a judge or church official of his status, akin to a very long tunic, and a red belt or wrap on his waist or shoulders.
Personality: Justiciar Alexius did not get where he is today by being kind and generous in his dealing; he has a reputation not just for being harsh and severe, but for being lethally effective in his work. He has no qualms about playing dirty to root out pagans and criminals, fully willing to break the law to make it right. This has not made him a popular man, but certainly he's a feared one.
History: The good judge was born Brennus Maccaba, an orphan thrall in East Anglia. From a young age he served many holy men and members of the clergy in various monasteries, where he learned to read and write. He was granted his freedom on the condition that he join the church, which he happily agreed to do, becoming a translator for officials and missionaries coming from distant and powerful empires. Such a position allowed him to make acquaintances among the English nobility, eventually coming to Mercia to aid in the culling of heretics.
Loyalties: the Church

Name: Wilmot
Gender: ♀
Age: 22
Rank: thrall
Appearance: {image WIP} She is slender and quite tall, seeing eye-to-eye with most men. Wilmot's hair is raven black and curly, but cropped close to her head and often covered with a cowl. Her eyes are dark brown and somewhat narrow; her skin is translucently pale and free of freckles or marks. Typically she wears a modest dress of light grey or beige, and a darker cowl and shawl.
Personality: Like most thralls, Wilmot is very quiet and humble. She is quite easily amused and distracted, often lost in her own thoughts and wondering or getting lost while doing errands for her master. She's good natured and sweet, but quite naive; easily impressed but shy.
History: Wilmot was sold as a thrall just before her tenth birthday. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to a dead son, and her drunken father was incapable and uninterested in raising her alone. She was purchased by a lowly lord near Tamworth, and spent her teenage years doing menial housework around his family's estate. Her master found himself indebted to Justiciar Alexius, and thusly sold her to him two years ago. He told her that she may have her freedom if she finds a husband or joins the nunnery, but she's not eager to do either of these things.
Loyalties: the Church

Name: Sigrid Geirdóttir (Sibley of the River)
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Rank: Ceorl (Freeman)

Appearance: Sigrid liked to keep herself clean, for a repulsive merchant tended to be a less successful merchant. She kept herself tidy at all times, bathing frequently and untangling her hair in the mornings. She is a light blonde, but would occasionally add some earth into her hair until it became dirty to the point of being almost brown, to make herself look more Anglo-Saxon. She is also freckled and fresh-faced, with a wide grin, and that, combined with her tendency to ramble or tell stories, makes her look for all the world like a little girl playing at her father's craft. Do not be fooled.

Personality: Sigrid, since her youth, was a lover of collecting things. She liked to play along the shores of her home in Jutland, picking up seashells or flotsam and keeping it with her. As her grandfather's finances began to dwindle, she began to trade her collections for money. This stirred something in her, and soon she was gripped with an ever-aching desire to trade. She loved the feel of coins changing hands, and the sound of their clinking. What's more, she is proud of her ancestry, and likes to brag about her father, calling him either "First to Meet Jesus" or "Slayer of Cross-Men", depending on who she was telling the story to. Her love of the shores and her greater love of opportunity brought her to the Angle's Land, and she does not intend to return home without a fortune.

History: Sigrid's father was a berserker, a man who left her before she ever knew him to seek gold across the sea. When he died, he left his ship to his father, to later sell and support the wife and daughter he left behind. Her mother wanted nothing to do with the child, she reminding the now-ailing woman too much of her dead husband. Sigrid, then, grew up under the watchful eye of her old grandfather, a man strict in his opinions but too weak to enforce them. Because of that, she was largely free to wander the shores of Jutland. Her grandfather was wealthy in his youth, but that wealth had been spent away over the years, and soon, his role as caretaker and his granddaughter's role as dependent were reversed. Before he died, he told her one of his regrets, that he had saved her father's karve out of sentimental value. When she saw the boat, she saw opportunity. Sigrid, a fortnight following her grandfather's death, took out the karve and set out across open water with everything she could technically claim was hers by inheritance and a few things she couldn't, seeking the river of coin that flowed through the Heptarchy. Since then, she has sailed along the River Thames as "Sibley of the River", a merchant from far away.

Loyalties: The Vikings and money. Mostly money.

Name: Fryor Alvarsson ( Gaute Asgeir)

Gender: Male

Age: 34

Rank: Wealh (Foreigner)

Appearance:

Personality: Fryor is a man who has seen many things in a short time. Things of all nature but he has focused his mind on the simple life. To most people he seems to be an anomaly unlike most of his kinsman he does not brag about the raids and pillages of his past or have a blind blood lust or want for the Grand mead halls of Valhalla. he is a quiet man grounded in his new home but he has a bit of a habit for letting his deep seeded honor code getting him into trouble with the locals.

History: Fryor hailed from the Frigid coast of Rogaland in Norway he grew up a warrior in the service to the Chieftain of the Mead hall of his village. He took part in many raids in his goal to reach the Halls of Valhalla and for a decade life was good. Fryor enjoyed the life battle, drink and women but what had put Fryor in a different mindset was his deep dedication for his Personal Honor code. He would refrain from killing children, raping women and such vile or dishonorable acts. Alas these are actions common among his kinsman who began to view him differently and then whispers began about his devotion to the Clan.

During a raid on the Briton coast after the defenders of the small village were dispatched the chieftain ordered the innocence into a monastery to be burned alive. Fryor could not abide by this and challenged the order an insult that would change his life forever. He was challenged to Single combat to which he agreed as he fought the man he had looked up to most of his life a fierce battle ensued Fryor had been wounded but he had delivered a deathblow to his chieftain. The raiding party stood silent their leader lay dead at the hands of kin. Respecting the honor of the single combat they took the fallen chieftain back to their longboat leaving Fryor to a slow death. Luckily the Survivors of the village had pity in their hearts and nursed him to health the monks thought him the language of the land and offered him a home but Fryor had slain men of this village his heart would not let him stay so knowing he could never go home.
he made his way into the Kingdom of Mercia looking for a life of redemption.

Loyalties: The King of Mercia Fryor being a foreigner has no formal ties to any faction but would consider himself under the sovereign ruler of the land.

Name: Ceadda, Chad

Gender: ♂

Age: 21

Rank: Thrall

Appearance: Chad is a handsome fellow as it goes, of average height and build. The mousy colored hair atop his head he has inherited from from his dear Celtic mother. The blue eyes given to him by his father. A slim, muscular physique lies underneath the attire he dons. He is often seen in a plain tunic and trousers. His good looks have not gone a miss by some of the female thralls within the noble household he serves.

Personality: A popular member amongst the other thralls of the noble house he serves. He tends to keep himself to himself, although he is more than willing to help others. He enjoys gambling amongst the folk at the local tavern in his free time.

History: Plucked from the arms of his kinsmen as a young boy, he has known only a life in slavery. He was taken by a noble family, who paid nothing to his kinsmen, due to the fact that they were in debt and could not pay. His mother was slain before him as she attempted to save her only child from a bleak destiny. His father, completely ruined, his family torn away from him, was some years later imprisoned, where he later died of disease, and is now amongst the other unfortunate souls in a mass grave somewhere, or wherever it was they took the deceased from the dungeons.

The noble family who took Chad from his parents, had only purchased him due to not being able to have children of their own. Although they still treated him as a thrall, the lady of the house was rather fond of him. Things quickly changed, however, when Chad was no longer a child. They grew tired of him and, at the age of 15, gave him to another noble family. "A good will gesture", as they put it. For the last six years he has been the property of the noble Lord Deormond and his wife, whose sexual needs Chad has been secretly satisfying, unbeknownst to her husband.

Loyalties: The King of Mercia

Name: Alfred
Gender: Male
Age: 31 years old
Rank: thegn (nobleman)

Alfed has long dark blond hair and a full beard which he secretly always took pride in. He has a big barrel chest and large arms that are used to always carrying a massive war hammer he called ”Beadu.” He has a menacing look in his eyes that make people uncomfortable. He also has a huge scar on his face and is missing two fingers on his left hand.

Personality: Ever since he was young Alfred was enamored by stories of great warriors and of epic battles. Although, when the reality of war came upon him it changed him. He became ruthless, sadistic, cruel, and only really finding satisfaction from the thrill of violence. Having such a disposition on life makes for a great warrior but also for a terrible thegn. He doesn’t care much what others think of him as long as he continues to have the ear and respect of his Lord Banweald.

History: Alfred served as a high-ranking military officer in Coenwulf's army and was part of some major battles that helped propelled the King to power. However during one significant battle of the war he was captured by the enemy and was tortured for six months. This increased his hated for his enemies and almost drove him mad. During this haunting experience he lost two fingers on his left hand and was left with a huge scar on his face. In the end he was rescued by a small unit of Lord Banweald's men, which is why his loyalty to the Lord runs so deep. Despite his sever injuries he immediate rejoined the campaign. It was since this time when reports of his savage demeanor on and off the battlefield started to emerge.

After the war, Alfred was rewarded with enough coin to be considered a thegn. He was also given the responsibility as Commander over the Cirencester militia and its armory. Despite all this he feels that a life lived apart from war is a stale and boring one. So to make due, he utilizes everything at his disposal to find ways to make things "interesting" and "lively".

Loyalties: Coenwulf the King of Mercia

Name: Maximus Alexander
Gender: ♂
Age: 27
Rank: THE FOREIGNERS (yeoman? A soldier?)
Appearance: Maximus is slightly tall, yet sturdy. He has brown hair and blue eyes, he is also seem with a smile and a curious look upon his face. Depending on what his job is his attire changes as he is often very busy.
Personality: Max is friendly and deeply devoted, yet fierce and eager to prove himself. As a child he was shy, but later on in life he learned to be social and to be of use to the church. He is also very passionate and willing to put his life on the line to defend others, his country, and most importantly. His faith.
History: Maximus was for most of his life a member of the Catholic Church, where he was raised by a traveling monk who found him and took him under his wing. It is unknown what fate awaited him or how he lost his parents, but what is known is that the boy seemed perfectly able and oddly enough it would appear as if this parents were nowhere to be found by the friar. Growing up Max was raised in the church and a member of the choir. Eventually however, Max's enthuasim towards fighting lead him down the path to becoming a squire for the church.
Loyalties: the Church