Name: Arne Thorbrandsson, known throughout Kjolr as “Farfar Arne Skalle” (Grandfather Arne the bald).
Nationality: Dane.
Age: 57.
Gender: Male.
Magic: None.
Profession: Farmer/Retired adventurer.
Weapons: One bearded axe, one longsax, a round shield, a knife, a bow and a quiver containing twelve arrows of Arne’s own design.
Appearance: Arne is almost completely bald with only a few grey, almost white hairs left on his neck. Above his clear blue eyes sits two big, bushy eyebrows and on his chin a magnificent beard which he always keeps clean and well-brushed. His face is wrinkled with age and sunlight and he has quite a big, red nose. The nose is pretty much the only part of his body with some colour on it. His recent life has kept him indoors and so his skin is pale in comparison to other hard-working people.
Background: Arne was born is today’s southern Sweden as the son of a farmer and spent his youth as an adventurer. He has seen things that most people can only dream about. He has been all the way east to the Rus’ lands for trade, south all the way to the Arabs, where he has served as a Varjang. He has fought in more battles than he cares to count and claims to have seen the valkyries come for the brave dead after the battle even in foreign lands.
Now he mostly just sit at home. He bought a small farm in Kjolr one winter as he was recovering from an illness and simply stayed even after he became well. During the day he either tends to his little patch of earth or looks after the village’s kids so that their parents can work. He has always loved kids and his only regret in life is that he never found time to find himself a good woman and get some kids of his own. That is why he’s called grandfather, both because he is older than most men alive, and also because he is like a second father to many of Kjolr’s children. Arne knows a lot of the stories about monsters, gods and other creatures of the different worlds that are told to either entertain or scare children and adults.
Arne is known to brag a lot and has a very sharp tongue. His biggest flaw is that he can’t really face the fact that his days of glory are long gone. He has memorised Havamal (a long poem about how you should behave) and will often school youngsters with it if they are behaving badly. He can also both read and write, and does what he can to teach the children, although only very few have the patience for such things.
He has a long and eventful life behind him, once he was known far and wide for his strength and skill with both axe and sword. Now he is an old man and most of his strength has left him. He has realized that there is more to the world than the strength of one’s arm, that the mind, filled with memories and experiences can be as much of a weapon as any blade. He relies heavily on his mind in battle, and while his strength and speed might be dwarfed by the younger men’s, that is not the only way to fight. Arne is an expert at reading and predicting his opponent, and a master of his own reflexes. Thanks to this his sword finds it’s mark as true today as it did by pure might 30 years ago.
The thrall: Arne is, due to his age and various difficulties associated with it, accompanied by his thrall Torkell. Torkell (not his real name) is of the slavic tribe and knows very little of the Nordic language outside his regular commands (Pants, beer, seat, fire etc). He is a man in his early 20’s and relatively intelligent. Arne has often wondered if Torkell is not from a good family, and if he’ll some day be approached by a slav with a lot of money to buy Torkell’s freedom.
Arne is a reasonably good slave owner, not the best by far, but also a long way from the worst.
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