Neill Family/Ender
Ender; son of Erik
Contents
Current Age: 48
Class: Hero
Weapon of Choice: Executioner's Axe and a long sword.
Current Title: Duke of Makar, Sponsor of the Makarian Horde, Ring Giver of The Warriors of Valhalla, Hofseggia of the Hörgr of Makar
Titles Held: Executioner, Duke of Makar, Duke of Icegate, Marshal of Icegate's Armies, Founder of The Warriors of Valhalla, Hofseggia of the Hörgr of Makar, Marshal of the Makarian Horde, Ring Giver and Founder of the Makarian Horde
Religion: Norse Pantheon, primarily Odin and Tyr
Personal Heraldry
The use of heraldry is not popular amongst the members of the O’Neil clan or amongst Vikings in general. However, Ender has adopted a simple rune and color scheme for his personal banner. Though his banner has been replaced many times over the years due to battle damages it is almost always the same.
Ender will spend time on a hunt and return with the pelt of the largest bear he could find. It is cleaned and stretched on a frame that is carried into battle by one of his men. Once placed on the frame it is colored with red and black pigments, usually in a halved or quartered scheme. Over top the scheme the symbol of war and the war god Tyr is painted in whatever color Ender deems suitable at the time.
Ender usually flies his banner first, followed by banners representing the O’Neil Clan, the Warriors of Valhalla, the city of Makar, and the Barony of Makar. Only on major military and raiding expeditions will Ender use all of his banners on the battlefield. Because of this most foreigners have only seen his ‘heraldry’ on the round shields of the few men who use them in his units.
Childhood and Teenage Years
As a small boy Ender was very tenacious and energetic. He spent his early years escaping from his mother’s attempts to keep in the village so that he could hunt ‘trolls and sea dragons’ or tag along on his father’s hunting expeditions. He was fond of showing of feats of strength to the other children and getting his little brother, Weland, in trouble or picking on his cousin, Cid. Unfortunately, his father died when he was but a boy. Though no records say of what exact effect this had on Ender, some say he became a little more serious after that tragedy.
As he grew older he became a little wilder but remained very serious about the skills that all young Vikings learn. He spent a great deal of time training in the arts of using weaponry and honing his hunting and fishing skills. He spent time in the forges with his little brother, though did not find the occupation of a blacksmith to nearly as interesting as that of a warrior. He still enjoyed showing off his strength and is said (though most of these stories come from Ender himself and may have been embellished) to have “swam the length of Makar’s coast ten fold times in but a single day”, to have “joined battle with the Lord of Yetis and ripped his arms from his body in a splash of warm gore”, and to have “drank as much mead as Thor himself and more in a single night until Odin placed a hand on my shoulder and declared that I was truly his son.”
For those who may not be able to find the truth in these tales, there are other tales that tell of his bravery in holding off a horde of badgers that attempted to overrun his village. They say he killed twenty five of the badgers (though he has been known to say hundreds) while standing alongside older men who killed only ten or fifteen. After this he wore a necklace of badger teeth that he says comes from each of the beasts he killed that day.
Adult Life
Ender, eldest son to Erik and Finna O'Neil, was the first of the O'Neils to emerge from the forest after generations of isolation. Carrying his own long sword (which he made with his younger brother Weland) and bow, he emerged from the forest in bear skins, his long beard hiding the grin that was spreading across his face. He made his way to the center of the City of Makar where he declared his allegiance to the leader of the Makarians and was instantly thrown into service. Taking a group of archers he deemed worthy of his command he made his way to the great city of Icegate (which was at the time its own Barony) and participated in the final battle and take over.
For a time he served under the Viking dictator Hid Coi and traveled on countless raids, finding that he enjoyed the raiding and pillaging much more than the hunting he had been told would be his future when he lived in the forest. He saw many lands and carried the gold of several empires in his bag as the years passed. Southasland, Norland, Cagilan Empire, Minas Ithil, Tara, Ash Sea Islands.... he burned and drank his way through the whole of Atamara following his Viking comrades wherever they would go. It was during this time that he grew to admire the ruthless Viking executioner Herr Krankspeiler, who would play a small role in shaping his future. He also met his scribe and best friend, Leif, during this time. During a final raid in Norland the Viking leader Hid Coi, co-founder of Horseless jousting, (Vikings loathe horses other than as a food source), retired to the mountains and Edda, then the general, came into power.
After many raids he found himself ready to advance and his chance came. Herr Krankspeiler resigned from his post and disappeared into the forest leaving the position open. Eager to take up the mantle of Executioner, Ender immediately sent a message to Edda and was soon appointed to the post. In time he grew to be ruthless and cruel to any enemy he found in his dungeons. Torture of any sort was commonplace and as he learned newer, more terrible methods his reputation grew and the people of Icegate began to ignore the screams that were often heard coming from the dungeons. It is said that tales of his executions are still standard drinking tales in the taverns around the Barony.
Raiding was still commonplace in this time and many criminals were executed in Icegate under his command. Many o' tale say that no matter how many he killed, no matter how many faced execution beneath his axe (A self-constructed, extremely over sized blade that he also used in battle), he never cleaned the blood from the blade as a reminder to all those who would dare face him of the countless lives he'd taken. He was later appointed Duke of Makar and held the title until a multi-realm invasion took it over for Norland (then a despised enemy).
Time passed, a new ruler named Sordnaz was elected, and a war with Eston found Ender in an Estonian prison. Upon escaping he found that he had been temporarily replaced by the Viking Harod. He saw Harod's enthusiasm, which was all too familiar to him, and decided it was time he resigned and let a younger Viking to take the mantle. He did, however, decide to clean out his office and hold onto his most prized tools, including a rare book of tortures written by Herr Krankspieler himself.
It was then that he was appointed the Duke of Icegate and made it his permanent home since Makar had been taken from the Barony. He also married a women from the southern regions of Atamara named Valencia (though it is rumored that she is but one of many of Ender's women). Eventually he joined the Guild of the Templars and ordered a guild house to be built in Icegate. Though at first he was comfortable and pleased with his position he began to undergo a radical change in attitude over time. He began to spend most of his days tending to his beloved city, Icegate, and trying his best to get into any battle, fight, brawl, or beating he could. Those close to him began to fear he may be growing even more reckless than he was as a youth. They believed that as he grew old, Ender detested the idea of passing onto to Valhalla peacefully.
In hopes of pursuing his dream of dying a warrior's death Ender founded a Viking guild in Icegate called 'The Warriors of Valhalla'. He declared that he would no longer lord over Icegate, but instead pursue a life devoted to battle. His wife was crushed upon hearing the news and tried desperately to persuade him away from his thoughts. Ender was a Viking, however, and war was in his blood. Months later when Makar was finally reunited with the Barony as a reward for the Barony's efforts in the war with Eston (then at an end), Ender made his way to Makar for the first time in years and visited his family home. He was shocked to see that the gold he and Weland had been sending home over the years had been used to rebuild a brand new, larger mansion for the O'Neils. As he told of his exploits to his family he found out that his grandfather, Patriarch of the O'Neils, was nearing his deathbed and he was in line to take his place when the time came.
As age began to creep up on Ender, however, he grew more concerned that he would not die in battle. Eager to find his death heroically he stopped sending messages home (Though his wife still does) and refused to acknowledge that his grandfather may be dieing saying that he was "as strong as any yeti and with enough energy to fight a hundred young Vikings."
He was later appointed as Duke of Makar by Dictator Sordnaz. The appointment came as a surprise one morning when Ender awoke from a drunken stupor. Why would he ever accept such a position? It was death in battle he wanted, not to sit behind a desk once again. He accepted it however (no matter how drunk he was) and now had to stick to it. Aside from holding brutal court hearings when in Makar he lets the city’s staff tend to most of the duties while he seeks out conflict.
One of his more prominent actions as Duke of Makar was the founding of the Makarian Horde, a division of the Barony of Makar's army that would serve alongside Icegate's Viking Horde. According to Ender the Makarian Horde, while founded after the Viking Horde, is the true horde of Makar and has such immense power that if those who were apart of the Horde were to all swing their axes at once the world would split down the middle.
Later in his life, during a looting campaign in Minas Ithil, Ender took the wrong road when moving his unit of Mystic Monks out of a region due to heavy drinking that had been occurring throughout the day. He found himself in the region of Dunstroke, alone, and with plenty of gold carrying peasants. He immediately set out to steal all he could and the looting went well into the night when he fell asleep surrounded by women and empty bottles of southern wine and mead. He awoke the next morning to find a small division of the Minas Ithil army waiting for him. Immediately grabbing his axe, he and his men charged into battle and were subsequently slaughtered, all for one man who would die from terrible wounds later and Ender himself. Disappointed that they couldn't even kill him when he was that outnumbered he began to insult their nobles. One foolish man threw weapons at him and called him a coward, but it was a young woman who challenged him to a duel to the death.
Shocked at this girl's bravery he accepted and prepared for the fight by drinking heavily. They met the next morning and the duel began. They traded blows one after another and despite Ender's experience his age slowed him and the girl, Sukira, stabbed him in what should have been a fatal blow. The healers carried him off to the tents where he spent days unconscious and dying. When finally they thought he wouldn't last the night they returned the next morning to find him sitting up in his bed complaining loudly for a flagon of mead and "the head of the idiot who put me in this bed." Healed enough by his own judgment he began packing his gear to head to the Barony, now instilled with a newfound respect for this southern girl and her sharp blade. She would be one of the few non-Vikings in Ender's life that he would ever respect greatly and even consider to be an equal.
After the event Ender continued his life as usual, though a little disappointed that he hadn’t been able to get to Valhalla though death. He has overseen the construction of new breweries in Makar since that time and spends time walking through his vaults of looted riches drinking. When not doing this he trains himself with the Makarian Academy’s tutors in an attempt to become an even better swordsman than any on Atamara.
Don't bother mentioning honor or nobility to me. If you carry crazy ideas like that onto the battlefield then you'd better be expecting defeat and death. War is no place for either. -Ender
Death Berserkers
Towards the end of his life Ender decided that he tired of waiting for death to catch up with him. If death couldn't find him, he would find it. One cold day in Icegate Ender entered the nearest recruitment center and held a series of tests. The test included tests of courage, strength, drinking, and eating. None of the men could best him in these contests but ten of those men held on until the end, refusing to give up. He then recruited the ten men into his unit under the circumstances that they be ready to seek out death at all costs.
Ender decided that he and his Berserkers would always be the first to confront the enemy on the battlefield and would fight until every last one of the enemy were dead or they were dead. Occasionally men from towns that the Berserkers passed through would plead to join the unit they have heard so much about in heroic tales. Ender would put them through the same tests as the original Berserkers and if they succeed they could join, but not as full Berserkers (At least in name). They would always charge behind the true Vikings and were usually made to do the more mundane tasks that a unit requires done. After all, only a Viking can be a true Berserker.
As time passed the number of peasants who wished to fight alongside Ender and the Berserkers grew until Ender found himself being followed onto the battlefield by what can only be described as a horde of peasants barely holding onto the edge of their sanity and screaming praise to the gods.
The Drunken Viking Song
While imprisoned in an Estonian prison and drunk off of the strange prison ale (An ale that can sometimes be found if an enterprising viking is in a cell nearby you), Ender started singing what he eventually named 'The Drunken Viking Song'. One should understand that Ender is not exactly the best songwriter or singer, he was drunk to the point of hallucinating (He usually sees large rats that try to play cards with him), and there is a large variety of tunes that have been used for these words. It goes like this:
Oh the day has come
You'd better run
The Vikings are comin' to town
We drink lots of mead
So shove all that tea
And prepare to be looted into the ground
We burn
We rape
We steal anythin' golden
We destroy
We murder
We steal anythin' golden
The Vikings are comin' to town!
Oh the end is nigh
You'd better hide
The Vikings are coming to town!
We;ll eat all your food
So dont put us in a bad mood
Or we'll burn your house into the ground
We burn
We rape
We steal anythin' golden
We destroy
We murder
We steal anythin' GOOOLLLDDEENN!!
THE VIKINGS ARE COMIN TO TOWN!
OH! THE VIKINGS ARE COMIN TO TOWN!
