Neill Family/Weland

Weland; son of Erik; Brother to Ender

Current Age: 41
Class: Hero
Weapon of Choice: Longsword nicknamed "Mimameidr"
Current Title: Count of Tepmona, Master Weaponsmith of the O'Neils
Titles Held: Master Weaponsmith of the O'Neils, Scout, General of Khthon, Count of Tepmona, Marshal of Homeland Security
Religion: Norse Pantheon, primarily Thor and the god of the smithy
Unique Items Held: Elemental Vest from the North

Personal Heraldry

Weland's Chosen Rune

Like his Brother and the other members of the O’Neil Clan, Weland has never really made use of the overcomplicated heraldry that many noble families favor. Though his is certainly more complicated that those used by other members of the Clan.

His banner is generally a standard square design hung from a banner mount and carried by a standard bearer. The background is blue and upon it is a Maroon anvil being struck by two hammers and sending up a lightning bolt in the middle. These are symbols of his faith and dedication to his upbringing as a smith. On the anvil itself is the rune that represents traveling that Weland adopted after leaving Atamara. After becoming Lord of Tepmona he had a stylized ‘T’ added beneath the anvil.

His personal banner is usually flown alongside the banner of Tepmona when his unit goes to battle.

Childhood and Teenage Years

Weland was the youngest of the sons of Erik and Finna O'Neil and Ender's younger brother. As a very young boy he was quieter than his brother Ender and was content to follow his boisterous brother around. He also enjoyed listening to tales of battle with raiders from his father and the long odes from his grandfather. It is here that he learned a love for tactics (while his brother enjoyed the heroics far more).

As a boy it would often fall to Weland to take the blame for Ender’s wrongdoings which led him, as he became older, to find other places to spend his time. This is when he first started spending time with his cousin Garm whose father, Gunnar, was the village blacksmith.

When Weland’s father died he began to look to his Uncle Gunnar as a father figure and when he reached his teenage years he became an apprentice to Gunnar. He excelled at weapon making and spent many of his days in the forge. The first long sword he forged himself he eventually presented to Ender as a farewell gift when he left the village. When not spending time in the forge he trained in melee combat alongside his cousin, Garm, and soon became proficient in all forms of melee combat known to the Clan. He decided to specialize in this when he found that he was not skilled in the use of a bow. As he reached adulthood he found that he was eager to follow his brother into the world and he left home at the age of twenty one.

Adult Life

He served with the Barony of Makar for two weeks before saying farewell to his homeland. He boarded a ship (despite being warned against it by his mother who was still worried after his Uncle Kvasir has not returned from a fishing expedition) and found himself in Buelaterra. He joined the realm of Fronen and trimmed his beard. He soon discarded his traditional bearskins (save for a bearskin cape he still drapes over his armor) in favor of plate and chain mail armor. Despite his new appearance and his changes since he left Makar he still kept in touch with his family and his brother over the years. He drank heavily and enjoyed a good bar tale or game of strength even if he was more 'civilized' now.

Wielding another of his self-crafted long swords he did not find peace for long before a scourge of the undead and monsters overran the lands. He fought against them for a great time and even found himself imprisoned by the beasts for a period. Thankfully he was able to escape finding an old passage hidden behind the wall in his crude cell. His skill in tracking (A skill he developed to aid in hunting because of his poor bow skills) also made him an excellent scout and he made every effort to train with the Fronen Scout Guild whenever he could. During the decline of the undead and monster invasion he even served as a Scout in the region of Tepmona.

For a brief time after the invasion, Weland left the realm of Fronen to join the realm of Khthon, a colony of Fronen founded by Predbjørn II. It was a realm that valued heroes and only allowed heroes to hold office. It was a difficult place to live at the time, but, he figured it was worth the struggle. The realm fell to invading forces too soon after it was born. Weland fled the lands in exile and rejoined Fronen awaiting the rebirth of Khthon.

Shortly after his return he was appointed the Count of Tepmona and oversaw the repopulation, reconstruction, and defense of the region. He spent most of his days tending to paperwork and the problems of the people in Tepmona and most nights drinking himself into oblivion with the citizens of Tepmona in the tavern he built with them.

As war came again to Fronen, however, he recruited as many of the citizens of Tepmona that he could pay and left Tepmona for war on Fronen's borders against the realm of Avalon. With the end of the Avalon conflict he grew once again used to periods of peace mixed with orders to move out in defense of Fronen's allies.

While an eager youth with dreams of ruling he found as life went on he was content with his Lordship over Tepmona. He found that the hardy people of the region reminded him of his home a great deal. He even confided in the citizens one night at the local tavern that "Should I die many years from now and only be remembered as the Count of Tepmona, I would be happy. I can not ask for a better land or a better people."

While generally a joyous, down to earth noble that can mingle with the people of his region, his long stay far from his homeland had brought to him some civility and culture. He wrote to his brother once that “it is likely you wouldn't be able to recognize me without taking a closer look now that so many years have passed!” His Viking pride and stubbornness remains, however, as travels to distant lands can not even hope to remove that from a true Viking's blood.

After sometime as the Lord of Tepmona he eventually established a first line of defense in the region. He declared the army to be called the ‘Tepmona First and Only’ as he was the only noble to fly the banner of Tepmona and the recruit exclusively from the region.

When the traitor tyrant Grimbaldus lead a rebellion against Fronen in a bid to gain power for him and his lackeys, Weland heard the news first in Llorginal where he was maintaining a vigilant watch for monsters. When Grimbaldus succeeded thanks to the treachery of Enzeru, Weland joined the counter-rebellion and fought for Fronen's liberation. After some skirmishes with 'loyal' militia the battle eventually ended in the rebellion's favor. To most, however, it seemed they failed because an actual member of the Counter Rebellion was not elected to the position of Prime Minister (though a Rebel friendly Prime Minister was elected.)

For his dedication to his post and his loyalty to the Republic he was eventually awarded the position of Marshal of Homeland Security for Fronen. It was a position he accepted with great pride and joy. Some time into his career as Marshal, however, affairs of the state in Tepmona would take up more and more of his time until he was forced to step down and hand command over to another capable commander.

As time passed he spent little time in actual war and more time cleaning the scourge of small monster and undead bands that would occasionally appear. Soon they began to multiply however and the next Invasion had become. Weland fought only once again the undead and monsters for he soon found his realm in an unlikely alliance with them as an infernal Daemonic force invaded the continent. Weland steeled himself for battle and stood vigilant as he always had against a supernatural foe.

Give me a quill and give me a sword. If negotiations fail I'll chop their head off, then we'll see which is considered mightier. - Weland