Gots me a big ol' Nord that also happens to suffer from lycanthropy, for your perusal:<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd461/rikk_319/Character%20Images/Viking_Warrior_by_severeene.jpg)</div><strong>Name</strong>:  Aelfgar Torvaldsen<br/><br/><strong>Race:</strong>Nord<br/><br/><strong>Age:</strong><br/>Physically:  Late 30s due to exposure from years of trapping<br/>Chronologically 32<br/><br/><strong>Physical Details/Short history:</strong>Aelfgar is a prime specimen of Nord genetics.  Standing at six foot, eight inches, and weighing over two hundred and eighty pounds, his body is a virtual mass of muscle and sinew.  However, despite his bulk, he has incredibly deceptive agility--the result of two decades of hunting fur- and leather-bearing creatures in the icy wilderness, as well as the influence of his unfortunate curse of lycanthropy.  He shows the weathering of the elements in his face, and is stoic and uncomplaining at all times.  His hair is wild and strawberry-blonde, and his piercing eyes are ice-blue.  He has a wise and contemplative mind, which is always warring with the aggressive, berserker/wolfish blood within him, and presents a startling contrast in battle, being a whirlwind of merciless violence and bloodthirsty destruction.  As he is a wereworlf as well as of berserker stock, his tendency towards aggressiveness and violence is difficult to contain, even though he abhors it out of context of the battlefield.  It has gotten him in to trouble several times in the past, which is why he has normally chosen the loner's path of a trapper for most of his adult life.<br/><br/>Aelfgar was the firstborn of Torvald Borensen, a hulking renowned warrior in the King's ranks who achieved notoriety and fame as a berserker and vanguard chieftain.  His mother Herdrya was the only daughter of Hrolfgar the Black, a deceptive name for a congenial man who was famed as a blacksmith all over the realm.  Consequently, Aelfgar, at birth destined to be a large and healthy Nord, was raised in both backgrounds, and steeped in the knowledge and wisdom of weapons and armor, whether crafting or wielding them.<br/><br/>However, what was not revealed was the curse brought down upon him by Hildeld Bregirsdottir, a devotee of Hircine, who had lusted for Torvald since they were teens.  Seeing him married to another brought out her horrifically vindictive side, and she begged for a boon from her deity, which was granted, and Aelfgar the child was born with the curse of lycanthropy.<br/><br/>Having suffered the curse from birth, Aelfgar has been able to adjust to it somewhat, but still shows aggressive tendencies regardless of place or situation.  He can tamp it down for a short time--perhaps an hour or so--but then it comes roaring back all the more powerful, and he then will feel the irresistible urge to change into his wolf form and hunt for some living thing to slake his blood-thirst.<br/><br/>At times Aelfgar has found the need to leave an area in a hurry, due to his blood-thirst claiming some victim of prominence or importance.  He has traveled extensively across the known lands, gaining knowledge in leatherworking and trapping, smithing and languages.  He is convivial and does not take race or appearance into consideration, only personal behavior and deeds.  He has struggled to create a personality that is counter to his hidden curse, as kind and friendly as his wolf half is brutal and destructive.<br/><br/>He is a great smith on account of his grandfather's teachings and has the ability to enchant his creations, although not in ways that would be spectacular, such as enflaming them or granting them the power to glow with light or electricity.  His enchantments are of the practical sort--unbreakability, exceptional and lasting keenness, and often a lightening of the blade to afford greater ease of use for smaller or non-Nord female users of Nord-sized weapons.  While he has made good money from selling his forged creations in the past, he is primarily a trapper and has become quite skilled at the value and type of furs and skins that come his way.  He is much more adept at trapping than selling his wares, however.  He obviously uses his trapping career as an outlet for his lycanthropy, often hunting game in his were-form, or seizing those he has caught in traps, helpless to escape him, to slake his thirst for blood.<br/><br/>Regardless of his curse, Aelfgar is a considerate and generous man to his friends and allies, as his culture and family has taught him.  He has served several stints as a sell-sword to various Jarls and lords of other lands, and has built up a good name for himself as a worthy warrior--if he hasn't built up a name for himself as a dangerous and deadly were-beast in the locale as well.  At present, during these times of seemingly-new troubles, he is seeking a place for himself where he could be of some use, finally deciding he is ready to exist with others--for the time being.  The truth is, he hungers for companionship, having spent so much of his life alone in the woods with his curse and his prey.<br/><br/><strong>Core Combat Skills*:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li type="disc">      One-handed -- Swords, daggers and knives, axes, maces, hammers...can dual-wield, but only with dagger, knife, or axe in his off-hand</li><li type="disc">      Two-Handed -- Swords, axes, hammers</li><li type="disc">      Unarmed -- Primarily learned through his experience as a werewolf</li><li type="disc">      Heavy Armor -- Mail and plate armors, but not shield...he isn't a shield-warrior</li></ul><br/><strong>Core Supplementary Skills:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li type="disc">      Sneak</li><li type="disc">      Smithing</li><li type="disc">      Enchantment</li></ul><br/><strong>Secondary Skills:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li type="disc">      Restoration -- Minor healing abilities--stopping bleeding, closing wounds, but not removing poison or other serious maladies.</li><li type="disc">      Speech --A great traveler, Aelfgar has managed to learn at least a half-dozen foreign languages to the point of understanding, if not fluency.</li></ul><br/><strong>Starting Equipment:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li type="disc">      Krizin's Parer -- A large enchanted knife given to him by an old orc friend and fellow trapper.  No notable powers other than an undullable blade and near-unbreakability.  Aelfgar uses this for skinning and preparing kills as well as combat.  Almost like a friend to him.  Always sheathed on his thigh.</li><li type="disc">      Untamed -- His personally-forged sword, it conforms in appearance to any typical Nordic blade, but also bears enchantments of unbreakability and sharpness.  He is never without Untamed at his side in a scabbard of his own crafting.</li><li type="disc">      Vilifier -- A great broad-axe.  Its haft is over four feet in length, and the tapered blade extends out a foot and nearly two feet down into a point.  The haft is wrapped in the finest cured leathers for optimal gripping.  As with his other weapons, it only holds enchantments of great durability and keenness.  He normally stows it on his mount, left side.</li><li type="disc">      Final Word -- His favorite war-weapon, a huge two-handed war-hammer.  Its great blunt head is scribed with runes describing his family's deeds, and it is backed with a cruelly-sharp spike nearly a foot and a half long.  Leather-wrapped haft.  Armorless opponents get the hammer side; armored opponents either.  Enchanted with spells of durability and sharpness (the spike).  He will stow this on his back, and if needed slip off its carrying straps to ready it.</li><li type="disc">      Curseless -- His two-handed broadsword.  A great, four-and-a-half foot blade over four inches wide at the snow-tiger tusk hilts.  Forged by his own hand, as are all of his weapons, its pommel is a smoothed, worked ball-peen for use in combat if the need arises.  Enchanted for durability and sharpness.  Stowed on his mount, right side.</li><li type="disc">      Three standard spears for using during hunting.  Stowed on his pack horse.</li><li type="disc">      Mail hauberk -- An heirloom gift from a Jarl whom he worked for as a sell-sword, successfully aiding in leading and defending his keep during an invasion by a neighboring enemy.  Fine steel links and a shimmering appearance reveal some enchantments, preventing rust, and absorbing a small amount of the inertia from strikes on the wearer.</li><li type="disc">      Plate armor accoutrements -- Plate segments forged by Aelfgar for additional protection when wearing his hauberk.  A cuirass, pauldrons, helm, thigh plates, gauntlets, and sabatons, all blackened at the forge.  When geared in all of it, he is a fairly imposing sight.</li><li type="disc">      Minnefat -- His mount, a stallion as bulky as he is, and necessarily so to carry him.  He goes without barding due to his heavy load.  A trained war-horse accustomed to the sights, sounds, and smells of battle.  Nearly ten years of age.</li><li type="disc">      Terious -- A large draft horse who has been with him even longer than Minnefat.  While docile and powerful, he is not war-trained and merely hefts much of Aelfgar's catches and gear.</li><li type="disc">      462 Septims -- Besides just selling a good season's worth of furs, Aelfgar is a conscientious saver of money for rainy days and that rare enchanting material.</li><li type="disc">      Snow tiger fur cloak -- a pristine example of his skill at both hunting and eye for quality in furs.</li></ul><br/><strong>Ritual Stone:</strong>The Lord's stone: Increases endurance against both Physical and Magical Attacks.<br/><br/><strong>Faction Affiliations:</strong>None, though leaning toward the Dragon Born's Heir.  Always a practical man, he believes that the disappearance of Valania for a period of ten months would possibly allow her to conceive and birth a child who he can only see as being Baldr, which would place him as the elder brother, and thus the rightful heir to the throne.  Of course, Baldr would still be a bastard, but not one conceived in dishonor behind Ulfric's back.