Valdaermen

Valdaermen

Sobriquet – Northmen

The Norseman Mages were once feared and respected in the Dark Medieval world. Viking warriors travelled all over Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East in search of lands to conquer and booty to seize. They became well known as explorers and traders and their prowess in battle was so great that the emperor of Byzantium himself obtained their services as his personal bodyguards.

With the Vikings came their mages, the Valdaermen (singular: Valdaermen). Devoted to Odin, Lord of the Gallows, they practiced magic considerably dark by outsiders but integral to their own beliefs. Now, with Christianity on the rise and the Viking ways in the want, the Valdaermen are a dying breed whose future is uncertain, though their strength remains unbroken.

In keeping with their rather chaotic natures, Valdaermen do not have a single organizational structure. Broadly speaking, however, these mages organize themselves in two ways. The first is the more common, both historically and especially in the Dark Medieval. In this largely solitary existence, the mage lives far away from human settlements and goes about his business unmolested by the affairs that typically concern Commoner society.

It was this sort of behavior that led to the hostility and suspicion that the gregarious Norsemen showed toward the Valdaermen. To voluntarily live away human society, to eschew the comforts of home and hearth – not to mention the glories of battle – was not a fitting behavior for a mortal man. This is why so many legends and superstitions arose regarding the Valdaermen, which called into question their manhood and masculinity.

Only a woman or one who chose to play the part of one would act as these mages did. Not surprisingly, many women did (and do) choose to become Valdaermen; the prejudice against their doing so is less than that for men. They must still possess The Gift, of course, but this path is a more acceptable (if not respected) path for women to follow.