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The Wolf Laird of the Ulthferen
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The Ulthferen are the sixth most numerous Clan and have a moderately large Clanhold
that almost completely corresponds with the eastern element of the Voldwald forest.
The region still contains some pockets of Ungeheuer and can be extremely dangerous
to the unwary should they stray from well traveled routes.
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The Wolf Laird has little sway beyond their own people and in fact the Clan is strongly
disliked and / or distrusted by several other Clans. Further the average Ulthferen
is somewhat wild and individualistic even by Machtig standards.
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All in all, the position of the Wolf Laird is not an easy one.
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BADGE OF OFFICE
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The Ulthferen don't have any physical symbol or item associated with their Laird.
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HALL
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The Ulthferen ancestral home and Clan Seat is Wulflager. It is built along the east
side of the Lagerbrek River which drains from the mountains into Lake Pargo. Wulflager
is a largish and spread out settlement composed of wooden halls built in a partial
clearing, meaning that the trees are far enough apart to prevent the roots from
tearing up the longhalls but is still forested.
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The Lairds Hall is a large longhall built in the likeness of the Lairds hall in
Hafenstadt, save that wolf symbology is highly prevalent in the carving..
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Inside the Hall is essentially an open shell rising to the rafters, with some seperate
rooms in the rear end of the hall. A large stone firepit dominates the center of
the room and is kept banked to a low smolder essentially year round save for great
feasts when it is stoked and whole animals are cooked over it on spits.
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The Hall is usually underpopulated as most Ulthferen have no great love of being
indoors unnecessarily.
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Wolkengreifer
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Wolkengreifer is the current Wolf Laird and has sat the
Laird throne in Wulflager for 16 years.
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APPEARANCE
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Wolkengreifer stands at about 6 5 and is heavily muscled, weighing roughly 320 pounds.
His hair is an uncommon deep brown and he has golden eyes that can be quite startling
to look upon..
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Like every Ulthferen Laird before him for over a thousand years, Wolkengreifer is
wolf-touched. When seen in his human form he usually wears a cloak made from the
skin of a seawolf he killed with his own bare hands on a faring he took as a youth
with the Raevoring. Overall he looks very feral and wild, with spiky hair and an
air of impending violence.
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While a wolf he looks like a large and unkempt wolf, with bristly fur around the
neck and shoulders and the same frightening yellow eyes.
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In his were form however Wolken is a beast of such ferocity and dangerous mein that
many who have seen him in this form believe he cannot be defeated. So far this has
proven to be true as he has sent every Ulthferen that has challenged him for dominance
of the pack running back to their dens with their tail between their legs.literally.
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HISTORY
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Wolkengreifer was born fourty two years ago to parents that were not wolf-touched
and was put into the care of the Druid Greemun, a Raevoring by birth, to be taught
to control the rages almost all wolf-touched are born with.
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Though he still lived with his parents in Bewaldeterden, Greeman effectively
raised Wolken until he was twelve at which time he was deemed to be able to control
the rages and thus was fit to be permitted to live. Greemun taught the curious young
boy a few things and introduced him to the glory of nature. Greemun knew that Wolken
was destined for greatness if permitted to live, and carefully prepared the lad
to set his feet upon the correct path.
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After this Wolken began his training as a Thegn, learning the fighting arts from
his father. At age sixteen he was named Thegn and immediately set out on faring.
Despite the protests of his mother and father he set out alone instead of grouping
with some other young Ulthferen Thegns heading out on their first farings.
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Wolken traveled to the lands of the Herodi and made his way to Caer Coinig where
he declared his intent to go out on faring with a Herodi warband so that he might
learn their way of doing war. The Herodi Huscarl took a liking to the plucky young
Ulthferen and he was allowed to join the warband of the famed Herodi Huscarl Storen
Svareisen on a faring into the Undari lands.
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Wolken spent over two years with the Herodi in all and learned much. He also befriended
the young son of Storen, Raserei, who would later become Laird of the Herodi in
the modern day. Wolken visited his Herodi friends on many occasions in later years
as well.
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After returning to the Vold Wolken decided to continue his adventures and traveled
south along the Ordecar, eventually ending up in Fallenheim where he spent a couple
of weeks before pressing south again and eventually arriving in Hafenstadt.
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He befriended the Huscarl of the Raevoring and asked to be taken into a warband
going out on faring so that he might learn all there is to know about the brave
and mighty Raevoring. He traveled far and abroad with the Sea-Reeve Aemon Alvarsson,
and learned much of the world in the meantime. He even visited the great city of
Worfinal twice, and many other ports as well.
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Finally after almost five total years of adventuring abroad between his Herodi and
Raevoring farings, Wolken returned home and became part of the Ultherferen Huscarl,
which are known as the Wulfen. However with barely a year on the job Wolken closely
observed the then current Laird Leisesheulen and with his keen powers of observation
and critical thinking skills was forced to realize that the Laird was not very qualified
for the position. Though he was a fearsome warrior to be sure, he didn't actually
govern or lead the Clan in the slightest fashion.
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Wolken had already come to recognize that most of the wolf-touched were not like
him; they tended to rely far more on instinct and to be short-sighted. Or to be
less polite most of his fellows just weren't very bright. However due to the Ulthferen
traditions the Laird is always a wolf-touched Thegn.
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To Wolken's way of thinking the end result of this state of affairs was that there
hadn't been a really good Ulthferen Laird with anything approaching a clear vision
of the future for quite some time and unsurprisingly the Clan had never been in
such dire straights since its inception. Everyone remembered stories of the old
ways, when the Ulthferen were feared and respected rather than just feared, but
no one was thinking about ways to make it so again and taking action upon them.
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Well coached in the Druidic prophecy regarding a coming time of war thanks to Greeman's
tutelage, Wolken realized that if someone didn't take charge the Ulthferen were
going to have a difficult time of it in days to come. At first he tried reasoning
with Laird Leisesheulen but his advice was not well received, and thus Wolken felt
compelled by duty to his people to challenge for Lairdship. It took almost six years
of positioning and gaining support, but finally Wolken made his move and challenged
for Lairdship. He won the ensuing bloody struggle and was voted into power.
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In the sixteen years since then the Ulthferen's fortunes are starting to look up,
and Wolken's policies have been largely successful.
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In order to help prepare for the expected coming conflict Wolken has been encouraging
Ulthferen to go out on farings with numerous Freiwilligers in order to cull out
the weakest of them from the pack and strengthen the survivors.
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Additionally his ties to the two Clans that traditionally have been allies to the
Ulthferen have served him well, and he is fully prepared to take a back seat to
either the Herodi or the Raevoring if it means that his Clan can once again rise
to prominence, even if it's on the coat tails of a more powerful clan.
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PERSONALITY
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Wolkengreifer is much more intelligent than any one gives him credit for. Only semi-literate
and with only peripheral teachings from a Druid, he nevertheless has a brilliant
though untutored intellect. In addition to his natural piercing perception and powers
of observation he is also able to sense much about men by paying careful attention
to their scent, a trick he does not make known. He can usually tell when a person
is lying and can even intuit strong emotions due to the changes in body odor they
cause.
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Due to a variety of factors Wolken is much given to brooding and deep thought, and
will often spend days at a stretch in quiet contemplation. Much of this thought
is given over to sniffing out a trail into the future that will return his Clan
to glory, but some of it is for no purpose other than his own amusement.
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In particular he likes to observe things that occur in the world around him and
try to puzzle out how and why things work they do. He is particularly interested
and fascinated by how birds fly, leaves float, and heavier objects fall and has
been known to lay for hours in wolf form during the early winter watching leaves
fall off the trees. He is unfamiliar with the idea of it, but a more worldly person
might recognize him as a natural philosopher.
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BATTLE
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Despite his appearance and fearsome reputation, Wolken actually doesn't derive any
enjoyment from combat. He never backs down from a fight, but he doesn't go out of
his way to instigate one either.
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When forced to fight he greatly prefers to switch to his were form and use his supernatural
strength, toughness, claws, and fangs to overpower and end the conflict as fast
as possible. However a person suspecting that he is unable to fight in his Human
form would be very wrong; he is capable with a number of weapons and is also a moderately
skilled brawler thanks to his time spent among the Raevoring.
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POLITICS
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Wolken knows many of the other Matchig Clans are wary of the wolf in the Ulthferen
and does whatever he deems necessary to ensure the survival of the bloodlines. Whether
that means holding back on hunts into other Matchig territories or dealing with
those that cannot contain the beast within, Wolken does what is necessary to ensure
the survival of the Clan.
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INTRACLAN
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As Laird Wolken is held in very high esteem by his Clan. He hasn't had to face down
a challenger for Lairdship for seven years due largely to the fact that his Clan
almost universally supports his policies and the direction he has been taking by
renewing ties with the Herodi and Raevoring.
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INTERCLAN
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Raserei is Wolken's closest friend and the two generally enjoy each others
company. Whenever they can arrange it around their responsibilities to their Clans
they like to meet and hunt in the forests around the Ordecar River. In some ways
Wolken is like an older brother to Raserei.
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Dyorgrim and Wolken have only met a few times, and have been cooly respectful
to one another on those occasions. Both recognize that the other is a competent
Laird and they leave it at that.
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Gunnar and Wolken get along well enough and Wolken basically respects Gunnar.
Privately he thinks of him as a great fish-eating bear with a bad tooth. Large,
malodorant, cranky, and very dangerous to anger. The Raevoring generally support
the Ulthferen, and thus Wolkengreifer considers them to be allies.
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Gunnar generally likes Wolkengreifer and has enjoyed lifting flagons with him on
a few occasions and considers him a friend.
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Both Chigante and Wolken are known for being inscrutable and quiet and thus
its not really clear to anyone what they think of each other.
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Privately Wolken recognizes Chigante as being very dangerous. Chigante is also one
of the few people that is so self controlled that Wolken can determine almost nothing
from changes in his scent.
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For his part Chigante privately respects Wolken's ability as a governor of his people,
but has his usual disdain for warriors that rely on magic or tricks rather than
skill.
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Brengreifer and Wolken have met only once, and their contact was peripheral
at best, and thus both tend to fall back on their own Clan's general stereotype
of the other's Clan.
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Keanha finds Wolken to be more pliable than his predecessor when it comes
to allowing trade to pass into and through the Ulthferen lands. However Wolken's
close support of Reserei presents political problems.
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For his part Wolken dislikes the manipulative Pargori Laird, but recognizes that
he is a strong leader.
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Bjorjan hates Wolken with an intensity that is concealed to most by his icy
visage, but which is clear as can be to Wolken's sensitive nose on the three occasions
that they have had cause to meet. Bjorjan secretly plots to kill Wolken, and Wolken
is secretly vary wary of Bjorjan's intentions.
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Neirin and Wolken have met only once and the two politely ignored one another.
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