Clan Cølðsøᚤg

Cølðsøᚤg (Coldsong) was a clan of Norsemen found in modern day northern Sweden (Västerbotten). It was one of the only clans with a female chief. They were been known to be friendly towards furries but somewhat hostile towards Crusaders, unless the Crusaders establish trade and/or gave them offerings of gems and silver, which are among the chief's favorite treasures.

Unlike many other clans, they also had a very, very heavy accent. For example, the sentence "I love breakfast. My favorite food is bacon, fresh off the pan." would be said like this is the Coldsong village: "I løv́ę þᚱęáᵏfást. Mꝩ fáv́øᚱítę føøð ís þáɔøᚤ, fᚱęsᚺ øff tᚺę ƿáᚤ."

## History

The Coldsong Clan were descendants of some of first Norsemen to settle in Sweden. When the first people settled, they hoped that the fair weather would be great for making a large community. But when winter came, it simply never let up. The spot they had found somehow stayed in a never ending state of cold.

According to legend, to try and shake off the harsh conditions and raise moral for the early villagers, the first chief created songs, most notably "13 Women and the Devil," and had the entire village sing while they worked. Supposedly, this made everyone forget and eventually resist the cold, thus giving the village the name Frozen Song, which eventually changed to Coldsong.

The settlement started off as a sheep farming and logging village, which helped establish trade between other villages who sought out wood, wool and meat.

Business in Coldsong was fine, but suddenly boomed once sailing and exploration became an important part of Scandinavia. To capitalize, the chief, who owned all of the sawmills and most of the sheep, began exclusively chopping down the trees used for creating boats, and turned the sheep's wool into sails. This gamble paid off, and left the village well off.

Soon, the fortune came to an end, until one clan created a specialized ship meant for battle. The new chief followed in his ancestor's footsteps, and the fortune was once again seen in the village. However, this caught the attention of another clan (who's name has been forgotten, lost and destroyed), who decided to raid the village, stealing nearly all of the supplies. To retaliate, the chief began using the last of the supplies to hire the smiths to make weapons and armor, and had farmers (both men and women) train for battle. Afterwards, they attacked the clan's village out west, taking back some but not all of the wealth. This led to a great feud between the two clans, only ending when Coldsong finally killed their rival in battle.

Once the feud and mini-war was over, Coldsong trained more warriors to ensure they wouldn't be invaded again. Once the chief who had trained all of the soldiers died, the new chief decided to test their luck and skill by raiding a Crusader trading ship carrying a large supply of silver. The raid proved massively successful, and the clan began to raid more and more Crusaders, sparing only those who gave up their supplies, especially if the supplies was silver or gems. Ever since, the silver gained was used to build great jewelry and statues for the chief's linage, including their greatest family treasure and "proof of power," Ullᚱ stęfáᚤ, a highly decorative axe made from ivory, silver, rubies, and iron.

Unfortunately, a string of events happened that were less than favorable for the people of the clan: Chan was poisoned and then drank more poison and died, her son died of pneumonia, his son took an arrow to the knee and fell off a tower and died, and his son let the clan with Ullᚱ stęfáᚤ to join a wolf cult in the North. After the last chief left, the clan went into turmoil, trying to find a leader, until it eventually fell, as many clans do.

## Military

The military of the Coldsong Clan was mainly made up of men and women trained to board ships and fight off enemies one-on-one.

The main strategy for large scale conflicts was to create an "arrow and hammer" formation: men make an "arrow" (<) formation, holding their shields up and striking nearby enemies with their axes, and the "hammer" (a square formation, as most Norse hammers are square) use spears to strike through the phalanx.

When no specific instructions were given (they're usually not), soldiers decide to create a large-scale brawl with their enemy, beating their foes into submission and looting them once the coast is clear.

Men were usually equipped with a large, lightweight buckler and an axe, and are trained to simply beat their opponents, whether it be man or beast, to the point where they either collapse or submit, only having to kill if the enemy refuses to give up.

Women, on the other hand, were usually equipped with two weapons in each hand, fighting as wildly as possible. This is because Norsewomen aren't as strong as the men, and therefore can't simply beat their foes to a pulp. Therefore, they're trained to fight as ferociously and quick as possible using two weapons without letting up so their opponent can't get an opportunity to strike.

The Coldsong Clan also had a few Berserkers, but they're usually only reserved for big conflicts. When used, they ingest multiple, steroid-like native plants of Scandinavia, and rush into battle, smashing or chopping anyone in their way with large, heavy weapons, such as axes and hammers. When not fighting, they serve as the personal bodyguard to Chan the Silverhearted.

## Chan The Silverhearted

Chan The Silverhearted, the first female chief of the Coldhearts, was the direct descendant of the first chief of Coldsong. Despite looking like an innocent, little girl, she was actually a huge war-monger, and constantly sponsors raid parties on smaller villages down south and on Crusader trading ships, though she was known to hold a certain kindness towards the furmen, who she declared are their oldest kin. While her entire linage was known to love silver, Chan had shown even more interest than any other, and has had her personal smiths forge rings, necklaces, gauntlets, and more of silver and iron. She adopted the title "Silverhearted," and was commonly seen wearing two rings on each finger, made almost entirely of silver, and always carried her family's axe, Ullᚱ stęfáᚤ.

After being poisoned by an unknown plant (likely hemlock) from a sword, her soldiers bought what they believed was an antidote for their chief, unaware that, due to a translation error, the "antidote" was just more of the same poison. After the misunderstanding was realized (with Chan dying after severe convulsions), a Berserker tore the merchant who sold the drink apart.

## Ullᚱ stęfáᚤ

The axe of the first chief, Stefan. It was originally a normal war axe made of iron, but was eventually re-forged and mixed with silver, and the handle was replaced by an ivory one. Additionally, the axe was carved with the runes "ᚢᛚᛚᚱ ᛒᛚᛖᛋᛋᛖᛋ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛞᛖᛋᚲᛖᚾᛞᚨᚾᛏᛋ ᛟᚠ ᛋᛏᛖᚠᚨᚾ."

The name "Ullr" is the name of the Norse god of snow. The axe was named after him, as it is believed that he blessed the people and animals who settled in Coldsong by helping them adapt to the never-ending winter. He was also the unofficial god of Coldsong, for obvious reasons.

The last chief of the Coldsong clan left to join a cult devoted to wolves in the North. When he left, he took the family axe with him. Debatably, this was what ruined the clan, since the Coldsong clan's chief was only allowed to rule if they had the axe. Without a legitimate symbol of authority (the axe), the clan could choose no official chief, and fell into in-fighting.