Gelmarr Volmark

## Biography

Gelmarr Volmark was born amidst a terrible storm, coming into the world only lit by a small fireplace. From a young age, the Volmark proved himself to be ferocious. He constantly got in fights with his siblings, and killed his first man during the great reaving when only thirteen years old. During his fifteenth year, Gelmarr began to manifest odd powers. He began to dream of the sea, of swimming through the ocean. The boy thought that the Drowned god himself spoke to him, commanding him to go to the sea; and so to the sea he went.

Gelmarr Volmark stole a cog from his father’s fleet and set sail in the middle of the night, leaving with only a small crew of trusted friends. They were gone out at sea for weeks; the young Volmark’s funeral was held, and his father began to groom his second son as heir; by any metric, Gelmarr’s younger brother was more suited to leadership. After nearly four weeks out at sea, Gelmarr returned on the back of a walrus, his clothes rags and teeth stained red. When asked what happened to his ship and his friends, the Volmark only laughed.

If Gelmarr had been violent and unhinged before, his midnight trip had made things far, far worse. So intense was his bloodlust that in altercations, the skinchanger couldn’t be bothered to reach for his axe. Instead, the lordling prefered to beat his opponents into submission, resulting in serious injuries on more than one occasion. Even among the battlelust of the Ironborn, Gelmarr was seen as an aberration, and not in a good way. The young Volmark was too hard to control, and never considered the consequences of his actions; he took what he wanted, and ignored the consequences.

As he came of age, Gelmarr gained command of his own ship, a longship which he named The Bloody Tusk. When the War of the Trident began, Gelmarr followed Lord Harlaw to the Riverlands. Much to his disappointment, Volmark did not follow his Lord into battle against old King Fletcher. Instead, Gelmarr and his house were tasked with raiding near Seaguard. Unfortunately, there was little glory to be found; most of the Mallister forces were off defending the Riverlands elsewhere, and House Volmark found little but villages and merchants attempting to make a risky profit off of the war.

To Gelmarr, it didn’t matter who he killed, as long as there was blood. During their final raid before their return to the Iron Isles Lord Volmark was slain by an arrow fired by a Ser Harbert Mallister. Alone, Volmark acrobatically jumped the nearly seven foot gap between their ships, and ripped out the throat of his father’s killer. Terrified by the Ironborn’s savagery, the crew attempted to surrender. In reply, Gelmmarr crushed a man’s skull between his hands. There would be no mercy today. His comrades jumped over from their boat, and joined in the slaughter. His taste for blood satisfied, the new Lord Volmark threw his father into the ocean so he could reach the Drowned God’s hall, and abruptly left the boat, leaving the corpses to be discovered days later.

As Lord Volmark, Gelmarr didn’t get up to much. He married a woman to bear him children, though the skinchanger didn’t care too much for her. She gave him sons, and that was enough for him. Throughout the years Gelmarr went on various more reavings, though to little profit. The Volmark had too little patience to pick out a good quarry; as soon as he spotted an enemy ship, he attacked. Now, Gelmarr has been summoned to King Andrik alongside the other lords of the Iron Isles to discuss their plan of attack.

## Timeline

272 AA: Gelmarr is born

275 AA: Gelmarr gets in his first fight, breaking one of his cousin's fingers.

285 AA: Gelmar kills his first man in the Great Reaving

287 AA: Gelmarr Volmark begins to manifest his skinchanging powers

287 AA: Gelmarr Volmark disappears with a ship and his friends, returning with just a walrus.

291 AA: Gelmarr Volmark reaves the Mallister lands, killing Harbert Mallister after seeing his father's death. Raised to Lord of Volmark

299 AA: Gelmarr is wittiness to the true Kingsmoot, and joins Andrik on his ship.

## Family Tree:

http://familyecho.com/?p=START&c=u4v5w9cuum&f=282321758192018518

## Supporting Characters

Ironhide the Walrus (Walrus)

Victarion Volmark, 24. Gelmarr's younger brother. (Ship Captain)

Aeron Volmark, 16. Gelmarr's youngest brother. (Hunter)

Galon the Drunk, 32. One of Gelmarr's steadfast friends. (Ship Captain)

Fralegg, 29. One of Gelmarr's steadfast friends. (Ship Captain)