Ascomanni

* **Description:**Viking Troll Culture. Or just Sixth World Viking culture. Or, ya know, just Vikings.
* **Dress:**Hardcore Ascomanni tend towards simple, sturdy, practical fare, often handmade. Work and flannel stuff. That is when they’re not done up in full “Crystal Raider” drag, with the furs and chainmail and leather and weapons and the helmets with the holes in them for the horns all of that medievalist drek.
* **Symbols:**Lean into the whole Old Norse motif, just like their counterparts from the Twin Cities, they embrace it all: Axes, Dragon-heads like they had on old Viking ships, the Valknut, Hammer of Thor, Futhark Runes (just Orb it already). They tend towards tattoos and other body decoration in all the same patterns.
* **Music:** Ascomanni, when they're not singing themselves, tend to listen to a lot of Shranz techno and Drottkvaedi straight out of the Scandinavian Union. Local bands include Wyrd Systers, Gone A-Viking, Berserker and The Midgard Men.

 With the combination of a statistically large Troll population and strong strain of Scandinavian heritage in the Upper Midwest, the development of the Ascomanni subculture seems a perfectly natural fit. Ascomanni started off as the local response to the big ‘ork culture’ movement of the late 50’s and early 60's. The resident troll population decided that with the elves and orks having their own languages and culture and the Dwarves connected through institutions like the Sons of Moria, it would be an appropriate response to develop a culture all their very own. Which given the environment and the upbringing a lot of those who expressed as Trolls, the obvious choice

Ascomanni is a pretty common style among working class types. The dedicated hard-core who live the whole lifestyle, the so-called “Raiders”, are actually pretty rare, but the Ascomanni has influenced the flavor of Troll Culture, some would argue it is why there is such a thing as ‘Troll Culture’ in the Upper Midwest and it’s a rare old 2-4-2er that doesn’t have a little carved dragon-knot on the wall or a decorative battle axe over the mantle.

One of the biggest influences on local culture, especially Pub Culture, is the reintroduction of public singing into local life. True Raiders meet with the rest of their Band every night they’re able to sing the ‘old songs’ of Strum and Drang (usually a mangled combination of Wagner, power metal and Scandinavian folk music) and drink themselves stupid. But even urban Trolls with urban haircuts, MBA’s and who want nothing to do with Troll identity can usually be induced to belt out a couple of drinking songs or old jingles when their bros get together. It’s become a part of the local scene and even bars where there isn't so much as a horn or tusk in sight can break out into rude song at the drop of a helmet.

As far as religion and magic go, there's a bit of a disconnect. Workout culture is big with this crowd and there are several Adepts, honored as 'Berserkr', among them, sort of local heroes, almost cult figures among the more hardcore Asatru. On the other hand, actual spellcasting is pretty much *banna* (forbidden), they talk shit about wizards and shamans and generally won't have anything to do with them, except for the *goði* at the local *hof*, and even that guy they give a wide berth to. Apparently to the Old Norse, spellcasting was considered '*Argr*' (which originally meant 'unmanly' but since the current crop of rune-casting ax-swingers are pretty inclusive about gender and orientation, when you hear the locals talking about Argr, they mean more 'weak' or 'passive', although apparently there's a bit of a "spirited debate" on the subject). Sure, its harder for an Adept than a spellcaster to get across the River here, but to the Ascomanni, that just makes it more fun.

Because they're out of their damn minds.

Risk is how Ascomanni prove themselves, something exacerbated by the shorter natural lifespan of the Trolls that make up a fair part of their ranks. After all 'Life is short' has a lot more punch when your life actually IS pretty short to begin with. They like to take risks, do extreme sports, play with real weapons and generally act like real-life-Neil-the-Ork-Barbarian heroes.

Because they're out of their damn minds.

Religiously you're going to find a fairly even split between Lutheran, Asatru and non-believers, and if debates over religion end in a drinking contest, arm-wrestling or even a good-natured fist-fight, to the Ascomanno, that's all to the best.

See comments above.

Naturally there's a lot of crossover between the Ascomanni and Craftpunk scene, with a lot of people heavily involved in one involved in the other. On the other hand, to say that relations between Ascomanni and Ergi subcultures are a bit strained, given that Ergi literally call themselves by the word for 'those that are Argr', would be a bit of an understatement. Some of the more hardcore members (usually from the Brawlhallans gang) also like to mix it up with their opposite numbers in the Clans of the Red, although the Clans do not find it as funny as the Ascomanni do.

The Heathens MC are tied in close to the Ascomanni subculture. A fair number of recruits for the Heathens come from restless young Trolls looking to go a-viking on the open road. John Mist-calf is a bit of a legend among these guys.

#### Hangouts

* Brewhalla (which, weirdly, doubles as a gym and sword practice grounds)
* The Leering Steer
* Hof Hjemkomst (of course)
* Trollwood

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