Ivar Bjornson

## Ivar "Scruffy" Bjornson

A wielder of powerful life magic, Ivar tends to channel it through his body, making him physically unstoppable.

## Family

### Parent(s)

Bjorn Villimadson (Father), Aevyntiri (Mother)

Ivar Bjornson, better known as Scruffy, is an ursine Barbarian and adventurer from The Northwyld. Having been exiled from his ancestral home, Scruffy began to journey across the icey wastelands of the northern edge of Veiltouria, looking for a home. A good hearted warrior, Scruffy inevitably finds his morals put him in precarious positions, that only his axe can get him out of. He now travels with Harold of Oakfort, Edmooth Mastodoran, Roland Gryphawk, Gikan Smallshell and Styx the Goblin.

## History

### Bear Mountain

Ivar Bjornson was born into one of the Ursine tribes of Bear Mountain. A smaller tribe, Ivar Bjornson was the child of the tribal Kappi (chief), Bjorn Villimadson. Bjorn was a great leader and warrior, descended from the bloodline of the Arcturi, a breed of Ursine that could grow to great size and possessed the Blodaefreidi, the Blood of Rage. Ivar Bjornson had clearly inherited his fathers great size, but had also gained another inheritance, from his mother.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the tribe, Bjorn’s bride Aevyntiri was one of the Natturan, a forsaken bloodline of Ursine mages in tune with nature. Long considered bred out from the tribe’s population, when Bjorn and Aevyntiri discovered her abilities they hid them from the other tribe members. The Natturan had once sought to rebel against the Arcturi leadership of the tribes, and this rebellion had cost them their lives. Despite living in fear of Aevyntiri being discovered, Bjorn did his best to both lead the tribe and raise his son, to the best of his ability. Despite his strong leadership, others within the tribe coveted the position. His second in command, and fellow Arcturi, Svikari Hargson had been planning a coup for years. All he needed was the opportunity.

This opportunity would soon present itself in the form of Bjorn’s own son, Ivar Bjornson. Ivar Bjornson was playing in the woods, much like any other day. As he stood amongst the trees, he felt a connection to land, to nature, that he had never felt before. He could hear the wind whistling through his fur, its soft song a comforting sound to him. He could feel the grass caressing his feet, its cool dew settling on his claw like an old friend. All around the sound of the forest spoke to him in whispers, like the comforting murmurs of a loved one long thought lost, but returned to him here and now. After spending what felt like an age hearing the song of the forest, Ivar Bjornson rushed back to the tribe to tell his father. However, upon his return to the tribal settlement, his fellow tribe members looked upon him with horror.

Looking around him, Ivar Bjornson saw that with every step he took, flowers would spring to life, growing strong and vibrant. Even Ivar Bjornson knew what this meant. He was Natturan. As Bjorn rushed to grab his son, the Kappi looked around at his tribe and not a word was said. But amidst the crowd, Svikari stared with eyes like daggers, and the damage had been done. The traitor had the opening he needed.

### The Green Order

The next morning, Ivar Bjornson woke to find his father gone, and Svikari claiming leadership of the tribe in his absence. The pretender’s first act as Kappi was to sell young Ivar Bjornson and his mother into servitude to The Green Order. An organization of militaristic Druids, the Green Order were brutal to their own, and even worse to Theriamorphs. The training regime the Order put the two Ursine through was brutal, and it wasn’t long before Ivar Bjornson’s mother died in his arms, her suffocation of her magic for all those long years had stunted her ability to speak to the forest. Before her passing, she gifted her son his fathers warrior braid, never cut in battle.

Despite his youth, Ivar Bjornson soon proved a powerful Druid. Repeatedly sent out as cannon fodder on suicide missions, the young Ursine always returned, often times proving the difference between life or death for his group. Noting his refusal to die, the Order’s leaders sent him on a particularly dangerous mission, to hunt an unknown creature that dwelled in the mountains, the monster known only as Orgole. Coming upon the beast's lair, Ivar Bjornson and his fellow Order members were tense. They could feel the horrific presence of whatever beast lay inside, washing from the cave in waves. Before they could make their attack, they were ambushed by a monster of tooth and claw. Unable to even see the threat, Ivar Bjornson slipped and fell from the mountain pass they had traveled. Falling deep into the frigid waters below, Ivar Bjornson used his magic to keep himself, making the long trek back to the Green Order. Upon his return, he was met by suspicion and mistrust. The Order’s elite could not believe only one Theriamorph could survive when so many human Druid’s had failed.

Believing it to be foul play, they sentenced him to death. Ivar Bjornson, in his panic at hearing he was to be executed, called upon magic he didn’t fully understand. In a flash of green light and cold ice, he was gone, teleported to somewhere deep in the wilderness. This huge surge of magic had the negative consequence of aging the boy some two decades, though only in the body and not the mind.

### Scruffy

Over the next few years, Ivar Bjornson traveled the Northwyld, avoiding detection from the Green Order and simply trying to find a place to belong. Over time he came to see the mistrust and suffering that had befallen his fellow Theriamorphs, and made a difference where he could. One such attempt to aid others led him to staying with a family of wilders, humans who lived outside any Forts walls. Kind and compassionate people, these wilders showed him love and friendship, though in time this too was stolen from him. Returning from a day spent gathering resources, Ivar Bjornson saw the home of the wilders burned down, the scent of Gnolls in the air and the mark of The Skerramen burned into the ground. In a rage Ivar Bjornson began a hunt for the Skerramen, who he learned served a myth-like figure known as The Grandfather. This particular group was a Gnoll pack who had come upon the home and destroyed it out of spite due to the wilders human nature. After tracking down the Gnolls responsible, Ivar Bjornson had his revenge.

Finding himself near Fort Shuck, Ivar Bjornson began a slow journey to the Fort, damaged ever further, but still looking for a place to belong.