Folkart of Haselgard

Folkart of Haselgard (461 - 544) was a minor Varholdian, and later Ulgardian, nobleman and the founder of the noble House af Haselgard.

## Early Life

Folkart was the second son of an unknown Varholdian prince from Fjoll. After an incident during his youth, Folkart was disowned and sent away. He settled on the coast of the Trade Lake, travelling between towns and taking on odd jobs for a living.

## Haselgard

Eventually Folkart became the proprietor of a mead-hall in Haselgard, a lawless settlement on the coast. Its noblemen had long left the town to its fate, being as it was a gathering point for outlaws, vagrants and bandits. Folkart was friendly enough to the regulars for them to sarcastically nickname him 'Folkart of the Mead Hall'.

Folkart's mead hall slowly became more law-abiding as mock obedience to Folkart gave way to the real thing. The patrons began to respect him, and as a result Folkart found he was a natural leader. The patrons of his mead hall were loyal to him, their purveyor of liquid happiness.

Haselgard being a Varholdian settlement, loyalty to one's mead hall was a rather important concept, and tensions began to rise between the various mead-halls. The so-called Mead War began in 489 after a vicious brawl between mead-hall patrons. This led to a gang-style turf war between the mead-halls.

After over a year of urban fighting, Folkart led his mead-hall to victory - expelling or absorbing the patrons of the other mead-halls and burning their establishments to the ground. His followers now dubbed him 'Folkart of Haselgard', owing to Folkart being the first man to rule over the whole settlement since the last nobles left.

## Generalship

The local legend grew until even the warlord Kurt, overlord of all Varhold, heard of Folkart. His presence was requested in the capital, where he was introduced to Kurt. Folkart was given the official title of Yarl of Haselgard, with all the trappings the title entailed. He was now Yarl Folkart af Haselgard.

Folkart ruled over Haselgard for twelve years as its Yarl. He vastly improved the township and helped settle the bandits and outlaws into honourable professions - after pardoning them, of course. As a result Haselgard saw a large influx of wanted men from other parts of the country, seeking a place where they wouldn't be hunted. Because of this, in turn other Varholdian nobles saw Folkart as a charismatic foe.

Folkart was called upon by Kurt when the Tungrids began their migration, and led the Varholdian contingent at the Battle of Vorgebirge. This unit contained many of the men who had been his original mead-hall patrons, whom Folkart saw as brothers. Seeing them completely helpless before the Tungrids, seeing maybe one in three of his command fall in battle, changed something in Folkart. While still a charismatic leader and talented commander, he became scared - for himself and for his comrades.

## Later Life

After the battle, Folkart returned to Haselgard. He used his natural talents to keep the settlement together as Varhold crumbled. He built walls around Haselgard to defend it from brigands, and was forced to use them several times - there were numerous rumours of Folkart having Tungrid gold at the time.

When the worst of the brigands had disappeared, Folkart struck out and travelled to Lingstrup, a larger city on the coast. After judging the character of the city's ruler, Bjarn Vislaf Hondursson, Folkart swore fealty to the Bjarn. When Vislaf later swore fealty to the King in Vänersgård, this put Folkart under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Ulgard.

Folkart settled down after this was done, and lived out the rest of his days in relative peace. He was an advocate of peace in his later life, often acting as a mediator in major disputes. He was succeeded as Yarl by his son, Arfinn af Haselgard.