Earnwulf

*"We headed north to escape the Empire not become their thralls, if killing you is the only way to inspire the warriors to rise up then so be it."* - Earnwulf to Ered before their battle

Earnwulf was a human male that became a High Chieftain of Dorwine after beating Ered in single combat at the capital of Geley, eventually after becoming the new ruler of the northern kingdom Earnwulf would be responsible for the war against the Empire believing the warriors and people of Dorwine were slaves to the Empire rather than their allies to which he ignited a war and would eventually fall to the Empire.

## Biography

### Egion

#### Becoming a Warrior

The young Earnwulf was a northern Imperial citizen that like many would venture north into the land that would be eventually called Dorwine where Earnwulf lived as a young warrior within a tribe waiting to prove himself to be classed as a champion of his tribe, living as a nomadic tribesman Earnwulf would learn to hunt, fight and survive which allowed him to hone his skills as a warrior and hardened tribesman champion. Upon becoming a warrior Earnwulf would become a commander under his chieftain helping train new batches of warriors.

#### Forming Dorwine

After being quite a successful commander it wouldn't be long before his tribe would be visited by Ered who was hoping to unite and form the kingdom of Dorwine and to do this he challenged all of the tribe chiefs to a one on one combat with him, one of these chiefs included Earnwulf's leader who accepted this challenge however he would be beaten by Ered and this chief would demand to be killed as he had failed however whilst Ered was reluctant to do this as he needed chiefs to help him lead the kingdom he would honour this by killing him. With the chief dead Earnwulf would be anointed the new chief of his tribe and he would serve directly under the High Chief Ered when the kingdom formed in 990 AE of the first era.

#### Becoming High Chief

For 7 years the kingdom of Dorwine would know peace amongst each other and war on their enemies which included that of the golden kingdom of Nionande when they warred against the Empire, this war would fully establish the alliance between the Empire and Dorwine however not everyone in the north would agree with this allegiance amongst those people was Earnwulf who felt that the northern kingdom was a vassal and a servant to the Empire rather than a respectable ally, it was from this that he would uncover that other warriors and people of Dorwine would also not entirely agree with this believing that the reason many of them ventured to the north was to get away from the Empire which Earnwulf was also inclined to agree with. Eventually Earnwulf would come to a conclusion in his head that Dorwine was nothing more than a slave kingdom to the Empire to do their bidding whenever they asked, he would venture to the capital of Geley with a small army of warriors at his side calling out Ered to single combat and if he were to refuse he would begin raiding the capital and killing anyone that didn't surrender. Ered would accept this single combat with two warriors meeting outside the city encircled by warriors watching who would be the victor, after a long and brutal battle Earnwulf would be able to throw one of his axes into Ered's face which would cut straight into him leaving him motionless on the floor which left Earnwulf to take the mantle and become the new High Chieftain of Dorwine. After being annointed the new leader he began organising his army and marching to the northern border between Dorwine and the Empire preparing for war.

#### The War

With his army amassed Earnwulf began sending small raiding parties to villages and towns that covered the Empire's northern border as way of grabbing the Empire's attention to bring their soldiers to their northern border, amongst the raiding and occupation of some of these villages the raiders would also breed with some of the Imperial women which would bring a new norse/imperial hybrid of person which in the future would turn out to be the hybrids that gave birth to some of the most famous heroes in all of Egion. Just like Earnwulf predicted these raids would bring Imperial soldiers to the north to investigate these attacks and with the soldiers being diverted to these raids Earnwulf and his army would be able to go around the Imperial army and would split half of his army to join up with the raiders allowing a battle to commence between the Empire and Dorwine whilst Earnwulf and his army hid on the flank and would wait until the time was right to ambush the Imperial army. The Imperial army would be commanded by Burges an Imperial general that was tasked by Aldred the Emperor to stop these raids and to end the problem peacefully if he could, however due to the raidings peace would never really be brought into the equation, prior to the raiding beginning one of Earnwulf's generals named Kadal would send a secret messenger to the Imperials informing them of the ambush Earnwulf had planned which would annihilate the Imperial army if they were unprepared, this message would reach Burges who would transport some secret reserve forces behind his army to guard their flank for when Earnwulf would show with his army. With the battle commencing Earnwulf would eventually appear with his army on the flank of the Imperial army however unknown to him a reserve of Imperial forces would amass to protect the flank with a shield wall with spears at the ready, Earnwulf initially would be caught off guard but charged his men to this force defending the flank in hopes of breaking the Imperial line however with the soldiers having time to prepare a shield wall most of his warriors would be butchered leaving Kadal a perfect opportunity to challenge Earnwulf to single combat in the middle of a battle. The battle between the two would be bloody and brutal leading to the two losing their weapons and fighting with their fights and shoving each other's face into the ground, Earnwulf however would lose focus due to the emotion he carried in terms of hatred towards Kadal who he trusted and now believed he was betrayed allowing for Kadal to wait for Earnwulf to make a mistake from his emotion allowing him to counter and defeat Earnwulf by slamming his fists into Earnwulf's face until he physically smashed Earnwulf's face into mush.

#### Aftermath

With Earnwulf being killed his body would be carried to the Lost Warrens where he would be buried in the dungeon in a tomb near Ered's tomb with both his axes and would be honoured for his passion and devotion to Dorwine even if others believed his goal was wrong, this would then lead to Kadal becoming the new High Chieftain with some people doubting he killed Earnwulf as they said they never saw it and some others claiming that he is a puppet to the Empire to keep the peace between the two kingdoms. Earnwulf's goal and ideals would impact the future of Dorwine hardening warriors and causing a civil war between Kadal and Alfgeir two former generals of Earnwulf's army.