Halfdan Case

## ***Early Life***

Halfdan was born on September 8th 1584 A.T.F in the city of New Ruzia. Growing up in a Ruzian Colony, Halfdan was apart of a human minority as the majority of the cities population were Thralls. This greatly affected Halfdans early life as from a young age he was bullied for being a "small human". Nevertheless Halfdan grew up in a modest home with a loving family and receiving steady work helping his father smiting weapons and tools for the Thralls. In his free time Halfdan would use the money allotted to him from work to pay for books brought by the traders every spring. Spring and Summer were the only times travel to New Ruzia was accessible due to the nearest neighboring city of Bergia ruled by Donnington being located nearly two hundred miles away. Thus every Spring and Summer Halfdan would always have money saved ready for the traders, many of the books he bought were detailed stories about mercenary companies such as The Golden Cohort Company and The Ikkuran Dragons.

## ***Mercenary Work and Arrival at Axony***

At the age of 18 Halfdan left home with a decent sum of money saved up from working with his father and set out to make a name for himself. Mercenaries at the time were in high demand and Halfdan knew how to appeal to the market due to his extensive knowledge on Mercenary Work. Halfdan would begin hiring Thralls to accompany his early mercenary company. Thralls being naturally taller than humans, standing on average 7-8 feet tall, were well sought after and rare mercenaries. Soon within a year local lords from across the region were hiring Halfdan and his ever-growing band of mercenaries to put down Free Domain Revolts and Bandit Attacks across the area. As the demand increased Halfdan could no longer rely on his limited supply of Thralls to field his Mercenary Company and began to employ human recruits from across the region.

By early 1606 A.T.F Halfdan had amassed a small fortune, possessed several fiefdoms including his home New Ruzia, and a retinue of nearly 50,000+ personnel. Halfdan spared no expenses, he lavished himself in imported goods, books, women, and with what little money he had left over he would send to his family. With this lifestyle Halfdan quickly found himself as a father to the son of a prostitute from a Brothel in Pola, at first Halfdan was reluctant to accept he was the father. However once he meet new born child he quickly changed his approach and had the baby boy sent off to be raised by his family back in New Ruzia. Shortly after Halfdan was summoned by a cloaked figure who only addressed herself as "Mira" and claimed to be a follower of a powerful Cult, she offered Halfdan the largest contract he had ever been offered. The terms of the contract would require Halfdan to assemble an army of 50,000+ personnel for a Campaign that will be lead by the Kingdom of Donnington. The Army would be required to supply itself, follow orders directly from the king, and be prepared to act as an occupational force if needed. The Contract was to last a decade with the reward of service being the guaranteed independence of the fiefdoms Halfdan had acquired and 20,000,000 Reichmarks worth of gold from Goldpeaks. Halfdan quickly accepted and spent the rest of the year amassing a huge force to meet the demands, by the end of the year Halfdan had either completed or canceled previous contracts to muster every available man for the task. By 1607 A.T.F Halfdan had met the requirements needed for him to accept the contract, immediately within days of Halfdans success a messenger from The Cult approached and ordered him to march to Axony.

Upon Halfdans arrival he was bewildered to find that the King of Donnington wasn't the warlord the Cultist made him out to be, but a boy who just recently inherited the crown. Nonetheless Halfdan inquired as to what the King would have his army do now that they serve him, he was dumbfounded when the boy replied he had never hired Halfdan in the first place. Halfdan at first was enraged but had little time to instigate a fight due to the recent news of an impending army of nearly 500,000+ Yuraks that would descend into the valley.

## ***The Last Stand of Halfdan and Death***

Halfdan realized regardless of whoever contracted him that it didn't matter, all who were present at the meeting were unable to leave the valley and if they scattered they would be hunted down individually. Halfdan had come to the conclusion no matter what coming to Axony was a death sentence unless the Eastern Lords acted now. During the planning phase Halfdan quickly laid out plans to help funnel reinforcements into the region. Halfdan had left around 10,000 men back in his fiefdoms to protect them from Bandits, but he could allocate around 3,000 of them as messengers to help spread the word quickly. When Barnes Barclay offered to use his ships to ferry the men to Axony, Halfdan gave him permission to use the ports from New Ruzia as a pick-up point. Hours into planning Halfdan began to realize that the Yurak Army would be within the Valley in a matter of a couple of days. The Yuraks were famed for their speed, being a nomadic people their wide scale usage of horses allowed them to move large force's at a rapid pace. Turning months long marches into only days long the Yuraks were nearing the Glasgov Mountains.

Immediately Halfdan thought of his Children and Family back home, he knew his presence in Axony put their lives in danger. Halfdan spent the next few hours thinking until he pulled the young King Alexander Clement aside. Halfdan proposed a strategy to delay the Yuraks that would surely result in his death, however with the time allotted to the Eastern Sovereign Alliance reinforcements would begin to gradually arrive as the battle progressed. With the plan set in motion, the only terms Halfdan put forward was that his fiefdoms would be given to his family and their claim be protected. Alexander accepted the promise, a promise he would later abandon.

On June the 7th 1607 A.T.F Halfdan marched his force of 40,000 men to the Glasgov Mountains, after crossing the Glasgov River he fortified the mountain pass officially beginning The Battle of Glasgov Pass. During the ensuing battle the Yuraks used several artillery pieces to annihilate Halfdans lines. The fighting was brutal and lasted until the 11th of June when all of Halfdans forces were either captured, killed, or routed. Out of Halfdans initial forces only 12,000 survived many becoming slaves to the Yurak Horde. Halfdan was slayed in battle by a stray arrow and his body was later found by The Khans personnel guard. His head was sent back to Reichlandia to sit next to severed heads of what remained of Fredrick Barbarossa's court after The Siege of Reichland in the Khans trophy hall.

## ***Personality***

Halfdan was known to be cocky and rather greedy at times. He could be impatient but was always regarded as being both capable and reliable to those he valued. Halfdan had a great deal of loyalty to his family and was known to visit his children the few times he could before he died. Some even referred to Halfdan as a "Gracious Realist".

## ***Appearance***

Halfdan had white skin and had long blonde hair and blue eyes. He had no beard and had a ridge going down his nose from a broken nose he acquired from a fight with a Thrall in his younger years, Halfdan also was always regarded as having dirt on his face. Halfdan stood at 5.8 feet tall, and weighed around 185 pounds. Halfdan in his later years dressed in lavish robes and old style Romikkan Togas when partying. In Battle Halfdan would use a large two handed axe that had the word "Ruzia" engraved into it though Halfdan possessed no loyalty to Ruzia he was fond of the culture and how it shaped him growing up. He would wear a metal metal cuirass over gambeson with a large kettle helmet.