one above and one below

BASICS

name: aelle title: king of northumbria age: 36 gender & pronouns: cis-male + he/him orientation: heterosexual + heteroromantic 

PHYSICAL TRAITS

hair color: dark brown/nearly black, greying a bit eye color: blue-grey height: 6'0 (182 cm) defining features: various scars over his body, most notably a scar on the right side of his face face claim: bart edwards

PERSONALITY TRAITS

moral alignment: lawful neutral (sometimes lawful evil. womp womp) positive traits: incisive, pragmatic, intelligent, dutiful negative traits: rigid, phlegmatic, machiavellian, ruthless character inspo: tywin lannister (asoiaf), don draper (mad men), fabien marchal (versailles)

FAMILY

parents: king aldhelm (deceased) + queen winifred (deceased) siblings: king alfred (older, deceased), prince ahlred (younger) spouse: queen utp  children: prince alfred (7, with queen), princess isolde (9, with queen), prince alaric (9, with wulfeva), prince aldwyn (7, with wulfeva), ottilia (4, with wulfeva) extended: wulfeva (mistress), kent royal family (in laws through queen)

BIOGRAPHY 

aelle. the second son. the spare, some even ventured to call him. yet the idea of ruling never crossed aelle's mind. it didn't seem to cross anyone's mind considering the way he was raised. his brother, alfred, was shaped into the perfect king. politically adept and gracious all wrapped up into one regal package.. aelle was none of those things. he was shaped into a warrior from the moment he was old enough to hold a wooden sword. raised to protect, to die for, his brothers crown and kingdom.  and aelle was fine with that. in fact, he enjoyed it. he was good with a sword, better than good, really. and he found that he excelled as a stratagest as well, what he lacked in his lessons or politcal prowess.. he more than made up for on the battlefield. by the time alfred became king, aelle had fought a dozen battles - mostly against mercia, with whom they had met in battle nearly a hundred times over in decades past - which made his appointment as general and master of war an obvious choice.  at twenty-four, his brothers mind for politics finally affected aelle directly in the form of a marriage alliance. aelle understood, he supposed.. kent was wealthy, far wealthier than east anglia.. power means little without money. but understanding does not mean contentment. still, aelle did not protest - afterall, a soldier follows orders.  things went well. or at least, well enough. aelle's marriage to the kentish princess wasn't entirely miserable, within the year she was with child. the alliance made with kent was quickly beneficial to the kingdom. east anglia was thriving under the rule of king alfred. but prosperity invites ambition... mercia struck again. and though east anglia came out victorious.. aelle did not. alfred had fallen.  aelle tried to convince the witan to look elsewhere - and uncle, a cousin, anyone - but stubborn as they were.. he was crowned king. months later his son was born.. and he named the young prince alfred.  aelle rules his kingdom just as he led an army; unyielding, effecient, ruthless. he does everything in his power to remained untangled from the politics of england, because of this his kingdom is rather solitary. his only alliance is with kent, and even that is strained because he does not withhold the agreements of the marraige alliance as readily as alfred did.  because of his rigid (and occasionally cold) nature, the court and kingdom were extremely surprised when he publically took a mistress two years after his marriage. some said the crown had made him entitled, some said it made him bold. some said grief made him careless. either way, a spot was carved out for wulfeva, like a second queen in the court.. and for the children he had with her, whom he named princes and princesses despite the objections of the witan and kentish royal family. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS 

BASICS

name: ruairi ivarsson title: na age: 30 gender & pronouns: cis-male + he/him orientation: heterosexual + heteroromantic 

PHYSICAL TRAITS

hair color: dirty blonde/brown eye color: blue-grey defining features: both arms and backs of his hands are fully covered in oseberg style tattoos. he has a rune style tattoo going down the right side of his face/neck/torso.  height: 6'2 (188 cm) face claim: jordan patrick smith

PERSONALITY TRAITS

moral alignment: his moral alignment is tricky at this point; to himself and his culture he is lawful good, to saxon's he is lawful evil. positive traits: dauntless, charming, loyal, dedicated negative traits: caustic, calculating, resentful, sometimes callous character inspo: little bit of ubbe, little bit of bjorn. maybe even a little ivar mixed in there, just for fun. 

FAMILY

parents: jarl ivar sigurdsson + fru niamh ó cléirigh siblings: utp ivarsson (25-29), utp ivarssdottir (20-24) spouse: na, betrothed to princess feiyan of wessex children: none.. as far as he knows

BIOGRAPHY 

this sucks rn. its a work in progress...

originally from norway, ivar sigurdsson travelled to ireland nearly four decades ago. first simply with a raiding party.. then again the following spring with a smaller group, to settle. a few years later he met niamh, an irish shield maiden.

they married, had kids, settled. while his parents were content with that life, ruairi was not. he was a viking afterall. he joined raiding parties as soon as he was old enough, and when he heard of the gathering of the heathen army he managed to convice his mother and father to pick up sword and shield once more.  but once the battles had been fought and northumbria was taken.. ivar was unahppy with the way things turned out. not because he wanted the throne, but because he believed in loyalty and honor.  the danish king of northumbria had pledged fealty to  his king and the various other kings that made up the heathen army. he, like all the others, had agreed to paving a way for their norse kings to rule in england. a man who does not keep his word has no honor.  so, they left. they traveled around england for a while as nomads.. until they reached wessex. the wessexian king was surprisingly hospitable and asked to sit down with ivar and his sons. it only took a few weeks from that first meeting for alliances to be formed; ivar and his clan would help to defend wessex against the "heathen threat".. ruairi would marry a princess.  there is no part of him that is happy about this arrangement. he already disliked his fathers desire to settle - though he had accepted it because he could still do as he pleased - but being forced to marry a christian, to fight against his own people, was a whole other issue. not to mention he doesn't trust the king of wessex at all, he just knows this will turn out badly for his clan and family. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS 

- id like both of his siblings, but especially his brother! theres a whole mess of drama coming around for them. in my mind his brother doesn't fully agree with the alliance, but is more optimistic than ruairi and chooses to believe the kings promises until proven otherwise. while ruairi is ready to just kill em and be done with it aldjladgj