Norsca
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| Norscan Marauder | |
|---|---|
 Born in frost, forged in blood, blessed by the Dark Gods |
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| Founding | |
| Founded | Before history; the first tribes crawled out of the Wastes |
| Founder | No one remembers |
| Current Leader | No single king; each jarl rules |
| Geography | |
| Capital | None |
| Major Cities | Skaeling ports, Sarl fjords, Baersonling ice-coves |
| Regions | Norsca and the northern Chaos Wastes |
| Biology | |
| Lifespan | 40-60 years |
| Height | 175-210 cm (5′9″ - 6′11″) |
| Culture | |
| Language | Norscan tongue (guttural, full of boasts and curses) |
| Religion | The four Ruinous Powers first, tribal ancestor spirits second |
| Government | |
| Government | Might makes right; jarls, champions, and shamans |
| Relations | |
| Allies | Warriors of Chaos, Daemons, Beastmen |
| Enemies | Empire, Dwarfs, High Elves, Kislev |
Norsca is the land that the rest of the world wishes would just sink into the sea. A frozen hell of jagged fjords, wolf-haunted forests, and villages built from dragon bones. Its people are taller, harder, and meaner than any southerner has a right to be. They raid in longships hung with skulls, drink sea-serpent blood for breakfast, and laugh when the winter wind flays the skin from lesser men. To a Norscan, life is simple: take what you want, kill what resists, and offer the skulls to the gods so they notice you before you die.
Overview
If you want to play a seven-foot barbarian who thinks the Empire is a retirement home for cowards and whose retirement plan is “die gloriously and get a daemon prince promotion,” you’ve found your people.
Appearance
Built like a barn door and twice as thick. Pale or wind-burned skin covered in scars, runes, and tattoos that still bleed on holy days. Long hair and beards braided with enemy finger-bones. Armour is whatever they killed last: sea-dragon scales, Chaos plate, or just furs over bare muscle. Mutations are jewellery; an extra eye or a tentacle arm just means the gods are watching.
Culture & Society
- Regions: Norsca and the ever-hungry edge of the Wastes.
- Culture: Strength is the only law. Everything else is weakness.
- Names: Bjorn, Hrolf, Astrid, Sven, Wulfrik, Valkia, Skollaf.
- Religion: Khorne for the brave, Nurgle for the survivors, Tzeentch for the cunning, Slaanesh for the truly twisted.
Morality, Slavery, and Corruption
- Slavery: Common among Norscan tribes. Captives from raids are taken as thralls for labor, trade, or ransom. A thrall’s treatment varies by the temperament of the raider and the customs of their tribe.
- Non-consent sexual relationships: Officially frowned upon within one’s own tribe due to concepts of honor and strength, but foreign captives may face harsh treatment depending on the raider. Practices differ widely from clan to clan.
- Vulnerability to Chaos corruption: High. The proximity to the Chaos Wastes and a culture of raiding and glory-seeking make Norscans especially prone to the temptations of the Dark Gods—though some tribes resist fiercely through ancestral traditions.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Strengths: Fierce, hardy, fearless, and shaped by brutal lands; skilled in survival, hunting, and battle; unshakable in the face of cold and danger.
- Weaknesses: Hot-tempered, superstitious, prone to bloodlust, easily tempted by Chaos, and often distrusted or feared by other nations.
Combat
Adventurers born of this race naturally align with the following subclasses, which they may choose during character creation.
| Compatible Classes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard | Caster | Sage | |||||
| Bastion | Berserker | Pyromancer | Cryomancer | Healer | Necromancer | ||
Playing a Norscan
Talk in boasts and threats. Laugh at pain. Never back down, never show mercy, never trust anyone who hasn’t bled beside you. Your life goal is a saga that will be sung until the world ends (preferably because you helped end it). A Khorne follower wants skulls, a Slaaneshi wants perfection through agony, a Nurgle worshipper just wants to share his gifts. All of them want to die with a weapon in hand and a war-cry on their lips.
Physical Appearance
Imagine the biggest, meanest Viking you’ve ever seen, then give him horns, an extra arm, and an axe the size of a horse. That’s an average Tuesday in Norsca.
Kurgans
The Kurgan are the fiercest and most numerous of the northern Chaos-worshipping human tribes that dwell upon the eastern steppes of the Chaos Wastes, a vast and brutal people forged by centuries of unrelenting cold, war, and the direct gaze of the Dark Gods. Tall, broad-shouldered, and heavily muscled, they ride shaggy ponies across endless grasslands, living in nomadic yurt-camps that follow the herds and the omens of blood. Their skin is weathered bronze or pale from the wind, their hair and beards often braided with bones, rings of iron, or the teeth of slain enemies. Every Kurgan warrior bears the brands and tattoos of his tribe and chosen god (eight-pointed stars, skulls, ravening wolves, or coiling serpents) carved deep into flesh as proof of devotion and endurance. Society is ruled by strength alone: chieftains called Zhupans or Khagans rise and fall by the blade, and even the lowliest rider may challenge his betters if the gods favor his courage.
Kurgan culture revolves around endless raiding, horse-archery, and the accumulation of skulls for the Skull Throne or the Blood Father. They worship all four Chaos Gods with equal fervor, though individual tribes often pledge themselves primarily to Khorne for his promise of endless battle. Shamans and sorcerers walk among them, reading futures in spilled entrails or the flight of carrion crows, while Chaos champions (some already sprouting horns, extra limbs, or daemonic gifts) lead warbands south into Kislev, the Empire, or even distant Cathay. When the great hordes gather under a new Everchosen, it is the Kurgan who provide the thunder of hooves and the howling tide of fur-clad berserkers that smash against the civilized world, leaving nothing but fire and silence in their wake.
Skin Wolves
Skin Wolves are grotesque werecreatures born from the corrupting influence of Chaos in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, often manifesting among Norscan warriors or those tainted by dark rituals and mutations. These beings carry a dormant blood curse that awakens through bloodshed, transforming afflicted humans (men and women alike) into frenzied, half-feral monsters driven by an insatiable hunger for flesh. Originating from the frozen north among tribes like the Norscans, Kurgan, and Hung, or lurking in forsaken regions such as the Bone Hills of Estalia, Skin Wolves form packs bound by ties of kinship and slaughter, showing loyalty only to the Ruinous Powers while indiscriminately ravaging foes in battle. Some bear the favor of specific Chaos Gods, and though they can be bound by powerful wizards using ancient spells like those of Kadon, their unpredictable savagery often leads to regret for any who attempt control.
In appearance, Skin Wolves resemble lean, humanoid wolf-hybrids, their bodies armored in a bristling carapace streaked with bloody gristle and draped in tattered shreds of human skin that give them their eerie name. The transformation is no subtle shift but a violent eruption: the inner beast rips forth from the host's flesh in a spray of gore, leaving behind flaps of torn skin and chunks of meat. After feasting on the slain, the monstrous form collapses, allowing the original human to tear free in a rebirth-like process, regenerating anew for future horrors. This cycle of destruction and renewal underscores their role as voracious killers, blending primal fury with Chaos-born resilience in the grim landscapes they haunt.
Relations with Other Races
| Category | Faction | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Humans | Empire | Hostile |
| Bretonnia | Hostile | |
| Kislev | Hostile | |
| Sartosa | Neutral | |
| Araby | Hostile | |
| Cathay | Hostile | |
| Elves | Asur (High Elves) | Hostile |
| Asrai (Wood Elves) | Hostile | |
| Druchii (Dark Elves) | Neutral | |
| Dwarfs | Dwarfs | Hostile |
| Chaos Dwarfs | Friendly | |
| Greenskins | Orcs | Neutral |
| Goblins | Neutral | |
| Monstrous | Ogre | Neutral |
| Beastmen | Neutral | |
| Affliction | Chaos | Friendly |
| Vampire | Neutral |
Gender Roles and Sexuality
Gender Roles
- Norsca is a rough, warrior-based society with a strong male dominance but considerable practical roles for women due to harsh frontier conditions. Strength, survival, and martial skill define social status more than formal rank.
- Warriors and Leaders: Men dominate raiding parties, chieftainships, and military campaigns. Leadership is earned through strength, cunning, and reputation rather than formal inheritance.
- Women: Norscan women are often strong, hardy, and capable of combat. Some serve as shieldmaidens, priestesses of the Mother God, or advisors to chieftains. Women enjoy more autonomy than in many other human nations, though men dominate public and martial life.
- Commoners: Daily survival in harsh environments means women participate actively in hunting, farming, trade, and defending homesteads. Gender roles are flexible out of necessity.
Sexuality
- Sexual norms in Norsca are libertine and pragmatic, shaped by warrior culture and harsh living conditions. Consensual sexual relationships are common, often informal or temporary.
- Taboos: Few sexual taboos exist. Sodomite acts are tolerated if consensual. Adultery is common and often ignored outside the context of honor or revenge.
- Warrior Culture: Sexual relationships are tied to personal strength, status, and conquest. Raiding parties may involve casual sexual liaisons, with women sometimes participating actively.
- Ritual and Religion: Some sexual acts are linked to cult practices, such as worship of Chaos or the Mother God, emphasizing fertility, survival, or blood rites.
Attitudes toward Other Races (Sexualized)
- Norscans are aggressive toward outsiders but have **sexualized attitudes toward other races**, often tied to domination, exoticism, or conquest:
- Elves: Female elves are considered exotic and sometimes dangerously alluring; male elves may be respected for skill but also viewed as potential rivals. Encounters are often sexualized in raider tales.
- Dwarfs: Dwarf women may appear in crude eroticized tales, often emphasizing toughness or rarity; male dwarfs are generally the subject of mockery rather than sexual interest.
- Greenskins: Orcs and goblins are enemies, but raider legends sometimes include sexualized dominance over captured greenskins, often portrayed as violent or grotesque.
- Chaos and Daemons: Sexualized fascination intersects with fear and devotion in cult practices; Chaos-tainted beings may be eroticized as objects of power, corruption, or taboo desire.
Notable Cultural Nuances
- Norsca’s harsh climate and warrior lifestyle give women practical authority and autonomy uncommon in other human nations.
- Sexuality is rough, opportunistic, and often intertwined with martial prowess, danger, and survival.
- Sexualized fantasies of other races are common in tales, poetry, or warrior storytelling, often emphasizing conquest, exoticism, or taboo desire.
- Gender and sexual norms are pragmatic, fluid, and intertwined with raiding, honor, and superstition.
Notable Ranks & Careers
Reaver → Marauder → Berserker → Chosen → Chaos Champion → Daemon Prince (if the gods are kind)