Strength  4
Dexterity  2
Stamina  4

Charisma  2
Manipulation  2
Appearance  2

Perception  3
Intelligence 3
Wits  3

ABILITIES

Talents
Alertness  3
Athletics  2
Brawl  3
Dodge  3
Intimidation 2
Primal Urge 2
 

Skills
Drive  1
Firearms  1
Melee  2
Leadership 4 (Tactics)
Survival  2

Knowledge
Investigation  1
Linguistics 1 (Finnish)
Cosmology 1 (Yddrasil)

Backgrounds
Pure Breed 3 (he knows his father and great-grandfather were garou)
Kinfolk 2[1] (he knows Freydis, his mother and the Minnesota folk)
Past Life 3 (able to channel his great-grand-father, Efan Blind-Sight)
Rites 4
Totem 3

Gifts
Homid: Persuasion
Auspice: Inspiration
Auspice: Falling Touch
Tribe: Resist Pain
Tribe: Razor Claws

Rites
1 Rite of Contrition
1 Gathering for the Departed
1 Rite of Talisman Dedication
1 Rite of Wounding

Renown
Glory  4
Honor  3
Wisdom  1

Rage  7
Gnosis  5
Willpower 7
Rank 1
 
 

Flaws
Intolerance +1 (cowardice)
Vengeance +2 (whoever killed his father)

Merits
Animal Magnetism -2
Mixed-Morph -1
 

DESCRIPTION:

Ragnar stands at five foot nine inches tall, and is thickly set.
 He weighs probably about two-hundred and thirty five pounds in
 his homid form, and has long blonde hair that he keeps cut at
 shoulder length.  It's at this length that it starts to go wavy
 and out of control.  He has close-set brooding eyes, and a slightly
 slooped forehead that suggest brutality.  But the crooked set to his
 jaw lightens the dark look overall.  He's got a faint, blonde beard
 that thickens around his moustache.  there are no scars on his face
 yet, but there is the beginnings of one that is visible along his
 neckline.  With his shirt off, it's plain that the scar extends
 across his clavicle, and down his chest to fade as it touches his
 midriff.  He is proud of this scar, as it is the most visible one he
 has to date.  He has a strong physique--powerful but not overly
 cut.  He goes more for function than form.
 
 
 

HISTORY:

Ragnar was born to Freydis and Heyglik Gunnarson in the Minnesota side
of the twin cities, Minneapolis.  He had a mosly normal childhood.  He
excelled at sports, and loved football and rugby more than anything.

His parents made sure that Ragnar had a solid pride in his nordic
heritage, and he learned much about Norway and Sweden as a child.
When Ragnar was twelve, his parents discovered teh SCA - Society for
Creative Anachronishsm, and immediatly became involved in the local
chapter.  Heyglik was a natural warrior, and some say he could even
have become prince, except that he oftne left for long stretches of
time.

Ragnar knew his father was a great warrior, and wanted to be just
like him.  he trained hard, and even though he was too young to fight
officially in the SCA, he still went to fight practice, and had built
his own suit of (nearly authentic) viking armor.

He seemed to have a natural physical advantage over the other children.
Whether it was playin sports or fighting in the SCA just seemed to "get
it" faster than the other kids, and "do it" better more quickly.  This
made him most kid's first pick for soccer, football, rugby, etc.  He
was a brutal competitor, and while he took pains not to be too active,
he was often pulled out of games for being too rough.

When fifteen came, he had special written permission from his father to
fight in Pennsic war, the great war outsie of Pittsburg.  fighting with
stadanrd sword and shield, Ragnar followed his father into battle, and
knew a joy he'd never known before--fighting side by side with his father.
In addition, his parents (and friends) had helped erect a viking longhouse,
for their encampment, and the nights were as full of stories and parties
as the days were of fighting and fun.

And Ragnar heard stories of his father--variations on the great legends
that had his father transposed into the part of Beowulf, or Ethelhild,
or even Magnard the Grim and his descent into the cave of darkness.  His
father was granted the "horns of power" and Ragnar saw an odd look of
reverence and devotion pass across his father's face at hte gift of the
great horned helm.

After Pennsic, Heylgik would not talk of the Horns of Power.  And Ragnar
suspected something more had passed.  And it was something he would grow
to understand when he was a man, and had become a knight in the SCA.

And after that Pennsic, Heyglik received word that his position as line-man
for the telephone company had changed, and that he was being made a switch
representative. The job would require him to travel for nearly 40 weeks of
the year.

And Ragnar's family started to fall apart around him.  With his father gone
the majority of hte time, his mother became excessively lonely.  She knew
Heyglik for what he was, and knew why he had to go, but it didn't make it any
easier on her.  ANd she tried to turn on her son, but a seventeen year old
boy has other things on his mind than his mother's loneliness.

Ragnar, himself was having difficulties.  He found himself growing
increasingly irritable, often flying off the handle at the simplest
suggestion.  The other kids started to avoid him, and he became known
as the school bully.  His grades also fell off, as he found none of
what he was learning to be relevant, or interesting.

Ragnar missed his father dearly, and although his fathers' friends--Hathawulf,
Veldis and Heggi--watched over him, it wasn't the same.  there wasn't that
bond between them.  Ragnar hadn't fought with them on the field of honor...
 

His first hange came near the very end of a rugby match.  As big as he was,
Ragnar the center scrum position, and during a grab, he'd had an opponent's
head run into his nose, flipping Raganr backwards.  The impact on the ground
left him startled and angry.  As the teams moved up the field--away from him,
Ragnar felt himself grow angry, and he noticed the ripping of his clothing, and
the fur growing.

And Ragnar felt fear grip him.  He was becoming like the Grendel!  Ragnar fled
for the woods which bordered the school field, and hid there until he fell
asleep.  When he awoke, he had changed back to his homid form, and wasn't
sure what had happened...

But his mother knew the signs.  Freydis  took Ragnar immediately to
hathawulf, head of their SCA house, and head of the local sept.  She
explained what she had seen, and what she had suspected, and Hathawulf
told her he'd take care of Ragnar.

And Ragnar was introduced to Garou society the way it should be.  Truly
now, he had the chance to become a warrior.  he'd played at it well enough,
in the SCA, but now the time had come for him to step up and take his place
among his brothers, to follow his father, and his great-grand-father before
him.

He learned that his father was Heyglik the Slow, and his name was not an
insult.  For Heyglik was a philodox--a judge of the people, and he weighed
every situation carefully before issuing judgement.  His great-grand-father
was Efan Blind-Sight, a theurge who foretold of a child of the Sept who
would be touched by snake, cat, and bear, and avenge his father's wrongful
death, at his own expense.

And Ragnar was told the stories of Heygliks' prowess once again, only
this time, with all the detail given in.  The Norns had truly smiled
upon Heylgik.

And Ragnar took to his studies, and learned of his heritage.

And in time, Ragnar underwent a rite of passage with two other cubs.
Thorjoltr the Broken, the massive theurge with no eyes, sent three cubs,
Ragnar, an Ahroun, Stighalf, a Philodox, and Breggis, a comely young
galliard, into the heart of Minneapolis.

Stighalf and Ragnar bonded immediately, but there was tension with Breggis.
Litany or not, they were both young boys, and Breggis was a very attractive
girl.

They were sent into the city to retrieve the horns of power--a great talisman
which had been taken from one of their own, and rested, the theurge beleived,
in the domain of a creature of the night... a vampire.

Now, Ragnar knew who had had the Horns of Power, and knew that his father
would never have given up the horns without a fight...  Ragnar remembered
well the look of reverence on his fathers' face, when he was bestowed
the horns.

And Together, the three hatched a plan.  Breggis would seduce the vampire
away with the suggestion of potent blood.  Ragnar would steal the horns,
and Stighalf and Breggis would destroy the vampire.

And the plan would have worked.

It would have worked had the vampire not been a Follower of Set (not that
the garou knew this, nor what it might mean). For the vampire understood
what Breggis was, and in a masterful stroke was able to turn Breggis and
Stighalf upon each other in a fit of carnal lust.  They tore at each other,
they shifted form, and copulated, aware only of their own need and senses,
while the vampire, Amon-Suna-Neptra, returned to his haven to find Ragnar
within.

Thus found, Ragnar shifted to crinos and attacked.  It was a brief and
bloody battle, and Ragnar escaped, with the horns.  He could not tell if
his opponent was dead or not, for he did not know if stillness in a vampire
represented death or whether the movie presentation was real, and the
vampireshould have turned to dust.

The mission, though, was to retrieve the horns.  the vampire's survival
was secondary.  Ragnar went to connect with Stighalf and breggis, and was
horrified at what he found.  The Litany had been so drummed into him that
he could not bring himself to forgive them...  and worse, they'd given in
to their own lust and left him wthout backup.

Furious, he returned to the caern, and presented the horns to Hathawulf,
and demanded to know what had become of his father...  Hathawulf did not
have an answer.

Thorjoltr, the theurge gave Raganr the name "Ragnar the Quick". He had
passed his right of passage, but lost honor in that he did not confirm
that the vampire he'd fought was slain (destroy the wyrm wherever it
dwells).  he also received his rite of wounding, for hte multiple wounds
that criss-crossed his body... a remembrance from Amon-Suna-Neptra.

Thorjoltr told Ragnar that the creature he had fought had come from
South America, where his father fought beside Gogol Fangs-First, in the
Amazon conflict.  And when Ragnar was ready, he too would go there.

Stighalf and Breggis returned to the caern, and were branded and outcast
as violators of the Litany.  Hathawulf wanted death.  but Thorjoltr came
to their defence, sayingthat they were young yet, and had much to offer,
and that Breggis was with child, and though it would surely be metis,
it would bring them great honor from their dishonor.

So Ragnar underwent his rite of wounding, and he stayed with the caern.
He managed to finish his grave 12 schooling by the time he was eighteen,
and he'd given more attenteion to his studies to pass with respectable, if
not remarkable grades.

But, shortly after his graduation, he approached the Brega, the gate-keeper
who was, coincidentally, Breggis cousin.  He asked for passage to the Amazon,
so he could find his destiny.  Brega held no love for Ragnar, and even a year
later, she blamed him for her daughter's exile.  She agreed, more because she
expected Ragnarot die in the Amazon, and her daughter's dishonorable actions
to be avenged.

Ragnar served with the Amazon crew [I don't actually have Rage across the
Amazon], and served in a swift and powerful Warg that traversed the
southwestern sections of the Amazon basin.  He was young, and mostly
untrained, but he fought with honor and made a good account of himself.
He never met with Gogol Fangs-First, though.

After six months, Ragnar was given a reconnaisance mission with two others.
They were to perform a wide circle around a suspected Wyrm caern.  There
were no outward manifestations of the caern, but the Warg theurge had a
sense of foreboding about the area.

Ragnar travelled with Artemis Single-Step and Stefan Hive-breaker, a Black
Fury and a Shadow Lord.  Stefan led the team and directed them in a stealth
mission.  The umbra showed no signs of infection, though there was a peculiar
area in the umbra that the three of them were denied entrance to.  it was
as if some creature had walled off a section of the penumbra.

Artemis Single-Step sat and considered the distraction, while Stefan performed
a quick reconnaisance around the area.  After which, he instructed Ragnar to
makr the site, so they could bring back others to return.

Shrugging, Ragnar prepared  to write the glyphs that would makr the site.
Before he could complete the sigils, a sudden fury broke from the forest,
down-wind.  It was fast, it was angry, and it cut Stefan and Ragnar both
before they could react.  Artemis had disappeared from the area, leaving
Ragnar and Stefan to combat whatever it was.

It was a Bastet, and it fought with a fury the two of them could not match.
Even enhanced by rage, this creature was far older, for more agile, and
far quicker than they.

The two took heavy losses from a sustained attack.  Ragnar tried to use
the terrain to his advantage, but he only proved his clumsiness in the
jungle terrain, and left Stefan undefended.  The wounds they had were not
healing.

It was some minutes before Artemis returned with reinforcements...  and
when she returned with the commandoes howling in fury, the Bastet had
disappeared.

Both Ragnar and Stefan were taken back to the central rally point, and
their wounds were tended to, as best as possible.  The damage was aggravated
by the Beast's supernatural claws, and Ragnar learned  of hte other bete,
and how some stillbear an enmity for the war of rage.  Odd that those who
failed in their duties should bear so much anger toward the Garou who were
only doing theirs.
 

Before he was fully healed, Ragnar grew bored of his confinement, and itched
to get back into battle.  Away from school, away from the Minnesota, Ragnar
felt he was truly useful.

One nihgt, merely two nights since his conflict with the bastet, Ragnar
heard the sounds of a fierce battle in the distance.  There was the use
of explosives, and Ragnar recognized the battle-cry of Artemis Single Step.
 

Blood-lust rising in his veins, Ragnar woke Stefan Hive-Breaker, and
together, the two limped and dragged themselves towards where they'd
heard the fighting.

When they'd gotten there, they came to a scene of wholesale slaughter.
There wasa clearing--a forced clearing--trees were broken and pushed
into their neighbors... the very earth was scorched, while foliage was
burnt and smoking.

There were red, pulpy masses of flesh scatered around the 10-foot clearing,
some still trembling.  Some were recognizeable as bodies...  but some bore
twistings so far from the natural, that Stefan winced and called them
fomori.  Ragnar had fought fomori, and he knew they were twisted by the
promise of the Wyrm's power.
 

And at the center of it, curled in a ball, lay a single garou.  She
had been beautiful once, with a long gold mane that shone  in the firelight.
But now, she'd been broken, and healed in a way that no body was meant to go,
and she'd died before they'd arrived.

And in her hand, lay the shatered glass and metal rod of a small sceptre...
Solemnly, Stefan and Ragnar bore the body of Artemis Single-Step back to
the Southern Warg, to be given the death rites with full honors.

Full ten fomori she had taken down, and in the process, she had destroyed
the Blood Bomb which had taken down so many of their bretheren.  And Ragnar
knew now that he did not want to be in the Amazon any further.  He had
seen battle, and he had seen those he had admired brought so low.  Now,
he needed to be away from that place.

It was during the moot where he told the story of Artemis Single-Step, that
Ragnar the Quick met Gogol Fangs-First.   Gogol was Fenrir as well, and he
looked on Ragnar with something akin to a fatherly approval.  Gogol told
Ragnar that his father was a good warrior, and that he had done his sept
and tribe proud.

Nut while Fangs-First may be brutal, may be a great and glorious warrior,
he knew the look of the blooded, and Gogol told Ragnar to go home.  He
was young yet, and would have his days of glory.  But for now, he needed
to learn of hte world and understand it.  Ther ewould come a time, when
Gogol would call for him, and together, they would fight, side by side,
and sned their foes to hel or Niflheim, wherever they belong.  And if
they wereto fall, surely Valhalla would await them...  But not today.

So, with a heavy heart, Ragnar took Gogl's advise, and returned to Minnesota.
But he did not fit in with his people there.  He told his tales, and spoke
of his battles.  But all the petty concerns of the city, all the irrelevant
trial or sept conflict did nothing for Ragnar's patience.

And he'd been home in Minneapolis less than a month before he decided that
he needed ot travel.  To see other caerns, other septs, and to fight the wyrm
in great and glorious battle.  He would find his father, or match his father
in feats of bravery. or he would die trying.

Haunted by the torn and broken body of Artemis Single-Step, Ragnar is healed
in body, but the sight of carnage, and the feel ofbloodlust in his ears
keep him going in a constant tug-of-war between revulsion and revelment.
He needs a strong hand to guide him, he beleives, and though he may never
find his father, he will find what happened, and strong hand or not, he
will find vengeance.  For Heyglik and Artemis; For Breggi and Stighalf.
For Freydis.