Norsca

" Call us savages because we strike at you, but know this - it is we who are closest to the Ruinous Powers. We, most favoured of the gods shall burn your lands, revel in your suffering, and destroy you. Despair! For all that remains for you is the taste of northern steel and the end of your world. Such is the will of the Gods ." - Hallbjorn, Norse Marauder

Norsca  is a peninsula located in the far north of the world, populated by the Norscan tribes '''. ' It is a land steeped in the mutating energies of Chaos due to its proximity to the Chaos Wastes, known amongst the Northern tribes as the Shadowlands''. The men of Norsca are without exception great warriors. Blessed with incredible strength at arms and fierce demeanors. It is the dream of nearly every Norsemen to join the ranks of the greatest warriors; to become Champions of Chaos and bear the marks of their Dark Gods.

Hard-bitten and war-like, the men of Norsca are the very epitome of the Warriors of Chaos.

Geography
Norsca is, for the most part, a frozen wasteland stalked by all manner of gruesome monsters. Such as Trolls, Giants, and nameless things that dwell beneath the mountains. Few cropsgrow here, for the land is as hard as iron and the howling winds cut like daggers of purest cold. A network of fjords and mist-clouded isles wreath the coasts, and it is from here that the Northmen build and tether the longships with which they terrorize the shores of the known world. In the lands of Norsca, scattered coastal settlements provide some respite from the harshness of the elements. But even they are regularly assaulted by Bloodkrakens and other such horrors. Further inland, the land gives way to frozen steppes where tribesmen hunt their game, taking care to avoid the bone-carpeted lairs of ice drakes. It is a grim, shadowy land where the weak do not live long. And where living means a constant fight for survival, supremacy, and the chance to appease the Dark Gods.

The seas of Norsca are even less hospitable. Black longships prowl the coast, mastered by terrible Chaos Champions. And it is from the ports of Norsca, the Chaos Reavers sail; eager to set the lands of the south to the torch. The icy waves of the Sea of Claws is itself as much the bane of sailors as the Chaos Marauders who stride it with their longships, with winds so cold they freeze the very spray, causing knives of cold to pierce the flesh and freeze extremities.

The country is famed for its forboding mountain peaks. Though they dominate the terrain, there are also stretches of dark pine forests doting the slopes, and some stretches of open plains. Norsca also has glacial seas that stretch down from the Northern Chaos Wastes. These ice fields form the Frozen Sea along the north. Beyond the eastern arm of that body of water lies the Eastern Steppes, where dwell the Kurgans, cousins to the Norscans and fellows to them in the worship and adoration of the Chaos Gods.

Landmarks
Aside from the natural features of this land, Norsca has a great many constructions dotting the landscape, erected by the savage Norsemen who call this dark land home. Massive Chaos Monoliths are a common site throughout the land, blasphemous constructions of stone raised to honour and commemorate the lives of great Chaos Champions who are either dead or ascended to daemonhood; in addition to their function of remembering the lives of great Norse heroes, the monoliths also function as markers of tribal territory. An example would be the Monolith of Borkill the Bloody-Handed, raised by the champion's fellow Skaelings to honour his victory over a Bonegrinder giant, or the Monolith of Kjarl Deathaxe, built on the shores of the Chaos Wastes to honour the Khornate Champion.

The Norscans are also famed for their great halls, immense buildings where the tribes feast and fight and muster for great invasions upon the coasts of the Old World. The most famous of these is the Hall of the Snaegr, located in southern Norsca in Skaeling tribal lands. It is home to the Snaegr tribe, devout and favoured followers of the Chaos God Khorne. One of the greatest chieftains of the Snaegr, Ulfr, was such a powerful champion that he was raised up by Khorne into Daemon Princehood, known to his tribesmen as U lfrdaemonkin, they summon this ancient champion to impart the Blessing of Khorne upon their later chieftains in an ancient ritual as old as Chaos itself.

In addition to all this, Chaos Citadels are also erected by th Norscan tribes, where the most powerful chieftains dwell. There are three ones known to have been constructed in Norsca: the Forbidden Citadel in Aesling lands, the Doomkeep in the lands of the Vargs, and the Tower of Khrakk in Baersonling lands.

The Norscans
"From the harsh snowlands they come, blue of eye and blonde of hair and tattooed upon arms, face and chest. Their eyes are mad with bloodlust, for blood they thirst, driven forth on the whims of the gods they seek to appease. Clad in few garments and wielding clumsy and brutal axes and maces, they rage against the civilized lands of the south, burning, pillaging and looting all before them as a sacrifice to their uncaring masters beyond the gates of hell in the northern wastes' .''" - the Liber Chaotica, penned by Richter Kleiss, declared insane. '''

The Norse are a distinctive race. Possessed of tall frames and extremely muscular builds, they are thought to be some of the strongest warriors in all the world. The folk of the Empire know the Norse as those who sail their longships to attack the southern lands, clad in fur and steel, a fierce race whose sons love nothing better than to charge into battle wielding sharp axes.

Over the centuries, the marauders from the above the Sea of Claws have always targeted Kislev and the northernmost lands of the Empire. The raids of the Norse have become increasingly brutal and deadly as the taint of Chaos has spread across the northern wastes. In times gone by, the battle-hardened Norse and Kurgans would forcibly settle the lands they jointly conquered, taking a local wife. Over time, as the grip of the Chaos Gods upon the world has increased, their influence in the northlands has increased exponentially.

The taint of Chaos is ever increasing and has ever been strongest in the North, due to its proximity to the gateway to the Realm of Chaos at the northernmost point of the world. For this reason, the hard warriors of Norsca have ever worshiped the Chaos Gods. Even if the names of these gods have been warped along with the minds of the Norse. While all the tribes recognize the Chaos Gods as their masters, they may pray and shout to a different name, but it is always the Ruinous Powers who are listening and who respond to their cries.

Thus, raids from the north seek not only to take gold, women and food for the sake of survival, but also to shed blood for the Gods. When the fur-cloaked warriors of Norsca emerge from their longships, their objective may not be to simply pillage, but to kill, maim and destroy in the names of the Chaos Gods.

The Norsemen are in a constant state of warfare. Both with each other, the other northern races, and with the civilized lands of the south. In Kislev, where the border is less constant than the sea, the Ice Queen has had to continously reinforce the defenses of the frontier cities of Praag and Erengrad against the staggering ferocity of Norscan attacks.

In spite of their savagery, a few facets of society remain; namely, honour and loyalty. To one's kinsmen and allies. Few Northmen dare to displease their chieftains or tribal elders, for doing so risks being thrown into the wilds, with little hope of being accepted by another tribe.

Early History of the Norscans
In the northernmost lands of what is now known as the Empire lived the Udoses and Roppsmenn tribes. Further north beyond any of them, beyond even the Forest of Shadows, dwelt the Norsii tribes. Barbarians and worshipers of the Dark Gods who had come down from the Far North and settled the Reik Basin. The Northmen were brutal warriors, savages even by the standard of the other tribesmen who dwelled in the lands. Iron warriors, possessed of indomitable strength and power, utterly without mercy, the other tribes of the lands were prey to them, unwilling to bend their knees to the infernal masters of the Northern tribesmen. The legends of the time of Sigmar describe the depredations of the Northmen in no uncertain terms, speaking of towering warriors in black armour and horned helms, wielding great jagged axes and shields taller than any man, and towering horsemen on great destriers.

Masters of the fearsome Wolfships, the Norsii raiders were the terror of the northern coastlines. Leaving only death and smoking ruin in the wake of their catastrophic invasions.

The Norsii's reign of terror was finally ended when Sigmar rallied the tribes of the south and drove them back beyond the sea to the forsaken lands of the North. Against such a powerful foe, not even the Norsii could withstand, and so they were forced to retreat to the land that would later be known as Norsca; marshalling their forces and nursing an even greater hatred of the men who had ended their path of conquest.

In the 9 IC, he Norsii would later return in force with all the fury of their Dark Gods behind them. Rallied behind the leadership of a great chieftain and Champion of Khorne known as Cormac Bloodaxe, the Norsii raided the northern territories of the nascent Empire just as they had before; enslaving the Roppsmenn tribe to their will and launching a devastating attack on the Udoses tribe, killing their chieftain Wolfilla, himself a count of the Empire, and throwing the northerners into disarray. With the defense of the north shattered, the Norsii were able to strike further and further into Imperial lands, spreading terror and destruction everywhere they went.

This was only exacerbated by the fact that when Sigmar learned of the Norsii invasion, and the Roppsmenn's complicity in it, he marshalled his forces and waged a long, ardous campaign to crush them and drive them out of the Empire, for they had forfeited their place in it by aiding the savage Norsemen. This left the inner lands of the Empire also undefended against the wrath of the Northmen. The Roppsmenn tribe was all but annihilated by Sigmar, driven into the then unknown lands of the east, where they would come into conflict with the Ungols.

When Sigmar finally faced the Northmen, they had done what no other enemy had accomplished before or ever since, they handed Sigmar his first ever military defeat. Even the whirlwind fury of the Thuringian berserkers was little compared to the merciless battle-rage of the Norsii warriors. The axes and swords of the Norse were not the only foe Sigmar faced that day, for the Norsii had also enslaved the Kurgan and Hung tribes to their service, and so did the horsemen encircle Sigmar's host, hammering them with arrows while the Norsemen charged their lines, smashing into the southern warriors like the fist of the Blood God himself.

Faced with such opposition, Sigmar and his warriors retreated to Middenheim, forcing the Norsii into a long, protracted siege. Though the toll was high, the Empire eventually triumphed, when reinforcements from the other tribes converged upon the Norsii and defeated them. Once more, the Norsii were thrown back across the Sea of Claws, to the land of Norsca. Where their descendants live to this day, warring with each other and continuing to venerate cruel gods whose names civilized men do not speak.

The Norse Today
The Norscans, as they came to be called after settling in the north, have earned a reputation as relentless warriors feared throughout the Old World. In the past, they have invaded and conquered parts of the Empire, ruling areas there briefly before they return to their blasted fastness in the far north. An example of such is of Snorri Half-Hand who ravaged and conquered the Wasteland with a horde of Marauders at his back, renaming the area as "Vestland", and proclaiming himself Jarl. The later advent of the Black Plague led to the Norscans abandoning the city of Marienburg.

Another example is of the brief Norse rulership of Nordland, where the Norscans brutally conquered the northern province and governed it, as the Empire was incapable of sending armies to free the Nordlanders as a result of the Great Plague. Due to this, Norscan longships colonized the Nordland coast, enslaving the native Nordland population. Emperor Mandred Skavenslayer, pre-occupied with other threats, could also not answer their pleas, much to the horror of the northerners.

Yet the Norscans are most feared for the zeal with which they fight in the names of the gods of the North. In the year 2515 IC, a massive Chaos incursion poured out of Norsca, led by the fearsome Chaos Champion Lord Mortkin. The invasion was launched in retribution for the destruction of the Norse town of Ulfennik, against the Elector Count of Ostland, Valmir von Raukov, who had led the attack on Ulfennik. The Norscans ravaged most of Ostland and burned down the great city of Volganof as weregild for the destruction of Ulfennik. The son of the count, Oleg von Raukov, was also slain in the invasion.

In Sigmarzeit 2398, one of the dread lords of Chaos, a legendary warrior-queen of Norsca known as Valkia the Bloody, consort to Khorne the Blood God himself, called the Northmen to take to their longboats and follow her across the Sea of Claws to wage war once more upon the people of Nordland. Valkia and her tribe fell upon the northern provinces like sea wolves. Their purpose not to enslave the Nordlanders, nor to enrichen themselves upon the spoils of their raids, but simply to shed blood in honour of the Norscan god of battle. Neither man, woman, child nor even livestock was spared sacrifice to the insatiable Blood God.

The Empire is not the only nation to endure the depredation of the Chaos reavers, Kislev as well has suffered from Norscan attacks in the past, being the border realm between the south and the terror of the north. During the Great War Against Chaos in 2302 IC, a mighty Chaos Lord known as Sven Bloody-Hand, lieutenant to the Kurgan warlord Asavar Kul, sacked the great port city of Erengrad before escaping back to the sea. More generally, Norse Chaos incursions from behind the Chaos-tainted wilderness of Troll Country are a constant threat to the Kislevites. Though these attacks are mostly confined to small scale raids, on occasion, a powerful chieftain will arise in Norsca and bring the tribes together for a great invasion into the realm of the Ice Queen. Despite their reputation as fearless marauders, the Norscans have come to be weary of the Ice Witches of Kislev, and to kill one of these spellcasters is a cause for the Northmen to celebrate with gory and spectacular rituals invoking the Dark Gods. Much like the Nordlanders, the Kislevites are often the first to die to the jagged axes of the Norse.