- "It would seem sensible, wouldn't it? After all, it would be bitterly ironic if we survived all our adventures only to get ourselves killed in some back-alley in this god-forsaken place"
- —Tyrion, during his return to Skeggi after reclaiming Sunfang[2b]
Skeggi is the largest and oldest Human settlement in the New World. It is the gateway to Lustria through which adventurers and looters go inland in search of fortune. Of these, the principal ones are the Norscans, whose craving for gold equals their craving for blood. The Norscans are a warrior people and their gods are the gods of the End Times. When the Chaos Realms expand and the beasts of hell take on physical form, the Norscans respond to the call to arms and march to war with the warriors of the Dark Gods to finish with all who cross their path and set fire to anything they cannot plunder.[1a]
However, very few of these men await the call of the powers of ruin to war, but leave on board their drakkars to plunder all the coasts of the world. Throughout infinite generations of constant incursions, the men of Norsca have become exceptional sailors who even boast of being able to surpass the navigation of the fleets of the High Elves of Lothern. The greatest of these nothern sailors was Losteriksson, who, in 888 of the imperial calendar, docked on the coast of the New World, opening the doors of the continent of Lustria to the intrusion of the human race and forever altering the course of the plans of the mysterious Old Ones.[1a]
History
The Norse adventurer Losteriksson was the first Old Worlder to land on the coast of Lustria and live to tell the tale. As soon as his three ships anchored off the coast, the men were plagued by sickness caused by insect bites. Leaving the sick warriors behind to guard the ships Losteriksson headed inland with the rest of his men in search of treasure. At first Losteriksson had no idea what the interior of the new land contained, but assumed that there would be temples and cities to plunder just like there were in Ulthuan and Naggaroth. However, he was hoping for more luck than in those two lands, which were rather too resolutely defended for his liking.[3a]
After a long trek through the jungle and with only half his party still alive, he emerged among the overgrown ruins of a deserted temple city. This was exactly what Losteriksson had been hoping for. His men spread out to ransack the place. Some meagre items of gold were found in various vaults and crypts after a full day's search, although several men disappeared in the process. Losteriksson decided to return to his boats while the going was good, intending to return again with a bigger expedition to probe deeper into the jungle. Eventually Losteriksson and a handful of warriors reached the beach to find the boats deserted. Their men had gone, not even their bones were left. Their fate was unknown.[3a]
There were now so few Norse left that the shareout of the gold made all the survivors quite rich. This gave every man the impression that Lustria was a place where a man could get rich. None stopped to consider the odds of surviving to enjoy the riches. Losteriksson could now return to Norsca with honour and the dowry for his beloved Inga. Norse being excellent seafarers, all the ships returned safely, despite the diminished crews. Soon word spread throughout Norsca of a new land overflowing with gold. Warriors flocked to Losteriksson's new and magnificent hall, built with his share of the gold, and clamoured for him to lead a new expedition to Lustria.[3a]
At length, Losteriksson ordered many ships to be built. Under his leadership, these sailed southwards loaded not only with Norse warriors, but also their wives and farm animals. The expedition reached Lustria after a long and arduous voyage in which some of the ships were lost. Losteriksson navigated along the coast to find the great cairn which his men had raised to mark their previous landfall. The place was found and the ships were beached. Within a few days, the Norse had built a stockade around their ships. The new land was rich in timber and the human axes were sharp, so it was not long before a true Norse settlement had taken shape complete with a timber hall. The jungle was cleared back for hundreds of yards, which did much to alleviate the sickness brought by the insects.[3b]
The Norse fed on fruit instead of the stodgy porridge of their homeland, and the meat of the great reptile beasts that they hunted in the jungle roasted well on their spits. Lack of ale was a serious problem, until the first crop of corn was harvested. However, the hives of the huge tropical bees provided honey to make a mead which surpassed anything in Norsca. The new Norse colony was called Skeggi, in honour of Losteriksson's daughter who was the first child to be born in the new land. At first Losteriksson forbade anyone from going into the jungle. This was a great annoyance to the young warriors eager for riches and soon many were disobeying him. Small groups went their own way and never returned. At least one or two bands did find riches elsewhere and returned to Norsca, encouraging more Norse to make the voyage to Lustria.[3b]
Foundation of Skeggi (888 IC)
A Norse and an Empireman standing shoulder to shoulder in Skeggi
Thus ships laden with more settlers turned up from time to time at Skeggi to swell the population. Unfortunately, one of the more reckless bands of Norse warriors must have stumbled upon a temple city which was inhabited by Lizardmen. No doubt they attempted to seize something precious and got away with it. Losteriksson and the settlers of Skeggi only found out about this when a vast horde of Skinks suddenly emerged from the jungle and swanned across the settlers' hard won fields.[3b]
The settlers retreated back into the stockade behind a shield wall of warriors. Every Norse farmed his plot with his axe and shield beside him, which was just as well. The Skinks besieged the stockade, showering the settlers with poisoned arrows and javelins. The situation seemed hopeless until Losteriksson ordered all the treasure accumulated in Skeggi to be thrown over the rampart. His men reluctantly obeyed. The Skinks stopped shooting and several crested leaders scurried out to inspect the items. The Norse observed their hissing conversations as they debated the hoard, picking up each item and discarding it. Then, taking only a single gold plaque inscribed with glyphs, they turned away and led their men back into the jungle without a backward glance.[3b]
The Norse waited a few moments before rushing out to recover their treasure. Obviously the Skink officers, who were in fact Piqipoqi and Qupacoco, had been sent by the Mage-Priests of Hexoatl to recover a particular item of great value to them. The rest of the gold was nothing more than trivial trash as far as they were concerned. None of the Norse had failed to notice that the Skink leaders and many of the warriors were absolutely dripping with silver and jade trinkets and jewellery. And so the settlement survived and prospered. For many years. the Norse were content to probe into the interior and search the ruins which they found for treasure. Of those who went too far, none returned and so the great cities of the interior remained hidden from their greed. Norse being Norse - great travellers, drinkers and boasters, the tale of the fabled wealth of Lustria was now the talk of the taverns of Bretonnia, Estalia, Tilea and the Empire as drunken Norsemen related their wild tales before falling senseless under the table.
Needless to say, the rumours of gold fired the interest of any Dwarfs who overheard them. The Slann had known all along about the founding of Skeggi and the plague of gold-lusting strangers that was about to break their tranquility, as it had been predicted on the great plaque of the three hundredth cycle of the two moons in Ito. The Old Ones had calculated every stage in the evolution of the new spawnings. The great Slann of the second spawning had calibrated the predictions to take account of the accelerated evolution caused by the collapse of the polar warp gates. All the Slann mages knew of the events via the lines of telepathy across their lands, and gave these instructions to their servants: "Xla Xaurux quaha tec oxId huac izqua Cann iq ndan!" (-Raise Saurus and prepare the weapons of war, for a time of tribulation is upon us). Losteriksson's expedition was not the first Norse penetration into the seas around Lustria; his was just the first successful one. There had been other adventurers who had worked their way down the coast of Naggaroth towards the unknown continent of Lustria. Since these expeditions came to a bad end, with no-one left to tell the tale, they do not feature in any Norse sagas, leaving Losteriksson to claim all the fame for discovering Lustria himself.[3c]
Layout
Due to the nature of the land surrounding Skeggi, the only viable route to get in and out of the colony is by sea. The marshes surrounding the settlement are in a state of constant flux in which the water level increases and decreases with the tide flooding any path a fool has been able to build. As a result, the forest surrounding Skeggi is furrowed by a network of narrow roads and paths, although very few of the roads are practicable. From the moment the traveler leaves the relative safety of the clearings surrounding the colony, he plunges himself into a leafy jungle and all the dangers that await him.[1a]
Another distinctive aspect of this village is also the buildings themselves. Though they still hold the same Longhouse structure of the Norse people, their foundation is not made in ground dirt, but rather large wooden support beams called stilts uplift the structure above the mud to ensure its foundation wouldn't sink. The harbour of Skeggi is a makeshift place of rickety wooden piers flanked by the local longhouses, with a white sand beach on which longships were drawn up. In the distance, one can see the monstrous brutal structure of the Skeggi Fortress. It's the size of a small town, and had been built by a dozen raider lords on the site of the original keep of Losteriksson, the town's legendary founder. The only thing that comes close to being as noticeable is the giant barrow that has grown over the spot where Losteriksson first set foot on this land.[2b]
Inhabitants
From its coastal base, the Norse of Skeggi make incursions through all corners of the continent and beyond. Towards the North is Naggaroth, where numerous Norse warlords have decided to make incursions against the evil Dark Elves. Towards the West, the jungle is filled with sacred sites of the Lizardmen waiting to be looted and some Norse have survived the deadly traps of such places only to prevent passage to treasure hunters like them. Further west lies the temple-city of Hexoatl, a huge metropolis brimming with Lizardmen, and to this day no Norse has been reckless enough to attempt to attack it, although it is only a matter of time before some braggart warlord decide to organize an expedition.[1a]
To those Norse who were born in Skeggi, the suffocating climate does not affect them as much as the new arrivals to the colony and they have become experts in crossing the trails of the forest and in surviving hunting the monsters that inhabit it. Some of these barbarians have even entered the flooded caverns where the icy ones lay their eggs and steal one of their bestial eggs to raise, tame and use it as a mount in combat. However, this is very unusual and has never truly worked. Instead it has caused a great deal of consternation among the Lizardmen, who consider these acts and the mere presence of the Norse in Lustria as a great disruption of the Great Plan.[1a]
Military
Although no one has ruled the inhabitants of Skeggi since the days of Losteriksson, in the long history of the colony there have been periods in which its irritable population has united, even if only for a brief period of time, by the ruthless iron-will of a strong Warlord. Given its status as a refuge for the most bloodthirsty war-raiders devoted to piracy, Skeggi has been the target of punishment attacks by Lizardmen and other races that often try to recover some of the most valuable items that have been stolen from their sacred temples. In spite of the just rage of these peoples, the fanaticism with which the Norse always defend their honor as a race and their basic right to plunder is always superior.[1a]
Trivia
- Around 2273 IC (XI, 110), Tyrion of Ulthuan hired humans from Skeggi for an expedition he was leading into the jungles of Lustria.[2a]
Source
- 1 Games Workshop Lustria: The traveler's guide to Skeggi (Spanish Website)
- 2 Tyrion and Teclis: Sword of Caledor (Novel) by William King
- 3 Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (5th Edition)
