The Saga of Teigh Brú Hahn

Once upon a time and far away, Ikkerik Land lay frozen in the deep north. Three times the sun had run the course of the solstices but winter had only settled in a little more with each pass. Gripped in ice there was no spring to renew the grains and the Fryst-Skrímsli returned to cannibalize the steads of the living after a century’s absence. The mists of Niflheim itself seemed to pour in from across the Midfryst and the open sea became a myth. The Ikkerik despaired and many fell to plundering their neighbors’ storehouses and larders before the predicted icy Ragnorok. Everywhere was war!

It was first foretold among the seiðmaðrs of the Vulfsrpungnír, the wolf clan, that escape from the Ragnarók of eternal winter was possible. These seers foresaw the Ikkerik reaching a land that lay across the grinding ice far to the south: They saw a hidden realm beyond the unknown southern seas, a land of eternal summer, a land of eternal warmth, a land of plenty, a land alive with magic. Muspelheim they called it and it beckoned them to exploration. Those who took up the call to seek Muspelheim would come to be known as the Hákkarla, the Seekers. Many Hákkarla perished pulling their longboats across hundreds of miles of frozen oceanic ice. Their boats were ground to splinters when the ice cracked beneath them and overtook them. Many unfortunate Hákkarla disappeared into the freezing slush, pulled to the bottom by the weight of their hauberks and arms.

But the seers foresaw that a Jarl who who would some day be called  Teigh Brú Hahn, Bridger of Lands, would find a way over this impossible track with the help of a Raven. The Sjohere they called him, after the monster of the deep, for he would be marked by a bite from that goddess. It was foretold that the Sjoehere would hail from the strongest clan, be imbued with a mystical wisdom bestowed by the fylgya of a Raven and would lead their people to a life of plenty in Muspelheim. This prophecy spread also among the Víldisridda, the Boar Riders and to the Berefylgender, the followers of the Bear, whose seers urged the unity all of the Hákkarla under the Sjoehere, who originally was a lowly but spirited Jarl by the name of Rollo Gylfang.

Many Ikkerik would follow Gylfang's people south, and the people of his clan who settled in Vúlfgsprungdin were said have blessings of wealth, health and longevity bestowed upon them above all other mortals. Stories of Rollo Gylfang or Teigh Brú Hahn, (or sometimes even Tiburon) reach ridiculous and clownish proportions of bravery, might and silliness in the Realm. As with all things, the Ikkerik keep a healthy sense of humor and skepticim even about their greatest heroes!