The Vúlfbert

The wolftooth is a feared and coveted blade that came with the Hákarla, an Ikkerik people of The Old North. One of the finest crafted blades ever seen, swords like this first encountered in the Realm were thought to be magical. Made of an unfathomably high quality steel with a pattern welded core and welded-on hardened cutting edges, an Ikkerik vúlfbert was a technological marvel quite unlike anything ever crafted in the Realm. It was not known how the Ikkerik produced blooms of such high quality steel or where they acquired them for swords like this. Lightweight yet strong, a vúlfbert always kept its sharp edge and was almost magically supple. It could be used to stab or hack into a wooden shield, bend to an extreme angle in order wrench the shield out of an opponent’s hand and then snap back into perfect alignment for a killing strike.

These famous blades always bore the elaborate dragon knotwork of the Old North, a signature of the craftsperson who forged it and the history of the family it belonged to. Much has been learned about the lineages of the Old North from the engravings on the blades that came out of its provinces.

From Trollvordur traditionally came the largest swords, from Gyddjudal the most elaborately decorated. The swords of Tanggi always bore the fylgya of the Raven of Oddinri. Tigh Bru Hahn, Bridger of Lands, who first came to The Realm and founded the House of Hákkarl, carried a great wolftooth by the name of Ísbrjótur. The sword was rumored to be blessed by Freyggi himself, god of clan Vílisridda. The warrior who carried Ísbrjótur was deemed undefeatable. None now know where Tigh Bru Hahn's blade lies or who bears it but it was not consumed with the body of the Great Jarl in his sea-fire after his death.

Each wolftooth possesses a personal name and a bearing name. Ísbrjótur was the sword’s bearing name, though it is likely only Tigh Bru Hahn knew its personal name. A vúlfbert was considered far more than just an heirloom, it was considered an actual member of a family: a living, breathing, feeling entity of forged steel! Indeed, the carbon used to temper the blade’s iron was harvested from the ritually charred bones of a warrior in a family’s line. These swords were ‘rested’, ‘fed’, ‘healed’ and were even privileged to ‘drink’ before their jarl in certain celebrations. Insulting a warrior’s sword was akin to insulting her sister or her father and would be asking for death.

The vúlfbert was primarily a cutting sword often used in an Ikkerik shield wall. The blade was hacked or stabbed into an enemy line to pull down a shield or wrench the item out of the hand of a foe, while a sister or brother next to the wielder would stab into the undefended hole with a long spear called a höfuddspjót or head spear. In a duel however, the blade was known to be capable of shattering inferior weapons and even cutting through inferior armor. From the haunted barrow of an early Ikkerik Jarl by the title Sigurvegari, it was seen upon the exhumation and exorcism of his remains that he fell in battle just as the old stories told, by having been clove through both his calves in one great strike… and through greaves of Ikkerik steel! The goddis performing the ritual at his 300 year old grave knew this because the angle of this single strike carried through both the unfortunate Sigurvegari’s separated calves. “Old King Hobbletop” was an Ikkerik monster of the woods who hobbled around on bloody stumps. He was invented by parents to keep their young children from entering the woods alone, but the story was based on poor old Sigurvegari and a mortal encounter with a wolftooth sword!