An old saying goes that the land of Iskaldur is a smith of people, one that can take folk from anywhere and forge them into Skaldings, and the metaphor has a definite grain of truth to it. Iskaldur welcomes anyone and everyone who wishes to venture into their frozen lands, assimilating them into the nation via the Trial Of Frost; whoever they were before, whatever crimes they may have committed, if they can survive and persist until the end of their first year and a day in the Peninsula then they are Skaldings thenceforth in the eyes of their new countrymen. There is a general attitude amongst Skaldings that what matters is what someone is capable of, not what they look like, where they came from, or who they were before they came to Iskaldur.
Capability is the defining trait of every Skalding — what they can do, the skill and effectiveness with which they can do it, and how they approach their chosen craft or crafts. They place enormous weight on how strong, skilled, cunning, or clever someone is, and find significant value in anyone who can do something and do it well. The way that people show their mastery varies, but there’s a strong emphasis on showing off with various feats of skill and strength, whether crafting a sculpture and mounting it in a prominent place, plowing a field faster than anyone else can, dueling all the warriors in a Hold to show how good of a fighter you are, proving your cleverness in a Flyting contest, demonstrating your mastery of trade by making a show of how much money you can donate to a Hold’s upkeep and defenses, or any of a variety of other grand feats.
Pride is the greatest curse and blessing of the Skalding people. They take enormous pride in themselves and their nation, for achieving what they have in such a hostile land and for the bone-deep certainty that they can do even better, given time. Their pride drives them forward, never content to sit on their laurels, always believing that they can push onwards to new heights of glory and greatness. Unfortunately, it also causes them to sometimes pick fights that they shouldn’t or to take foolhardy risks, something that they view as just part of the business of sifting the wise from the foolish. Taunts that hurt someone’s pride are a classic means in Skalding tales by which the mighty are tricked into making fatal mistakes, but despite how well they understand this weakness Skaldings still cannot resist the pull of hubris and glory.
Skaldings are, as a general rule, cooperative individualists. They are first and foremost interested in their own success and that of their kin or comrades, and they will go to arduous lengths and take dangerous risks to achieve that success. Alongside the constant emphasis on personal capability and achievement, however, Skaldings are also taught from the cradle how fundamental cooperation is to survival and glory — striking out on your own not only means that you are more vulnerable, but also that you’ve deprived your loved ones or comrades of your sword and shield. This has bred a kind of individualistic pack mentality in most Skaldings, where they are fundamentally looking out for themselves but will form tight bonds of honor and respect with anyone whose aims happen to align with their own.
The fundamental instability of life in Iskaldur — caused by harsh winters, ruthless power games, and the constant reshuffling of social hierarchies as Skaldings strive against each other — means that the people who live there can never really rely on their positions being secure. Leadership of a Hold can change at the drop of a knife, and the balance of power and dominance within Iskaldur shifts like the tides. There is a basic understanding amongst all Skaldings that you have to look out for you and yours first and foremost: you need to build your power base in such a way that you aren’t dependent on the Jarl of your Hold or the Hákonig and Althinge of the nation in any significant way, because while you can usually count on them to keep their word, if your security depends on them keeping their position you’re just one coup or lost election away from losing it all.
Violence and harsh punishments are a fact of life in Iskaldur. Sometimes there simply isn’t enough food to last the winter, and when that happens raiding a neighboring Hold is seen as a valid means of ensuring your own Hold’s survival. In modern times these inter-Hold raids have become less common as the nation has grown in prosperity, but Skaldings still hold firm to the idea that violence in pursuit of survival — or glory — is still perfectly acceptable. This has also led to the infamous Skalding justice system, where violators of the (few) laws that Skaldings hold sacred are simply put to death; there are no half-measures as far as Skaldings are concerned, as someone who is willing to steal from their neighbors is seen as also being willing to kill them to take what they have, and either way their presence cannot be tolerated within a Hold. Though the punishments for crimes within a Hold are harsh, there is little enforcement of crimes between Holds; blood feuds between families in different Holds, or two entire Holds conducting a cold war of tit-for-tat raids and harassment against each other, are unfortunately not unheard of.
The inability to act as you wish, being unable to enact your will or defend yourself or your kin, inspires a poisonous loathing in Skaldings, and so they value power above almost anything else. Whether physical strength, mental skill and cunning, or social power, Skaldings want as much of it as they can grasp, whatever it takes to avoid that hated feeling of being too weak. There is a constant wariness in every Skalding’s heart, an unwillingness to accept that they’re truly safe and secure, or that they will remain so for very long, that drives them to grasp at any path that might increase how much power they have over themselves, the world around them, and their future.
Knowledge and understanding, foresight and preparation, insight and cunning; these are what the Skaldings mean when they say “wisdom.” These traits are seen as being just as critical to the Skalding way of life as strength of arm or the ability to endure a freezing winter, for wisdom is what allows the folk of Iskaldur to find new ways to thrive despite the harshness of the land around them. They believe that the mind is the most deadly weapon someone can wield, and the most useful tool, provided that it has been trained and sharpened. Those who can demonstrate quickness of wit, ability to understand what is going on, recall the lore of the past, and accurately predict what will happen in the future are praised highly for their wisdom and cunning.
Courage is a many-faceted thing, in the eyes of Skaldings, and something that they all, Sverðnar and Holders alike, strive for. To be willing to walk towards certain death without flinching; to stare down a raider and tell them, with calm certainty, that they may kill you but they will regret it; to venture into the unknown with naught but your own skills and strength to keep you safe. Glory is never earned through safe means, and the Skaldings scorn those who live their lives without being brave enough to take risks. The meek do not make history, and the best stories are always about those with the courage to face whatever Fate decides to throw at them.
It is not enough to be strong, wise, and courageous; the truly great strive for something more, something to make their mark on the world and its histories. Even those who don't achieve world-shaking power are regarded highly, provided they show a willingness to take risks and the skill (or luck) to succeed. On the other hand, to be unwilling to work to improve yourself, or the situation of your family or community, is intolerable. To be satisfied by the status quo, to see no reason to try to make things even a bit better, is to surrender to physical, moral, or cultural decay. Skaldings refuse to settle, whatever the situation they’re currently in — they will always strive for more, no matter how much they already have.
The true measure of a Skalding’s accomplishments is success. To be ambitious is a virtue; to let your ambitions lead you to take foolish risks, and fail, is a sin. Skaldings view wisdom and recklessness as a matter of results — if you make a big bet and win, you were wise, while if you take unnecessary risks and lose, you were a reckless fool. It can be a very confusing attitude for outsiders, who often view it as unnecessarily punitive, but to Skaldings it makes perfect sense, as it encourages ambitious members of the nation to push hard — but to also keep a wary eye on how much they’re risking if things don’t go their way.
Iskaldur names are usually a first name followed by either a patronymic/matronymic last name or an epithet. First names are usually some version of Norse, Icelandic, or fantasy-viking (see the generators below), though given how many Skaldings originate from other nations a significant number of them have non-Skalding first and last names.
Iskaldur last names are almost all patronymic or matronymic, with “-son” or “-sdottir” appended after the first name of one of their parents. The gender of the parent they’re named after doesn’t always match the child’s gender; if one parent is particularly well-known and respected, the child’s parents often decide to name the child after them in the hopes of passing down some of that parent’s glory and renown. This tradition is strongly encouraged for immigrants who have a child on the Peninsula, as a way of ensuring they grow up strong and “properly Skalding.” Bastards, orphans, and those who reject their parentage are granted the last name “Skaldebarn,” or “child of Iskaldur”; while there’s no parental renown associated with such a name, the Skaldebarn are still granted a healthy amount of respect for being able to survive to adulthood without strong parental support.
Epithets must be earned, in Iskaldur reckoning. Some are simple ones for a quirk of birth or nature (”Stormborn,” for a child with a tempestuous nature who was born during a blizzard, for example), but the best ones are granted for a particularly iconic or impressive deed. It is always up to the individual which epithet they use for themselves, and it’s customary for a Skalding to introduce themselves each time they enter a Hold that isn’t their own, so that they might declare the name or epithet they wish to be known by at the time. It’s also custom for any who hear them to ask for a telling of the Saga describing how they earned their epithet, which often sparks a bit of a tale-telling competition. Those who lie about their epithet or claim one they haven’t earned are scorned, and often publicly mocked for claiming unearned glory.
Male: Jorm Brunisson, Aevar Halgason, Godmund Runason, Vikar Sigreson, Erling Angason, Svafnir Jokulson
Female: Duandri Lirasdottir, Hilde Starulfsdottir, Ellisif Hrotmasdottir, Tryggvina Ingmarsdottir, Ragna Mannisdottir, Agnete Leinasdottir, Bergitta Thorlasdottir