Norseifying the Space Wolves.... more.

[Vash113]

Ok, ok, I know what your going to say "but Vash the Space Wolves ARE Vikings in Space, how could you possibly make them more Nordic?" Well that is the question I wanted to consider. After all many of the norse themes and imagery are used, but not a whole terribly lot of the mythology and I thought it would be fun to sort of slip it in here and there and see if we can't make the Space Wolves even more nordic. After all while we know a bit about the Fenresian Culture, the lore and religion of Fenris are not that well known.

 

So how to go about this? Well I wanted to tie it into the culture of Fenris itself, not necessarily the Space Wolves. So to do that lets go back in time to before Russ was discovered by the Emperor, after he had been proclaimed Le-man of the Russ and become lord of all Fenris. His hall was mighty considering, but certainly someone like Russ will have gathered about himself powerfull individuals. So lets begin talking about his Skalds.

 

To start off with lets say we have Odin, Thor, Loki, Tyr, and Baldur to begin with. Each a chieftain of their respective tribes/areas of influence that knelt in fealty to Russ and joined his court. Russ is worshipped as a God on Fenris, so why should his chief Skalds not be worshipped as such as well, after all these mighty individuals were deemed worthy enough to stand at a God's side.

 

ODIN

 

Lets start with Odin, spear wielding, bearded, one eyed, two ravens, Hugin and Mugin. In battle Odin lost an eye to a foul troll, perhaps while saving Russ' life or something. Shortly thereafter his injury his lost sight was augmented by a second sight, the abilities of a Seer, and Odin became Russ' first Rune Priest, trusted despite his "taint" because of his valor and honor. As a member of Russ' court Odin kept watch on all the lands of Fenris for his lord through the use of two Ravens named Hugin and Mugin. When Russ was discovered by the Emperor Odin was transformed into a Space Marine, being just young enough for such to be possible, like the other members of the court. As a member of the Space Wolves Legion Odin quickly rose to mastery over the Runes, and he had his two ravens transformed into cyber Raven familiars, though even with the technology of the Imperium Odin refused an augmetic replacement for his lost eye. On Fenris Odin is worshipped as the eyes of Russ, ever watching over Fenris. When the chooser's of the slain appear from the sky in a Thunderhawk, the tribesmen of Fenris believe the gunship to be one of Odin's two Ravens.

 

Legends of the Space Wolves tell that Odin and Russ had a falling out, just as the Horus Heresy broke out. When Russ ordered the assault on Prospero Odin questioned him, asking whether Russ was thinking clearly and saying that the Thousand Sons were not their enemy. Russ refused to listen and the two almost came to blows. As the assault on Prospero commensed Odin took command of an escort ship and departed the Legion never to be seen since. Some say that when Russ dissapeared after the Heresy it was to go in search of his lost friend Odin.

 

THOR

 

Ok so lets move onto Thor, big, straight forward, stubborn, and with a huge friggin hammer. Thor was the Champion of Russ' court, challenges of honor were most often met by the hammer wielding Thor instead of Russ. Thor commanded Russ' armies in his absence, and was often the one dispatched to answer calls for aid. Thor traveled the wilds of Fenris facing monsters and protecting the people of Russ. The most popular and revered of Russ' Skalds, Thor was an inspiration to the tribesmen of Fenris, everywhere he went young warriors competed to join him in the halls of Russ. Often the challenge these youths had to face was to lift Thor's hammer and drive a stake into the ground, no easy feat for Thor was the most massive of any of the people of Fenris, his stature even came close to matching that of Russ himself! Not surprisingly his hammer was a monster of a weapon, larger than some of the boys who tried to lift it.

 

Those few who did complete the challenge would leave their tribe and join Thor in his travels. It was from these youths that many of the first Space Wolves were drawn for the Great Crusade, and when Russ and his warriors departed Fenris Thor left his hammer behind, and for hundreds of years the hammer was often used as a challenge for testing youths in the recruitment of initiates for the Chapter. After several centuries however as the tribes finally divided fully back to their state before the arrival of Russ, the hammer was lost during a great battle between two of the plains tribes. Legends say that a terrible half man, half wolf creature tore out the throats of both chieftans and carried the hammer into the deep wilds of Asaheim.

 

During the Great Crusade Thor fought in many battles alongside Russ in many battles and trained the finest warriors of the Legion. However as the Crusade wore on Russ returned to Fenris occasionally to refresh the ranks. On one such return Russ and Thor traveled into the most inhospitable regions of Asaheim, where they stumbled across a deep mountain valley, at its center was a single giant tree. At their approach three women calling themselves the Norns appeared and told Russ and Thor that the tree was known as Yggdrasil, the World Tree. At the base of the tree was chained the transformed Fenrir, oldest and greatest of the Wulfenkind. The Norns told Russ that should Fenrir ever be freed, the Imperium would face the time of ending, Ragnarok. When Russ and Thor turned to converse in whispers the Norns vanished. Wary of what had happened and what they had been told Russ charged Thor with defending the tree and Fenrir until the day of his return. Solemnly accepting his mission Thor remained behind while Russ returned to the Fang. Upon Russ' return, Thor's most gifted pupil Garm became the new Legion Champion and the Great Crusade continued. Tribesmen of the plains sometimes whisper of seeing an ancient sky warrior bearing the legendary Thunderhammer Mjolnir, keeping a silent vigil on the land and the mountains.

 

Tyr

 

Tyr was Russ' most accomplished weaponsmith. A brilliant strategic leader, Tyr showed equal brilliance in his weapons crafting. Never officially trained as a Techmarine, Tyr nevertheless maintained the arms of Russ and his Wolf Guard. No blade forged on Mars could match the weapons of Tyr, and it was Tyr who designed the first frost blade, forging the chainblades from the teeth of Ice Krakens he hunted and killed himself. The oldest Saga's of the Space Wolves say that Tyr was the only mortal present during the Emperor's forging of Russ' Sword, and that upon his transformation to a Space Marine Tyr's weapons crafting improved a hundred fold. To this day many of the crafting and smithing processes practiced by the Iron Priests are the same laid down by Tyr in the early days of the Fang.

 

The isle of the iron makers worships Tyr as their founder and inspirational leader and like the Space Wolves themselves, the smiths of the Isle use the same methods their ancestors did in the days when Tyr stood in the court of Russ.

 

Tyr was another of Russ' origional Skalds to vanish with him at the end of the Horus Heresy

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

To be continued...

 

But anyway thats all I can think of for now, I gotta do some more reading before I add anything else, probably gonna tweak whats there so far, but what do you guys think so far?

[Wolf89]

Really great read man! I enjoyed it and it was well written.

 

You've inspired me to create my own versions of Odin and Thor for sure. Odin will have to wait until my ice effects come in (I have a great storm caller Idea in mind) and Thor will wield a huge axe, who's head will be much larger than a normal one, possibly twice the size or larger.

[Marek Grimfang]

You don't need to preach the Norse theme to me.

 

Im trying to do custom decals using the Futhark/Norse runes.

[Vassakov]

Some awesome ideas you have going here. I may well now make my Rune Priest (WIP) blind in one eye as a homage to this.

 

I'd be interested to see what you do with Loki - perhaps his role is already filled by Wulfen; the clan leader who tried to betray Russ, and had the beast within laid plain for all to see?

[hendrik]

it's a very nice piece vash;)

you could make special characters from them maybe for in apoc and in friendly games?

eg Tyr being a iron priest with some special rules and counting him as a hq?

Thor would have the stuborn rule and confer it to any unit he joinscount his hammer as a relic blade, should give him S6 blows at normal I,something i think suits him well,

if you like it i would love to make some special characters from them?

i'll give Odin a try

what do we know of him,he can't see, he has 2 ravenpets,wields a spear,has a beard and he's a psychic

to me he would be like

 

rune priest Odin

200points?

 

5/5/4/3/5/4/10 upgraded profile,+1W,+1ld, lord and WGBL have the same diffrence,lord is 15pts more

 

 

wargear:

belt of runes (count as belt of Russ) (25)

spear of raven;counts as a master-crafted force weapon (40+15)

frags (2)

bolt pistol (1)

Hugin & Mugin; counts as a psychic hood and as a familiar; Hugin & Mugin both have a custom made device gifted from Tyr, this divise is filled with psychically attuned crystals that allow Odin to nullify an opposing psycher's power>see C:SM for these rules (10+5 for psychic hood?)

Psychic powers

-might of the runes;Odin is a master of the runes,his armour cladded with them.When Odin is in battle he can use the power of these runes to enhance his preformance.;works like might of heroes, see C:SM (15)

-stormcaller

 

 

SPECIAL RULES:

 

-Master of the runes; Odin is renowned for his strong psychic pressence,because of this he may cast 2 psychic powers a turn

 

-wolf guard bodyguard, as in our dex

[lothbrok]

i think you did a great job here. however i think tyr would be a better guardian of fenir seeing as this is much closer to his actual job in myth than thors. and i think you could do somethin with warrior priests of thor like ancient norse berserkers.

 

by the way skald meens poet i think it would be better to call them huskarls.

 

all in all though great work i really enjoyed readin it.

[Ragnar Lodbrok]

i think you did a great job here. however i think tyr would be a better guardian of fenir seeing as this is much closer to his actual job in myth than thors. and i think you could do somethin with warrior priests of thor like ancient norse berserkers.

 

by the way skald meens poet i think it would be better to call them huskarls.

 

all in all though great work i really enjoyed readin it.

Berserkers have recently speculated to have been members of a Cult of Odin who used religious ceremonies and dancing to get into a frenzy before battle but there are so many rumors about berserkers that range from bizarre to believable. Also Freya could just as easily fulfill the role of Protector of the People just like Tyr.

[OnlyInDeath]

::sigh:: Now I'm going to have to go refresh my knowledge of Norse mythology. It's been way too long....

 

Great job on working it into the SW fluff though. Definately looking forward to seeing what you you have to flesh out the rest of the major Norse gods. Once I get get my 40k radio tourney army painted up, these would definately be a great conversion project. Making Thor's hammer is something I would relish, as well as making a rather sweet terminator bodyguard for him...

[Ullr Direfang]

this is great, i could just see an APOC data sheet for these guys. it would be the ultimate masters of the chapter. if i could i would make them right now and use them next weekend.

 

UD

[Grantyr Greymantle]

it's a very nice piece vash;)

you could make special characters from them maybe for in apoc and in friendly games?

eg Tyr being a iron priest with some special rules and counting him as a hq?

Thor would have the stuborn rule and confer it to any unit he joinscount his hammer as a relic blade, should give him S6 blows at normal I,something i think suits him well,

if you like it i would love to make some special characters from them?

i'll give Odin a try

what do we know of him,he can't see, he has 2 ravenpets,wields a spear,has a beard and he's a psychic

to me he would be like

 

rune priest Odin

200points?

 

5/5/4/3/5/4/10 upgraded profile,+1W,+1ld, lord and WGBL have the same diffrence,lord is 15pts more

 

 

wargear:

belt of runes (count as belt of Russ) (25)

spear of raven;counts as a master-crafted force weapon (40+15)

frags (2)

bolt pistol (1)

Hugin & Mugin; counts as a psychic hood and as a familiar; Hugin & Mugin both have a custom made device gifted from Tyr, this divise is filled with psychically attuned crystals that allow Odin to nullify an opposing psycher's power>see C:SM for these rules (10+5 for psychic hood?)

Psychic powers

-might of the runes;Odin is a master of the runes,his armour cladded with them.When Odin is in battle he can use the power of these runes to enhance his preformance.;works like might of heroes, see C:SM (15)

-stormcaller

 

 

SPECIAL RULES:

 

-Master of the runes; Odin is renowned for his strong psychic pressence,because of this he may cast 2 psychic powers a turn

 

-wolf guard bodyguard, as in our dex

 

I may just have to make this one - Odin was my Great x52 Grandfather, according to the family tree my brother has been spending years building…

[Vash113]

@ Grantyr Greymantle

I may just have to make this one - Odin was my Great x52 Grandfather, according to the family tree my brother has been spending years building…

-Thats cool, family trees can be a pain, on my mothers side I can trace my line back to the Black Family Clan in Scotland but it gets muggy going back any further than that.

 

@ Ullr Direfang

-I'm glad you've found this inspirational, if you do get something converted up we'd love to see it!

 

@ OnlyInDeath

::sigh:: Now I'm going to have to go refresh my knowledge of Norse mythology. It's been way too long....

 

Great job on working it into the SW fluff though. Definately looking forward to seeing what you you have to flesh out the rest of the major Norse gods. Once I get get my 40k radio tourney army painted up, these would definately be a great conversion project. Making Thor's hammer is something I would relish, as well as making a rather sweet terminator bodyguard for him...

-Yea, gotta love those termies, especially Space Wolf ones. At least you need to refresh your knowledge I've got to learn from scratch, never seriously studied Norse Mythology. Took some classes on Greek and Roman mythology last year but I've been gathering some books to read on the Norse and hopefully they'll help, but if I represent any of the gods or myths badly, just poke me and I'll fix it :P.

 

@ Ragnar Lodbrok

Berserkers have recently speculated to have been members of a Cult of Odin who used religious ceremonies and dancing to get into a frenzy before battle but there are so many rumors about berserkers that range from bizarre to believable. Also Freya could just as easily fulfill the role of Protector of the People just like Tyr.

-The trouble is since females can't be Space Marines/immortal I'm having trouble finding a way to work the female gods into the workings. Although in Brothers of the Snake a normal woman is injected with Space Marine blood and lives far longer than she otherwise would have, maybe I can use that to work them in.

 

@ lothbrok

i think you did a great job here. however i think tyr would be a better guardian of fenir seeing as this is much closer to his actual job in myth than thors. and i think you could do somethin with warrior priests of thor like ancient norse berserkers.

 

by the way skald meens poet i think it would be better to call them huskarls.

 

all in all though great work i really enjoyed readin it.

-Yea I really need to do some more reading, I seem to remember Skald being used to refere to the Wolf Lord's Warriors in the Space Wolf books but that may be wrong. Huskarl refers to a Lords bodyguards I believe, professional soldiers, so that might fit. But I gotta do some... err a LOT more research. As for Tyr/Thor I didn't know that I'll have to look into that and yea it may be best to switch them then. I mostly wanted an excuse to get Thor out of the way for Garm to become Champion as we all know Garm was Russ' Champion who fell protecting him and Russ spear was entombed with him.

 

 

@ hendrik

-A good character you've written up, by all means keep at it, I'm glad I've given you some inspiration.

 

@ Vassakov

Some awesome ideas you have going here. I may well now make my Rune Priest (WIP) blind in one eye as a homage to this.

 

I'd be interested to see what you do with Loki - perhaps his role is already filled by Wulfen; the clan leader who tried to betray Russ, and had the beast within laid plain for all to see?

-Yea my Rune Priest has a bionic left eye, not exactly blind but a small hint. As for Loki the first Wulfen did spring to mind immediately and I'm not sure how to go about it. Perhaps where Wulfen was too arrogant and his inner beast was laid plain, Loki is more cunning and keeps his plans secret. I've been writing up a few mock summaries for him and keep retooling it each time.

 

@ Marek Grimfang

You don't need to preach the Norse theme to me.

-I doubt there's a Space Wolf player alive who needs the Norse theme preached, just trying to add onto it :D.

 

@ Wolf89

-I'm glad you enjoyed it, its still very WIP at the moment, but it was just too tempting a project to begin. Hopefully I'll get more done tonight, and when you get some models converted up do share some pics ;).