Lord Dietrich av Stalvedr
DIETRICH AV STÅLVEÐR
Only Son of Erich av Stålveðr, the Margrave of Reifmark
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Hair: Dark brown, razored short
Eyes: Pale grey
Distinguishing Marks: Dietrich's arms and torso are marked with a multitude of tattoos, some colorful, others monochromatic. In addition, he bears the scars of a few too many fistfights.
General Appearance: Dietrich's appearance suggests he is not a man who puts much stock in such things. His dark hair, which might catch a hint of copper or blond if allowed to sunbleach, is consistently razored down close to the scalp. His jaw ranges from cleanshaven to scruffy depending on whether or not he's remembered to shave. He has the strong nose and solid jaw of a av Stålveðr, and his heavy brow shadows deep-set, cloud-grey eyes. His body, marked with innumerable tattoos and some scars besides, is leanly muscular. He hasn't grown into the trademark av Stålveðr huskiness yet. At 6'3", he's taller than most, but rather average amongst his House.
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HISTORY
Personality: Young, insecure and woefully easy to gull, Dietrich is well out of his depth in the gilded cage of Rosemont. Noble society is full of razor wits and silver tongues, but not Dietrich's. Never clever with his words, he's more than once been mistaken for a dullard, and is most often spotted on the losing end of verbal spars. When his back is pressed too hard into a corner, he's been known to lash out with his fists like some peasant boy in the fields. This, unsurprisingly, earns him all the more scorn from his noble peers.
Sexual Preferences: Heterosexual; quite inexperienced.
House (Major or Minor House): House av Stålveðr (Minor). Dietrich is the son and heir of Erich av Stålveðr, the Margrave of Reifmark.
About the Character:
Dietrich is his father's heir, but in the grand scheme of things this means little. His father is the Margrave of far-flung Reifmark on the shores of the Frost Sea, a backwaters of pagans and runes and unending raids from the eagle-bearing steppe tribes howling outside the Pfänderburg gates. In this land, lords live little better than their knights, and knights live much like the common soldiers in their Sisyphean skirmishes. Laws are simple, based in honor and an innate sense of right and wrong. Disputes are settled axe to sword or fist to fist. No one wastes much breath with talking; it's too damn cold for that.
Dietrich learned young to wield fist and sword and spear and axe, and he learned young to ride and siege, forage and hunt. He did not learn much of letters, social graces, arts or sciences. In fact, he is nearly illiterate, every word a struggle to read. He expected to live his life much as his father does, and their forefathers before them: eternally and fruitlessly at war, repairing a battlement or a wall even as another falls down, perhaps taking a wife and producing an heir or two before dying of wound-fever in the same bed in which he was born.
When the summons came from the King, Dietrich was beyond surprised. Shocked comes a little closer. Absolutely intimidated and apprehensive - those are just about the right words for it.
About the Margraviate of Reifmark:
Ruled by the av Stålveðrs since the unification of its pagan tribes and its subsequent conversion to the Faith some five centuries ago, Reifmark is a cold land of towering peaks, deep forests, and cold, windswept coasts. Situated in the northeast of Breiton, it abuts the Frost Sea to the far north and runs southward along the great jagged mountain range known as the Teeth. West of Reifmark is the rest of Breiton. East of Reifmark are the wild tribes of the steppes, taigas and tundras. The Margraviate is cold, sparsely populated, and lost in the past - a land of pagans and peasants and their backwards beliefs, where dark legends lurk in the woods and old gods might yet live amongst the peaks.
Margraviate and House share the same coat of arms, which depicts a black gryphon seated and watchful upon a field of white, a sword within grasp of its talons. Black and white are the house colors. Within the borders of Reifmark, the Dietrich's father is called the Markgraf. Below him rank the Grafs (Counts) and the Freiherrs (Barons). Knights are referred to as Ritters, and the most famous amongst them are men of the Order of the Angrivars, who claim a heritage older than Reifmark itself.
