biography
Trigger warnings for: child abandonment, torture (witcher trials), assault, violence, murder, dismemberment.
YOUTH
sjurnvag was born to an unknown mother and father. The first few years of his life were spent in Ard Skellig, and thus far it is the sole memory he carries of his youth. When he grew bigger as an infant, his hair grew from blonde, to silver-white — naturally. The boy and his parents were accused of being cursed, for white hair was commonly associated with the mutant witchers! However, neither mother nor father had ever encountered such persons before! Sjund's parents were forced to choose — flee, or leave their child to be abandoned. They did both, for they knew that wherever they would go, the white-haired infant would continue to bring them naught but trouble!
Sjurnvag was found by a wandering scholar of the Bear School where witchers are trained. With nothing left but the rags his elders left him in, the infant boy was taken along and was raised from his formative years into the ways of a witcher. It began simple, with the correct diet that would soon prove whether this child was suitable for the lifestyle or not — mushrooms, herbs and bread, naught more for many years to follow. When Sjurnvag was old enough, he was introduced to the rest of his training — harsh and relentless, endless hours with a sword at hand. And through the coldest winters, they would expect him to study bestiaries the size of his arm!
But it's all the boy ever knew, other than the letter his mother wrote as sole proof of her once having existed. She wrote nothing other in the letter but his name and where he hails from — Sjurnvag of Ard Skellig. And that's how the world would know him best...
WITCHER TRIALS
Sjurnvag, just like his peers, accepted the witcher trials and was thus exposed to several experiments, challenges and things far beyond the description of gruesome.
Sjurnvag was among the very few lucky apprentices who made it through the first trial. The exposure to herbs, potions, poisons and alchemical features was a swift means of picking out the weak ones early on. Sjund left his mentors guessing for many days, for he spent long in a state of slumber, yet not death. On the third day after the trial had ended for his peers, he rose again with a high fever. Though, as he didn't die, his trial was considered successful and Sjurnvag was allowed to partake in the following witcher trials to come.
Compared to the Trial of the Grasses, the Trial of the Mountains knew far fewer secrets to Sjurnvag. As a apprentice to the Bear School, Sjund was ordered to reach the summit of Mount Gorgon and retrieve a runestone as a token of his ascent. Many of his remaining peers froze to death before ever finding the summit. Sjund navigated the road to the summit by tracking the frozen corpses of his comrades.
Completing his trials, Sjurnvag was rewarded with his own Bear Medallion and thus his journey as a Witcher could begin...
WITCHER HUNT
A stripling Witcher, Sjund was a face without a name for many years to follow. He would take the odd jobs and challenges for coin, slaying common monsters or rabid dogs and wolves around the continent, wherever his feet would take him. For years, Sjurnvag was a witcher like a witcher was known best — a threat, a mutant, a freak.
A freak he was to the mob of villagers that ambushed him one night. The witcher had been lucky to find shelter with a farmer and his daughter for the night, though he was requested to sleep in their cattle's hay rather than their home. In the dead of night, an angry mob had tracked down the witcher and set the farmstead ablaze. The farmer and his daughter were slaughtered for sheltering the mutant creature, while the witcher himself was attacked and overwhelmed as if he were the most dangerous threat this village had ever faced before!
Through his many years of relentless training and exposure to far greater threats, Sjurnvag managed to stand his ground fairly well. He slaughtered many ere a man a head taller than the Bear Witcher himself could strike the warrior with his axe — straight in the back!
Considering themselves victorious, the angry villagers disposed of the witcher's body by dumping it in the lake where the current took Sjund's body down the stream and onto a shoreline many leagues away from the village. He was found by a young herbalist who aided the witcher in nursing his wounds. The scar drawn diagonally across his back, however, would remain there for good...
THE BEAST OF ARD SKELLIG
Sjurnvag bonded with the herbalist during his stay in her home. She went by the name of Svella, and she lived on her own. Many villagers enjoyed her stay in town, for she aided many with sickness and healing.
She was incredibly beautiful, too. Sketti, a local blacksmith's apprentice, had seen this too. For many years now, he had been infatuated with the herbalist, but she did not return these feelings. Upon learning of the witcher's presence at Svella's home, Sketti grew angry with jealousy and sought out the girl in the dead of night where he violated her. Though, he should've known better than to cause a fuss in the presence of the 'white-haired mutant scumbag' who Svalla had chosen to share her bed with for several nights since they met.
Sjurnvag caught Sketti and Svalla near her home, in the open. Her cries had pulled him from his slumber, and the man's scent lingered everywhere. Sjurnvag hesitated not when he found Sketti. The violence he caused Svalla would be returned tenfold. The witcher dragged the blacksmith's apprentice off the herbalist, pulled out a dagger from his belt, and cut off the man's prick. The dismembered organ, he forced into the poor man's mouth.
The last Sjurnvag heard of the herbalist Svalla were her cries in the night as he carried her attacker's body into town. Sjund left the man behind on the town square where he died with his own dismembered prick forced down his throat.
To this day, the murder of Sketti the smith's apprentice is the most famous story connected to Sjurnvag Ard Skellig.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Ever since, Sjurnvag has resumed his work as a witcher by travelling and taking up quests, jobs and challenges in exchange for coin.
