Hallbjǫrn Stigr

Appearance
A burly, broadfaced man standing over 6ft tall approaches you. He has long, unusually thick dirt-blonde hair and an unkempt beard. It catches the wind and you notice a dense underfur, darker than the longer hair guarding his ears. "Hail!" he smiles. You grimace, spotting blackened gums and fangs, a wide nose with large nostrils and bright yellow eyes. Easily mistaken for a human at a short distance, or in passing when folk busily go about their day - he fails closer inspection. Most humans would consider him ugly.

He is used to this reaction and takes no notice, he extends a hand, now hiding his teeth. His palm is padded and darkened, like the paw of a wild animal with darkened sharp nails - not quite claws and not human, but something in-between. "I haven't found the time to grind them down in some time" he apologies.

On his back he carries an axe, secured with a horse-shoe shaped brace on the shoulder of the handle. He wears fur and animal skins with a large dark hood draped over his shoulders, decorated with bones, feathers and other animal remains. The patches of skin that you can see are hairy, tanned and damaged from years in the sun at higher altitudes, although only just over 30 years old, he has the appearance of a human in his late 40s.

Personality
Hallbjǫrn can suffer from mood swings but has generally learned to keep his feelings in check when outside of dangerous situations - as a pelt trader he found his abrasiveness and volatility bad for business when dealing with more civilised folk. His companions will find him using animalistic terms like pack, cub, den etc.

He reveres animals in high regard. Anyone found mistreating animals near him would quickly find his claws around their throat. Any animal a Shifter kills is thanked for it's sacrifice, they believe in using every part of the animal - meat for food, skin and pelt for clothes or other objects - even bones for basic tools, children's toys or to decorate their armour.

Hallbjǫrn is accustomed to either distrust or fascination within human settlements as Shifters are seldom seen, he has rarely been accepted for who he is so will quickly form a close, protective bond with those who accept him.

Background (Work in progress - subject to change)
Hallbjǫrn was birthed by Asta and Torgny, part of the Shifter pack that call the Northern Ebon Peaks their roaming grounds. He had a younger brother named Skorri.

The pack is semi-nomadic, they have no fixed home but the majority of the pack stay within the lands of the Ebon Peaks. Those more skilled in trading would pick strong fighters and form hunting packs. These groups would leave for months at a time, hunting game and other beasts for food, pelts and bones to sell at nearby settlements.

Hallbjǫrn and Skorri would often dream of creating the most skilled and ambitious hunting pack in memory. They talked of crossing the sea, hunting great creatures in the desert and saving towns from great beasts so that Shifters would finally be accepted in society.

In order to be chosen to travel with the most skilled hunting packs, each Shifter needs to complete a rite of passage in their ancient hunting grounds Elegon - the place they now call The White Hell; more commonly known as The Darklands. Bring back a trophy from a great beast within The White Hell and the Shifter could join any hunting pack they wanted.