Egil

Egil was born to Angantyr, Jarl of one of a couple small, independent provinces between Birka and Tonsberg, and his wife Thora. Thora tried to give Angantyr more children, however suffered miscarriage after miscarriage after that. The few pregnancies she did manage to go through until the end, ,the children never made it past infancy. So, Egil was Angantyr's only son, a fact he made sure to point out frequently, expressing disappointment he didn't have a less disappointing son.

This made Egil insecure, and strive for his father's approval even more. When he was old enough, Egil would go on raids and distinguish himself from many of the others his age. That didn't seem to overly impress his father. It seemed Angantyr wanted Egil to be politically savvy, but didn't want to teach or show him the first thing about it. Trying to win his father's favor and approval in that regard, Egil decided to ask the beautiful Gyda, Princess of Birka, to be his wife. She politely apologized and said she would not marry anyone until after her older sister was wed.

Feeling the slight sting of rejection, but even more hope in the prospect that he could find someone suitable for Freydis to Gyda could be his, Egil returned home and began hatching a plan. His planning came to an abrupt halt, however, when his father took advantage of the fact that Harald and Ubbe were out raiding. Angantyr brought Egil along with him to surprise their weakened enemy. They trapped the King and the rest of his family in the great hall and lit it aflame. After that Angantyr became King of Tonsberg.

Egil was sent back to rule the Jarldom while Angantyr got settled into Tonsberg. Only he never could get settled. Harald and Ubbe returned from their raids, and with the help of Birka, they killed Angantyr and reclaimed their ancestral lands. Then he heard the horrible news. Gyda... HIS Gyda... was engaged to Harald, the now King of Tonsberg. Egil was so furious he killed the messenger. What happened to waiting until Freydis was married?!

Just when Egil felt like everything was falling apart, a beautiful woman showed up at his door. Then he recognized her. It was Vigdis, his father's daughter by his second wife, whom he sent away ten years prior. He'd always wondered what happened to her. It turned out that she followed in the footsteps of her mother, by learning how to practice seidr. Wanting his future to be deeply read by her, Egil slept with her. She then informed him that he would be King of Birka and have Gyda as his wife. But that she could help him become king of Tonsberg as well. All she asked was that she be his second wife and rule in Tonsberg while he was in Birka.

Greedy to have it all, Egil agreed to follow along with Vigdis's visions. He got Cnut, the Jarl in the neighboring land, to agree to join his attack on Birka, and all it would cost was Freydis. They waited until the next new moon, then gathered up their men and attacked Birka. Just as Vigdis predicted, most of the raiding men were gone raiding, leaving Birka virtually defenseless. Sigurd posed the biggest threat to him, but the man was much older than Egil. In the end Egil killed King Sigurd.

Egil entered the Great Hall and found Gyda standing there, beautiful as ever, surrounded by her handmaidens. "I am King of Birka now," he proclaimed with a smirk. "I give you this choice: you can by my thrall, or you can be my wife." Just as he expected, Gyda agreed to marry him. That night, he got everything his heart desired.

Vigdis

"What's the next part of the plan? When do I become King of Tonsberg, so I can have you too?"

Vigdis was Egil's bastard half-sister, who became estranged ten years prior. He couldn't believe how much she'd grown up since the last time he'd seen her. But she grew in power as well, and she read his future. She told him she could give him everything he wanted and then more, but he needed to promise to make her his second wife and Queen of Tonsberg.

Gyda

"You agreed to marry me, so you will perform all duties of a wife, am I understood?"

Egil asked her to marry him a year ago, to which she responded she wouldn't marry anyone until after her older sister wed. While Egil was trying to find matches for Freydis, Gyda ended up engaged to Harald. Egil invaded Birka, killed King Sigurd, and took Gyda as his wife.

Freydis

"I will find you one of these days. I owe you to Jarl Cnut."

Egil promised Jarl Cnut that if he helped Egil take over Birka, he would give Freydis to him as a wife. But Freydis has vanished. Somehow she escaped Birka before the raid took place.

Dyrfinna

"Prepare a lot of healing salves, we'll be needing it when we invade Tonsberg soon."

Dyrfinna is one of Gyda's handmaidens, and a healer. The second part makes her indispensable to Egil, who would and has married off some of Dyrfinna's handmaidens to some of his hersir or potential allies.

Odin

"Fill the honey'd beverage high, fill the skulls, 'tis Odin's cry"

Egil might not have a claim of ancestry to Odin, but he's still a follower of the Hanged God, particularly his Warlord aspect. Odin was and is ruthless in his search for experience, knowledge, wisdom, and power, and allows nothing to stop him. Egil will let nothing stop him from achieving his goals and dreams.