Ivar Jørgenson, a blacksmith

Ivar Jørgenson was a simple blacksmith. That was what some people might say about him, but those who knew him, knew there was nothing simple about him.

Proudly the direct descendant of a tribe of Vikings, he practiced the Old Norse form of religion.

He was a highly intelligent man. While descended from the Vikings, he did not possess the same physique as the typical Viking. He was a little smaller, but no less muscled, due in part to his hard work at the forge. He was a master at his craft, having been taught by his father, Jørgen, who had been taught by his father before him.

Ivar’s family had always been a traditional family, some of the last who were keeping the old ways alive in the decades of the 21st century.

Their family valued the ability of a man, or a woman, to take care of themselves. To find their own food, to make their own tools and weapons and to make their own shelters. So naturally, when the ice age descended and the wars came, Ivar’s family had generally been pretty well off, compared to others.

Jørgen's parents had fled to Thailand, a simple country with good people, after years of war had decimated most of the western world. They were both only young, and they left their parents behind to flee, getting married a few years later. Jørgen was born another decade after that, and they raised him as best they could. He was their only child and took care of them for a long time. Jørgen then met Ivar’s mother, Chariya and they got married soon after. Chariya was a cunning and intelligent woman, but had died in childbirth, leaving Ivar an only child, and Jørgen without a wife.

Ivar had inherited his mother’s intelligence, and his father’s warrior spirit. He and his father were close. Jørgen had taught him everything he knew.

Ivar was a passionate young man, and he applied himself to everything with a near unbreakable spirit.

Ivar had made his own weapons and under Jørgen’s tutelage, grown to become a fine warrior.

In his spare time, he had collected old texts and taught himself much in the realms of tactics of war, some science and some philosophy.

So who better to take over from Emperor Christiansen?

Well, the problem was, a master craftsmen and formidable warrior as he might be, he was poor, and treated as such by the Emperor, his followers and his soldiers.

He also lived far away from the capital city, Jotunheim, which was in what used to be Mongolia. Ivar lived in a simple village called Frostbite Falls, which took it's name from the frozen waterfalls next to the village.

And he could not achieve such a monumental task without anybody to help him.

Considering all of that, it would take a miracle for him to be in any kind of position to take the throne.