#sváfa

[ladyniniane]

FE3H OC Drawcember: Free space

And I'm back! Here are Gladys and her mother, Amalia Sváfa* Eilyn.

-I just can't decide. What pattern would you associate me with? Vigdis strayed for a moment into her dreams. Then she took a deep breath and declared, solemnly, as if launching herself into the void: -A torch. -Oh, that's a great idea! It's a symbol of warmth and hope, it's what brightens the hearth and guides us in the dark,” added Maeve. Vigdis nodded silently, pleased that her friend had understood and expanded. -It's all you, Mom,” Gladys agreed. Happy to see herself described in this way, Amalia was filled with gratitude. -In that case, it's what I want. I trust you.

Amalia is a very important character in Gladys' story and a constant presence in her life. She was married twice and had many occupations in her life: servant, army cook and then, noble lady. After her daughter was reunited with her biological father, Amalia followed her and trained as a warrior to be able to always protect Gladys.

She now follows Gladys to war and always guards her side. Mother and daughter are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Amalia is an accomplished horse rider. Her favorite weapons are the bow, the sword and the mace.

Her maturity and stability make her a supportive presence. She's always there to offer a word of advice to Gladys, her friends and later Dimitri. Amalia is unused to the world of the high nobility, but her journey offers her many opportunities to discover, learn and meet new people.

*Sváfa is a valkyrie in Norse mythology. Her name means "sleep-maker". Now, you can see why Amalia chose this name for herself.

[karkkidoeswriting]

For the OC ask: 2 for Sváfa, 10 and 16 Julie and 19 for Mánoheahpi.

Thank you so much for asking! :) Sorry it took me a while to answer.

2: Post a line of dialogue from your OC.

Sváfa’s dialogue as asked.

He was laying on my feet. I could hardly believe I did that. “I’ll split your scull, you filth!” I was trying to sound more intimidating than I felt and held his ax tightly, ready to swing it. “If you ever dare to touch my sister again, I will end you.”

He stumbled up, eyeing wildly around him the silent forest. “You won’t get away with this, you little shit!”

“Oh, but I already have”, I said with confidence of someone, who hadn’t realized their own mortality. “As if you are going to tell anyone a year younger unarmed girl kicked your ass.”

10: You are conducting a ritual. What 5 items would you need to summon your OC?

To summon Julie, you need withered rose pedals, scented love letter, portrait of a beautiful maiden, rapier and two glasses of red wine. Place the portrait in the middle of the summoning circle. Sprinkle the pedals on around the portrait. Lay the letter on top of the pedals and the glasses on the both sides of the portrait. Then step inside of the circle holding the rapier and repeat these words: “Julie noé Maupin, I challenge thee to a duel for the hearth of this fair maiden!” If you are a maiden yourself, she might stay for a date with you, then the wine classes will become handy.

16: If your OC could have any superpower, which would it be and why?

Julie would want to live forever. She loves life and it’s beauty too much to be ready to die for another couple of centuries. Passage of time is her greatest fear and there is so many things she wants to do and experience and too little hours in a day.

19: Your OC’s life is a musical. What’s the title of their big show-stopping song?

This is fun :D Mánoheahpi’s big song would be named “I just can’t wait to be king”. The lyrics would be literally same as the same named song from Lion King, but the melody, choreography and imagery would be exactly same as in “Let it go” from Frozen.

[hattakes-graycolor]

Helgi ok Sváfa, er sagt, at væri endrborin.

[tilltheendwilliwrite]

I’m just curious, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but which of your OC’s represents you the most?

I don't think I've ever written an OC that truly embodied me. There are bits of me in all my stories. Mostly my sassy mouth! Lol. But if I had to choose one... Sváfa. I know she wasn't an OC per say, but she carried my personality the best.

[karkkidoeswriting]

Character Creation Tag

@thedrowningtsarevna​ tagged me, thank you!!

I’m going with Sváfa from The Shield-Maiden Saga.

1) What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.?)

It has been a long time since I created Sváfa, and I really don’t remember. Though now she is the MC and the narrator, she is not even the first character for the story and the story didn’t involve her, of course when I created her the whole plot changed. My best guess is her backstory? It’s actually not so much as a backstory but the inciting incident at the beginning :D Well the whole story is more like the story of her life (or like the part of her life as a viking/shield-maiden) and spans at least over ten years.

2) Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Well yes, it’s a historical setting and living in the Ancient Scandinavian society has a lot of impact on her character naturally.

3) How did you choose their name?

Sváfa is the name of a valkyrie and a shield-maiden in the sagas. In the Poetic Edda, she is has adventures with Helgi Hjörvarðsson and eventually marries him. They die eventually, but are reborn as valkyrie Sigrún and Helgi Hundingsbane, who also fall in love and marry. The cycle repeats itself one last time when they are reborn as valkyrie Kára and Helgi Haddingjaskati in Káruljóð Saga and reunited once again. Sváfa loves stories and the sagas, but Sváfa and Helgi’s story is the most important for her and when she was a child she liked to think herself as another reincarnation of Sváfa the Valkyrie.

4) In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

Ancient Norse storytelling traditions are really central in her story. She is a storyteller and sagas are her go-to coping mechanism. Of course the viking expeditions are very important, and from them especially the founding of Gardaríki. The whole story happens because of they intend to establish a new kingdom into the Eastern Route. Well not only because of that, also because in their reality there’s magic and elves. So also mythology elements play their part in her backstory.

5) Is there any significance behind their hair colour?

Not really. She has pale blond hair, which I guess would have been pretty common among Scandinavians (still are). Though when she grows older and her hair start to darken she blonds them, like Norse people (men and women) did commonly.

6) Is there any significance behind their eye colour?

Not really. Again they are blue, which would have been (still is) common in the Northern Europe.

7) Is there any significance behind their height?

Well she is pretty long for a girl of her age (at the beginning when she is 14), which is handy when she dresses up as a boy.

8) What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

I relate (as I think a lot of us writeblrs would) strongly to her fascination towards stories and the fact that stories are her coping mechanism and way of expressing herself. A lot of the times she is a daydreamer like I’m too, and can get easily distracted from reality. Also her mother is a Kven (that’s what Norse people called the ancient southern Finnish tribes) and while she has lived in a Scandinavian society and haven’t really interacted with the other side of her heritage, she grows interest to her Finnish roots and I can relate to that.

9) Are they based off of you, in some way?

Yes, though she has very different personality. She has one of my bad habits of telling white lies. I tend to sugar the truth to please people (I’m such a people-pleaser :D), and she does that too. 

10) Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

It has been so long time since I created her, so I don’t remember.

11) What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: Writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

Still about a couple of years ago she was pretty bland in every way, but since that I’ve developed her further and she comes pretty naturally to me in every art form.

12) How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

Well I vaguely know her whole life story from birth to death (she lives to be like 70 years old which would have been really old during that time, and that’s not a spoiler because she is about that age when she tells her story), though the actual story covers like 10 or more years.

13) If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

While she is the narrator, she is also a storyteller (so not really reliable that is), and that her worldview is different from my modern one.

14) What is something about your OC that can make you laugh?

She is good with words and though she is not a “snarky person” many of her conversations with others are fun.

15) What is something about your OC can make you cry?

She faces a lot of loss and it’s pretty heartbreaking when she (fails to) deals with them.

16) Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

If there was, I would change it. There’s really nothing I can regret before I publish it. (If I will ever do that.)

17) What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

Though she is always fighting with her sister, she is the most important person in her life.

18) What is your favorite fact about your OC?

She believe cats are house elves, who are attached to a house and protect it from harm and if you are respectful towards them and give them sacrifices etc. they will give you good luck in return. But when one of their cat, who she likes a lot (and has named Freya because the cat is just that gorgeous), jumps on board the ship when they are leaving her home island, she is convinced that Freya is actually her own elf (Finnish mythology equivalent of guardian angel). I also just love Freya because she is super fluffy kitty (cats of vikings were predecessors of Norwegian Forest Cats) and very loyal and good.

Tagging  @erinisawriter @pigeonbooks @plaguecraft @midnightstreetwanderings @maxseidel @bluemartlet @teacupwriter @violet-clouds-and-skies @natalierosewrites! As always no pressure to do this! (I usually forgot to say this but I hope it’s obvious to people)

[ettawritesnstudies]

The range of green colors here are BEAUTIFUL and really make the other colors of the deer, apple, and the red in her dress really pop out! It's so cool that you're going back to color these because they're amazing!

I wanted to test different coloring styles for TSMS and used my third inktober entry for that. I rather like how it turned out! I might do some more of inktober coloring!

[karkkidoeswriting]

Sváfa Hagbardsdóttir

Now I will tell you a story of reality. These kind of stories are not sang in the halls of kings, nor beside the fire pit. Here you won’t learn a lesson, nor will you find glory of legends. Here you will only find cold and senseless world. For the truth I found in my journeys is, that sisters of fate don’t have a grand plan for anyone. Evil won’t get what it deserves and the good die far too young. They don’t care about our meaningless struggles. They just weave the rug of time, perhaps only to entertain themselves, until the world ends.

I will weave my own rug. This is my story. A story of a shield-maiden, who struggled against the will of Norns, but yielded in the end.

Sváfa is the narrator and protagonist of The Shield-Maiden Saga. She tells the story of her youth, how she became a shield-maiden and her and her félag’s (viking crew) misadventures. She is a daughter of a sea-king (viking lord) and a Kven (that’s what vikings called Finns) woman. Her father, Hagbard, was the second son of clan Agar’s ruling family. As he was not the heir he didn’t have lands nor titles, but by his abilities as a warrior he gain power even over his older brother. They lived on islands near Roden (coast of Uppsala). The Island was named Näckenö, Neck island. According to legend it was because the Island was ruled but a Neck, man-eating water spirit, before the ancestors of their clan came to live there. According to said legend a maiden named Eydís married the Neck, Haki, and gave birth to three sons who became the founding fathers of three clans: Agars, Geirars and Yrars.

Sváfa has strong connection with water. She has lived her whole life in a island surrounded by sea dreaming of sailing it. She feels most at peace when she swims in the sea. When she was 6 years old, she almost drowned. Till this day she is not sure if she met Haki at that time, but she remembers hearing a voice speaking to her. She’s adventurous, extroverted, sociable and charismatic. She loves telling stories and is very convincing at it, she is almost like an actress when she gets to it. Also that makes her a good liar and often resorts to it to get out of trouble and get what she wants. Even though she is sociable she is quite private and keeps up a facade to conceal her feelings. Because of that many who don’t know her well think she is cold, proud and calculative, but at hearth she is emphatic and caring. She is quite the idealist and has strong sense of justice, but her justice is more than often quite binary. She is even naive, but she really does want to believe good in people, even when she has seen the ugly side of humanity.

She has no special abilities and in the beginning she is feeble and can barely swing a sword. But she is headstrong to the point of stubborn and with hard work she gains strong body and ability to fight. She was tallish for a girl and slender too (too thin if you would ask her mother), but she gains muscle and body mass. She cuts her hair too to shoulder length as she is pretending to be a peasant boy and only noble men has long hair. She actually is relieved to give up her femininity because she felt shackled by her duties and restrictions as a woman. Later she makes her own kind of femininity with her own terms. Her relationship with gender is complicated at times.

Tagging @erinisawriter. If you want to be tagged too or not anymore, I’ll be happy do do that :)

[karkkidoesartsandcrafts]

Octo-ber Day 13: Submerged

Sváfa (from The Shield-Maiden Saga) almost drowned one time and met something in the depths of the sea.

my octo-ber entries

Below the cut is the prompt list!

[karkkidoesartsandcrafts]

Inktober #30: Catch & #31: Ripe

My inktober tag

For the last two prompts I a drew a scene from The Shield-Maiden Saga. I tested a bit of different style with heavier inking.

This is the first time Sváfa is going to a battle. They are pillaging a town in the cover of the night. Sváfa can’t risk an injury, because treatment would quickly reveal her to be a girl, but she can’t run either, she has pledged herself to the crew. Vígi is the only one who knows who she really is and is trying to keep her alive.

But inktober is finally done and right on time! I’ll be glad to leave inking for a a while :D

Inktober tag list: @siarven @kainablue-loves-art @ettawritesnstudies @ventilaccion @dove-actually

[karkkidoesartsandcrafts]

Inktober Day 3: Bait

I decided to go with Sváfa from The Shield-Maiden Saga. I’m still not too sure what exact style I want go with for the comic, so I might make more experiments with TSMS during inktober. I might do some coloring too :D

Inktober tag list: @siarven @kainablue-loves-art

My inktober tag

[karkkidoesartsandcrafts]

Inktober #20: Tread

My inktober tag

I may have stretched a little the meaning of the prompt. But I just wanted to draw Sváfa showing this guy what happens when someone hits her big sister.

[karkkidoeswriting]

Happy STS! Coffee, tea or cocoa (all your MCs, please)?

Happy STS and thank you for asking!!

Valeri: tea

Cassia: cocoa

Fiolew: tea or cocoa

Faerathos: coffee (it subtitutes for sleep right? Right??)

Agrippa: all of them, but only when they are the best quality

also bonus Sváfa: what are any of these things???

[karkkidoesartsandcrafts]

Inktober #24: Dizzy

My inktober tag

Sváfa taking a bit too much honey mead during a party.

Inktober tag list: @siarven @kainablue-loves-art @ettawritesnstudies @ventilaccion @re-writing-h @dove-actually

[karkkidoeswriting]

Happy Storyteller Saturday, my friend!! Out of your ocs in The Shield-Maiden Saga, who is most similar to yourself? Least similar?

Happy STS in retrospect! XD This is very interesting question, thank you for asking!

Ultimately I think Sváfa is the most similar to me. We do have quite different personalities, she’s a lot more extroverted, assertive, rigid and thorough. But she has this storyteller mindset too and she copes by thinking of stories and telling them.

Least similar would be Tyrfing. Like the dude is thousands of years old murderous sadistic elf, I don’t think we have a lot in common XD Okay but also we don’t really have similar personalities. He is smug, entitled, dramatic (literally all elves are) and likes a lot listening himself speak. He’s also a bit erratic and incoherent, but it’s more to do with the whole hundreds of years in isolation thing, which doesn’t do good things even for en elf’s mind.

[karkkidoeswriting]

I’ve had kinda bad days so I treated myself by drawing one of my favorite moments in The Shield-Maiden Saga (mobile link).

For context: The wolf, who Láilá kinda adopted and became a sort of member of the crew, unexpectedly turn into a person and everyone, including him but excluding Láilá (who has seen some shit and nothing really surprises her), are confused. I don’t believe I’ve posted drawings of anyone other than Sváfa (she is in boys’ clothing and has short hair), so the other are Helgi (the wolf guy), Refil (the boy with reddish hair) and Láilá (the woman with dark hair). Side note: Helgi is actually a lot younger than he looks here. Naturally he hasn’t been shaving during the months he’s been a wolf, so he has kind of a beard going on, though he’s 17 and can’t really grow a full beard yet.

It began as just messy drawings in my notebook, but I decided to use it to experiment on what kind of coloring style I’ll aim for and how do I achieve it with not too much headache :D Lines are bit wobbly but I did end up liking the coloring!

So this is actually repost, I accidentally deleted the original post while I was trying to edit a typo. I am a fool :’D Sorry for spamming! If you want to be tagged too or not anymore, I’ll be happy do do that :) @erinisawriter @madmoonink @teacupwriter @lady-redshield-writes@emilydevoursstories@siarven@silverscreenwriter@bluemartlet@whataremetaphor@theprissythumbelina@dove-actually

[karkkidoeswriting]

The Shield-Maiden Saga

This is a story of Sváfa “Shield-Breaker” Hagbardsdottír. She is a daughter of a Sea-King and a Kven woman. When she is 14, her father joins on a campaign to establish a colony on the shores of the East Route. All the men take their families along with intention to not come back. It’s the first time Sváfa is leaving her home islands. As a child she dreamed to be a shield-maiden, but as she grew up she learned that women only take adventures in sagas. But now is her change to have her own adventure. However it turns out that adventures are not so joyous and glorious as in the tales she has heard. When their fleet is caught up in a storm, their ship sinks. Most of the people aboard die and when the survivors think the worst is behind, a mercenary army kills them and steals everything they have left. Only Sváfa and Vígi, Sváfa’s father’s right hand man survive it. Sváfa takes his father’s sword, dresses up as a boy and is determined to avenge her family.

When their fleet is caught up in a storm, their ship sinks. Most of the people aboard die and when the survivors think the worst is behind, a mercenary army kills them and steals everything they have left. Only Sváfa and Vígi, Sváfa’s father’s right hand man survive it. Sváfa takes his father’s sword, dresses up as a boy and is determined to avenge her family.

I mentioned before that I’m probably turning the Shield-Maiden Saga into a graphic novel. When I first started the thing that would eventually evolve over the (at least 6) years into The Shield-Maiden Saga, it actually was a comic rather than a book. I ditched the idea then, because I didn’t have the skills to finish that project. Now I’ve been thinking for a while now to start the visual novel again and when I found the old ones (which were pretty bad), they inspired me to do better. So I did the first three pages. And here they are. It might take me a while to get to really drawing this, because I’m still focusing on Bear Castle and I have to do a lot of character design and such.

I’m tagging the Shield-Maiden crew, but I changed the nature of the whole project so it’s totally okay if you don’t want to be tagged anymore :) That’s why I’m doing it so if you want to be tagged in the future too, comment or send me pm or something! And of course if someone else want to be tagged too, I’m happy to do that.

@erinisawriter @pigeonbooks @plaguecraft @madmooninc @midnightstreetwanderings @maxseidel @bluemartlet @teacupwriter @violet-clouds-and-skies @natalierosewrites

(Also tagging @siarven because this is art related, but I’ll only tag you too in the future if you want to, because I know you didn’t sign up for a whole visual novel :D)