The crew of the Knell Jung are meant to know one another relatively well, having spent a lot of time together on a small ship.
The de facto leader of the group is Bjorne, he is an ambitious Norse sailor who salvaged the Knell Jung and set to sea in her to avoid the plundering tribes of Chaos during the Storm of Chaos. He set off from Norsca with a view of reaching the Norse settlements in Lustria and starting a new life. So far he has only found Imperial colonies and rumours that the Norse are around the next headland or up the next river. Bjorne actually enjoys sailing and travelling so the continuing search does not get him down.
Bjord is Bjorne’s childhood friend, for a berserker he shares much of his friend’s mild temper and enjoyment of aimless wandering. However Bjord loves to fight and challenge himself and others and this can cause problems for the whole crew. Bjord is something of an existential drifter with only his fierce loyalty to his old friend to tether him down. He misses Norsca more than Bjorne and is prone to telling people about the fjords and cattle pens of home.
Unfortunately for a berserker (and a bar brawler) Bjord can be driven into a frenzy by the sight of fresh blood, the crew have to be careful to make sure he doesn’t see so much as a fresh steak if they want to keep Bjord calm.
Skorny is the oldest and most tragic member of the crew, she joined the Kneel Jung in Norsca. She was once one of the Valkyrie, fierce warrior women devoted to Ulric. However in time she fell in love with a weaver and renounced her former vocation becoming the ordinary wife of a weaver and mother of his child. During the Storm of Chaos Skorny’s village was raided and the villagers put to the sword. Despite being cut down Skorny survived but when she recovered consciousness she had to bury her daughter and husband with her bare hands. She pleaded with the gods to return the divine power she had once wielded to allow her to avenge her family but the appeal fell on stony ground and Skorny dressed herself in the ashes of her home and set out to find her own vengance. Since the Chaos army was destroyed by the Imperial forces and their allies long before she could catch the tribe that destroyed her village she now looks for a weapon that will make the Ruinous Powers cry out with the same pain she felt when she saw her dead child. She has heard stories that all things were created in Lustria, even Chaos. She hopes to find some weapon or power she can use against Chaos here in the New World.
The final member of the crew to join in the Old World was Harry or ‘ungry ‘arry as he’s know due to his seemingly insatiable appetite (by human standards). Harry used to be a sheriff and bailiff in the Moot but when a group of anarchist halflings decided to burn down the Shire record hall he found himself blamed and cold-shouldered by the rest of the (human) Imperial bureaucracy. Seeing which way the wind was blowing he decided to leave the Moot as soon as possible with as much as he could possibly get from the treasury. However during a difficult trip west across Bretonnia filled with misadventure Harry lost most of the Moot treasure and ended up with a burning need to get out of the Old World. He joined up with the Norsemen on the basis that he would be a handy guide to any Imperials they encountered and his detailed knowledge of Imperial Law has indeed proven useful in the New World.
Optimos is a living golem, constructed to help his wizard master explore the New World. He was enchanted to able to understand the languages of the New World and to be an acceptable conversationalist on long journeys. However some strange mishap occurred to Optimos’s master and ever since the golem has roamed Lustria looking for him. As a result he knows a great deal about the continent but needs to constantly move around it. Perfect for a boatful of new arrivals!
Through conversations with Optimos the rest of the crew have formed the impression that Optimos’s master disappeared a long time ago and that he is in all likelihood dead. Optimos has been wandering Lustria for decades if not longer on a quest that is probably futile.
Mokmut is the most recent member to join the crew and possibly the most unpopular. As he cannot speak Norse the Norse men mostly ignore him and only Bjorne appreciates having a wizard around (although Mokmut often over-represents his skills). Harry and Optimos have been regaled with stories about how Mokmut was forced to leave the Orders and travel to Lustria to prove his ridiculed theories, he intends to return in triumph. However both feel that the truth might be that Mokmut left the Old World to avoid taking exams that he was certain to fail.
