Rognvald the Sorcerer King

[Nefasine]

So in the first Vignette, Rognvald the Sorcerer King is said to hold a council of eighty, now due to his title, I would assume that the council is of sorcerers (at least a majority). My problem comes when trying to design the encounters; as Sorcerers are a subset of Galdr and thus use rune magic, to not have a good half of their abilities cancelled out they would have to be pretty dis-unified. So im trying to get an idea of how and why someone would group them in a council where they would have regular meetings.

ie in a combat situation where some outsider ran up to stab Rognvald, how many would rush to his defense if it meant making him and themselves weaker (namely losing the runes of Shielding, reinforcement and Retribution)

Even in day to day, if they are attempting to work with the runes then they would be pretty spread out to stop the interference. is it even plausible to have 30 to 40 workshops spread about 10m/30' away from each other and still have some semblance of unity.

TL:DR How have you envisioned Rognvald and his Council of 80, where to they stay, what do they do?

[raleel]

Well, lets say he's got a council of 80 sorcerers because

He will be in poor health because of the Death Stone’s proximity, but his council of eighty sorcerers will fight to the death in order to keep him safe.

However, I think that this particular use of sorcerer is not the Rune Magic/Galdr one, but rather the generic term "sorcerer". In the core book, on p32 it says

Finnmark is a northern region with little or no rule of law. It is said that many sorcerers live in the ancient frozen forests of this murky, icy region. Many jarls have forbidden their thanes from seeking out these dark magicians due to the perceived curse that they carry.

which makes me think that there is not a whole pile of folks with a void rune of a particular color, but rather a term used to describe those who are practicing dark arts.

Under the seithkona entry, it says

The power to wield Seith can be learned by most, but only a few have the drive to conquer this wicked art. All men view this as a shameful practice but respect its might nonetheless.

which makes me think that this is the more likely choice. Also, remmeber, it's an NPC, it doesn't have to be bound to the rules of a player - you can make a "sorcerer" denizen however you like. I might suggest starting with a Zealot and swapping out a few things

[andrew]

That's correct, his entourage are
"Sorcerers" <- in quotes.
to the uninitiated.

You can build out his council with whatever mix of spell casters you'd like. In the upcoming saga quintology, the Rognvald quest line will have a lot more fleshed out, denizens, powers, maps, etc...

You'll also get more from the Illuminated Edda when Svarthofdi's story is told in full.