Country of Origin: Vestenmannavnjar
Salon: Thingvallavatn
Founded: 827

Description: Among the Vestenmannavnjar, few warriors are given as much honor and respect as the Jarlsson Spearmen. As the name suggests, its students come from the ranks of the nobility: third and fourth sons (and occasionally daughters) of the jarls who stand little chance at a meaningful inheritance and, rather than being married off in one political maneuver or another, serve their families by defending them against all threats, guarding their homes, and protecting the High King, the jarls, and the jarls’ probable heirs. Candidates for Jarlsson Spearmen are selected by their fathers when they are very young, but only the most promising students are approved for training (and even then, a trainee can choose to leave the regimented lifestyle behind if he decides it is not for him, with no loss of honor).

Jarlsson fighters use the longspear: a seven- to nine-foot shaft, smaller than a Théan pike, capped with a finely-forged steel head, honed to razor sharpness and often enchanted with a potent Lærd such as Stryke, Storsæd, or Kyndighet.. In ages past, Jarlsson spearmen carried exquisitely crafted spears with silvered heads and a Lærd etched on both the shaft and the spearhead. Unfortunately, the art of making these weapons was lost during one war or another, and most of the spears were destroyed.

The particulars of the Jarlsson Fighting Style have remained unchanged for centuries. A Spearman maintains a wide stance perpendicular to his opponent, with his leading leg bent slightly at the knee and his trailing leg firmly planted to allow for devastating thrusts and quick withdrawals to sidestep an attack or bring the spear up to parry an enemy’s strike. His hands grip the shaft about midway between the point of the spearhead and the butt of the shaft, spaced about eighteen inches apart.

A common misconception that usually gets an enemy killed is that Jarlsson Spearmen are helpless against foes that come close due to the large size of their weapons. However, a Spearman is highly trained in close combat and perfectly capable of tripping an opponent to the ground or bashing him in the face with the shaft of his weapon, setting the enemy up for a deadly thrust while he is flat on his back or stunned from a blow to the head. Spearmen also learn to keep enemies at bay with short thrusts of the spear along one line; an opponent who does wish to close must contend with the rapid stabs of the longspear.

Still, an opponent who does manage to close and avoid either of these tricks has the Jarlsson fighter at a real disadvantage: it is much more difficult to defend against a rapier attack ( or worse, the thrust of a knife or dagger) while most of the weapon’s length lies behind the opponent. Additionally, a Jarlsson Spearman must step back to make a more traditional attack against a close-in opponent, a sure sign that an attack is coming, allowing an enemy to prepare a strong defense.

Basic Curriculum: Athlete, Polearm
Knacks: Corps-á-Corps, Double Attack (Polearm/Polearm), Exploit Weakness (Jarlsson), Pommel Strike (Polearm), Wall of Steel (Polearm)

Revised Swordsman Knack: Wall of Steel. Your weapon is an ever-present blocking device, and you use it like a tortoise uses its shell. If you have not attacked yet this Round, then each Rank of this Knack increases your TN to be hit by two. You cannot use your Parry Knack with the relevant weapon for Active Defenses in any Phase where you benefit from this Knack.

Apprentice: Students of Jarlsson begin training with the longspear at an early age, and practice long hours to improve their control and handling of the challenging weapon. They may add their Mastery Level in the Fighting Style to all Attack Rolls made using Attack (Polearm) and to all Active Defense Rolls made using Parry (Polearm).

Jarlsson is not the sort of fighting style that would appeal to the Duelist’s Guild, and it certainly wouldn’t be considered for Swordsman’s Guild sanction. As a result, Apprentices of Jarlsson receive a free Rank in one of their Swordsman Knacks in lieu of Guild Membership.

Note that using his Double Attack Knack requires a Jarlsson fighter to use both ends of his spear to attack. They cannot get full leverage for an attack from either side; therefore, the attack with the spear head inflicts damage as a Heavy Weapon (3k2, adjusted as usual for Brawn), and the attack with the blunt end inflicts damage like a Staff (2k1, adjusted as usual for Brawn). Otherwise, longspears are considered traditional polearms, with a 4k2 Damage Rating.

Journeyman: Jarlsson Journeymen have perfected using both ends of their longspears as weapons, and no longer need to take any Raises on their Attack Rolls when using their Double Attack Knack.

Master: Masters of Jarlsson learn that charging at a pair of opponents with a spear held horizontally allows them to take down more than one target at a time. The Master may make a Corps-á-Corps attack against two enemies that are adjacent to one another with a single Action. If he chooses to do so, the Master only makes one Attack Roll, with the result being compared to each target’s Passive Defense score.

In addition, to combat enemies using ranged weapons or who are otherwise out of reach, the Master learns to throw his longspear, This attack is made using the Master’s Attack (Polearm) Knack. The longspear has a Range of three times the Master’s Brawn plus five, and has Attack Roll modifiers of -5 at Short Range and -10 at Long Range. Since this deprives the Master of his weapon, and since it is not practical to carry a second longspear, this Technique is used only in desperate circumstances.