Gerekr fjársjándi Rögnvaldsson í Hrafnsgarði

Long ago there was a man named Rognvaldr son of Hrafn inn svarti. He was chieftain of a small village in Jamtaland, and a very good trader and raider. On one of his trips he picked up a wife, a Finn, whose name is nowhere remembered now. Many of the villagers, being suspicious of Finns, regarded Rognvalds new wife with fear and hatred, but could do nothing for the present against Rognvalds supporters.

In time Rognvalds wife gave birth to a fine male child, but the mother died in the childbirth and Rognvaldr was stricken with sorrow at the loss. Rognvaldr, to escape his sorrow, set out on a raid taking his men with him, but leaving the baby with a nurse. Rognvaldr never returned and when it became apparent that he was not coming back the villagers began to mutter among themselves that he had been cursed by the wife and that the child should be killed. And the nurse hearing this fled with the child to Rognvald's father across the mountains. And leaving the child there she returned to the village and said the child died in the mountains and the people of the village forgot him.

Hrafn the black raised the child who was called Gerekr, and taught him many things. As time went on Gerek went on trading expeditions with his grandfather, and travelled much. As his grandfather grew older and less able to travel, more of the burden of these expeditions fell on Gerek. One day Gerek set out into the mountains on a routine trip along the same route he had followed many times. As he travelled he suddenly could no longer identify where he was. The path had disappeared. The sky had clouded over so the sun could not be seen to even identify direction. He wandered for many days til he travelled between the two peaks known as the Lions and then down and past the adjoining mountains to the harbour and forest that came to be known as Lions Gate (for many others also travelled that route from many times and places).

He lives now among those known simply as the Society, and calls his household Hrafnsgarðr (Ravensgard) after his grandfather. His grandfather is gone, as is his village, and all memory of them and him is faded save in these words and those he now calls family.

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