Óndskapur

The Óndskapur was a knarr that sailed from Graben Island. She had a crew of nearly twenty and was captained by Lars Viggsen, who is celebrated as the discoverer of Todstein. Once it was realized that the island was locked in an unending winter, any notion of establishing a colony there was abandoned. Nonetheless, Captain Viggsen made repeated visits to the god forsaken place. In particular, he returned from his second expedition with a dozen reindeer. He and his crew failed to return from their fourth expedition in 644 BC. It is believed that the Óndskapur dashed herself to piece upon an iceberg and that the survivors froze to death. It is also widely held that their spirits haunt the sea about Todstein.

Dread Possibility: Doom of the Óndskapur

Graben history is only half right in holding that Captain Lars Viggsen and his crew perished in 644 BC when the Óndskapur collided with an iceberg. Captain and crew actually survived the impact, but their knarr was inextricably lodged in the gigantic floe's flank.

Unwilling to desert his beloved ship, Viggsen drove his men to try to free her despite ample evidence testifying to the futility of their of their efforts. Food supplies dwindled and their limited stockpile of firewood ran out, yet Viggsen kept his men chipping away at the entrapping ice with tools, daggers, or bare, frostbitten hands. Realizing that the captain's fanaticism would soon condemn the lot of them to an icy grave, the desperate men mutinied and hurled Viggsen into the sea. As their captain's body drifted away, the crew could have sworn that his facial features were frozen in a smirk. It was soon discovered that Viggsen had chopped holes in the lifeboats, and had cast all the carpentry tools into the sea, making repairs impossible.

To this day the Óndskapur remains stuck upon the iceberg. Most of the vessel is now locked away beneath feet of transparent ice. Open pockets do remain however, essentially below deck. The wreck is haunted by its captain and its crew of eighteen. The crewmen are wraiths who hunger for the warmth and vitality of life. And the is captain is a potent and hateful spectre. The incorporeal lot are condemned in perpetuity to act out their old sailorly duties, unhindered by the ice and seemingly oblivious to what they have become. In particular, they will "defend their ship" with relentless determination. Viggsen is the only one not to have died abroad the Óndskapur and hence is the only spirit free to leave the iceberg. He is fully aware of his role in the tragedy and will stop at nothing to keep knowledge of his misdeeds from leaking out, for he is determined to be remembered as a hero.

The iceberg in which the Óndskapur is locked never melts and is forever adrift around Todstein. Meredoth simply lets it float free as a trap for trespassers, having little interest in incorporeal types of undead.

References

Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer, p. 202.