Specially marked by cunning, despising their own inheritance in the hope of winning a greater, eager after both gain and dominion, given to imitation of all kinds, holding a certain mean between lavishness and greediness, that is, perhaps uniting, as they certainly did, these two seemingly opposite qualities. Their leaders are specially lavish through their desire of good report. They are, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the very boys were orators, a race altogether unbridled unless held firmly down by the yoke of justice. They are enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. Norman adventurers start with a +2 bonus to their STR attribute.

Primary Language: French. Secondary Language: English.

Normans can come from Normandy, England, Sicily/Southern Italy or the Crusader States of Antioch or Jerusalem.

Apart from the Danes, and once in a while the Pope, no one really likes the Normans, but it doesn't really matter. When the Dane Rollo and his followers settled in Northern France two-hundred years ago, they took to knighthood and the feudal system of organization like a pig takes to garbage. The Ducal house at times defeated the French king and subjugated England. Norman adventurers carved out a kingdom in Sicily and Italy, fought the Byzantines to a standstill, established principalities in the Holy Land and lordships in Ireland.

Strangely enough, the Normans get along better with their Moorish subjects in Sicily than with their Italian or Byzantine neighbors.