Taðkr ormstunga

Summary

Originally Tadhg the Thinker, Taðkr began participating in the SCA during the summer of 2000 as a guest of the House of Hormones in the Barony of Three Mountains. In 2001 he became man-at-arms to Sigurd the Dark and became a permanent member of the House of Hormones. When the House of Hormones joined the Village of Bjorgvin in 2002 a series of events surrounding his oath swearing resulted in him being inadvertently named "Loki" by then Konungr Finnr Skeggison. Taðkr embraced this new twist on his persona and is known in the Village of Bjorgvin simply as "Loki" to this day.

In 2003, Taðkr moved south to the Shire of Cour du Val. By the time he registered his name in 2006 his persona had developed a strong Norse slant; so he opted for the Norse spelling of "Taðkr" and adopted the byname ormstunga, meaning "serpent tongue." In 2007 along with Anejiro no Tamiko, Toomachi no Shichiro, and Senen, he began attracting members and forming a new house, becoming goði of House Jormungandr.

In 2008, Taðkr moved south again to the Barony of Adiantum.

Persona

Tadc MacBeccáin, son of Beccán Riabaig, was born in the Kingdom of Osraighibh in Ireland in the year 908. In 919 his father joined Niall Glundub, the Cenél nEógain king of Tara, in the Battle of Dublin against the northmen and was killed. Tadc continued supporting his mother for three years after that, but left home in 922 looking for higher paying work near the emerging norse trade towns. With few marketable skills, and no worldy experience, he soon resorted to banditry in order to make his living.

This continued off and on for some time, until one day in a Dublin pub he picked a fight with a northman. If you asked him today he'd tell you he did it for nothing more than the thrill of fighting, but whatever the reason he received a brutal thrashing that day. Úlfgrímr, another northman who had witnessed the fight, bought Tadc a drink and offered him some tips on grappling. After another couple hours of drink he challenged Úlfgrímr to a match, wanting to try his hand at the northman, and lost again but by a much narrower margin. To Tadc's surprise, Úlfgrímr's companion Sigurðr offered to hire him onto his ship crew after seeing how quickly he applied the things he'd been shown. The northmen, unused to Tadc's then quiet demeanor, began calling him Tadc the Thinker.

It was at that point that his adventures with the northmen began, and his life started down a path that would eventually lead him to adopt a new name in Scandinavia; Taðkr ormstunga.

Honours

• He has received two favors from the Barony of Terra Pomaria; one for a best death, and one for staying behind to finish patching a muddy road after the work party was adjourned for court.