Editing 7th Sea (section)

===Vendel and Vesten===
Northern islands ostensibly in alliance. The Vendel are inspired by the Dutch trading houses, while the Vesten (properly the Vestenmannavnjar) are your fantasy style vikings.  They are technically the same ethnic group, with the former being Vesten who decided to convert to the religion of the Prophets and abandon axes and war-cries for ledger-books and mercantilism(even changing their names to better accommodate the sensibilities of their foreign clients).  Only the latter use magic, in the form of runes that can create various cool effects, though it's much more rigid and less versatile than the other magic powers, and also causes flesh wounds because it's also not based on the ancient deal the Senators cut with Legion. 

As a mandatory "compensation" the Vendel got a sick-fuck "swordsman" school which uses firearms instead.  It's... popularly banned by houserules.  That said, there ''are'' several internal fighting styles, including a school that revolves around sword-canes, a fisherman school that revolves around the use of harpoons, and a "guard" style that relies on dual-wielding a sword and a lantern for blinding enemies and fighting at night.  And that's just the Vendel ones; the Vesten have a whole array of Viking flavors to call upon.

They also have a bardic/skaldic tradition, with the Vestenmannavnjar appreciating the oral history of their people and gods, and the Vendel liking their skill as hype men and publicity agents to make more money.