Physical appearance

Beneath his oversized clothes that hide the shape of his body, Rasmus has a willowy physique, narrow shoulders and waist with slight curvature at his hips. His torso is a bit longer than his legs, which bear fluffy thighs and taper thin towards his ankles, giving him a “petite” appearance despite his average height (175cm). He is fine-boned – prominent collarbones and shoulderblades – and light on his feet and in touch. His hands are on the smaller side, but his palms and fingers are long and slender; he doesn’t often reach out to touch people, but when he does, most find that his hands are gentle but stable and give the impression that he is an honest man with nothing to hide. Overall his presence isn’t head-turning, it’s more warm and quiet, and easily spooked. If you’re particularly attached to him, you might be inclined to hold onto him…he is so light beside you it feels as though he may vanish if you let go. In the same vein, he can be easy to overlook, and like moonlight seems to disappear altogether when something brighter and louder comes into the room.

Perhaps his most recognizable feature – what he’s most confident about – is his hair. It’s a light “butter blonde” and cut lopsidedly. It’s wavy-textured and incredibly soft and shiny; when strands catch the sun, his hair seems to glimmer, almost like birch leaves fluttering in the wind. For most of his life it was long, butt-length and kept in low ponytails and braids, but was cut in 1814 by Gustav (voluntarily). It’s a special haircut to him and he would only ever consider growing it out again if he asked. The sides and back are tapered in medium-length layers and the top is longer, parted on his left so that his bangs swoop over his right forehead and tuck behind his ears on both sides. The remaining fringe frames his right cheek and falls just below his chin.

His face is in a longer heart shape, almost oval, soft and even. His chin is rounded and tapered. His facial features are sort of wide-set, but balanced; his eyes, though often half-lidded, are a little bigger, and he has a longer “button” nose with a slight bump towards the bottom of its bridge. His mouth is admittedly small, but with fuller lips, and slightly crooked canine teeth. When he smiles (REALLY smiles, with teeth), it’s easy to tell he has dimples at the corners of his mouth (fovea inferior anguli oris) and the fat under his eyes becomes prominent.

Ras’ eyes themselves are almond-shaped, with long, blonde eyelashes that catch snow and rain. They can be expressive when he’s caught off guard or alone, but his default expression is a distant stare. His irises are a bluish-sea green color, and in some lighting or at special times of the year there can be a violet hue to them, reminiscent of nordlys. His eyebrows are darker than his hair and are somewhat thick.

His skin is a fair alabaster color with a cool pink undertone. His cheeks and the tops of his ears are permanently flushed, and his lips typically covered in a vanilla-scented lip balm to keep them from getting dry, something he struggles with in general. Light freckles are randomly dusted over his body, and three well-known archipelagos are represented as noticeable beauty marks on his face — Svalbard, Jan Mayen, and Lofoten. Others, like Træna, Bolæna, and Vesterålen are hidden under his clothes on his stomach, shoulder, and thigh.
There are distinguishing marks all over Rasmus, scars being the most numerous. In order from oldest to newest:

・986, the Battle of Hjørungavåg: A scar he shares with Aksel. This battle is documented in the Fagrskinna as a self defensive move against invading Danish jomsvikings. They sparred on the deck of a longship in the midst of the battle, and without knowing who he was, Aksel slashed Rasmus across the chest with a sword. When his helmet came off it stunned Aksel, leaving him open for a similar slash across the chest with a halberd. The battle was a Norwegian victory, but was the origin point of Aksel’s fascination with him, and it can be seen as a visual representation of their “red string of fate”. Rasmus is self conscious of it, whereas Aksel is proud of their matching scars, and in this way Ras’ victory was co-opted against him. It runs from his left shoulder to his right pec, and Aksel’s runs in the opposite direction.

・1171, the Siege of Dublin: This happened one year after King Henry invaded the Norse-Irish city-state of Dublin. A militia of Norwegians returned to avenge their murdered families and take the city back, but they were defeated. This concluded the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and was the last time he saw Ireland until 1921. These days it’s very faded and is nearing disappearing. It’s from a cut on the back of his left thigh, where Arthur hurt him in battle.

・1184, the Battle of Fimreite: This was a decisive battle in the Norwegian civil wars, which lasted from 1134 to 1240, and revolved around numerous pretenders to the throne waging petty battles between one another and legitimate rival heirs. At this point in the struggle two opposing factions emerged, the Bagler and Birkebeiner. At Fimreite the Birkebeiner defeated King Magnus Erlingsson and their figurehead, Sverre Sigurdsson, became one of Norway’s longest reigning kings. It had lasting effects, for better or worse, on the country’s culture and history; many of Norway’s aristocracy were wiped out, but it was the House of Scerre that ushered in Norway’s “golden era”. This scar is a wound he received from an arrow piercing his right shoulder a mere four kilometers from where it’s said that Baldr was killed by a mistletoe-laced arrow.

・1263, the Battle of Largs: The only major battle of the Scottish-Norwegian War over the Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland. It occurred when the Scottish king intentionally stalled a meeting with the Norwegian king until seasonal autumn storms forced their ships to ground, where an ambush laid in wait. In the middle of the attack Rasmus was injured trying to protect his king – he defended him from an axe swing by raising his left arm to meet it – but could’ve been more severely hurt were it not for Ewan intervening and saving him from his own army.

・1807, the Second Battle of Copenhagen: A surprise attack by the English on Denmark during the Napoleonic War. This was the first time firebombs had ever been used by the British Navy, and both Rasmus and Aksel were seriously hurt in the attack. During the “fleet robbery”, wherein English troops attempted to seize Dano-Norwegian ships, Rasmus was pelted in the back by hot shrapnel from a firebomb as he was trying to evacuate sailors and defend the ships. He actually died in this battle, but not from the bomb. There is a lingering burn scar on the back of his left shoulder.

・Finally, in 1943, the Telavåg tragedy: One of the worst war crimes committed in Norway by the occupation during WWII, a mass public execution of resisting citizens in a town outside of Bergen. Rasmus was shot in his left mid-back trying to flee, and there is a scar on his front abdomen where the exit wound was.

There are also minor ribbon scars on the insides of his hands from dry, cracked skin that split and bled at some point. His hips and thighs have super light stretch marks on them as well. He has two birthmarks: a tiny heart shape on the nape of his neck, and a small Jämtland-shaped mark on his lower right back. Both of his tattoos are recent additions to the scape of his body, a leaping rabbit above his left elbow and a fine sprig of heather on his right pelvis, nestled against his v-line there. It matches the flower tattoos Iceland and Finland have.

Wardrobe

Rasmus is partial to more modest clothing. Above all he values comfort and practicality over fashion; his daily outfits don’t comprise anything particularly ornamental, and he wouldn’t remotely stand out in a crowd of Norwegians. His color palette is dominated by neutral earth tones: beige, cream, cornflower and powder blue, and brown, but he also wears pastel greens, pinks and reds, and purples as accents sometimes.

On an average day, he wears hand-knit wool sweaters, quarter-zip knits, or button ups and cardigans over fitted high neck t-shirts. His favorite traditional knits are Mariusgenser, Hønefossgenser, and anything with Selburose or Nordlandsmønster elements in it. Iceland has knit him a number of lopapeysa that he wears regularly.

During colder months he wears mid to light wash jeans, rolled up to just above his ankles. His sweaters are thicker and earthy-colored. Warmer months find him in shorts and lighter, fluffier, more colorful sweaters.

He has nicer clothing for more formal events where he doesn’t just need to be presentable, but dressed up. Meetings will see him in tailored suits, while to work-related lectures and presentations he wears things like vests and tweed pants. Some of these outfits are historically inspired, such as the couple of corset vests he wears over loose peasant blouses. He gravitates towards pieces that remind him of the medieval era.

Rasmus has some feminine clothes he wears on rare occasions he wants to impress, or on the off chance he wants to feel cute for once (being a humble person, he hardly pretties up just to feel special). For example, linen sleeveless tops and loose pants or ruffled shorts, blouses that reveal his back or collarbones, knit dresses or shorts that match his sweaters, sundresses, and overalls. Some of his favorite jackets are cotton quilted tie-fronts with embroidery or ruffles on them, but he only wears them for things like dates. He’s even got some more risqué clothing — a moderately glittery crushed velvet mini dress, bloomers with garters for thigh-high stockings, babydoll dresses, some fancy lacy things…but these are all for very special specific people to see.

Needless to say, he has appropriate winter and outdoor gear as well. All the layering he could need, eider down puffer jackets, insulated coats, waterproof pants, snow boots, ski suits, you name it. He has arctic jump suits for visits to Finnmark, Svalbard, and Antarctica as well. Probably his least-worn pieces, but he’s ready for anything!

His usual sleepwear is sleeveless linen tops and shorts in warm weather, and fleece button-ups and pants in cold weather. He may steal oversized t-shirts or sweaters from Gustav to sleep in them too.

Patterns and themes he likes are floral, traditional Nordic elements, strawberries, rabbits, snowflakes, and hearts. His preferred textures are cotton, linen, velvet, satin, and wool; he hates polyester. Nothing too tight (no flexibility!), nothing too flowy (will get caught on things in the wind!). Pieces with sailor capes appeal to him because he likes the weight on his shoulders, he finds it comforting.

As far as accessories go, Rasmus isn’t one to overly decorate himself. One outfit will see his signature cross necklace, a ring or two in addition to the wedding band he’s never without, and a beret if he wants to wear a hat. More than hats, actually, he prefers headbands and head scarves. His jewelry, if not plain silver, tends to be mother of pearl or pearls. Both of his ears are pierced but more often than not only his left one has something in it, a small pearl stud representing Bølifossen, the “pearl of the Mørkrid valley”. He will sometimes wear bunad brooches with his outfits if he feels like it, and with his presentation outfits he likes to add jabot sword pins that match with some in Gustav’s possession. Since his husband is a silversmith, he owns a lot of one-of-a-kind pieces made specially for him, themed after things that can be associated with him (like rabbits, lilies of the valley, strawberries).

He wears both mens and womens bunad, as well as various festdrakt. Currently he owns a red Trønderbunad (womens), Bringeduksdrakt, Hardangerbunad (womens), Setesdalbunad (mens), Kvittrøyebunad (mens), blue and yellow Romeriksbunad (womens), and bridal crowns from Nordmøre and Hardanger.