NorsePlay's a Byrnaserker!

What's always bothered me about the iconic Torslunda helmet plates is there's wolfen Ulfhednar and boar-helmeted Svinfylking, but no actual bear-headed Berserkir since the former two are a specialized Fylgja-centric subset of the broader elite warrior Berserker category.

So after weeks of questing for visual references followed by 12+ hours of fierce digital holmganga with a desktop graphics program, NorsePlay has victoriously filled in this archaeological werebear art blank to give us aspiring bearshirts an image to identify with, which I then specifically theme-crafted for my custom Byrna LE's holster:

Just as one names a weapon of note in the Eddas & Sagas, I've named my kinetic/pepperball/teargas chemical ball launcher Ǫndbítr (ᚭᚿᛐᛓᛁᛐᛧ), meaning Breath-Biter, because this is exactly what it does -- it effectively robs potential assailants of their breath when hit.

["This is my Ǫndbítr!
There are many like it,
but this one is mine!"
~ Fullkominn Málmr Brynja]

While I've come up with Ǫndbítr/Breath-Biter as a singular specific name of customized prestige & individual ownership for my launcher, I could see this Old Norse poetic kenning that I've coined as a broader NorsePlay'd neologism for a less lethal pistol in general (and for possible weapon terminology in the alternate TTRPG Vikingverse).

For Ǫndbítr's larger context, I've been in a less lethal launcher deep dive since late last Summer after a serious discussion around the punitively bankrupting court costs for any discharging of firearms (valid/righteous/justified or not, it tends to be ~$250K USD[!], some of which partly reminds one of Medieval Iceland's court system's Weregild), and went with the Byrna as they're the largest proponent of such LL devices and have sold an amazing .5M+ of them to date with no end in sight.

In Byrna taking its name from the New Jersey street slang phonetic pronunciation for "burner" meaning gun (†), one can't help but notice the origin of burner coming from Old Norse "brenna", to burn with a flame or be consumed by fire, the "burners" also being the arsonists in The Saga of Burnt Njáll, so with the inclusion of a "burning" chemical payload in the Byrna, this all comes back to Norse Lore, and is why NorsePlay's Byrna-wielding Berserker, the Byrnaserker, is a fitting design.

My creative vision aside, figuring out whether this holster could be made at all began with a series of questions that proved unexpectedly difficult to get answers for.

Byrna, being the most prominent producer of launchers, is also overly guarded about the materials & internals they use (and require in-house servicing to retain their limited warranty [free for a year], which is partly being proprietary and partly watching out for end-users' actions from potentially becoming their company's legal liability in terms of warranty-breaking performance modding and/or using what could be considered more aggressive third-party rounds). When directly asked by me about whether their launchers' clamshell was the same Polymer 2 that Glock uses that can be milled/stippled/engraved to achieve the same high customization seen in regular gun culture, they cagily decided not to confirm if it was or wasn't, so I took Ǫndbítr into Tucson Customs for a look where they said it wasn't Polymer 2, but a lesser Polymer that could still take adornment. Using my GM initials bindrune they ran a small test laser surface engraving just inside the magazine well for me to be sure:

[My personal Elder Futhark Bindrune of Gebo & Mannaz. Since this test worked, I'm going to draft additional designs for the exterior!]

And when I asked Byrna what their clamshell's temperature ceiling was to see if it could stand the 330-400°F needed for making a custom Kydex holster, they only quoted me the heat tolerance for the CO₂ capsule exploding at 120°F, which was also stonewalling of them, and didn't answer my question, so I took Ǫndbítr to local holstermaker FigTac to hands-on evaluate that. Using his usual layers of painter's tape & cellophane to thermally protect the launcher's surfaces allowed successful molding of the pictured holster using .080" gauge hunter orange Kydex with my Byrnaserker design cutout through black sublimated exterior and skillfully placed with the Futhark running just-so along the corresponding barrel portion.

Hopefully all of NorsePlay's independent inquiries & footwork helps other Byrna enthusiasts who want to pursue these aesthetic processes to personalize their launchers the same way one would put runes on one's blades, install high-relief multi-lobed pommels for their sword, or inlay a sophisticated Mammen design upon an axe. This is the traditional weapon art throughline my Ǫndbítr is part of and NorsePlays forward.

[Source credits: NP's Torslunda-based & Vendel Age-inspired digital collage significantly modifies & combines limited portions from Ulfhednar Workshop, The Saxon Storyteller (do go check these exceptional artists out!), and Byrna for its non-commercial personal fair use original Byrnaserker Bear figure. The Short-Twig Younger Futhark font is used by Valhyr. My trihorn Óðrerir, Són, & Boðn is NorsePlay's original logo. NorsePlay would also like to acknowledge some inspiration for this endeavour from Vincent Enlund sharing his wonderous Heathen-themed custom Glock done by SSVI & cerakoted AR at Southwest Frith Moot so many years ago.]

[†: CEO Bryan Ganz only recently stated weeks after this post under external questioning that Byrna is an anagram of his name, whereas before in the company's official podcast he explained that it was from NJ slang. There's certainly degrees of truth in both of these naming origins.]

[Ǫndbítr's Byrna LE build parts credits: Black anodized aluminum barrel compensator & knurled fast cap CO₂ chamber knob by K20 Tools, 12g adapter from Mercy Less Lethal, Baldr S GL laser/light combo from Olight, orange anodized aluminum screwsets from We The People Holsters, my monogram bindrune engraved by Tucson Customs, Level 2 Kydex holster with SpetzGear SpeedLock Hood Switch by FigTac.]

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.