Howdy, I'm Nicholas Rice, Folkbuilder from Southern Illinois, currently living in Tennessee at Sigrheim, the Home of Victory. (Yes...I know I'm cheating on you with Þórshof...but Baldr will always have my heart.) If I'm not the busiest feller in the AFA, then give it a day or two...they'll assign something else to me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. With free time comes wasted time, and there's always something that needs to get done.

So, how'd I get here? Well, I grew up with a love of history and mythology, and as a kid, some of my favorite things were reading and experiencing various adventures through ancient lands. Having read Odyssey for the first of many times when I was 11, I quickly grew an understanding that there was something else out there, and something that was drawing me in and away from the status quo. I left Christianity about 16-17 years ago, and made my way through what seems to be a somewhat normal progression of agnosticism, atheism, general paganism, eclecticism; I worked on building connections originally with the Hellenic Gods, before being awoken to the history and cultures of the Germanic peoples and our Gods.
 

My Folksoul finally found its root and home about 10 years ago, and although I was content for some time practicing alone and with a small group of a few locals, life events eventually drove me into isolation and an inability to connect on my own anymore. I'd heard about the AFA, and knew that it would be my best shot at finding a decent group of Folk who shared my values and had the drive and passion for our Gods and Folk that I wanted to spark within me again and help build.
 

It was a long time coming, and a lot has happened in the time since, but I couldn't be happier, and the amazement I feel every single day about the growth and progress we make...it only leaves me awestruck about the good works that we'll continue to do well into the future to build our own bright flames and bring gifts and glory to our Gods.
 

To circle back around and give you a bit more about the things I'm involved with and how I could help if you needed anything, here's a bit of a list of what I help get done in the AFA: general Folkbuilding with organizing moots and connecting with the Folk, IT and computer system and website support, back-end production of Victory Never Sleeps, helping to assemble and edit our monthly The Runestone newsletter, administrative secretary with Asatru Academy, historian for Sigrheim, mentoring for new apprentice Folkbuilders, and probably my favorite position and title, Keeper of All the Things for our Witan, the wonderful Mrs. Brandy Callahan. :)
 

And if you're interested in some audio recordings of a few of our most important pieces of lore, feel free to check out my >> YT channel. <<