Yrsa means 'bear' in the old tongue of the barbarians of White Hall. Maybe it was Yrsa's robust health that provided inspiration as it was already in for a first test when she was born, third child of her father Thorbjorn, brother to the Jarl of the Clan of F'jet, and her mother Ragnis. There were complications that proved to be a challenge to both mother and child, and while the latter prevailed the former did not. Her father named his newborn daughter after commenting on her tenacity. He was soon to take a second wife, and more children would follow; more means to gain fame and valor, influence and power.
Yrsa grew up without the love of a mother. It was no secret her father's next wife disliked her and her older siblings. She had to compete for her father's attention, and she did so by training with the sword, intent to prove to him she could hold her own and gain fame for her clan. Being a member of the Vigamandr Caste, she started to take part in raids from the age of eighteen, a regular Raider on the clan's longship sailing along the coast. Whenever they made landfall, she would attack and kill ruthlessly, knowing it would either be her or them. As is custom in her clan (but probably also in others), she would prepare for battle by sometimes using ashes or lime mixed with some water as white paint, and occasionally add a tinge of blue to give her face and hair a frightening appearance, augmented even more by the addition of black to the area about her eyes. This together with her deadly prowess has earned her the byname Pale Terror.
She was one of the Njorfolk that took part in the Great Raid of Four Corners, even if the leader of the Raid was killed eventually which made the Njorfolk leave the citystate, the campaign paid off for her, as she returned with some nice bounty. Even so, her older brother Lefnur got killed in one of the last battles that finally drove the Raiders of White Hall out of Four Corners, which added a personal loss to this defeat of the Raiders. One that has made her vow to return and pay those rich and soft people of Four Corners back - if only to take more nice goods from them.
Yrsa can appear quite gruff to others, she is not a woman of flowery words but has learned to keep up a display of strength and ferocity, carefully avoiding to appear vulnerable by anything or anyone. As such, she indulges in fights, not only on the battlefield. Discussions with her can easily become heated and lead to a duel. Any confrontation will be carried out with ferocity, and determination to either win or die. A dangerous trait, that almost got her killed during the Great Raid of Four Corners. Had it not been that a Scaldmandr had literally dragged her off the battlefield, she probably would be feasting with her ancestors in the Golden Hall already.
When she returned to White Hall and to Argúndir, the main village of her clan, she had to learn of her uncle's death, as the Jarl of clan F'jet had fallen severely ill during her absence - a rather unnatural illness that finally showed in symptoms of paralysis towards his end. There were murmurs of poisoning - rumors reaching from this being some dishonourable ploy from their enemy Clan Ta'gen to others claiming this was in fact the action of Yrsa's father, which led to some tensions among the people in the clan. Thorbjorn F'jet was challenged by a rival within the clan, but was able to win the duel in the end, becoming thereby the next Jarl of the clan.