Niveum Caelum, Herald of Jormag

Niveis Caelum was once a priest of both Dwayna and Lyssa and the spiritual leader of a large Shiverpeaks human settlement, founded by fifty survivors of a group that had splintered off the Ascalonian migration through the Deldrimor Front. Many of its inhabitants were battle-hardened warriors, with most serving in Prince Rurik's Ascalon Vanguard before the latter was killed by the Stone Summit. Trekking north through the Shiverpeaks and Frostgorge Sound, they eventually settled east of what is now known as the Bitterfrost Frontier. For over 200 years, the colony prospered as trade with Hoelbrak in the south flourished, and by 1260 AE, it had grown into a walled city with a population numbering in the thousands. Half a century passed. In that time, countless bands of Sons of Svanir - the first signs of something yet to come - assaulted the city, but to no avail; its battlements were invincible bastions of stone, the mages defending them peerless in their sorcery. Over time, the citizens grew fat with their bread and circuses, the wall guards became lax in their touring duties, and even the sapient Caelum dismissed the threat of "Dragon" as the overactive imagination of some senile Norn shaman. Nothing, it seemed, could overcome the defenses of the city. And nothing, it seemed, could prepare it for the advent of Jormag's advance. In 1320 AE, his armies marched in from the north, smashing down the city's fortified iron gates, flattening the town market, and bowling over every house in an avalanche of snow and corrupted ice. Even the imperial vanguard, imbued with the combined powers of the ancient Ice Sage's battle meditation and the blessings of Lyssa and Dwayna, were but saplings against the might of the Claw of Jormag, who scythed them down with one swipe of its massive talons. As his city, centuries of progress and civilization, lay razed to the ground and his people scattered and slaughtered, Niveis fled south with the pain of loss heavy in his cold heart. A decade later, he wanders, broken, through Hoelbrak with nothing but a blank stare and a blank slate. Occasionally, however, his fallen comrades return from the Mists to remind him of his horrific past. Determination returns in his eyes, emanating a desperate desire to prevent history from repeating itself, and he shouts to no one in particular - "Fly, you fools! The Ice Age is upon us!" Niveis Caelum (Snowy Skies) ------------ Updated listing with just glacial gauntlets coming in soon. (need to get more transmutation charges)