Kalda

Kalda the Whirlwind
Race	Human
Age	26
Height	6'2
Weight	175 lbs.
Class	Barbarian
Level	3
Alignment	Chaotic Neutral
Status	7
Condition	Alive

A dedicated shield-maiden of Wotan, Kalda Gullinhár grew up with no family - and nothing to keep her in the Northlands. She sailed south, to follow her omens, hoping to find glory in Wotan's one eye. Meeting a young wizard named Agias, she decided he would be fit to compose epics of her deeds and help earn her place as one of Wotan's Valkyries.

Background

Kalda’s earliest memories are shrouded in the smoke of many fires. The fires that razed through her village during the Reavers’ raid. She could not remember the names, nor the faces, of her father and mother - she could only remember them telling her to run.

So she ran. Between the buildings, out of the village and into the snowy wilderness. With no idea of what direction to run, she attempted to follow a raven passing overhead. Eventually, the cold and exhaustion prevailed over the young girl, and she collapsed in the snow. When she heard the sniffing of wolves drawing closer to her fallen form, she thought her end had come - but when she opened her eyes, she instead saw an old man looking down on her, a kind look in his single eye.

Kalda awoke in Huldramose, in the care of a company of shield-maidens. Though she asked about the old man who rescued her, none knew what Kalda was speaking of. According to the shield-maidens, Kalda had wandered into Huldramose on her own, collapsing before the wandering company. Several within the company saw several details in her story - the raven, the wolves, and the one-eyed man - as marks of the god Wotan, and suggested that Kalda had dreamt them up.

But Kalda was convinced in her memories. They were the only memories they had. If it had been Wotan himself that saved her, it was as simple as that.

Kalda demanded to join the shield-maidens, and receive their training. They obliged, not wanting to leave the orphan to fend for herself. Most in the company expected her to never go beyond doing menial labor to cover her living expenses. But Kalda trained hard, for she had a single goal in mind - to prove her valor to Wotan.

In researching Wotan, she learned that he was said to send his ravens out to battlefields to find suitable warriors among the slain to fight for him in Geirrhöth, sometimes arriving in person to collect the worthy. For him to have saved her that day, when ravens appeared above the battle, it could only mean he forwent his search for warriors in order to do so.

In Kalda’s mind, she owed Wotan a warrior. And so, she would fight. If she managed to prove her valor, she might ascend to Wotan’s court as one of his valkyries. If she instead fell in battle… he would receive a warrior either way.

Kalda’s zeal in achieving this goal did not exactly win any friends within the company, who found her behavior to be far too reckless. In fact, Kalda did not have anyone she truly considered a friend growing up. After she left the company over the growing friction, she tried travelling with other groups - mercenaries and adventurers and the like. None of these groups lasted long for her.

And Kalda grew restless. Returning to Huldramose, she sought out a soothsayer to tell her fortune. The soothsayer told Kalda that her destiny lay in following the raven, which initially frustrated Kalda. She was already on that path, or trying to be! But across her battlefields, she had not seen a single raven watching over her.

Instead, Kalda began to wonder what else she could do. Far to the south lay the Raven Tower, which she had learned of in her studies of Wotan. Many considered it a holy site, making the long pilgrimage there to honour their god. With no other direction, Kalda decided to make the pilgrimage for herself.

So she sailed south, making land in the Grand Duchy of Dornig. It was in a tavern in Donnermark where she met the man who would change the course of her journey. The young man was performing poetry in the common area, speaking of great battles and mighty heroes. The tales of glory spoke to her, and she approached him after the performance with a drink in each hand. The young man was tending to a pet - a small raven - which Kalda immediately took for a good omen!

The man introduced himself as ‘Agias of Kyprion’ and the pair got talking - and drinking. Kalda learned that the man was on his own journey - seeking brave heroes and adventurers to chronicle their journeys and construct his own, original poetry. Kalda became convinced that this man’s destiny was crossed with hers: she could be the brave warrior he sought, and he could attest to her valor in his poems.

Learning that Agias was a wizard, Kalda offered to pledge the Varyag’s Oath to him - an oath Northlands warriors swore to mages, to serve as their personal guard.

She proposed that Agias join her on her pilgrimage to the Raven Tower, telling him of legends that monsters would sometimes emerge from the holy site. If they were to encounter any such creatures, Kalda would gladly display her prowess in battle for Agias’ own inspiration. The man enthusiastically agreed, and the pair set out immediately the following day - after their hangovers wore off.

At the Raven Tower, they were indeed set upon by undead creatures. Kalda fought her way through with glee, and Agias proved himself to have magical talents to contribute to the fight. Eventually, the pilgrimage was successfully completed, and Kalda prayed to Wotan at the tower to thank him for sending her such an omen.

There in the Tomierran Forest, Kalda found a crossroads to properly take the Varyag’s Oath with Agias. Under the branches of a large oak tree, the two pledged the oath to each other, binding them in service. When the wizard asked Kalda what she planned next, she cheerfully replied that she would follow him from that day on. And so, Agias decided to take their journey in the direction of rumours he’d been hearing on his travels - to the distant Southlands.

According to the rumours, a long forgotten tomb had opened near the small town of Jokari - one said to be fraught with both peril and treasure. Ever since then, strange happenings were reported: disappearances, horrible nightmares, unknown markings in the ground… the pair decide to travel there in search of more adventure and glory, to further their goals!

The Varyag's Oath

The Midgard World Book makes mention of Northlands warriors serving as valuable oath-bound warriors to mages, but doesn’t elaborate on the oaths or how those relationships form. So, I created the Varyag’s Oath (named after the Varangian Guard from history) to expand on Kalda and Agias' relationship.

The Varyag's Oath is a Northern custom, and a rather peculiar one given the Northern culture's typical emphasis on strength and battle. Indeed, the average mage is no warrior in the eyes of most Northerners, and the common view is that those who need protection are not worthy of it. But Northerners respect the strange talents and incredible feats that only mages are capable of, believing they are often a necessary asset.

The end result is that mages are someone who need to be protected by the warriors - who are clearly so much stronger than them - but also worth protecting, a relationship that is mutually beneficial for warrior and mage. It is for this reason that the Varyag's Oath is sworn between both parties in lieu of the usual remuneration for hiring a bodyguard.

This makes the oath seem especially appealing to foreign mages, who see a completely loyal bodyguard that works without demand of payment. However, those mages typically find the oath is not something to be entered into lightly, and they will be expected to reward their chosen warrior with great deeds over simple coin.

For adventuring partnerships, the most typical agreement is an even split of treasure - which seems perfectly reasonable, in line with how parties operate - but the oath often also contains a demand for danger. The oath-bound warrior does not enter service to be used if danger is to arise, no, the oath is given when danger IS to arise, and mages are expected to give their bodyguard active opportunities to defend them. This detail often comes to a shock to mages who simply wanted a loyal servant.

Sometimes, the oath is for a period of time - a number of moons, or even years. Other times, it is until a certain goal is reached - a wizard wants the warrior's protection until they have reached the level of an archmage, or acquired a particular treasure. A mage that does not actively work toward the goal the oath is based upon can be considered to be failing to uphold their part of the oath.

Further, the oath is not easily broken once agreed upon. In theory, the mage has the power to release the warrior from their service at any time by claiming that the warrior has not provided adequate protection, and thus failed to uphold the oath. This, however, is considered an extreme failure on the warrior's part, and as such the oath always stipulates that a warrior must be given ample opportunity to prove their worth, or proof of their failure. To fail to do so is dishonourable on the wizard's part, and almost always results in a feud.

Simply telling the warrior their services are no longer needed is also not an option - setting aside the fact that this would likely be seen as an attempt to dismiss the warrior without dishonour, the oath places onus on the wizard to create the need for the warrior's protection if necessary - so such an argument cannot be valid.

Northern warriors do not enter this oath lightly, either, as the oath places a heavy responsibility on them - they must defend the mage's life with their own. While that may sound ideal for warrior-folk who live for glorious battle and danger, the reality is that failure to uphold this oath causes great dishonour for the warrior. If the mage in their care dies as a result, most warriors would see only one path to restore this lost honour: avenge the fallen mage and die in battle after doing so.

In the case of Agias and Kalda, Agias had been vaguely aware of the oath through the sagas he had read - but had initially agreed to take the oath while drunk, and did not realize the difficulty he would face through the combination of Kalda's recklessness and his inability to easily release her from the oath. For Kalda, however, she fully understood the risks and responsibilities, yet offered the oath to Agias on their first meeting. The reason for this can easily be explained by her fervent belief in the omens and foretelling she had received, however, there is one other factor that may have motivated her in offering the oath so quickly.

Kalda had previously joined up with various other warriors and adventurers, but such groups never lasted due, at least in part, to her reckless approach to combat. Nor had she made any lasting friendships in the company of shield-maidens she trained under. It's possible that swearing the oath was in part motivated by the hope of finding a friend who could not abandon her as easily...

Arrival in Jokari

Kalda took place in her first delve during Week 31, venturing underneath the Tower of Abadeus along with Hywel, Nemale, Amenhotep, Zalverk and Steelscab. She nearly perished when she lost consciousness in the middle of a burning room, but Hywel's persistence and Nemale's bravery saved her life. She went on a few more delves, and found herself becoming fond of her fellow adventurers - especially Anivere, who most recently has become what Kalda would consider a true friend.