Storr

Storr Winddriver was the daughter of the Illuskan tribal chief Sto Wind and Chieftainess Re Driver was born 25 years ago in the far northern lands where it snows. Tall and lean, she’s whip cord of deceptive strength, her muscles hidden beneath armor and furs. Beautiful, pale skin, fierce blue eyes, and fiery red hair to match her the rage she has carried with her since her people were massacred and she was powerless to do anything but flee. She was destined to be the next leader of her people, now for all she knows she’s the only one left who knew they existed at all.

1. Background The Illuskan tribes are a nomadic people, travelling about on land, and ocean in the far north of the world.  They travel between islands in skin covered boats, and trek across passes in the mountains to search out the plants that poke through the snow in the swift spring, as the days lengthen beyond the reckoning of the peoples further south.  The land is harsh, and the life is hard, but bountiful.  The strength of the Illuskan people is their whipcord muscles, rippling under fair skin, constantly toned by the strenuous life travelling from place to place.  Within the long river valleys that stretch into the mountains from the coast, refuges exist -  places where dark trees choke the hillsides, and a tribe can hunt the elk that move along the river valley, and retreat to the safety of the forest.

When winter comes, the tribes head south, finding refuge in winter camps, where they can hunt seals for food and fur, and rend the blubber of their bodies for the small fires in their snow domed huts, around which the people sing and tell stories through the long nights.

The stories tell of a great bird, the color of fire - made, in fact of fire - who emerges from the snow with the first tan blooms  - small flowers of red and orange and yellow -  in the spring.  The bird flies high in the sky, and makes swift passage above the storm, moving quickly from island to island to find fish, and fruit, and to make its nest on high mountain crags.  For the birds only live for a year, and when the fall comes, they retreat to their nest, and when the first snow comes, the birds burst into flames as the sun goes down, and coat the sides of the high, snow covered peaks with a wash of red and purple.

The stories tell of the Orsik - the wise old bear, a fellow who lives in the woods around their winter camps, and who - like them - spends the winter quietly, waiting for the light to return, and they tell of his evil brother - Gwav, white like the snow - who hides in snow storms and inhabits the howl of the wind, and feeds on those foolish enough venture out alone in the darkness of the long winter.

The stories tell of the Morvil - a great and treacherous fish with long, pointed teeth- who will capsize the canoes and boats of the tribe without a second thought, and who creates the great storms of the ocean, by  blowing cloud into the air through a hole in his back.  He has other fish under his control - the most famous of which are the kern - his hunting dogs who spear fish and seals with a horn on their heads, and who taught the tribe - long ago - how to hunt with a spear.

When a young warrior reaches adulthood, and wishes to be amongst the elite of the tribe, they embark on a quest - a test of their mettle.  There is an island just beyond the horizon to the north and west of the largest land mass that the tribes journey to - a craggy outcrop of rock, rising far above the frozen ocean around it, often shrouded in storm clouds.  The young warrior must paddle their way to the island, and find their way up the sheer walls of ice to make it onto a great blindingly white plain.  They make their way between boulders and the scrub of trees amidst giant rivers of ice, and climb to the peak, which smells like the rotten eggs of sea birds.  Sometimes when a warrior arrives, their arrival is signalled by the shaking of the earth, and even by great waves racing outwards from the island’s shores.

The journey is a true test of the young warrior’s knowledge and strength.  The passage to the island, and the ascent to the plain are great physical challenges, just as picking a course through the treacherous rivers of ice shows a warrior’s judgement and audacity.  The mental strength required to show good judgement in the face of such a deadly landscape and brutal snowsqualls, as well as the obscuring mist from the sea ensures that any warrior who returns alive is strong, wise, and courageous - the type of person who will help to ensure the tribe’s survival.

Each warrior who embarked on the journey first had to make their way to the north of the crossing, where a large boulder stood  amidst a circle of stones on a high outcrop looking over the sea, surrounded by sheer cliffs, and connected to the mainland by the slimmest neck of strewn boulders and jagged rocks.  The passage to the boulder was protected by a witch, who required as payment from the warrior the body of a walrus, caught in the bay below, a collection of herbs, and a pile of collected driftwood, from a wide pebble bay below.  The witch lived in a cave hollowed into the cliffs below the outcrop, and refused to speak to the warrior until the tithe was paid.  Once she was satisfied with the tribute, she would show the warrior a winding path known only to her, and would strike off a piece of the boulder, creating an iron shard, which the warrior brought with them on their quest.  

The warrior is told that  by striking the shard on a rock at the rim of the great bowl at the mountain’s peak, the shard would learn to point into the far north, and so the warrior would - like the leaders of the tribe before them - guide the tribe across the sea in any weather. There are other surprises in that high place, but no one who has been there will speak of them.

Storr had been journeying along the coast with her tribe, preparing to make the quest herself.  When they crossed into a valley where they had stored their skin boats during the winter, they found a town, the likes of which they had never seen before…

1. The Tragedy Advanced scouts brought news of something impossible. A city would appear in the lands that never had been before. Unsure who these invaders were, the Illuskan decided to send a message to these outsiders and assaulted the city to reclaim their lands. The battle was a massacre. All the Illuskan people all fought; man, woman, and child. But they were no match for the skill and weaponry that awaited them. They were slaughtered, broken, and scattered. Storr in the chaos tried to rally her people but there were none she saw to rally.  In the final moments she saw her father, slashing and parrying against many soldiers.  Beheading a young soldier, barely a man, mostly a boy o.  Only to have his head removed in short order.  All she had known, her past and her future was gone.

Defeated and despondent Storr wandered south to warmer lands. A ship took her on as crew and in a man, deformed and brutalized, she found a companion who looked as she felt inside.  He was kind and knowledgeable and went by the name Balthazaar.  As he meant her no harm and sought nothing more than a good conversation and listened to her intently.  A friend.  For the first time in a long time she foundsomething good in the world, and swore to herself to protect this with her life.  Perhaps a new purpose in her life.

  - [[Trenewydh]] Dream:***

Last night you had a dream, in which you re-lived your battle with the Red Blade over and over again, running it backwards and forwards in your mind.  At times you feel trapped within the battle, frantic to escape the pain of his blows.   At other times you marvel as he leaps out of the way with an effortlessness that is far beyond the skills of any fighter you’ve ever seen.    You feel that you have there, recorded in your memory, every moment of the fight in exquisite detail. After watching the fight for what feels like an eternity, you come even to marvel at the thrusts and slashes that bite into your own flesh.  The torment and pain of the fight fades as you build a new resolve to master the movements that you see in minute detail in the fighting of this master swordsman.  You wake up sweating and out of breath, but elated.

  - Dream at [[The Abbot]]’s Cottage:***

Wrapped up by the fire in the Abbot’s hut, you fall asleep, and dream that you stand in the village your people attacked, and the streets run with blood, and houses burn.  No living thing moves.  You pick from the ground your katana, and a cruel dagger with a handle wrapped in your own hair.  A wind blows from the north, and all your clothing dissolves until you stand naked in the street except for your two weapons.  You ready yourself hearing footsteps approaching from in front of you, and you see Mali enter the street, bedecked in iron armor, covered in spikes and spiteful looking plates.  She says You are nothing without me, and you hear your weapons hiss at her.  You run forward, vault over her, and stab her through the back and a fire erupts from the fissure, and she burns to ash.  But you take the ash, and the flame that lingers on it, and smear it over your body, and you hear a deep gravelly voice say: You are off the ancient people of the Fire, and yet you have forgotten it.  For this, your people are punished.  If you are to save them, forget your anger and look to that which made you truly strong.  The Bear was ever your friend, and you fought long with blades of frozen night.  Perhaps you can be the first of your people to remember: wisdom is a woman’s gift, and it arrives around the fire, and in the dark reaches of the terrible night.  By the time the voice is finished speaking, you realize you are in total darkness, the only light coming from the flames that flicker around you as clothing.  You remember an old witch who was an outcast of your community, she followed your people and was one with them, but one apart.  And you remember her sitting in the darkness beyond your camps, with a small fire, legs crossed and eyes closed, humming to herself.  And sit, and do the same, and remember nothing more.

  - Storr’s Blanket*: ** Your blanket depicts a story in 9 pictures: 

1. There is a group of hunters with spears - male and female - entering the woods.

2. They weave in and out of trees.

3. One of the hunters points to what looks like a mammoth.

4. They stalk the beast.

5. They surround the animal, and attack it.

6. As they butcher it, lions approach on the ground and through the tree branches.

7. They run from the lions, who devour their kill.

8. Running, they find a man in the woods, sitting by a fire.

9. They chase the lions off the mammoth with flaming brands.

   • Tree:***  

When you touch the tree you feel yourself changing, and through a series of images, you see yourself growing older and younger, changing forms.  You realize that you are branching back through all of your female ancestors, seeing warriors and healers, queens, shamans, and chieftains.  You feel a wealth of lives within you, and a connection to the past and your tribe that you had lost in your flight.  You know that you carry a great tradition, and may be the last person to carry it.  You are left wondering what to do with the burden you see.

The ancestors she saw were all the women from her past; a lot of them had red or auburn hair.  Similar builds but some outliers here and there.  She’d have known them to be her ancestors because of their flaming hair or bright blue eyes.  The immediate descendant of a chief and based on the ways of her tribe, the women were regarded as equals to the males because the tribes survival depended upon everyone pulling their own weight.  Women had to be equally adept with a sword and bow as they were with a needle and thread, because survival could come down to being able to sew a blanket for warmth or sew a wound to staunch blood loss.

Because of her upbringing, destined to be a leader, she had many lessons to learn.  History wasn’t as important as learning sword play, foraging, and mending. But at night is when the people would sing their songs.  Of battles won and lost.  Great heroes who saved the tribe from more than just enemies but also famine and disease.  She enjoyed the songs when she heard them because they were a break from the grind of tribe life.  She may not have understood the deeper meaning of the words, only that they were strung together in ways pleasant for her ears.  But being more experienced and older, she might be in a place to think back on their meaning now and what she could learn from them.

  - The Stone Circle: *** You see an elderly couple, who look as though they are composed primarily in shades of grey.  Their feature are hard to distinguish, and it seems to you that they change into various faces you’ve seen before, often so quickly you aren’t able to catch hold of the face, but most often you think you see your mother and father.

  - The Waterfall:***

You fall for a long time.  As you fall, you pull your legs upward, and hold out your arms, ready to land on whatever lurks in the darkness below you.  You feel your hair streaming out behind you, and with one hand, pull Kleghein from its sheath.  You hold it aloft, and suddenly - without you willing it to do anything, it bursts into light, shining like the cold, cutting light of the Moon, which itself shines from behind you, lighting your way.  You look outwards, and see the glowing stars about you, as you race past them.  Sometimes you think you see lanterns hanging out there in the dark, and you think of their flames, and you seem yourself to ignite in your mind, shining forth a bright and burning radiance with the cold moonlight of Kleghein in one hand.  Below you, you see the waterfall pounding into the surface of a lake as you barrel towards it out of the sky.  Turning Kleghein you grasp the hilt with both hands, and with the point downwards you plunge it into the water as you break the surface.  The water acquiesces, and you quickly bob to the surface as the moon smiles down upon you.  Putting your foot down, you feel a ledge of flat rock so that you stand with one foot’s toes on the edge, chest deep in water, while the rest of you hovers over a dark abyss.  In front of you, a small curtain waterfall shields what seems to be a cave from the open air above the lake.  Through the water’s surface, you can see the flickering light of a fire, you duck through the curtain of water, to see what’s inside…