Hrodvaldr
Seven generations ago, a Northerner woman conceived a child with a white dragon. According to the tales (which may possess a shred of truth to them), this was due to her great might: she was a valorous warrior rumored to possess the strength of a dragon, and this so impressed Anuass the Frigid that he took her over his own kind for a mate.
The daughter born of their pairing, Gudleif, was as great as her parents, though many Northerners shunned her for her anomalous race. However, on the outskirts of Northerner territory, she found a small village beleaguered by a nearby cavern of trolls. Purging the trolls from the cavern, she earned the respect of the village and a home for herself. She eventually formed a family with one of the village men, and her mighty deeds garnered her influence in the folkmoot.
Six generations later, Hrodvaldr was born, the seventh son to a line of dragon-descended warriors. Growing up with six older brothers was a constant challenge of trying to prove himself as great as his kin, and while he was often bested in anything from wrestling to racing to board games, he never backed down from a contest. Hakon, the eldest of the brothers, tended to win most physical challenges, though cunning Fridkonr, the second youngest, was still able to best Hrodvaldr, particularly in games that involved strategy. About the only thing Hrodvaldr proved better at were those challenges involving the cold: streaking through the snow, leaping in the lake in early winter: they weren’t necessarily the smartest of challenges, but his tolerance for a lack of temperature surpassed those of his brothers.
His status at the bottom of the pecking order changed when he hit puberty: for seven generations, the dragon blood had remained dormant, but in Hrodvaldr, it had finally awoken. The small village had rarely seen a shaman, and the manifestation of arcane power had caused Hrodvaldr to be noticed by everyone.
Hrodvaldr embraced his abilities with much eagerness, always trying to push himself to more exciting feats. Not wanting to appear as if he weren’t in control of his powers, he retreated to some ruins near the village to practice in private; the ruins themselves were forbidden—Hrodvaldr wasn’t entirely sure why—which meant they were a great place to test his abilities out of sight from others. It was here that he met an alfar, and when the creature saw what Hrodvaldr was capable of, it offered a deal: it would help Hrodvaldr unlock some secrets of the arcane if, when Hrodvaldr reached his “full growth,” he would complete four tasks for the alfar: "Plow my field, sow my corn, harvest my grain, brew my beer." Thinking a bit of manual labor was more than reasonable trade for furthering his understanding of the arcane, Hrodvaldr quickly agreed, and thus his training began.
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