Rainer Tryggvason

God-King Ranier Norgaarde

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

During his conquest, he removed his eyes and replaced his right with the Eye of Fate. While he became blind after his actions at Sarendril, his left eye was regenerated. His right eye was either never regenerated or could not be healed.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Rainer Norgard, born Rainer Tryggvason and later transcribed by imperial texts as Ranier Nordgaarde, was a bard in a far northern city on the Lake of Crowns in the territory of Clan Hjort. A talented bard, Rainer became rather popular among the people and at a relatively young age rose to the station of Jarl of his city. A few decades later, after a steep decline in his clan's wellbeing under their king, the king was deposed and Rainer was voted in as the new Hjort king with the divine blessing of the celestial stag Eikthyrnir, and with the promise of new glory and a rebirth for their people. After several years in Binordheim solidifying their standing among the other clans, he led an expedition south to new lands in Harental.

Told by the Norns of a fate filled with greatness and given the blessing of his clan's spirit Eikthyrnir, Rainer led his people on a conquest of Harental that formed the foundation of the Aestaran Empire. He conquered much of the continent of Harental and the northern region of Tol'Galen before his decades long conquest came to an end. During his final years of conquest, he took a portion of his army north to Binordheim, his homeland, and sundered the sacred tree Sarendril, causing it to decay and slowly die over the next several hundred years.

He returned to his newly founded empire while his clan in the north suffered for his betrayal as their neighbors razed their lands and conquered them, ending Clan Hjort. After over a century of rule, Rainer abdicated the throne to his eldest son and disappeared.

The following beliefs about the life of the God-King are rejected by the Empire and have been labeled heresy by the Bright Ministry...

The Eye of Fate

During his years of conquest, Rainer was known for his almost omniscient knowledge of their foes' tactics. This ability was believed to be connected to rumors of blessings gifted to him by the gods, but in truth it came from an artifact taken from the Norns of Binordheim: a spherical stone from their seeing pool that held a portion of its power. Until the discoveries of the heroes of Binordheim centuries later, this object was believed to have been stolen, but in fact was the gift of Urd, the Norn of the past. The power of the eye combined with the curiosity of Rainer proved to be his downfall however as a sentience trapped far below the lands of Aestara became a passenger in the object and twisted his desire for new land for his people into a need of conquest of all lands. At Sarendril, Rainer combatted this dominating sentience that had used him to conquer and now wished to absorb the power of the sacred tree. In an effort to protect whatever power was connected to the tree, he sundered its divine connection and removed the orb he had replaced his eyes with from his skull, silencing the voice for a time.

Death and Undeath

As he grew old, Rainer knew he could not entrust the eye that he had used to conquer his lands with his descendants. Instead, he abdicated and left in the night with only his most trusted for the lands of Binordheim. Refusing to give the eye back to the Norns with the sentience still within it, he searched for a solution with no luck. He returned to the lake of his spirit and begged forgiveness and favor, to hide him and the eye away from sight. Calling a favor of Renard, spirit of Clan Rev, a powerful enchantment was laid upon him and his. He called on his last favors with a pair of Ivaldir dwarves and had a crypt built for himself and his loyal drengr to protect the object from those who would search him out. There he sat until days became weeks and weeks became centuries, becoming a draugr by sheer force of will.
In the year 847 a group of heroes tasked by the Norns to retrieve the object held by Rainer made their way to his crypt, having struck a deal with Renard the Fox. Together they passed his tests and defeated his drengr. The body of Rainer, who was convinced of his own damnation, was given a proper send off by the party alongside the ashes of his drengr.

Sexuality

It is known that Rainer had a wife in Binordheim who passed, and another in Harental who was part of an agreement with the Vaniir to join his empire, but some texts - hidden, destroyed, and labeled as heresy by the Empire - allude to a relationship between him and one of his drengr, a priest of Freyr. How true these claims are is unknown.

Divine Classification

Former Host

Alignment

Lawful

Current Status

Dead

Species

Askarn

Ethnicity

Nords

Life

7880 PR 8608 PR 728 years old

Circumstances of Death

Fallen after relinquishing the Eye of Fate to the Heroes of Binordheim

Birthplace

Binordheim

Place of Death

Binordheim

Pronouns

He/Him

Sex

Male

Gender

Man

Eyes

Bright Blue

Hair

Long, wavy, dark brown to grey. Long beard

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Fair

Height

8'2"

Belief/Deity

Nordic

Aligned Organization

Holy Empire of Aestara