Njoragh Stormbringer

Write about an influential woman in your world and what they achieved.

Lady Njoragh Stormbringer

Daughter of the helmsman on Eorl Caddock's Stormboat Njoragh's mother died in childbirth 6 years later and from that point she accompanied her father when the stormboats sailed. Thus she learned the ways of the sea, the management of a boat and, in time, the command of a crew. The Eorl's son Cadu and she became firm friends and were wed shortly before his untimely death when his ship foundered on a reef off Skjornsholm - better known in later years as Njoragh's Isle.
With her proven record as a mariner and place in the Eorl's household and family few were surprised when, on his deathbed, he named her as his successor just shy of her 30th birthday. Over the next decade she became de-facto leader of the region around Stormbay guiding their combined fleet through a series of raids in Imperial Bay whose success cemented her position among the Stormborn and prompted a land based counteroffensive by both military and diplomatic means from the Marivan Empire. This was towards the end of the hereditary period and whilst the empire had no love for the "northern thugs" it's policy at the time was for co-operation rather then conflict.
Though many of the Stormborn urged her to war she recognised that the Stormborn's strength was in the pointed application of force rather than brute numbers and by means which have remained opaque to history an arrangement was struck whereby the Stormborn would cease raiding empire lands in return for the right to tradegoods from south of the Long Range in Empire ports. Her son Cadu was born a few months after this.
Her diplomatic skills were tested to the limit with some of the more warlike Stormborn but won their heads if not their hearts; some taking their metal into the struggles of whaling, others taking service with the Empire where Stormborn body guards became a byword for loyalty and blood thirsty defence of their principals.
Her death followed a violent attack of food poisoning arising from some badly cured Smolsk at Cadu's betrothal feast. He maintained good relations with the empire governing in a effective manner and extending the area of his province to include the lands of Stormhead.

Personality Characteristics

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Her skill at managing ships and crews was famed among the Stormborn and, later (once the raiding had ceased) the coastal areas of the Empire. She managed a number of diplomatic feats over her life which surprised many of her contempories indicating skills and resources kept hidden until needed though she generally seemed emotionally distant and clumsy in non-professional relationships, the impact (some speculate) of the early loss of both her mother and her husband.

Social

Hobbies & Pets

Surprising to many was her preferred hobby and pass time of knitting socks. Much of a helmsmans time is spent at the helm, monitoring the situation but not actually doing a great deal and she acquired the hobby in her early years. As her role became more administrative she continued the habit knitting through councils and using a scribe to keep her notes. These socks would generally be given to her crewmen or other favourites on the occasion of her birthday.

Speech

Loud and strongly accented her voice was better adapted to commanding ships than diplomacy but she could always find the right words for the situation even if the delivery was surprising.

Wealth & Financial state

From her success first raiding and then trading she built a sizeable fortune, most of which was spent improving the anchorage and port facilities on Njoragh's Isle and today these improvements remain in place and in use. She also rebuild Eorl Caddock's hall and was a renowned giver of rings and other gifts, reflecting her view that wealth was the favours and promises people owed you rather than the accumulation of idle goods. Nevertheless she was partial to well worked jewellery in gold and garnet, some pieces of which still survive, though most supposed examples are more recent reproductions.

Life

454 to 512 Empire Recokoning (died age 58)

Buried

A barrow overlooking Skjorness on Njoragh's Isle

Eyes

Grey

Hair

Mid brown in her youth, fading to grey as she aged.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

A weather beaten light tan

Height

Above average.

Motto

A true course, not a straight one.

Legacy

In addition to uniting the Stormborn and bringing them into the Empire on unusually favourable terms Njoragh Stormbringer continues to be recognised as the foundation of the north coast's whaling and fishing industries. Her name is widely invoked as an endorsement of good seamanship and it is no co-incidence that the land of Tarusia was discovered by a ship named in her honour (though it was said of the Lady Njoragh's helmsman, Ullo, that he was no Njoragh for she would never have been blown that far off course).
It is also from her that the people of the north coast (and their descendants in Tarusia ) derive the tradition of giving socks to their favoured family and friends on their (the giver's) birthday.

Mystical if not Messianic

Njoragh, like many of her seafaring race worshipped Idarath, the combined god of sea and storm. Placated he was benign offering fair winds; loose his favour and headwinds would be your lot and storms would follow if he were enraged. Quite what brings such changes about is unclear but Njoragh's faith in Idarath was evidenced by her frequent sacrifices of drink and treasure to the sea and tales of Idarath in the form of a great whale towing Njoragh's Stormboat suggest that this was reciprocated.
This seems to have marked the beginning of the Stormborn's belief in the whale as a sign of Idarath's favour on them as a people, it being taken as a sign that the whales were there for the Stormborn's use. Had they misinterpretted Idarath's intent, well surely storm and disaster would have followed, wouldn't they?