Vidar Elf-Child
"Magic may be the most powerful force in all the world, but never think of it as the solution to all of your problems. When you treat it this way, you no longer control it. It controls you." -Vidar Elf-ChildAmong the most well-respected of the heroes of Covenant are the archmages, spellcasters of tremendous power. Among the most revered of these figures is the Bjornlander mage Vidar Elf-Child, slayer of the dread lich Karad Blackheart. He remains the most powerful spellcaster in all of Covenant.
Physical Description
Body Features
Due to his black elven heritage, Vidar has an exotic cast to his features compared to other half-elves. His skin is a deep gray color, his eyes are a deep violet, and his hair is straight and black. He has a well-trimmed beard, only just starting to be touched with gray.
He is surprisingly large and well-muscled for a mage. This is primarily due to his nature, rather than any effort on his part. He prefers to exercise his mind rather than his body, and is thus less of a threat in physical combat than he initially appears.
Apparel & Accessories
Vidar Elf-Child tends to eschew the robes traditional of wizards. Instead, he prefers to wear very simple tunics, especially blue or purple colors. He still dresses just as simply no matter the circumstances or who he's talking to. Despite its apparent simplicity, his clothing is heavily enchanted.
He carries a very simple dagger, more as a tool than a weapon. Primarily, though, he has a very martial looking iron-shod staff, enchanted with incredible magical power. Like any mage, he's also never far from his spellbook, which is bound in black leather and has an image of Odin's ravens on the cover.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Vidar was born the son of a pair of adventurers, a black elven warrior and a human mage from Bjornland-- a volva. Vidar's father died not long after he was born, leaving him to be raised alone by his mother Helga. She taught him the ways of magic, despite the Bjornlanders' views on male mages.
Vidar Helgasen grew up alone for most of his life, dreaming of the sort of adventures he had heard stories about. As soon as he completed the basics of his magical education, he bade his mother farewell and struck out on his own in search of adventure, not knowing just what manner of adventure he would find.
As soon as he stepped out of his home he walked right into a surreal vision of the Norns. They gave him vague warnings of what was to come, and marked him as a hero. However, as usual, their warnings were far too vague to tell him anything useful, so he resolved to carry on exactly as he intended.
Before long, he found himself in Hjalwick, performing simple adventuring work and monster slaying, providing his magical talents to his homelands warriors. As much as he enjoyed these excursions, he still wanted more. He wanted more than anything to see something new.
Thus, he boarded a ship and sailed to the Aurandian city of Tarke. There he found a city in peril, but it didn't seem to be the sort of peril that an adventurer could help with. This was a city riddled with plague, with more dying than even magic could possibly heal.
Still, Vidar managed to find adventure here, including one fateful job investigating a graveyard where the dead were rising. There he made two fateful discoveries. He met his traveling companions: the Aciterni swordsman Pieter Ammoran and the Reynardian archer Simone Arquiox. He also discovered his greatest enemy, the lich Karad Blackheart.
This lich was also a hero, but one of a far darker sort. He was born under the sign of the Wild Hunt, the darkest of all omens. For this, he was treated as an evil child, and was treated cruelly for it. He blamed the gods for making the world as it is. He meant to convert the population of Acitern into his undead armies so that he could invade the lands of the gods.
Karad then raised the plague-dead of Tarke and marched his legions there to besiege the city. Now understanding the words of the Norns, Vidar was determined to stop Karad and worked to get the rest if the continent to lend aid to Tarke. Eventually, Pranish, Llanuria, some Reynardians, and even the Aciterni agreed to oppose Karad.
As the armies marched, the adventurers tried to track down the lich. They managed to succeed and confronted the undead abomination in open combat and even managed to destroy him. Unfortunately, their job was only half done. The creature's soul lived on his phylactery, and that was what they needed to destroy.
The companions did manage to find it in a well-protected underground complex. Unfortunately, the powerful undead and lethal traps tested the adventurers to their limit. This culminated in a battle with an undead dragon which ended in the death of Pieter. Still, despite their loss, they managed to destroy the phylactery and end Karad's threat once and for all.
Once that was all finished, Simone might've had enough of the adventurers' lifestyle, but not Vidar. He felt the need to watch over Covenant, and continued to travel the world and even beyond, using the incredible power of an archmage to deal with grave threats of all kind. Eventually, he settled down to a sanctuary in his native Bjornland, on the top of the highest mountain in the land.
Legends
Unlike most other heroes of other lands, many of the tales of Vidar Elf-Child involve his life after the completion of his greatest deeds. As he traveled the world and the Planes Beyond, he had many more adventures that were far less well-known. Thus, all manner of wild tales tend to be told of them. There are also plenty of ballads about his personal life. Plenty tell of a romance between him and Simone. There are also some few love stories told of him and Pieter, but these are not nearly as common. History doesn't have much to say about the specifics of either relationship, however. Because Vidar is still alive, it should be simple to get the truth of these stories. However, he has very little interest in dispelling misinformation. Indeed, he has been seen away from his sanctuary less and less, to the point that he is now almost almost never seen.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments