Jonag Issenhjart
One of the favorite stories of all the sagas sung by the ordvevars of the wandering Skaltir clans is that of Jonag Issenhjart, he who rose from a mere child sacrifice to warlord, then founder and first rik of Jonagval.
HistoryJonag was born to Ynga, the only daughter of Jonag Stjarnaskjold, a Skjoldir theotan. Her father, mother and brothers were slain and she captured during a raid on his lands near the border of the vast territories of the Vandir nomads. The young noblewoman was brought far to the west with many other prisoners, back to the winter camps of the Vandir tribes in the lake regions at the heart of the continent. There she was sold as a concubine and servant to Wulthar, theotan of the mighty Ulfadir clan of the far western plains.
She was worked hard and abused by Wulthar's wives and daughters, but she was beautiful and intelligent and became one of his favorite mistresses. She soon became pregnant. Wulthar's head wife, Ravke, a Daenir priestess of Ragna and wary of the girl's influence, demanded that when born, the child be given in sacrifice to Ragna and that such a sacrifice would bring great fortune to Wulthar in battle. The chieftain, unwilling to risk the influential priestess's wrath, agreed, despite his fondess for Ynga.
Ynga was inwardly frantic and grimly aware that any children she had would be made to suffer the same fate. Escape on the vast open plains against the best hunters on the continent was an impossibility. Death was the only way out, but perhaps only hers. She confronted Ravke and struck a bargain with the headwife and priestess. She would be the sacrifice, much more valuable Wulthar's favorite concubine than yet another bastard child doomed for thralldom as a gift to Ragna. But only if Ravke agreed to raise her child as her own, as a true son of the Ulfadir.
The priestess immediately saw the benefits of this arrangement and knew as well the unspoken threat. If she declined, Ynga would kill herself, with the child, using the power of the double sacrifice to issue a powerful bloodcurse upon her and the clan. Ravke was wise enough to know Ynga had the will to make such a curse hit home, and there was also no reason to take the risk. She would raise the child as her own, as a faithful and useful subordinate to her own children.
Wulthar was furious at the arrangement, but since it was a matter of the gottir he was powerless to do anything about it. Ynga was sacrificed on the night of the winter solstice on the shores of Lake Halvatun. Her three month old son, Jonag, watched from his father's arms.
Jonag grew into a strong, healthy boy, loved by all. Many had been fond of Ynga and pitied him, knowing the role Ravke played and his fate with her as his stepmother. So he had many mothers, though their kind attentions were subtle, to avoid antagonizing the powerful Ravke.
As a youth, he excelled in hunting and wrestling. His open, unassuming nature gave him a knack for making friends. It was clear to many that here was a natural leader and though he was always respectful to his half-brothers, they hated him all the same. For his father's part, Wulthar was careful not to show favoritism to the boy, but he could not hide his pride.
Yet this outward appearance belied the rage and guilt that boiled inside Jonag. He grew up hearing from his elders the story of his true mother's sacrifice in his stead. They meant for him to feel pride, but all he could feel was shame and grief that yearned for an outlet. It found one in those responsible for her death, his own family. One evening, Jonag went out alone into the night and looked up at the faint red sun Kynaz, lord of secrets and the forsaken. He cut the flesh of his left palm and squeezed the blood into the wooden offering bowl, making a oath. He would see Wulthar, Ravke and all her sons dead. He asked Kynaz for the power to conceal his hatred beneath a mask and help him see the path to the power needed to achieve this vengeance.
As a young man, Jonag grew as tall as any of the Vandir, though he had auburn hair and green eyes instead of their usual black hair and blue eyes. He served under his eldest brother Belkar with distinction on raids into the Thalkunir kingdoms to the south, winning himself and his brother much honor and wealth. Jonag even saved his life, earning Belkar's trust that the younger man knew his place and did not present a threat. This trust spread to his other brothers as well as his stepmother, who praised him and herself for agreeing to spare his life.
Wulthar, relieved that the animosity within his family had finally dissolved, allowed Jonag to lead his own raids. In this, Jonag blossomed into a magnificent warleader. No other raiding party returned to the clan holds with more wealth and less loss of life or limb. And no raid leader was more generous in gift giving to his warriors. Jonag was always careful to be just as generous to his father, stepmother and half-siblings, never showing even a glimmer of arrogance, much less animosity.
It was during the long winters at the great clan moots that Jonag sowed the seeds of his vengeance. He made friends with many of his peers in the other clans, subtly spreading clan secrets, in the guise of drunken confessions, to his father's rivals sons in the other clans who Jonag knew were jealous of Wulthar's growing power and influence. They thought him a foolish, though likeable young man that they could exploit. So he fed them carefully on a mixture of truth and lies.
Years of sowing deception and jealousy finally bore fruit when three of Wulthar's most powerful rivals combined forces to raid his lands and destroy him. Jonag fought fiercely by his father's side in the last desperate battle as his enemies bore down on the Ulfadir stronghold in the southern foothills of the Rygbjerge Mountains. His brother Belkar and another brother had already fallen. Ravke, in her rage, called upon the land itself, in Ragna's name, to defend them and come to their aid. But these spirits of rock and stone were overmatched by those of the rival sorceresses and she was crushed under their great fists.
Finally, the enemy breached the great fort that they held. Great Elwas, theotan of the Blodörnir clan, surrounded Jonag, his father and his last surviving brother. Wulthar roared in defiance, ready to meet the foe and die in glory, when he felt Jonag's swordthrust through his great belly, spilling his guts. Jonag's next blow took his brother through the neck. His foes stared at him in horror. Elwas shouted at him, demanding to know how Jonag could so betray his own father and kin.
Jonag, at long last, dropped his facade, revealing the heart of ice within. In a strong voice, he calmly told the tale of his mother's sacrifice, of the many insults he bore over years, his blood oath to great Kynaz. They listened to his tale, alternately enraptured and revolted. After he was done, he stared at them, unafraid. They turned to Elwas, not knowing what to do. The chieftain broke himself free of his own amazement and considered the young man. Once such as he could be his greatest foe or the source of much power. He made Jonag an offer, the chance to make another blood oath, to him.
He would allow Jonag to live, more so, allow him to keep his personal wealth and freedom. In return, Elwas demanded that Jonag swear to never be an enemy of the Blodörnir or himself, as long as he was done no harm by them and that no matter what path his wyrd took, that he would consider the Blodörnir as allies. Jonag then took his sword, wet with the blood of his kin, and slashed his left palm once again, speaking and sealing the oath, before Elwas and all the gottir.
Over the following years, Jonag stayed true to his oath and became the extraordinary man the wise Elwas had seen within him. He came to lead a great horde that ranged the borders of the vast Yfirland. It was no clan and was composed of Vandir from many clans, as well as Skjoldir warriors of his mother's people, the Ostir from the northeast and even Thalkunir outlaws from the south. Jonag even had with him Skaltir magicians, holding none of the common predjudice against male practitioners. This became known as The Storm. They held no territory and no one under their banner could have or take a wife or husband. Any man or woman who did, or became pregnant were given a generous dowry and made to leave the horde.
The horde were married to their spears and their great mounts, the massive magunir and swift dadyr that they rode into battle. When they passed through territory, all learned to either treat them as guests and give them tribute, or suffer the consequences. Only the Blodörnir could be free of fear from them or the need to pay them tribute, even after the death of Elwas. Many of the youth of that clan had flocked to his banner.
For himself, Jonag became known as den Issenhjart, Iceheart, as the tales spread of his origin and deeds. Jonag was most generous with the wandering Skaltir clans and they in turn were generous with their praise and embellishments of his tales. As he reached middle age however, Jonag began to desire a different life, one where he could build something great to leave as a legacy and to honor his mother.
And so, with his great horde, he turned his gaze far to the west, to the fertile lands of Grunmark and the Rikja of Fridhovsland. His Skaltir advisors had told him of the land's weak and foolish Rik Danwar, great grandson of the Thalkunir conquerer, Fridhov Bludhand. The lord was a pathetic shadow of his ancestor, rude and greedy to his thanes and a mere puppet of the Thalkunir lords to the east.
Jonag's forces swept through the land without warning in the dead of winter. He ordered them not to pillage the farms and villages, and take only what they needed for the campaign. He made hostages or executed Danwar's theotans, betrayed by their own peasants and warriors when Jonag promised to leave their lands unmolested and installed his own trusted men to hold the lands. His Skaltir magicians used their gifts to reveal enemy movements and protect him from similar divinations.
His forces advanced inexorably to the capitol city of Galkun. What resistance remained was easily swept aside and Jonag breached Rik Danwar's castle and then his inner chamber. Danwar threw his sword down when confronted by the great warrior and surrendered. Jonag calmly grabbed the smaller man by his nightshirt and dragged him to the balcony.
There, in front of the city watching below, he declared Danwar guilty of cowardice, the greatest crime of all for any of the Jolnir tribes. With that, he tore off the silk sleeve of Danwar's nightgown and strangled him with it, then threw the body off the ledge, where it crashed into the frozen moat below.
Thus was born the kingdom of Jonagval, its capitol city renamed Ynga, in honor of his mother. The Thalkunir lords of Fridhovsland who did not manage to flee were executed. The Brynir families whom Danwar's ancestor had conquered long ago, were restored to their ancestral lands and lordships. Peace was established with the northern rik of Brynheim, home of those Brynir who had fled a century before and restablished themselves.
Jonag died forty-five years later, at the age of ninety-two, and left a wealthy, well defended land to his son Yngar, who later left it in the hands of his son, Jonag the Third, current ruler of Jonagval.
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