IkNulthanar

The thick snow crunched under IkNulthanar's boot as she gathered her woolen cloak close around her shoulders. The world was blanketed in white, and the wind was biting cold against her face. She felt the frost would burn her ears away, her tusks fall off her face, and make her fingers freeze around the edges of her shawl, yet she continued to climb the face of ÜluIktan. As heavy as the chill was upon her heart, heavier still was the feather that hung around her neck, a reminder of the duty that her máilam's spirit laid upon her shoulders.
IkNulthanar climbed until she could climb no more, and she looked upon the bleak white world from the top of a cliff. She felt that she had failed, the grasp of winter as absolute as it always had been, her people, starving and freezing in the long nights as they always did. For a moment, she contemplated tossing herself off the cliff, but the spirits pulled her back, and for the first time, she Saw.

IkNulthanar is a legendary figure among the eristur. She was the first of the IstThanarel, individuals capable of communing with and borrowing the powers of the spirits in order to work wonders in the world of the living. IkNulthanar, her beliefs, her practices, and the model of government that she established, are thought to be the bedrock upon which modern eristurdal civilization is built. Her life and her accomplishments are celebrated at the beginning of each winter, during the eristurdal festival of ImaWaibelg, "Auspicious Day" in IktOrryk.

Mental characteristics

Accomplishments & Achievements

At the time of IkNulthanar's birth, the eristur were living just south of Winter's Wall, a mountain range in the southern reaches of IldRenn, and suffering from the long and brutal winters that often descended upon the region. It is said that the first of IkNulthanar's accomplishments is unlocking her ability to see and speak to the spirits of the ancestors, which she does by connecting to her then-deceased máilam.
As the first medium of the eristur, IkNulthanar was given the duty of raising her people up from their suffering by the ancestors. To this end, the spirits lent her power, but she did not understand how to use it until she climbed the face of the tallest peak in Winter's Wall, ÜluIktan and saw her first IkGren. Realizing that she had never been meant to effect change on her own, IkNulthanar approached the nature spirit and, through song, told it of her people's plight. When she returned to her people, she performed her first miracle: bringing spring to the heart of winter through the IkGren.
As she studied her powers and became more in tune with the nature spirits that roamed the world, IkNulthanar was able to not only protect her people from plague and famine, she was also able to help them prosper despite the bitter winters. Small settlements of families huddled together against the cold became bustling villages filled with lively spirit through the long nights, but as the people settled into comfort, old, bloodthirsty traditions started to rear their heads.
One winter, the fighting became so bad that a field of snow became stained red with blood. IkNulthanar visited the many tribes, herself immune from the feuds and politics, and picked apprentices to teach her craft. These apprentices became the first Thanarel, the first shamans. Together, IkNulthanar and the Thanarel intervened in the tribes many conflicts, shaming the participants into submission by displaying the dissatisfaction of all sides' ancestors. While it was something that IkNulthanar would regret until the end of her life, those who refused to be cowed were violently dealt with by the forces of nature itself, called to action by the spirits.
Progress was slow, and the Thanarel torn between their loyalty to their tribes and to IkNulthanar, but step by step, things improved. With her vigilance and refusal to compromise, IkNulthanar beat back the bloodthirsty beasts that dwelt in the hearts of the eristur and taught them better ways. More peaceful ways. IkNulthanar knew that the work would never be done, but knew that she had done all she could, and that her people were ready to take the reins. She sent her Thanarel back to their tribes, placing them there to remind their people of all that she had taught.

Species

IstEristur