The Winter Queen
The Mother of All Life
Grandmother Gryla (a.k.a. The Veiled One, The Winter Queen, the Great Mother, the Mother Hag, the Winter Hag, the Candle-Stealer, Beira Kertasnikir)
Divine Domains
Archfey of the Eldritch Powers.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
White mountain with a golden eye above it.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
The Winter Queen is one of the few beings truly knowledgeable of the events before time itself but always seeks more. The Great Mother herself sits atop her Throne to keep peace within the Hag sisterhood and ensures the return of the Golden King is delayed as long as possible.
Her Warlock pawns will be tasked with uncovering magics, information and weapons in preparation for the Golden King, or settling time-long grudges between herself and other entities or between other entities.
Physical Description
Body Features
The Winter Queen's skin is a deep blue but wrinkled over eras of life. She has crooked, rust-coloured teeth and the top of her head is matted with withering white hair. Her lips are bordered with similar white old-lady whiskers.
Identifying Characteristics
Face is most identifiable by one eye with a piercing gold iris. The other eye is missing and now scarred over from time.
She is also immensely tall, towering over even the Gods. However from age and actively wanting to be around her grandchildren, her back is hunched over.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
The Time Before Time
Legend states that the Veiled One, the celestial entity currently known as the Winter Queen or Grandmother Gryla, was the first living individual in existence. Throughout the black expansive of nothingness which is the Void, Gryla wandered aimlessly until she came across a glistening white hammer lying upwards on the ground. In curiosity, Gryla picked up the mysterious hammer, calling it Bullwitch, and started crafting the realms, realities and landscapes of the Aelfspace until even her own mind had lost it's creativity. Then Gryla sat bored once more in loneliness, now within the physical universe she had created. She fidgeted for some time before popping two of the warts that dotted across her face, to which she discovered her warts were some kinds of birthing wombs as two newborn entities shot out alongside the pus. These entities were the Dragons Los and Dok who would each be responsible for the creation of the Godly race known as the Aelfs, and the original species on the mortal realm Terralba when that was created.The Era of Gods
As the Gods of the Great Pantheon started growing in number, Gryla sat away from it all. Instead, she watched it all from a distance, spending her time helping out and learning about her various offspring. She knew she would never be a Goddess herself, not wanting to choose any favourites by joining the Hall of Worlds or the Dark Court, but she would be what the Gods worshipped. Gryla was the one thing that united the Aelf species and she would always act as their Grandmother. One night, a small collection of Gods including Diamen of the Hall of Worlds, Terralba of the Celestial Council and Arassai of the Dark Court came to Gryla for her assistance. They had all grown up hearing of the stories about Grandmother Gryla and her Bullwitch crafting the Aelfspace from the very Void that surrounded them and were curious about crafting their own plane of existence, one for mortal races of their own fashioning to populate. The Winter Queen wanted nothing more than to help her grandchildren, but knew there was no more space in the Void she could work with to extend Aelfspace. Then, Terralba offered a solution where he would sacrifice his own life and Realm to the creation process of the Mortal Realm asking only that the mortals would be fashioned in his preferred alter-shape which looked like the humanoids that now populate most of the planet Terralba. After saying her final farewells to his wife Diamen, Arassai was tasked with killing and carving up Terralba's body for the Winter Queen to work on with Bullwitch.The Shadow Upheaval
The noble sacrifice of Terralba and the subsequent events became known as the Shadow Upheaval and is noted by the Gods as being the precursor to the Twilight Cataclysm as the first rifts between the Hall of Worlds and Celestial Council of Los, and the Dark Court of Dok started to appear. Terralba was the first Aelf to die and so became the first and brightest star in the Void. The Winter Queen and Diamen set about planning the surface of the Mortal Realm while Arassai went back to the Hall and Court to inform the other Gods what they were doing. The Gods, especially Los, felt betrayed. Gryla heard the roars of the White Dragon from across Aelfspace and travelled as fast as she could, soon after crafting the first Trolls to work on the Mortal Realm in her absence. When Grandmother Gryla reached the Hall of Worlds she found all the other Gods present, watching on as Los threatened and cursed Arassai and Dok for apparently murdering and desecrating her favoured son. Los was so enraged to the core every time she saw the solitary star in the sky she actively voiced her opinion of revenge killing Arassai. Gryla, deeply saddened by the thought of her offspring devolving to such violence called an end to the Shadow Upheaval by offering her eye in place for Arassai's life.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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