Nondra

Nondra (/naːnd͡ʒɻaː/) is an undead champion who serves Lanush as a Death Specter. She is the subject of many folk tales and urban legends all across Thesilae.

History

The Age of Dawn

During the first era of mortalkind, when Nondra was mortal, she was a devout cleric of Thesridan, and traveled with her younger siblings across Eloqua to aid them in their heroics.

The Rending War

Sometime during the Age of Dawn, the kingdoms of old began to fall one-by-one to the Empire of Vurus and its campaign of conquest. When Vurus brought the war to Eloqua, Nondra followed her brothers Strannen and Amvald across the ocean to Suyia, where they confronted the empire's tyrannical ruler, Hanzou (who was then going by the giantish name Kathor). In this battle, Amvald was dealt a mortal blow. Nondra, filled with uncharacteristic fury, snatched up her brother's discarded longbow, and let an arrow loose. The grandmother goddess, Vimeri, distressed by the death of her favored champion, loaned Nondra a fraction of her divine power for but a moment, guiding the arrow to its target. It pierced the center of Hanzou's skull, killing the tyrant in an instant.

The Specter of Death

Nondra returned home alone, having parted ways with Strannen in Suyia, where her brother remained to assist in the rebuilding of all the nations Hanzou had destroyed. Upon her return to Eloqua, she discovered that her youngest sibling, Maanzar, had also been killed in the war. Their mother, Dithe fell ill almost as soon as her daughter arrived, and is said to have eventually died of grief with only Nondra by her side. Nondra herself returned to her travels, and eventually lost her life while abroad. However, when Lanush arrived to guide Nondra's soul back into the Ether, he instead offered her a different option. All of her family thus far had ascended to godhood upon their mortal deaths. Lanush had learned from Thesridan that this was not something Nondra desired for herself, yet the idea of seperating her from her family for all of eternity did not sit well with him. Since she had no wish to become a god, Lanush instead asked that she remain in his service, guarding the dead as she had guarded the living for all of her life. This is how Nondra became the first Specter in all of Thesilae.

Description

Appearance

According to some (perhaps untrustworthy) sources, Nondra appears as a middle-aged fire giant drained of color. Her skin, which was already quite pale in life, has taken on a deathly pallor, and her pupil-less eyes have turned a haunting white. She wears her long hair loose, so that it falls like a stark white curtain past her shoulders. Since she is an incorporeal creature, similar to a ghost, her form is semi-transparent and can fade into invisibility if she wills it. Folk tales involving Nondra generally put her in one of two outfits: The first, and most common, is the black funeral robe which is said to have worn for the rest of her life after Amvald and Maanzar's deaths. Such robes were traditional during Nondra's lifetime, but are uncommon in the modern era. The second outfit she is described wearing is the gleaming half-plate which she wore while adventuring with her siblings. Several stories claim that it was engraved in several places with references to Thesridan and Life when she was alive, but that those engravings magically transformed into references to Lanush, Souls, and Death when she pledged herself to eternal undeath.

Personality

Nondra's personality varies wildly from one story to the next, and as such, it is difficult to know what she was actually like in life (or what she may be like now, as an undead). The most concrete descriptors known to modern scholars are the reference to her "uncharacteristic fury" at the death of Amvald, and the dedication with which she stayed by her mother's deathbed, both of which can be found in the Dalgeonia.

Artifacts

Character Information

In addition to being a Death Specter, Nondra is also a dragonrider champion. Her companion is the draconic demigod Galegenides.

Character Information

Full Name
Nondra
Also Known As
The Specter of Death
The Reaper
Gender
Cisgender Woman
Presentation
Feminine
Pronouns
She/Her
Creature Type
Undead
Ancestry
Fire Giant
Class