Freyr was one of the few male children of Queen Elvanna, 14th witch queen of the frozen lands of Irrisen. Even rarer, he was born as the fraternal twin of Fryja Elvanna. Growing up, he learned very quickly that being born into the royal family afforded him both privilege and a special sort of hell. While the Jadwiga had all the luxury and power that they wanted to the outside eye, internally they were as cold and cruel, if not worse, than the common man claimed them to be. He grew knowing only plots and schemes and the ice cold gaze of his mother, though she hardly did anything to earn the title. The only person he truly got along with was his sister, though he couldn’t ignore his own responsibilities. When his sister came of age and began to learn the mystic arts in more depth, he was sent away to learn the art of combat and strategy like all Jadwiga of the ruling house. He departed Whitethrone for the Verge, spending nearly two years in the capital of Redfang under his elder brother’s tutelage. There he learned the arts of war, from swordplay to army strategy to tracking and subterfuge. More importantly, he began to understand the political climate and policy of Irrisen far better than he ever could isolated within the palace at Whitethrone. Seeing the constant war against the Ulfen people of the Linnorm Kingdoms hardened his heart and he began to plot his escape from the frozen land to anywhere else, preferably somewhere far away where no one would ever have heard his name and never would.
Near the end of his tenure, Freyr fell mysteriously ill, wracked with phantom pains and nightmares that haunted him even during his waking hours. Gripped with a sudden inexplicable, but utterly certain fear that something terrible had happened, he begged to be released from his duties and returned to Whitethrone as fast as he could ride, only to discover that his sister had returned a fortnight before, covered in scars and utterly silent. Rage consumed him briefly and he considered several ill-conceived attempts to have Weneschia ‘dealt with’, but her position and arcane power eventually dissuaded such plans. Instead, Freyr accelerated his plans, gathering intelligence and favors that he would need to spirit both of them out of Irrisen in the future.
Fryja recovered with time, but Freyr’s mind was already made. He convinced his sister of his plan, arguing that if she truly wanted to change Irrisen, she would need to flee to safety and build power and alliances to challenge their many less moral siblings. But before his plan could be put into action, they were summoned before their mother. Queen Elvanna declared that the siblings were being sent to aid in one of her plans in the Pale Tower, a fortress of one of the many Winter Witches in southern Irrisen, in hopes that they would ‘show traits of true members of House Elvanna’. However, this turned into an unexpected windfall. Fryja quickly discovered that the ‘project’ they were working on was a portal that could carry Irrisen’s endless winter to the entire world, allowing Elvanna to spread her reign to the entire continent. However, these portals could carry anything that passed through them. Seizing the chance, Freyr packed their things and the pair fled together through the gate toward whatever nation was on the other side. Possibly, Freyr desperately hoped, never to return.
Personality:
Freyr is the pragmatic to his sister's idealist. Having spent two years fighting constant border skirmishes, he's no stranger to death or violence and has long since accepted that the world is not a happy place. He much prefers to look out for himself and his own (currently only his sister, but he'd consider friends the same if he had any close friends) than put his neck on the line to defend strangers. This isn't to say that he'd abandon anyone to their fate when he can do something about it, but he weighs his options carefully and prefers not to put those he cares about in unnecessary danger if he can help it. He's extremely level-headed and a bit cynical, generally expecting the worst from a situation and allowing himself to be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen. Unlike Fryja, he doesn't have much hope that Irrisen can be fixed, not while the witch queens rule with an icy fist. He'd prefer to flee and let the nation stew in the far north while they're somewhere warm and far, far away.
Appearance:
Freyr is a tall man, and reasonably well built, though he doesn't look truly 'large' when compared to more burly warriors. He does possess the obvious traits of one of the Jadwiga, with pale skin, blonde hair so light it's nearly white, and icy blue eyes that always seem to be judging the people around him. His clothes manage to be eminently practical while also being of exceptional quality. He wears his chain shirt with a deep blue tunic and stone grey pants, along with heavy fur-lined boots and sturdy insulated gauntlets to protect his hands from the cold while he holds his blade. He also carries a cloak of arctic wolf fur to ward of the icy winds of winter climates.
- Combat Reflexes, Mobility, Stand Still, and Step Up
- At 6th level, he adds Following Step and Combat Patrol
- At 10th level, he adds Pin Down and Step Up and Strike
