Spirits of the Earth

__________________QUICK STATS
Name Briana Brundahl ("broon-DOLL")
Age Many Winters
Gender Female
Species Half-Yigg
Ethnicity Unknown
Height 7' 11"
Occupation
Residence Northern Tundra

__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description
Briana, like many of her people, can best be described as lanky; one might easily compare her with a long branch standing on end. Her arms and legs comprise the greatest measure of her height and her arms are longer in relation to her body than what might seem natural, her hands easily reaching her knees without her knees bending; an odd trait of her race is that her pinky and thumb are both opposable. Her skin is remarkably pale, making the blue veins running beneath it easily visible when her skin is exposed, and her lips are just as blue as her veins. Her curly, platinum-blonde hair hangs mostly loose about her shoulders with several small but thick braids hanging at the sides to her jaw line. Her eyes are as silver as a bright midnight moon.

Personality
Pending

Relationships
Pending

History
The Yigg (both singular and plural) are seen very rarely above the ice; mating with other races is rarer still, and the offspring are always runts considered to be significantly lesser than full-blooded Yigg. The handful of runts that have appeared on the tundra over the centuries are occasionally referred to as Icewood Witches, referencing the Ever-Frozen Tree from which some folklore claims they grow like fruit. The story goes that when they are ripe, they come loose from the branches and float to the surface of the sea; when their shell comes close to the solid tundra, it breaks into ice floes to reveal them.

It's completely idiotic, of course, but the Yigg do have a seemingly mystical connection to a massive underwater tree. Many of them are anywhere from a dozen to a score of feet high from foot to head, with skin so white that they become invisible against a wintry backdrop. They form ice crystals on their heads instead of hair and have no external ears but otherwise appear to be simply very tall and very skinny humanoid figures. Their long limbs seem to mimic tree branches, and it is said that their unending breath is as frigid and wild as a winter storm.

Given their ostracization of runts and the folklore surrounding them, little is known about the Yigg themselves, even by their half-breed offspring. Brianna was forcibly stranded on the surface in her early youth and learned to survive on her own as much due to necessity as by sheer force of will. She does know that her people are exceptionally long-lived, possibly immortal, aging very slowly from birth; she does not expect any human to outlive her, for their lives are short and they have a tendency to considerably shorten them further by their actions. As dangerous as her non-upbringing was, however, she has grown into a strong warrior and hunter.

Briana was not immediately abandoned after her birth, however. She was taught to read and write, how to carve stone both for utility and for artistry, and how to hunt and what to do when a hunt is successful. What little she remembers of her earliest years include observations of ritual magic, though she has retained only knowledge of a couple of rituals due to her having never been properly taught these rituals. She was surrounded by dire wolves, foxes, bears, and a handful of other territorial predators in her youth due to her people's habit of training them as hunting partners and protectors, and she later befriended a dire wolf in the wild to aid her as well. But she has few personal memories and had to learn many things entirely on her own once she found herself alone upon the ice.

Although she's clearly set apart from many others who wander the tundra, she considers herself sionadyaki just as they do. She does not recall her parents specifically; rather, she recalls the few things she learned from her people before being cast out. She doesn't even really know why she was cast out beyond being what she is: a runt, a half-breed, of the Yigg. While her visits to Hyoite are infrequent, she has found herself surprisingly accepted there and feels a certain distant kinship with its more permanent residents. When she does visit, she brings in a hefty load of hides and furs, meat, bone-carved tools and weapons, and other supplies from the tundra for trading.

Magic/Abilities

• Call of the Wild: Briana has an uncanny ability to intimidate or calm animals, even to the point of temporarily taming them on occasion. She especially seems to understand wolves on a very personal and primal level. Her instincts in a fight or when hunting are almost animalistic, and she becomes very focused in both instances.
  
• Cold Resistance: Unlike her people, Briana is not immune to the cold. That being said, she can withstand temperatures and conditions far more extreme than most people. This allows her to traverse parts of the tundra considered completely inaccessible to most in the dead of winter.
  
• Ears of a Fox: While her ears are actually quite humanoid, they're far keener than they appear. Briana could hear the falls of a bear's paws in a blizzard a good half-mile away, and she could hear the padding of a fox at twice that distance in clear weather. She has trained her mental focus enough that she can drown out most noise around her, making her only peripherally aware of it, as a means of protecting her ears; if that fails, there's always muffs and a thick hood lined with fur readily available to her that can further deaden the sound. The few people she's met tend to say she has a very intense look about her as a result. Or maybe it's because she never blinks.
  
• Longevity: Briana ages at a rate of about one year for every decade lived.
  
• Strength of Giants: Though not nearly as strong as her kin, Briana's compact muscles are like iron and give her incredible physical strength; she can match a polar bear blow for blow should the need arise. She also has endurance and a pain tolerance beyond what most people think is possible.
  
• Winter's Breath: Unlike her people, Briana cannot breathe underwater. She can subsist on far less air than most people, however, and she can hold her breath for close to a half-hour. The longer she holds her breath, the colder her breath becomes; exhaling after a long period of time can freeze water on contact and coats most things that she exhales upon with a layer of frost.
  
  The following rituals are magical in nature.
  
• To Forget: The first part of this ritual is to drip blood onto the forehead of the target; this blood must come from the one performing the ritual, though only a few drops are needed. Once this is done, a few drops of the practitioner's blood are dripped onto the part of the distaff that will touch the target as well. That part of a rune-covered distaff is then tapped against the target's left cheek thrice; each time this is done, the word "gleyma" ("forget") [source: https://old-norse.net/html/g.php#gleyma] is uttered. This makes the target forget what the practitioner wishes the target to forget, though the effect is limited; this is typically done to make a target forget the practitioner but she can focus on a specific event or place or person or whatever else in her mind instead. The target falls asleep after this is done; when he awakes, whatever the practitioner wanted her target to forget does not exist in the target's mind any longer. Whether a distaff specifically is required is unknown, but the object must be uncarved wood etched with specific runes in Briana's native tongue; a cord or rope or thread must be wrapped about the center as well.
  
• To Remember: The first part of this ritual is to drip blood onto the forehead of the target; this blood must come from the one performing the ritual, though only a few drops are needed. Once this is done, a few drops of the practitioner's blood are dripped onto the part of the distaff that will touch the target as well. That part of a rune-covered distaff is then tapped against the target's right cheek thrice; each time this is done, the word "minna" ("remember") [source: https://old-norse.net/html/m.php#minna] is uttered. This makes the target remember what the practitioner wishes the target to remember, though the effect is limited; this is typically done to make a target remember the practitioner but she can focus on a specific event or place or person or whatever else in her mind instead. Unlike the ritual to forget, this ritual plants the intended memory in the target's mind if it was not previously there; if it was and was forgotten, either naturally or via the ritual to forget (or another means), the memory is recalled naturally. As such, the practitioner must have at least some knowledge of what is to be remembered in order for the ritual to take hold; the more she knows or remembers, the better. This can thus be used to implant false memories. The target falls asleep after this is done and the ritual takes hold when he awakes. Whether a distaff specifically is required is unknown, but the object must be uncarved wood etched with specific runes in Briana's native tongue; a cord or rope or thread must be wrapped about the center as well.
  
• To Rise (for a time): This ritual must be conducted at the burial site of the intended target. The ritual here is more complicated than the rituals to forget and to remember. First, a young animal (not yet mature) must be sacrificed atop the burial site; the practitioner must then sacrifice some of her blood - not enough to be grievous but much more than a few drops - and allow the blood to mix with that of the sacrificed animal as it soaks into the ground of the burial site. The caveat is that this must be done at a burial site where someone was interred in the ground and not in a coffin or other container, and the target cannot have been burned. If only one animal is sacrificed, a prayer must then be uttered as a runic distaff is held in the bloodied hand of the practitioner over the grave: "Rise now, that I might speak with thee." (This is spoken in the Yigg tongue, of course.) This also cannot be done during the daylight hours or when significant light is present. If successful, the target claws its way out of the grave and answers as many questions as it can; it must answer honestly, but the information given may or may not be useful. A conversation can be held if need be but if the distaff is removed from its held position above the grave, the corpse collapses once more. There may be a way to make the spell last longer or to command the target in other ways, but this information is not known to Briana.
  
  Inventory
  
• Arrow x50: Tipped with heads carved from bone and balanced with leather cord and feathers.
  
• Bedroll: Thick hides have been stitched together to create a softer and warmer bed upon which to lie than ice and frozen snow when camping. It is strapped to the side of Briana's survival pack.
  
• Hooded Cloak: This was wrought from the hide of a polar bear, and the hood was shaped from its head; it is heavy and thick enough to keep even a miserable little human warm in the roughest winter weather and the inside bears several pockets of various shapes and sizes for holding supplies.
  
• Hunting Knife x3: Wrought of a mix of carved bone and shaped stone, these bear leather-wrapped hilts and are used for dressing kills as well as other purposes.
  
• Longbow: Wrapped with furs for a better grip and used for hunting; the string is drawn with Briana's left hand as the bow is held in her right hand.
  
• Makeshift Distaff: A thick length of dark wood cleanly cut at both ends, stripped of bark, and carved with runic symbols at both ends; wrapped about the center is a leather cord. This is used in ritual magic.
  
• Quiver: Wrought from thick hide; it can hold up to fifty arrows.
  
• Rolled Tent: Hides stitched together and bound to several small but sturdy poles, with a couple extra poles and some additional cord for securing it, this is rolled up and strapped to the side of her survival pack. The tent has a folding flap at either end (when unfurled) that can be secured or left loose while it's set up.
  
• Spear x2: Wrapped with coarse furs for a better grip, these spears' bone-wrought heads are each fitted to their respective hafts with a leather cord; sap was applied to better secure the bindings.
  
• Survival Pack: Made from two layers of hides stitched together and worn upon the back, this large pack holds various things including hides and furs; cured meat; other materials from kills; and various traps and supplies either made by Briana or traded for in Hyoite. Her tent roll is strapped to one side and her bedroll is strapped to the other. Her cloak is typically thrown over it rather than worn under it, being large enough to keep her warm and protect her pack.
  
  Companion(s)
  Dire Wolf: Ulfur
  From Old Norse word "ulfr", which means "wolf".
  Briana is always accompanied by a black dire wolf with silvery-gray socks and a gray underside, though his chest remains entirely black; the tip of his tail is also silvery-gray, as are the backs of his ears. From paws to ears, he stands a full six feet in height. He is her friend and companion, a loyal hound who would die to protect her (and she him); they hunt together, fish together, fight together...they are never apart. If she isn't intimidating enough, he absolutely is. She met him less than a year after his birth following his ejection from a pack, matched him move for move in a bloodless fight for dominance, and earned his respect. They have saved each other's lives many times and in many ways. Ulfur is highly intelligent, able to reason and think critically and even respond to a given situation in ways beneficial both to him and his partner; he is almost an extension of Briana in terms of his behavior and actions, and only in certain circumstances need she issue a command to him. It is almost as though they can read one another's thoughts, though this is merely the perception of others who have observed them.
  
  Verbal commands to Ulfur are (somewhat) loosely based on Old Norse and are as follows:
  
• Dvelja: "Stop"; this is rarely needed but has been given on occasion. (source: https://old-norse.net/html/d.php#dvelja)
  
• Efna: Given contextually to get him to do something specific, such as track someone or something by scent when given a sample (e.g. a person via a scrap of clothing, an animal via a tuft of fur or bit of spilt blood). Certain body language, such as moving a raised finger in a circular motion, can also be used; in this instance, it would be a command to search the area. (source: https://old-norse.net/html/e.php#efna)
  
• Efta: Another command given contextually; this one is sometimes used in conjunction with body language as well. Most often it is a command to follow a trail, a person, or an animal or to fetch something; it can also simply be a command to return to Briana, either to stay by her side or follow her or as a means of calling for his aid. (source: https://old-norse.net/html/e.php#eptir)
  
• Mylla: "Balls!" This is a command to clamp down on someone's balls with Ulfur's jaw; this is typically done as a serious threat to a man, usually when interrogating him (though it can be a display of the pair's superiority, and Ulfur's superiority in particular, as well). Ulfur will not bite down in a full attack unless an additional attack command is issued, merely holding the man in place and possibly growling. Of course, that's not to say he won't squeeze a little. (source: https://old-norse.net/html/m.php#mýll)
  
• Ostr: "Throat!" This is more specific than the general command to attack (see snerra, below), ordering Ulfur to go for the throat of a target or enemy. (source: https://old-norse.net/html/h.php#hóstr)
  
• Snerra: "Attack!" (source: https://old-norse.net/html/s.php#snerra)
  
  __________________THREAD TRACKER
  Current Threads
  Iced [open] (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27311.0) w/wandering_giraffe (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=17344)'s Elin
  
  Complete Threads