Ageel

“I think I was ten or eleven when we ran afoul of it. See, I grew up on the edge of the Everstorm. Our summer village at least was there on the shores of the Kwihro Newos Mar. It was a hard life, but we didn’t know any better then.”

“It was a long time ago. No wyrd heaters. No throwers to catch the hunt. We did things the old way.”

“Sorry. Yes. So I was ten or eleven. We had heard the stories our whole life, but not one of us really believed it. My Oma would say that if you see dancing lights in the distance, run the other way.”

“Well we were young boys and girls, all of us dreaming of being brave hunters. Those stories didn’t scare us, then.”

“So we were tracking a Rish Elk that was alone. Taking one down would prove we were adults. They have those monstrous antlers, you see? Big as a horse they are too. And mean.”

“But if we got one, all five of us would get our first scar and they would have to make us hunters. At least that is how our young brains thought at the time.”

“So we are at the edge of a tree line and it must have just snowed. That soft summer snow that twinkles in the starlight, not the heavy wet snow of the winter, mind you. The kind you can bathe in and feel like new.”

“But we are at the edge of the tree line looking for the elk’s passing, and at the edge of my vision I catch what looks like a campfire. So I start to walk towards it. Uncontrolled like.”

“My legs kept moving, but my mind, once it woke, was kind of screaming in my head to stop. No stopping it though. Off I went, and likely to my death in a ravine if Yuliya hadn’t hit me in the head with her spear but. Heh, I miss her.”

“I came to my senses and covered my eyes with snow and then opened them. That is what Oma said would let you see her without falling under her spell.”

“And she was right. It was terrible, but it scared us all so bad we ran like sword cats were chasing us.”

“Oh, yes. It... I don’t like to remember what she looked like. Dying I guess. Over and over again. Wrapped in flames that don’t go out. It… I can’t talk about this anymore…”

~ From Taubha’s Lesser Book of Names

It is believed that when the Madness came, Ageel was caught in the fire of an explosion, and became locked in that moment of death. In theory, she is a member of House Sonegh, but in her endless agony it is doubtful she cares much for the politics of the Ten Houses. Instead, she spends her time in the cold places at the edge of the Everstorm where it is unclear if she actively tries to lead mortals to their death or simply does by her very existence.

In game play, Ageel is a bit like a force of nature. She appears, leaves death in her wake, and is gone again until the next time she travels in that direction. She moves in a rough circle around the Everstorm at the center of Yggdrasil, and every culture that calls that desolate cold home has a story about her. She can be the object of a quest to force her to leave a village alone where the unwary have been dying, or perhaps as a subject of research interest from one of the Wyrd colleges.