Ygrid Ironborn

Ygrid Ironborn
Born	1666 The Frostback Mountains (Jotunrath)
Other names	The Tower
Occupation	Queen (Jotunrath)
Years active	1719-Present
Era	Age of Passage
Organization	The Holy Triumvirate
Known for	Multiple military campaigns, Liberation of Goliath slaves
Height	9 ft 6 in (290 cm)
Successor	Runa Stormborn
Criminal charge(s)	First-Degree Murder, Insurrection, and Treason (Alliance)
Criminal penalty	Death
Spouse(s)	Tormund Half-Hand (Deceased)
Children	Unnamed Son (Deceased), Runa Stormborn (Daughter)
Family	Ironborn

Appearance

As her nickname would suggest, Ygrid is described as a very, very tall, intimidating Goliath standing at over nine feet tall. She has tightly cut, dark-brown hair that is tied off in a long, thick braid that runs down her back and sharp gunmetal blue eyes with tomboyish features. Years of fighting have built Ygrid in a staggering mountain of a woman, with arms that can wield a greatsword with one hand and cut through men like a hot knife through butter. She carries evidence of her battles in her military experience and battle scars. Her most noticeable is an open tissue scar on her left cheek that exposes her top and bottom teeth. Evidence that someone tried very hard to kill her, but failed like so many others. Those who stand in the presence of the Tower see her as a symbol of victory and conquest, or a great white beast to be shackled and locked away.

Backstory

The Tower

The earliest sightings of Ygrid were in the Dwarvish military. The stories go that she had been exiled from her clan and joined the military in search of a purpose. She learned advanced military tactics and close-quarters combat with the best the Dwarves had to offer. A Goliath physique and Dwarvish training turned Ygrid into an outstanding soldier. Her feats of strength and leadership were well-known amongst the Dwarves. However after two years of service Ygrid had been dishonorably discharged and shackled in chains. From exile, commander, to a slave.

The Forsaken

Ygrid had gained notoriety in the Torr Pits of Kartenheim, one of three blood sport arenas where slaves and criminals alike were forced to fight each other or whatever the Vikings felt like throwing at them. It was one of many offences the Goliaths had to endure. Old friends and bitter enemies awaited Ygrid in the arena. When Ygrid refused to fight, the Vikings forced her to watch her people die in her stead. An outcast and exile to her people, and a traitor to her soldiers. Somewhere in the midst of all the bloodshed and loss, Ygrid found herself. Ygrid began to play the Viking's game, giving bloody glorious displays complete with disembowelments and deceptions. Striking down bears and overpowering great serpents. The crowd loved Ygrid.

No matter what was thrown at her, Ygrid persisted. So much so that the Viking leaders made her a promise, defeat the champion of the arena, and she would be freed. One more victory was all it would take, and Ygrid would be back in the military where she belonged. Her opponent was Boudeca Warborn, Ygrid's bitter rival throughout her childhood. The Warborn and Ironborn clans had a bitter, bloody feud that went back to the first Giants that settled the Frostback Mountains, and the Vikings knew this. It would be the fight of the decade. Two of the strongest, most efficient killing machines would clash in a sold out arena. Unknown to the Vikings, when Ygrid was locked away she had began scheming with the other fighters. Goliaths, Drow, Loxodon, Orcs, anyone who would listen, anyone who would fight, was recruited to Ygrid's cause. All of the outcasts and undesirables were united under one banner. She called them the Forsaken.

When Ygrid and Boudeca entered the arena, they were greeted by thousands of screaming spectators ready to watch the two women tear each other apart. The fight began with exchanges of fists and elbows, then escalated to ropes and brass knuckles, and ended with swords and axes. Bloodied enough to sell the charade, Ygrid and Boudeca began their plan. Ygrid lowered her shield and Boudeca ran at her, ready to deal the killing blow with her axe...then planted her foot on Ygrid's shield, and leapt into the box of the Torr Pits leaders. This was the beginning of a bloodbath, as thousands screamed and fled, hundreds of fighters stormed the arena, overpowering the guards and killing anyone in their way. This was followed by the same in the two other arenas where Ygrid's people planted the seeds of a revolution.

The Goliath Uprisings

Ygrid would go on to lead the Forsaken onto a violent warpath that claimed two slave cities and hundreds of lives. The leaders of this rebellion were other Goliath Chieftains whose clans had known nothing but bitter civil war. But when Ygrid showed up, they banded together against a common enemy. The people responsible for the genocide still plaguing their people. The Forsaken stated that if the Humans would not listen to reason, they would be forced to listen. Slave estates had been reduced to smoldering beds of ash, towns were ransacked and pillaged, anyone with a hand in the slave business had been flayed, gored, or burned alive. Ygrid and the other leaders wanted to send a clear message, if their people wouldn't be freed, they'd take their freedom. And take it they did. The Forsaken had freed thousands of slaves living in captivity, and those that remained were freed amidst protests that came too late from the Alliance's people. Most followed the Forsaken across the Fordvern Advance to the wild lands that waited across. Some stayed since a life in the Alliance was all they knew. After a year of fighting, it seemed the Goliaths and their allies were free to live amongst themselves. The thing about peace it that is rarely ever lasts.

The Seven Year War

Not even six months after the Goliath Uprisings, the Alliance and newly freed Goliaths began butting heads once again. The Goliath Queen, Gremala Drathos, had ordered any and all Alliance scouts, settlements, and troops to withdraw from the Frostback Basin. The settlers had colonized the region and were building homes and towns on sacred land, and the Queen wasn't having it. Ygrid was put in charge of clearing these areas by whatever means, if they wouldn't listen to reason, then Ygrid put her boot on their throats. The forced move turned into armed conflicts and more lives being lost. The Alliance had claim on the land, the Goliaths were its natives. And the Goliaths certainly weren't going to go back to living under Alliance rule. So, Ygrid had been sent to the Alliance in an attempt to negotiate some kind of peace. What happened instead were insults and laughter thrown Ygrid's way. Which she returned with her own slew, until eventually she had enough. King Windhelm, having lost his patience, asked Ygrid and her people to stand aside. That there would be an armed response to their violence. He asked if she answer with war, or obedience. Ygrid had infamously answered with, "I would have war." What followed was seven years of the bloodiest conflict in the known history of the realm. It became known as the Seven Year War, or The Bloody Seven.

All Hail the Queen

During Year 5 of the war, Ygrid was pregnant with twins. During an assassination attempt that claimed the life of Queen Drathos as well as a number of other high-ranking Goliath leaders, Ygrid lost one of her children. The surviving child was wrought with mortal wounds inflicted during the attempt, but somehow survived alongside her mother. Between bouts of depression and grief, Ygrid found the strength to move on and named her daughter Runa. This experience changed Ygrid forever and would inevitably cost the king his eldest son.

Motherhood

Motherhood was a challenge for Ygrid, especially during a war. Her own mother was but a passing figment, lost to the more visceral memories of the bitter harshness of Goliath tribal life. Not one for softness, Ygrid raised Runa to become self-dependent and unwavering in the face of adversity. It was important to Ygrid that Runa learned the bitter truths of life early on so that she may adapt and learn to navigate them, not with bitterness, but a strong, mature hardness. Runa would be a presence that the Goliaths rally to if she chose it, and she would have to act it. Life, even during the war, wasn't all politics and hard-earned lessons for Runa. Ygrid did her best to give Runa a taste of a normal childhood whether it was playing in the garden with other children or sitting in at stories during dinners. Motherhood was a delicate balance of protecting Runa, and preparing her for the harsh world outside the walls of Jotunrath.

The Battle of Jyorkstead

Ygrid's most infamous victory, was the last major battle of the entire war. While the Alliance, and some of her most trusted allies, prepared for an Alliance victory, Ygrid prepared to steal it out from under them in one fell swoop. The plan was to coax the 33rd, led by Edgar Castille, into chasing Ygrid and what was supposed to be the last organized pocket of resistance, into a trap. As the land around her burned and Alliance flags flew high, Ygrid traveled under the cover of night to neighboring territories. Hours of riding and navigating the forests she was raised in, that were now heavily occupied by Alliance soldiers. When she returned, she prepared her soldiers for what some believed would be a final stand. At the peak of the next day, when the sun was highest and casting its light on the Frostback Shore on a patch of warm sand, Edgar and Ygrid's units finally met. As the battle seemed to turn in Edgar's favor, Ygrid called for her men to retreat just as they planned. When Edgar's forces chased after them, it was then that Ygrid sprung the trap. During those nights of espionage, Ygrid had gained the favor of Queen Nadeem Val-Kalrath of the Drow, and Visera Maelstrom of the Warforged. Nadeem had the single largest colony of Drow under her rule, and Visera the largest collection of vengeful Warforged. The details of these talks and deals are known only to the Triumvirate themselves. The full force of the battered, beaten, and broken outcasts of the Alliance descended upon Edgar's men. The fleet that had sailed them there were assailed by Warforged firepower the likes of which they had never seen, and outmatched and outnumbered by the sheer force of the united Goliath and Drow ground forces. Failure to see what Ygrid was capable of when backed into a corner, failure to see this trap earlier, had cost the Alliance the entire war. Over 30,000 men were corned and held captive overnight, and were to be executed if the Humans did not pull out from the war. Which they did. Ygrid had won...

Queen Ironborn

In the aftermath of the Seven Year War, Queen Drathos was dead. With nobody else they trusted remaining, the Goliath people turned to Ygrid. In the weeks following rebuilding, Ygrid has seized power from the very people she had gone to for help. Leaders who she promised coin, land, anything they wanted as long as they would help. Believing them selfish, Ygrid instead placed herself, Nadeem Val'Kalrath, and Visera Maelstrom as the three ruling figureheads of the newly established Nation of Conclave States. Any outcries or promises of rebellion were swiftly put down. Ygrid sent the heads of the old leaders back to their people with a very clear message, "Live in our world. Or die in yours." She would accept nothing less than complete, and total fealty. With all her enemies dead or in chains of their own, Ygrid sat on the throne. She had made sure that anybody that would challenge her this time, would have one hell of a climb doing so.

Cataclysm

During the events of Cataclysm, Ygrid was approached by Omerók of Croak and Dagger when the crafty duergar had narrowly escaped the clutches of Caelrogh, with a friend in tow. Edgar and Omerók found themselves in Jotunrath, forcefully knelt before Ygrid. Through his natural charm and good nature, Omerók convinced Ygrid to let Edgar live while imploring her for aid. It wasn't soon after that the rest of Croak and Dagger arrived on the day of Runa's wedding, with the idea of asking Ygrid for aid. They decided against this since it was a very special day for Ygrid and Runa, and gained favor with the Goliath Queen the next day. Ygrid told them the stories of her life before Jotunrath, the war and the image she and her people had of the Alliance. What followed was a series of high-pressure meetings with Ygrid and the leading figureheads of the Noble Goliath Houses. Against all odds, Croak and Dagger were able to unanimously convince the Goliaths to aide them in the fight against Caelrogh. The Goliaths would fight for their former masters.

Halfaya Pass, the Lord of Judgment

During the Siege of Halfaya Pass, Ygrid had encountered one of the men responsible for her child's death. In a fit of blind rage, Ygrid dropped her form for a moment and struck him with a smite unlike any other. Andol and Aiden, who were closest to the strike, saw Ygrid for who she really was. Kelemvor, the Great Lord and Judge of the Damned.

The Door

During Croak and Dagger's tumultuous final battle with Caelrogh Soledad, the Nightmare King had seemingly successfully opened the final door to the Shadowfell. What had actually happened, was the Death Pantheon, led by Ygrid, had answered Caelrogh's taunts. They watched as he was beaten down by the likes of mere mortals, and just as his soul was going to escape into the empty void, it was trapped by Ygrid in her lantern. There, Caelrogh's soul made the final journey into the depths of Ygrid's domain where he was judged, damned, and banished for eternity.

Abilities

Legendary Tank. In her early adult years, Ygrid displayed incredible feats of strength and endurance. The years have only hardened her skin and made her resistant to all but the mightiest of strikes.

Master Tactician. Ygrid's short time with the Alliance gave her insight into organized military strategy and formations. Her natural ability to lead and fight has made her a terror on the battlefield and an invaluable commander.

Deity of Death. The mantle of Kelemvor has been passed on to Ygrid. The Lord of the Damned and Judge of the Dead, Ygrid possesses the power of a Greater Deity, limited only by the same laws as the other Greater Deities.

Relationships

Aileen "Aileen was a naïve, little dancing goblin when I first met her. I saw great potential in her and was able to see it grow. I didn't see why Aileen's skills should be dulled and why she should just fade into the background. But...I think I get it now. Seeing her lay there like that. The sun on her face...the one she loved by her side. We spend so long trying to prove to those around us we're worth remembering that we lose a bit of ourselves in the pursuit. Never any time to stop and just...exist.."

Edgar "Stories and titles mean very little on the battlefield. Edgar Castille was a great example of that. He had a long list of accolades and lofty titles bestowed upon him by some trivial lords and ladies. It all meant nothing when I beat him in our first, and only encounter. It was disappointing."

Elvira "A young, reckless girl looking to stand out amongst her peers. To stake her claim on the long line of High Elves, with long names I won't bother pronouncing. She chased me and my battalion across the theater of war during its last years. And like her dead colleagues, I made a fool out of her for trying. A young, reckless, screeching thing she is."

Maribelle "Most people are under the impression that pain should be coddled or nurtured with a blanket and warm milk. I'm not most people. When I met Maribelle, I saw pain not unlike my own when I was her age. I also saw fury. So I fed the fire and urged Ms. Blackpyre to burn all who would hurt her. To do away with the shackles of servitude to Vecna. To find her own path... and what a path it's been so far."

Nadeem "I bent the knee to Nadeem because I recognized her strength and greatness. She leads a people who were thought to be chaotic, disorganized, and incapable of structure. Nadeem wears the crown well. I don't think anyone looms quite as large as she does in the Conclave."

Omerok "Omerok is bold. Very, very bold. He's funny and makes me laugh, and only a small handful of people have been able to do that. I don't see why we shouldn't have drinks some time."

Runa "My daughter is a stubborn, sometimes brash woman. I love her a great deal and see a bright future for our people. She's a lot like me unfortunately, haunted by the legacy of a people who have only known war and strife. I only hope I can prepare her for what leading the Goliath's means... and that no matter what happens, she is my greatest pride and joy."

Skulk "Greatness is born from the most bizarre places. Take Skulk for example. He was part of an Orcish entourage of ex-cons looking to win their freedom by serving in the war. My earliest memories of Skulk are of migraines, incessant babbling, and absolute non-sense. My officers threw Skulk at every obstacle they could to be rid of him, and each time he returned victorious. Skulk is a loyal, dedicated soldier if not outright manic. I would wager any conflict against him is met with nothing but total annihilation at his hands. I'd take him over any battalion any day."

Tormund "That is a sad one. Tormund was my first and only love next to my daughter. He was such a... gentle soul. He made me laugh... That's all I wish to say on that."

Visera "Visera really is quite the anomaly. Her power something otherwordly. Our first encounter was in some nameless, shit-ridden swamp. Visera's keen attention to detail, her ability to crunch numbers, and bodies if needed, are invaluable to the Conclave. I'd even call her a friend given our history."

External links

• Ygrid Ironborn on War in the Realm Wiki