Hildr Firebrand
Hildr Firebrand | |
|---|---|
| Born | ~Early 1700s |
| Other names | The Black Blade, Starlight |
| Occupation | Adventurer |
| Years active | 1717-1718 (Thunderbolts), 1730-present |
| Era | Age of Passage |
| Organization | The Forsaken (former), Croak and Dagger |
| Height | 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) |
| Children | Marilka Thyrnmur (Daughter) |
| Parents |
|
| Family | Iggwilv (grandmother) |
"Fucking amateurs."
Appearance
Hildr is described as a tall, muscular woman with very pale skin and long black hair with purple highlights. She has a full back and bicep tattoo of a large serpent being pierced by a sword. Her clothes are always some plain shade of black or grey, usually light adventuring leathers and any number of sheathed blades.
Backstory
Starlight
Hildr's earliest memories were of waking up at first light with her father, Craig Firebrand and jogging up and down the same mountain every day. There was no time for coddling or excuses, or to be "standard". Hildr was a Firebrand, and that meant carrying on the name with a sword on your back, gold in your pockets, and glory to your name. Every mistake, every missed step, every weak swing, was punished with silence, disapproving nods, and a walk home alone. Hildr's mother, Melanie Abdel would tell Hildr stories about how her father swept Melanie off her feet. The non-nonsensical poems and cheap flowers delivered with a nervous smile. A far cry from the man she knew, who only told her stories of magnificent battles against dragons and evil wizards. Crowds of cheering people. His name written on plaques across the land. A name Hildr learned to loath every time she saw it in a book.
Hildr was an original member of the Thunderbolts, an adventuring party daringly founded around the same time as the Sankofa Accord. A batch of bastards, orphans, and troubled youth looking to give the Alliance a big middle finger and go right on about their adventuring business. Hildr only did it to impress Craig and maybe find some friends on the way, which she did and more. During her time with the Thunderbolts, Hildr met Elvira, and the two grew very close. They'd exchange books then talk about them over campfires. Hildr would try and pursue a romantic relationship with Elvira, but was rejected. Elvira expressed she didn't want to latch onto Hildr with Val-Adin so close. The two said their goodbyes just outside Val-Adin, and exchanged books one last time. The contents of which are unknown.
A month after the Thunderbolts disbanded, Hildr continued taking on odd jobs across Kartenheim. She did it because it was all she knew, not because she yearned for Craig's approval which she outgrew. One job took her deep into the nearby forests where talks of kidnappers holding children directed her. She tracked them for two days before finally coming up on their camp, right into an ambush. The cultists ambushed and overpowered Hildr, and took her deep within their temple. Hildr went in and what came out was a vessel of pain and anger.
Upon seeing Hildr stumble home in tattered clothes and barely conscious, Craig and Melanie rushed to her aid and began healing what they could of her. It was Melanie who suggested they bring Hildr to a high wizard first thing in the morning. That even Melanie’s magic couldn’t heal the shattered fragments of Hildr’s mind. When Hildr came to, she saw Craig standing over her with a crossbow in hand. The bloody skirmish that followed was all a blur to Hildr who was blinded by rage. In a fit of anger she accidentally struck her mother with a killing blow meant for Craig. Hildr left in the night, only to be chased down and apprehended by her father and his friends. One night changed the Firebrand family forever.
Hildr had been locked away in deepest recesses of the Alliance super-max prison known as The Maw. She was subjected to days of torture within the recesses of her own corrupt mind, preparing a lists of all those who wronged her. What she would do to them all once she got her hands on them. Hildr would get her wish once the Maw’s most high-profile prisoners, the Forsaken, did the impossible and broke out. Their leader saw potential in Hildr and in exchange for her freedom, asked her to join them. Hildr became a silent, lumbering shadow of death for the Forsaken. Her time there was spent killing because it quieted the voices, even if she wasn’t ordered to by the Forsaken.
As part of the Forsaken’s plans to expand their reach, their leaders sent Hildr to make contact with the Black Sun Cult. The very people who imbued Hildr with the dark magic that fueled her. She made contact with the cult who spoke of a promised day of Black Sun, when the barriers between the material plane and the Shadowfell were weakest. Hildr aided the cult in their rituals leading up to the Day of Black Sun, even taking to kidnapping villagers from the village of Yulyu where Clymene hailed from. This would result in a direct collision course with Croak and Dagger.
Campaign 1, Heroes for Hire
After a startling defeat at the hands of Croak and Dagger, Hildr's life was spared. For what reason at the time remains a mystery to this day. But whatever Croak and Dagger had done, the fight was momentarily taken out of Hildr. She spent days in a cell, debating whether she'd try and break out and exact revenge, whether against Croak and Dagger, or the Forsaken for leaving her. Hildr's decided on the latter and reluctantly joined up with Croak and Dagger. She became their own personally walking aspect of death, throwing herself blindly in the line of fire and tearing through enemies of all shapes and sizes as an outlet for her rage. As time went on, Hildr allowed herself to make friends with a few of its members and even slowly reconnect with Craig. After adopting Marilka, Hildr began to feel a sense of belonging again, of purpose. This would take an abrupt hiatus when Hildr suffered a near-death experience at the hands of Atalanta. The aftermath of which Hildr would spend a lifetime recovering physically and emotionally from. But she is in no rush to recover it seems. As if the party only needed her when she was strong, they would have cast her out upon their first encounter.
Miscellaneous Facts
- Hildr was the first major bossfight of the campaign and handed the party their first defeat during the ambush in the forest.
- Hildr's nickname 'Starlight' comes from a Muse song of the same name.
- Hildr was named after one of the Norse Valkyries