Stormpiercer
Before Petronilla, she was Nel.
I’ve had the headings of this post in my drafts for months. Haven’t had the space to draw since over a year ago with a lot of life events taking up room.
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More story under the cut. Pardon any wonky writing - I wrote most of this while up at night with a baby.
Yardan
Located in Central Rodinia, Yardan was originally occupied by a tribe made up of mostly nomadic clans; a minority of clans had pseudo-permanent settlements established around more remote resources.
The clans generally avoided extensive interactions with each other in times of peace and abundance, limiting contact to trades and negotiations pertaining to keeping that peace. During times of strife, clans would enlist the help of other clans or temporarily join forces to resolve a common problem. Monogamous marriages between clans were allowed, providing that one of the couple fully assimilate into the other’s clan.
While the clans have generally agreed to coexist within Yardan’s borders and share its resources, conflicts between clans have inevitably arisen throughout history, and the clans’ sometimes conflicting values and identities have kept Yardan from becoming united. As far as the people of Yardan was concerned, this was all good and well, and nothing that could not be resolved by utilising their existing agreements.
The Alpine Water Crisis
Around two decades before the Annexation of Yardan, a crisis presented itself: the alpine water sources in the north were becoming depleted, and with most of Yardan being arid, this was a problem for all the clans.
Councils were held and most of the focus ended up being the assignment of blame and speculations - some thought it was the fault of one or more of the settled clans in the area, others pointed the finger at Sastrugia, the ever-expanding and industrialising neighbour to Yardan’s north. Yet some thought it was simply the result of nature running its course, and attributed the water scarcity to droughts, fires, and earthquakes.
Riesa the Bedrock
Eventually in one of these councils, a young woman spoke up and raised an unpopular idea: for the clans to work together and search for a solution, regardless of who or what was at fault.
While this approach was previously disregarded, this time the council listened, for it seemed that the young woman had in the past garnered rapport amongst the people - multiple clans corroborated accounts of this lone traveller appearing in their times of need to lead their members to water and safe shelter.
When questioned, the young woman would not disclose her clan of origin, and no clan would claim her as one of their own (it is entirely possible that her true clan of origin had sworn to secrecy on the matter, for one reason or another). She merely introduced herself as Riesa of Yardan. When asked about her abilities, she stated that they were beyond the magic and crafts practiced by some of the clans; her power was from the gods, she claimed, and she was their medium - a catalyst for their will in this world.
The people of Yardan gave Riesa a chance, and indeed, under the guidance and protection of the various clans, she secured new sources of water. Witnesses would say that her methods was inexplicable: she seemed able to revitalise spent streams, make dammed and dried rivers flow again, and even call forth springs where none had existed before. Her deeds were accompanied by tremors deep underfoot, as if the earth itself would shift and shape to her will.
Years of effort eventually saw not only the security of water and the resolution to Yardan’s crisis, but the clans were more united than ever before. There were children who grew up without witnessing animosity between clans. For both her gods-given powers and her role in consolidating the people of Yardan, the young woman was lauded as Riesa the Bedrock, Hand of the Gods.
Clan Feran
Of the many clans of Yardan, nine actively practiced magic in some form. Clan Feran was considered a group of warrior-mages, and the most attuned of these were able to harness the power of natural elements.
Unlike those in what some would consider more developed civilisations, the Yardani people did not approach magic via scholastic and theoretical methods. Instead, the practice of magic was more approximate to shamanism, rooted in intuition and spirituality. Members of Clan Feran would, from a young age, discern and attune themselves to specific natural phenomena. By becoming familiar with them overtime, the warrior-mage would be able to master their favoured phenomenon through an understanding that is innate and instinctive.
Nel the Stormpiercer
Amongst the members of Clan Feran was Nel, a young girl considered a talented warrior-mage who seemed born with an attachment to the winds. While most of her clansmen discerned their attuned phenomenon by their young adult years, Nel had by the age of twelve attuned herself to windstorms. Gifted with sharp eyes, she also trained in the use of missile weapons.
Nel was able to combine her skills in magic and weapon in a most unique manner when there are strong winds: she could counter the gusts and gales immediately around herself and/or her weapon(s) in such a way that when she fired a missile, it would fly straight and true despite the turbulence around it.
When her clan was approached with the task of providing protection for Riesa on her more treacherous journeys, Nel was one of those chosen to accompany the young woman, as a chance for her to shadow more senior warrior-mages. The two soon fostered a close intergenerational friendship, and the girl proved her loyalty in how seriously she took to the role of being the woman’s guard. Despite Nel’s young age, Riesa petitioned for her to be granted a moniker befitting of a mature warrior-mage of her clan; thus the girl was known as the Stormpiercer, and became one of Riesa’s closest bodyguards.
The Curse of Yardan
The stability and growth of Yardan did not go unnoticed by Sastrugia, Yardan’s highly militarised neighbour. While it had expanded its borders in the past by offering aid and protection to less developed adjacent nations, and subsequently establishing vassal states, nothing less than an invasion would have claimed Yardan. With a culture where magic was both exclusive and feared, it did not take much for propaganda to convince Sastrugia’s people that this “untamed and dangerous threat” of a neighbour ought to be pacified before it could grow much greater.
Yardan, united as it had become, was no match for the organised assault of the Sastrugian army. Its people wanted Riesa - their treasure, bedrock, and the hope of their nation - to be protected, and so she was left in the protection of warriors; Nel served, of course, as her personal bodyguard.
Tragically, during the last stand of the Yardani tribe, and in the midst of her attempt to channel her gods-given powers to protect what was left of her people, Riesa was assassinated.
In their shock, grief, and despair, those who remained - mage or otherwise - broke a taboo and invoked a curse upon their captors: that they would “never obtain the power for which it lusts”.
Aftermath
The few Yardani who survived the invasion, including Nel who had witnessed Riesa’s murder, were taken prisoner. Most died in captivity soon after, being subjected to mistreatment. Nel, through the intercession of Riesa’s killer herself, was spared, and subsequently brainwashed, “reformed”, and integrated into the very army that killed her people and annexed her nation.
But the spirit of the lost nation lay dormant but alive within the last Yardani, and for as long as she and her descendants live, the curse laid upon Sastrugia would not relent…