Wurlim Frostking

Whether they live in Frostheim, among the Redspike Mountains, or travel the dunes of the Krokhan Desert, the name of Wurlim Frostking is a curse among the descendants of the Old Norr. That might seem strange at first, for those who know their history know that Wurlim was once the greatest leader of the Old Norr, the Lord of Winter, a mighty warlord of towering stature, strong arm, and rapacious intent. Still, his name will always be associated with his people’s fall from grace. During the First Great War, the Old Norr enjoyed an unrivaled period of power and prosperity. With the armies of Lumaya and Siroth locked in a conflict that would decide the fate of Teleria, neither side had the resources required to counter the raiding expeditions launched by the Old Norr from their icy northern fjords in the Winterlands. While they had made pacts with Lumaya long before, these pillagers showed little compunction about attacking her servants when they were near-defenseless. Under Wurlim’s direction, the Old Norr grew strong, looting coastlines from Aravia to the Sorrowlakes and venturing as far as the Lost Isles to the south. Such successes could not continue forever. Realizing that attacks by Wurlim were undermining the war effort, the Arbiter visited the Frostking’s icy halls and demanded that the Old Norr cease their attacks on the followers of Lumaya. She reminded Wurlim that his people had once sworn to follow the Goddess of Light, and that she now had need of them. Not only were the Old Norr to restrain their raiding, but they were also to serve the Arbiter in a campaign she had planned, one that would take them to the pinnacle of the world. While many Old Norr railed at such presumptuousness, Wurlim sensed possibility in the Arbiter’s commands. She wished to turn them into something more than just raiders, to forge them into a unified people, of which he would be king. It might only be to meet her own short-term ends, but the result would still be the same – the Old Norr would be more united and battle-hardened than they had ever been, and it would be Wurlim who led them. And so the Frostking agreed to aid the Arbiter, and summoned Old Norr and Jotunn tribes to attend him. With the greatest gathering of warriors ever seen in the north, Wurlim set out, following the Arbiter on her secret quest. After many weeks of marching, they arrived at their destination, a warm, still lake at the very capstone of Teleria, somehow existing unfrozen in the icy landscape. There too they found a Demonspawn army. Wurlim assumed the army's destruction was the Arbiter’s objective, and he led the Old Norr into the fray, confident of victory. But his confidence proved fatal, for close to the lake was a portal into Anathraad. Demonic reinforcements poured through, overwhelming the Old Norr and the Jotunn. Wurlim demanded the Arbiter’s assistance, but she was chanting arcane spells over the lake’s edge. Too late, Wurlim realized that they had been tricked. The Arbiter cared nothing for the Old Norr and the Jotunn, he thought. She simply wished to use them to distract the Demonspawn while she attempted to close the portal. Wurlim sought to reach and slay her, but before he could the Arbiter finished her incantation. Ice from the surrounding mountains swept into the lake as the waters themselves froze, forming a great glacier. Wurlim and his surviving warriors were caught in the spell’s effects, frozen solid and sealed away as assuredly as the portal. With the Old Norr’s leadership in disarray, the Arbiter seized her opportunity to forever end their unruliness and unpredictability, scattering the rest of the tribes and causing the great migration of the Old Norr peoples from the Winterlands. Many believe that Wurlim’s foolish pride was the reason they were cast out of the north, and assume him to be long dead or, at the very least, still entombed in his icy grave. Such assumptions are incorrect. Ages after he was trapped, Wurlim’s body was freed and resurrected by the corrupt necromantic scholar Bad-el-Kazar, the Grandmaster of Ireth. Ireth had long had a pact with the infamous Cult of K’Leth but, knowing of the duplicitousness of the Knights Revenant, he intended to attain both a new bodyguard and a bargaining chip. Wurlim could certainly act as both, for the hulking, icy brute was more than a match for even the most experienced Knights Revenant. Wurlim oversaw Ireth’s dealings with the Knights Revenant before the grandmaster eventually sold him into the cult’s ranks. Now, as Wurlim broods on the changed world before him, it seems unlikely the old Lord of Winter will be content to live as their pawn.