Glaicad of the Meltwater

The Cloudspire Mountains are capped with massive glaciers and snowfields. As temperatures rise in the spring and summer, they partially melt, and water flows through otherwise dry riverbeds. Trickling down year after year, wearing grooves in the rock and soil, these meltwater streams provide clean, crisp water for both people and animals, creating unique seasonal ecologies. When herders and loggers traversing the slopes near the Mistwood pause to sip from the crystal-clear flow, they often give thanks to the Fae lord Glaicad of the Meltwater, Prince of the Thaw. Each spring Glaicad treads the snow-dusted ice pack lightly as a feather, leaving no traces behind, tapping it with his staff. As he does so, meltwater trickles out from beneath the glacier somewhere down the slope. Each tap is small but, together, countless meltings create rivulets that merge into ever-growing flows. His bare arms bear luminous tattoos which folklore claims correspond to the streams of meltwater he engenders. The markings change over time to match the streams as they widen, meander, merge, diminish, and reshape the land. Glaicad is rarely seen, but sometimes appears before lost and freezing mountaineers. His is a harsh mercy, for he will warm the frigid limbs of unfortunate souls he finds, befitting his title as Prince of the Thaw – but the comfort is small, for he only raises the temperature from freezing to minutely above. The warmest water – or flesh – that he will abide is still bitterly cold to most folk. The Prince of the Thaw wears a gnarled wooden mask, befitting his aloofness, but it was not always so. He departed his mountain fastness to join the Sylvan and their allies battling to destroy the corrupted Heart Tree and stop the monstrous beasts, gestated in sickly pods upon its festering limbs, that served as part of its marauding army. Among these servants were half-cat, half-insect hybrids that sprayed caustic flammable chemicals. Glaicad, trapped by a raging firestorm created by these creatures in one battle, summoned all his might to call forth and redirect the glacial meltwater. He combined dozens of smaller streams into one almighty torrent that thundered down out of the foothills and washed over the burning forest, extinguishing the blaze. His effort turned the tide of the struggle, but the flames left Glaicad’s face horribly burned and irreparably scarred. Henceforth, he has worn his mask. After experiencing this horror, Glaicad felt weak, and considered abandoning his role. But he was encouraged and comforted by the Arbiter herself, who offered to house his weary body in a Shard instead. She would safeguard his power as Prince of the Thaw, and in exchange Glaicad vowed to use that power at her command against the forces of Darkness. She – and later, her servants – released Glaicad each spring so that he could visit his beloved glaciers and spawn his darling streams. Accepting the Arbiter’s protection altered Glaicad’s standing in the world of Fae politics, however, making a complex web of relations even more tangled. His chief rival had always been the Duchess of Rushing Water, who sought to usurp his dominion over the meltwater streams that she saw as her domain. However, the power of mortal beliefs and legends about him, his still-potent magical might, and the Arbiter’s grace keep his lordship safe. Were he to have remained in his Shard for too long, and neglect his status, the Duchess could have succeeded. She mocked Glaicad as a coward and a weakling for placing himself under the Arbiter’s wing. Glaicad also carefully watches the Fae known as Eostrid Dreamsong, who represents the cycle of spring and its warming, fertile nature. The specificity of Glaicad’s domain keeps him safely distinct from Eostrid, as does Eostrid’s lack of interest in accumulating power among the Fae. She is content to wander, and Glaicad is gratefully content to pay her cordial respects – he believes that if she were to take the grand game more seriously, she would seek to make him her vassal by declaring the melting of ice and snow a subset of spring. Criodan the Blue was once a frequent visitor to the icy-blue hearts of Glaicad’s glaciers. The Prince of the Thaw counted him as a friend, until Criodan’s enemies began assailing the glaciers where the Blue hid. To help them withstand the supernatural flames of his attackers, Criodan reinforced the glaciers with freezing magic. Glaicad, furious that other Fae were melting his ice yet also irked by Criodan’s presumptuous alteration of it, banished both sides of the conflict from his realm. Not for nothing are the Fae known for their fickle pride.