Nornja of the Ravenwater

## Short Background

Born to a poor logger in Darrowmere forest, a man with a cottage and a wife and little food to spare, Nornjas life would have been short... and full of burden.

The logger knew this... his wife knew this, and they were just about to abandon their baby to the woods.. when suddenly a crone appeared, and asked to care for the child, in exchange for a year of luck in the hunt.

Though suspicious at first, the logger agreed. And indeed, in the following year his wife and him didn't have to hunger.

Every animal he hunted was suddenly befallen by a strange weakness... One good year...

It was only on the last day of this bargain, that suddenly he rued his choice, because the same weakness that had befallen his prey for his benefit for one year, befell him and his wife... The last thing they heard, before the darkness took them, was the crones laughter coming from Darrowmere forest, as the waters of the lake, where his cottage was built, were turning black and ravens began to settle. This was when Eestiva, the crone, moved in, and Nornja got her name: Nornja of the Ravenwater.

Nornja didn't like the story, because it made her feel worthless and abandoned, yet every year Eestiva retold it to her. To teach her about the cold heart of the people that were living outside the forest she said. People who would abandon their only child for one year of luck... To teach her how lucky she was, that she was with Eestiva now.

And this was it... the forest became her world, and she grew mistrustful of the world outside. And for a time this was as it was.

Nornja couldn't know about the darkness, which was the magic that Eestiva taught her, because these were the only lessons she ever got. Week after week Eestiva read from a dark book and told her to memorize, for she would need it to defend herself from the world. Yet... to read for herself... she never taught her.

Thus was the makeup of Nornjas world: The cottage, and the meetings with the other witches of the circle, whose head was Eestiva: The green witches of Darrowmere, which consisted of: Eestiva the Crone, Raxia the mother and Karja the maiden.

Nornja couldn't know that those other witches shouldn't have apprentices. In the witches circles of old, the circle had only one apprentice at each time, and it was the crone who took it, as she would pass away first. This is, what was tradition with the harvest witches of Lordaeron and Gilneas, but the circle of the green witches did a lot things differently... which Nornja eventually learned, yet only much later. And Jadviga and Seidkona, the daughter-apprentices of the other witches, couldn't tell either, for their world was just as small as Nornjas.

One fateful day, she was only 14, Nornja found... something. Something unknown. There was a boy, in her age, son of a merchant. He was kind, to people and animals, and this... peaked her curiosity, because it was such a harsh contrast to what she had been taught by Eestiva.

Every week he came and visited a glade in Darrowmere, sat there and read his books. She should have cursed him, so he would never return, but... something held back her hand. Was it his face? The certainty that every time she saw him her heart made a leap? She... couldn't. However she knew that once Eestiva got hold of him, his happy days would be over, so she hexed him with a spell to counter detection, which Eestiva had tought her for herself.

In the first weeks she just looked at him, but then, slowly, the urge to get to know him became overwhelming, and so she snuck on the glade... and spoke to him directly. Months passed and Darion, the merchants son, grew fond of Nornja too. He taught her to read, to write and slowly love flowered in their hearts.

But then the Scourge came... and took him from her. Her heart was broken, shattered by the pain of losing him. Nevertheless, she of course couldn't tell Eestiva, knowing that her "mother" would be furious, because she had met a boy, which the crone had explicitely forbidden, and even withheld the secret for so long. So she grieved on her own, and it was this time when she learned to hide her feelings, and to accept the harsh reality of the world. Darion... was gone, and would never return. But his lectures stayed with Nornja.

Nornja never found out, even later, what held the undead at bay. Years passed, and while the countryside around the forest fell to the undead plague, none of the scourge dared to touch the witches or their apprentices. Nornja pleaded to Eestiva, that she should extend her protection to the people of the country, because she was sure, that it was Eestivas hand in this, which protected them. But the crone denied, citing her old lectures, and insisting that Nornja should close her heart for their fates.. because those humans were selfish and deserved what they got.

This was, when Nornja first doubted Eestivas motives, and began to secretly read the Black Book whenever she had the chance to. And even in everyday life she hid herprowess in reading from the crone, so the old woman would allow her to dust off and clean the chamber, in which the book was stored.

Then Nornjas 21st birthday approached. She had been the youngest of all three apprentices, yet she knew that on her 21st birthday Eestiva would leave, and she would inherit her responsibilities. Raxia and Karja had done the same already months ago, and now Jadviga was the crone, Seidkona the mother, and soon Nornja would become the maiden.

However, a dark notion made Nornja sneak into the room where Eestivas black book was stored, and read up on the ritual that was about to happen, finding it on the last page. And then she understood....

She was never meant to be the next green witch of Darrowmere... the ritual described a way to sacrifice a soul to a demon, and then take over the body for oneself, thus unnaturally prolonging the life of those who sacrificed their "daughters". Nornjas world broke apart, turned upside down. This was what had happened to Jadviga and Seidkona. Thiswas, what Eestiva had planned for her too. But not if she could help it.

Having studied the black book without her "mothers" knowledge for so long, she sabotaged the ritual: One broken line of chalk here... a little less blood of an involuntary donor there... and in the end it was Eestivas soul that was torn out of her body and savoured by the demon, and not Nornjas.

Raxia and Karja didn't survive for much longer. Nornja denied herself to call them Jadviga and Seikona any longer, at least in her mind. Yet, with some guile, she convinced them that the ritual had been successful, and that she was in fact Eestiva.

Thus she was able to slip a particularly nasty poison into their food, when they met to celebrate their successful "rejuvenation". A poison that came directly out of the "Black Book". The toxin alone was bad enough to kill a person, by ever increasing pain and agony itself, until the soul fled the body, for no conscience could stand this pain for long. But Nornja didn't want to grant the rotten souls of Raxia and Karja that relief. They had taken Jadviga and Seidkona from her,which had been her only friends in the world for years. They had to pay.

So Nornja combined the toxin with a soul binding curse,rendering their souls unable to leave the bodies they had captured, until nothing would be left of them but pure insanity... followed by death only slowly, as the, literally, soul crushing pain would turn their souls into a metaphysical blob of stammering goo, which would be unable to sustain the body...

She remained long enough to see their mouthes froth over, heard their agonizing screams, caught a last glimpse of their fearful eyes, after Nornja finished describing to them, what would happen... and then she left them to their fate... and never returned to that cottage in the woods.

Something dark and burdensome fell off her shoulders that day. Some dark secret she had felt for a long time but never was able to put a finger on. And it was replaced by... joy.

The whole world awaited her. A world she now knew, that she knew nothing about. But a world that would get to know her.

## Appearance

An, according to common criterias, attractive woman in her mid twenties. She has flaming red hair, and eyes as green as emeralds. Those very eyes watch closely what happens around her, however she does not seem too eager to act, even though the general laid back behaviour indicates, that she is sure she could, if she wanted. A somewhat mocking smile and slightly mischievious gaze rarely leaves her face.

Her clothes are revealing, but not overtly so. They seem to be designed to protect against average temperatures at best, usually more useful in the summer than in the winter, to say the least. Green in all it's tones predominates, but is never the only color.

She carries a herbalism bag, and another bag with empty potion flasks... she could be a herb healer... however something tells you this is not the whole story...

## Quotes

"My name is Nornja of the Ravenwater, i am the last green witch of the circle of Eestiva.I know curses that will prevent your little man \*points at crotch\* from standing straight for a lifetime and then another... Is that what you want? No? Then take your hands off..."

"Ooops... that hurts right? NOW...  shall it hurt further? No... Well... then you better start talking... i can go on without even touching you..."

*\*totally unimpressed\** "I am impressed..."

## Recent Goals

Find her place in the world

Use her dark knowledge to good ends, so it is useful for something good at least.

Generally overcome her mistrustful nature.