Winterborn

Ehran with an Odjarn.

**Ehran the Winterborn**, sometimes known as just **Winterborn** or **Ehran (Ejhran)**, is a figure of Orionese legend and an early resident of Novjard. According to legends, he was a powerful, god-like hero, though it was likely that in real life he was one of Orion's early elite soldiers. During the time that he lived, the northern territories, which Orion had not yet secured under their control, were supposedly terrorized by the Djarnel, winged serpents that breathed ice. Ehran is credited with finding the Odjarn and utilizing them to slay the Djarnel, which had attacked his home-village Novojala, now a celebrated sacred site near Tajan. While much of his story is disputed and unconfirmed, Ehran is known to have been a local hero even in ancient times.

### Mythological Story

In the text *Ehran of Winter* - in which much of the legend is described by an author living about 200 years after Ehran's death - the Winterborn lived in the small village of Novojala, some ways north of the city of Novjard, which served as the capital of the burgeoning territory of the Old Orion Kingdom. Many villages close to Novjala had been decimated and many claimed it was caused by bandits, which were prominent in Orion during the time. Novjala itself was attacked one night during a blizzard, causing irreversible devastation and the deaths of every villager. Eleven men from Novjard visited Novojala two days after the attack and found Ehran was the sole survivor, and the only known survivor of any such attack in the Northern Territory.

Ehran is estimated to be about eight years of age when he was rescued from the ruins of Novjala and brought via wolf-ride about 50 miles south to Novjard. Like many who immigrated to the city, he was employed in the Orion Soldiers as a junior soldier. He showed exceptional skill in his fighting and was promoted to the head of his cohort. When he was ten, bandits assailed the area on the edge of Novjard, killing at least 50 Orionese civilians. The Novjard King, Astridjen Koend, decided to send a group of five men to find the Bandits as part of a scouting mission. Those chosen were also heroic figures in previous Orionese legends: Andrik, Hendyr, Najar, and Janen, except for Andrik, who had not appeared in any legends prior to *Ehran of Winter*. Hendyr was the famed winged man who claimed the lives of many bandits (though this has been disproven), and Najar and Janen were said to be the greatest of soldiers in the ranks at the time. Lord Valijan, who is described in the story as "Khorpoeral," decided to send Ehran with them to find the Bandits. The King's strictest orders were "not to fight and only to see". They were attacked near the Odjarn Crags and both Najar and Janen were slain by a Djarne that appeared following a short and somewhat light blizzard. After an attempt to save the soldiers, Andrik, Hendyr, and Ehran supposedly fled to Novjard, though the Djarne reappeared and took Hendyr's life as well.

Ehran informed King Astridjen when he returned to the city and the story mentions implementing a new training code for the Orion Soldiers to combat the greater threat. Astridjen sent Ehran and Andrik to find the mythical Odjarn, or "lightning-wolves", to utilize to fight the Djarnel. [continue]