Ragni

The Bastard of Narden

The White Maiden

Lady of Thunder

Stormbringer

Stygge Saefar (Nephew)

Eylif Saefar (Niece)

Asbjorn Saefar (Maternal uncle)

Styr Saefar † (Maternal grandfather)

Falka Saefar (Maternal grandmother)

**Ragni of Skagen**, also known as **Ragni Bane-Bringer**, is a Half-Jotunn and the most recent incarnation of the Wight named Ansyr. She is the only child, and illegitimate daughter, of Drifa af Saefar and originally hails from the North Western island of Skagen. She is the main protagonist and main POV character of the Bane-Bringer book series.

## History

### Prenatal history and birth

Ragni's conception is said to be the result of a short lived romance between her mother, Drifa af Saefar, and a Jotunn warrior who was said to be wandering the continent by his lonesome under the name of Hylgr. Shortly after their lovemaking he mysteriously left Skagen and was never seen or heard from again by the islanders. Drifa, who was only a girl of fifteen winters at the time, was left heartbroken and damned in the wake of his leaving as it turned out that she had become pregnant with a child concieved out of wedlock. Ten months later Ragni was born during the Withering Winter of the year 688 S.E. in the village of Narden.

Once her mother started showing the first signs of pregnancy, nasty rumors began spreading amongst the inhabitants of Skagen and a bloodfeud between her clan the Aet Saefar, and the ruling clan of Skagen, the Aet Skalgrim seemed inevitable. As, originally, Drifa's hand had already been promised to Brynjar af Skalgrim, the firstborn son of the island's ruling Jarl, Ake af Skalgrim, the young girl's acts were seen as infidelity and a flagrant insult to the Aet Skalgrim. In their eyes her unchaste deeds could not be left unpunished. While Brynjar wanted to see Drifa decapitated in a paltry attempt to reverse the damage done to his name and honor, his father and the Thing that was assembled to discuss the issue were, luckily for mother and child, a little more forgiving. They ruled that Aet Saefar had to pay a considerate amount of gold to Aet Skalgrim and call of the bethrotal. However, as Aet Saefar did not have the wealth in order to pay the full sum that was established to Aet Skalgrim, the Thing ruled that one member of the clan had to spend five years as a thrall serving Aet Skalgrim above paying them whatever they could. Not wanting to lose his honor, wealth and a family member to Aet Skalgrim, Styr af Saefar, chief of the clan, instead made a counter offer. Namely that if the child that was now growing inside his daughter's womb was born healthy and alive it would be given up to Aet Skalgrim to serve them as a thrall for a lifetime or until the full debt was considered paid. Ake, who had been a childhood friend to Styr and did not want to see his friend lose all of his wealth and worth agreed to the counter offer, much to his son's dismay, and thus the matter was settled. Even though the incident would remain to be the cause of bad blood between the two clans for the upcoming generations.

Once Drifa, who by the time the Thing was issued had been five months pregnant, was told about the outcome she was beside herself with rage. However, she was quickly humbled by her father as he told her that "She had no sayings in a matter that had already caused their family so much hardship." The following months of her pregnancy became ever more arduous as time passed on. To many it seemed as if the child that was growing inside Drifa's womb was taking all of her lifeforce, and many began to rightously worry once her pregnancy entered the tenth month and she had still not gone into labor. Rumours continued spreading, with some of the common folk of Skagen even saying that the child was a cursed demon that had to be put down upon drawing their first breath. As Drifa finally entered labor during a gruesome winterstorm that had taken another three lives above the ones that had already succumbed to the extremely strict winter of that year, she had been worn down and had barely enough energy left to give birth. Together with the help of Skagen's Arch Druid, Vigdis, she managed to give birth to Ragni. Drifa's time with her daughter was shortly lived as she died from labor complications that very same night, but not before giving Ragni her name. Hearing about his daughter's passing, and after looking Ragni into her unnaturally blue eyes, Styr meant to kill the infant out of hatred had it not been for the pact he had made with jarl Ake in order to safe his clan from diminishing. As the sun rose behind the White Mountains, Ragni was given away to Aet Skalgrim as a mere thrall.

Following the consecutively gruesome events in the wake of Ragni's conception and birth she was quickly nicknamed Bane-Bringer amongst the local people, a name that would stuck with her for the rest of her life.

### Early Childhood

The day after her birth, Ragni was given to Aet Skalgrim's house thralls, who were to assing someone amidst themselves that could nurture and care for her until she was old enough to stand on both feet. This led to a quarrel between all women who were all frightful of, and did not want anything to do with, the Half-Jotun child. They went with their worries about Ragni to Jarl Ake, who then simply appointed someone himself. His choice fell on a shy girl named Lif as he simply pushed Ragni into her arms without saying a word. Thus it came to be that Ragni grew up under the care of Lif, who at first struggled breastfeeding and caring for Ragni but eventually came to see her as if she were her own daughter.

Growing up as a thrall in Aet Skalgrim's keep Ragni quickly learned to diminish her own worth and was often picked on and, even physically and emotionally abused, by both children and adults. It was imprited into her belief system that she was different from others and a child of misfortune. She often had to do physical tasks within the housekeeping that were appointed to her because of her height and the stigma that Jotnar are even at a young age athletically above average, however, she was more often than not too weak to perform them and would be scalded on if not completed correctly. Despite her height, Ragni was always a very meak and flimsy child which was probably caused by malnutrition. And, over the course of the years the spark that her unnaturally blue eyes had carried as a baby and toddler slowely deadened as a result of mistreatment. The only one Ragni felt like she could be herself with was with Lif, who saw that the young girl actually had a very paculiar and fierce personality that she would surpress around others. Lif also quickly learned that Ragni had special and dangerous capabilities despite the fact that she was already different from most on the island. One day when Ragni was about six winters old Lif saw how she electrified one of the chickens, they were supposed to get for dinner, to death.

## Appearance

Growing up, Ragni did neither look like a Human nor did she look like a Jotunn. She was always tall compared to the other human children her age, but not burly like a Jotunn child would be. Instead, she was always unhealthfully lanky and meak, which may have been caused by the fact that she was malnourished for most of her childhood. Ragni's skin color lacks the blue or white undertones seen in the complexion of Jotnar but has been described as incredibly pale. Ragni was born with sand blonde hair and unnaturally blue eyes.