Eir the Severed was a powerful Valkyrie of the Dwarven Empire, known especially for her life after the Order's disbandment and her ensuing role as avatar of Dain.

Biography

Teah of Fauyen Grove, a Silurite wood elf, was born in 182 b. OW in her home grove. She served as an important diplomat, scientist, advisor to two matrons, mage, and officer of the Silurite army. As part of the minority, she advocated Silurite intervention and participation in international efforts decades before the Orc Wars. She was also a close friend of several dwarves in Daggerford Province, who introduced her to the Dwarven High King Dain Fireforge.

Royal Valkyrie

Teah helped the Dwarves in Daggerford and the Kromlagen colonies research applications of magic in warfare. She was a key researcher who developed the Flamelink, in 0 OW, and afterward kept the project alive while the King and most dwarves focused on different things. Finally, when the Valkyrie project reached fruition in 17 OW, she was among the mages who assisted the King in creating the very first Valkyrie, on a dwarven subject. When the test subject died, Teah volunteered herself for the next try, and motivated the King not to give up immediately. She was successfully transformed into the first Valkyrie and adopted the name of Eir.

During the Orc Wars, Eir demonstrated incredible magical and martial abilities. She served exemplarily.

As a Severed

The Valkyrie Order and the Flamelink were abolished in 64 OW, which Eir felt as a huge betrayal. She collapsed into a near-coma for several years, and lost all touch with the Weave or with proper martial skills for decades thereafter. During that time, she was cared for by a rural Balebian village, which saw itself become part of the rising Sun Empire.

With time, she regained some spellcasting ability, and began participating in rebel movements defending the freedom of the peasants. She had forfeited the King and hated him and the Dwarves deeply, but at least she could do some good for those who actually cared for her - the peasants. She grew increasingly potent and daring, often using unnecessarily cruel fiery spells to kill soldiers and officials. The rapid increase in her arcane potency was much faster than what comparable mortals were able to do; in fact, she rivaled the greatest mortal spellcasters in the Sun Empire by 140 OW, and even killed one in a duel. It was around that time that Wings of Pain appeared on her back: a shadowy outline of skeletal wings. Initially, she didn't think much about it, and suppressed the barely felt familiar tug in her heart.

It became known then that Eir was a Severed Valkyrie, and both the Ochebanians and the Dwarves realized she was a serious threat. Powerful people and creatures were sent to kill her; she found herself fighting those who had once been her closest friends, including an elven archmage and dwarven warmages. Now, whenever her battles turned desperate, she felt overwhelming hatred and loss in equal measure, and could unleash devastating forces. In such moments, her nearly invisible Wings of Pain became ghastly skeletal wings, complete with detached black feathers and dripping blood. She would cry black tears, and the stains of these tears remained for days afterward. She tried to suppress these moments, but they came more and more when she had to fight and even in moments of calm. Desperate, she fled those who hunted her, traveling the planes.

Returning Home

In a lost corner of Bolmeranda, in 207 OW, Eir for the first time met the one person who she hated over all: Dain Fireforge, the father who had betrayed her. She chased him away with harsh words, rejecting him and her long-gone past; it pained her greatly to think back.

However, a few days, while in a frenzied rage slaughtering a group of duergar, she was raised her bloody blade to cleave the last of them in two - realizing in the last moment that it was a young wood elven girl. Shocked, her wings disappeared in a puff of smoke, and she collapsed on the ground, sobbing. Then Dain was by her side, and reassured her, and held out a hand. Though she did not trust him, after some adventures together, Eir managed to overcome the hate that had simmered in her for so long, and instead embrace the values of honor and loyalty which she had followed so long ago. She realized that her power had come from the still-open Flamelink and embraced this knowledge; her magic was no longer a corrupted force, but a tool to bring justice, and her wings were radiant gold when they manifested.

Eir the Severed once more became a close friend of the High King, though she could not openly return to the empire, which still saw Valkyries as past aberrations which needed to be exterminated. Instead, she helped the King in special missions, and notably helped redeem two other Severed Valkyries.

When Dain died and ascended to godhood in 222 OW, there were six redeemed Valkyries who were loyal to him, and Eir was the most powerful of them. She encouraged the others to maintain hope in the King during the uncertainty that followed his death, and received the news that he was alive and well with joy. Eir became one of Dain's Valkyries, the god's legendary avatars, and defended his name with vigor across the planes.

When the Queens rose and deviated from the vision Dain had for the Dwarven people, Eir and the two companions in her trio were once more hunted by the Dwarves. However, they remained free, and defended Dain's vision and followers in a hostile world. Eir never came close to betraying Dain like Eygurd, a Valkyrie in the other trio, did. However, whenever she had to kill one of the Queens' Valkyries or others of her misled dwarven kin, she cried black tears she couldn't wipe off.