Njord Bystrom

A world in turmoil is not a lost cause, but rather a cause that has lost it's direction. It is not a time to flee when staring death in it's face, but rather a time to fight back; it is a time to direct this world back onto the path of stability. This is not a time to surrender, this is a time to fight back. This is a time for victory. - Njord Bystrom

Early Life
Born Gise Windblade; he was raised as the child of a theif, and a servant mother. He lived the earliest years of his life in the streets of slum infested A.R. 12 (After Revolution) Uskulyeo. It was, and until it's ultimate demise, marking the start of the P.A. (Post-Apocalypse), the largest city on earth. At the age of 13, Gise was initiated into the Theives Guild, which his family had long been a member of. The Windblades were a powerful dynasty early on into the history of the Guild, but they quickly faded into the background, and were only recognized for their loyalty to the guild.

At the age of 16, Gise had already become a Shade, a feat which most spent their entire life trying to obtain. He became the first Shade since Ardor Windblade, who marked the end of the Windblade families importance to the guild. From there they devolved into petty theives. Gise made a name from himself at the age of 20; becoming a household name after opposing the supposed "Vice Roy" of the Vessonian "Republic". In reality the Vice Roy, who was supposed to be elected, was actualy a king, who was elected to a life term by a rigged voting system. Armos Vess, the Vice Roy, and name sake of the nation, was assassinated not long after, and replaced by a new Vice Roy who would be up for re-election every 10 years.

The Guild Master was killed by the Vessonian military police 3 years later. Gise was next in line to lead the guild. He had become the first Windblade to be guild master since Verisae Windblade; who, until the guild's end with Gise's departure to Turius, was considered the greatest Guild master to have walked their halls. His leadership only lasted half a year, he was killed during a feud between him and his main Shade, William Presmote. Gise's leadership was even shorter. It lasted only 3 months, but during that time, he revitalized the guild, and even preformed what is now considered the greatest publicity stunt in the history of the guild. He stole the Vice Roy's prized Gun, which was held by Armos Vess himself, during the revolution against the Rotharian Empire.

Gise's mother was assulted by her master, a wealthy merchant. His father Aveso was said to hunt the man down, and with one vicious swing of his sword, severed the noble's head. The City guard took both captive, and hung them infront of a cheering crowd. Gise snapped, and charged at the crowd. To avenge the death of his parents he killed nearly 8 guards, before being subdued. He was scheduled to be hanged, like his parents, the very next day; but fate intervened. A long term friend bailed him out. His friend was a student to the Arch Mage of Uskulyeo. The city guard agreed to let Gise life if he would be used for experiment with magic.

As fate would have it, this would not only redeem Gise, but cost the lives of thousands. The Mages Guild were experimenting with what most would call inhumane magics. They used live test subjects, usualy criminals, for anything like testing new torture devices, to entirely new schools of magic. Gise was assigned to a pet project of the Arch Mage. He was attempting to take the pure essence of many ores, and fuse them with living beings. The Ore to be infused with Gise, was coal. It seemed to have the most effect, however it reacted differenly with different races. Human bodies, being strong survived, but not beingable to recover quickly died shortly after from internal bleeding. Elves, being weak, died outright. Gise was both.

His father was a human, and his mother an elf. He was the ideal subject for this experiment. It worked, but the creature that it gave birth to was so horrid, that it's said the Arch Mage himself cringed at the sight of Gise, as if he had regained his vision. The next day, an event so terrible has to occur, that Gise himself has spoken of it as "The darkest day of my life". It was a turning point for not only him, but the entire world.

The Black Flame incident
The day after Gise was turned into what he now began calling a "sloan", an accident occured, that caused a volitile metal, known as Draconium, was infused with magical powers, in an attempt to extract the essence from it. The metal reacted, spreading an invisible, scentless, and poisonous gas through out the guild, which floated above the main city. It killed nearly all of the guild; the only 3 survivors were Gise, the Arch Mage, and his Student; whom had saved Gise. The three eventualy determined there was only one solution. They had to burn the gas before it reached the main city. It would kill all of them.

Using what energy the 2 mages had left, they created a stream of fire that shot into the guild, ingniting the gas. It created a great explosion, killing the Arch mage, and his student. Gise, possesing the physical structure of a rock now, survive the blast. He was knocked to the floor, and began to crawl through the burning hallways. He notice something was wrong though. There was no smoke, nor was there any light. The room was pitch black. Eventually he was able to work his way outside, and jumped to the roof of a near by building. He turned to look at the guild, but all he saw was an abyss of darkness. The Guild shortly after collapsed onto the city, killing thousands.

The event was dubbed the "Black Flame incident" by the general population. Gise, who was saw as a monstrocity, fled the city. He joined an expedition of fisher who sought to reach the "shroud", a mythical barrier separating Rishelm and Turius, the 2 main continents. On the journey the boat entered one of the great storms that form in the True North (a continent located geographically north of Rishelm), and venture down to the coast of Turius. The boat capsized, and Gise was the sole survivor. He reached the shroud after 2 days adrift. It was a giant wall of shadows. Screams of agony could be heard emitting from it. The closer he came to it, the darker the sky became, and the louder, and more desparate the screeches for help became. As Gise approached it, a great gust of wind came from the north, and the shroud quickly grew bright. The screems went from moans of agony, to shouts of fear, and soon faded, as did the blindingly bright wall.

Gise had become the first living being to cross the shroud; and in doing so, it was destroyed, ushering in a new age of terror. The shroud falling allowed Rishelm and Turius to freely interact, which was the beginning of the end for both contients. For, with the arrival of Gise, a new era of peace ushered in. But with Rishelm become more and more unstable by the day, this peace could only last for a time, before the two neighbors clash in a war that will color the seas red with the blood of innocents.

Present day
Not long after arriving in Rishelm, Gise took the name Njord, and became a traveling hermit, wandering across turius telling the stories of his life, in return for a meal, or a place to sleep for the night. He grew old, and saw the rise of the Cisca Corporation in Rishelm. He had long known of his "gift"; infact he had suspected it since the explosion in the Guild. He should have died countless times, but something had always conviniently intervene, or he, somehow, through some sort of miracle, survive unharmed. He grew to the ripe old age of 600, and saw the Cisca Corporation invade, and begin an occupation of Turius.

And didn't wage a war; or became some big mouthed political figure like the Turisian Gods of the Pantheon. He took what he considered the "Rishelm approach". He was behind the scenes. When the gods charged into battle, it was Njord who pulled the strings and made sure they won. He could do this, after all, for he had one advantage the other gods did not. He was not linked to this world. No one knew who he was. Until, that is, he was sniffed out by the devine Pantheon themselves. Aleis had noticed a cloaked figure at each individual battle, watching it, rather than fighting. Renakai was the one who confronted Njord on it however.

This was the start of a rather bumpy relation between Njord and the Pantheon. Njord saw many of them, with the exception of Aleis, as arrogant. He believed that they were in this for the fame, rather than for serving the people. The Majority of Njord's complaints were directed at Renakai specifically, whom he saw as the worst of the entire Pantheon. Thought, Njord had fewer resistance from other members of the Pantheon, specifically Aleis, and Adtonitus. Later on, the gods would even begin speaking of possibly declaring Njord a god of the Pantheon, seeing as how, despite their differances, he ultimately fought on their side of the war with Cisca. Njord however refused. He did not want to spawn a fanfare, and created a rabid support of himself. The way he saw it; it was in the best interest of Turius, for it's citizens to know a little about Njord as possible.

Come the end days of the Shroud war with Cisca; most of the gods had fallen. Leona and Storm had been killed; The Prince, along with Aleis and Njord vanished, leaving Renakai as the only true god. It is currently unknown whether or not Njord is alive, or if he will ever return.

Trivia

 * Though his age is uncertain, Njord is known to be the third oldest god. Behind Renakai and the Dark Prince
 * Njord is the only known being to be born mortal, and turned into a God
 * He is the last surviving Sloan, after Cisca launched a campaign to eliminate other Sloan born of experiments
 * Sloans are actualy immortal, being part of the earth it's self. Njord's age has nothing to do with his status as a God
 * He, and Aleis, were the only two surviving gods who attempted to prevent Cisca from firing the Ion Cannon. They ultimately failed, both disappeared into the blast, and haven't been seen since.