Dragul Family/Katrina/The Curse of Nidhogg's Mark

This story is told by Dame Katrina Dragul.

While many of the regions in the Empire of Springdale are named for the giants who first settled here, one in particular is not. Nidhogg’s Mark has a much different history.

Nidhogg was, according to the old stories that I heard as a child, a vile creature who thrived on chaos and destruction. He would so seeds of deception and sedition, in order to watch the corruption grow and watch as things would rot from the inside out. He was a dragon, but not like those we normally think of when a dragon is mentioned. He was a Wyrm, with no wings and flightless. His inability to fly was perhaps a curse for his evil ways, or perhaps the evil came from his curse of being different. Who knows? In any event, he spread destruction wherever he went.

The region which now bears his name was originally called Othalia, which means home. A mighty man named Tyriander lived there with his family and kindred. They worked hard and the area flourished. Nidhogg went about sowing his seeds of discord and it eventually destroyed all that Tyriander and his kindred had built. Tyriander, his family, and a portion of his kindred then sailed to a land far to the south called Dragon Song. There they reestablished their place called Othalia.

The others who remained renamed the area Nidhogg’s Mark as a reminder of what had happened there, and for generations it remained barren. It wasn’t until the coming of Emperor Neel that anyone tried to settle the area again. The old legends say that the area was cursed by Nidhogg’s actions, and that his ghost would continue to eat away at the foundations of anything that was built there to keep it from prospering. Most of the old ones in that area believe it was this curse that caused the rebellion that happened there not to long ago.

There is one more part to the old legends though. They say that when a good man with a good heart comes there to rule the curse will be broken. Many believe that Lord Joash is that good man and that the Sword and Shield is that good heart that has already broken the curse and now the region of Nidhogg’s Mark will prosper as it did in the time of Tyriander. Of course this may just be another old wive’s tale told to amuse children.