Hervor

NB: She keeps this name a closely guarded secret. She goes to great lengths to ensure her true identity remains unknown, and as far as she is concerned no one on Rifts Earth knows her real name.

There are many so called heroes in the world of Rifts, but few of them have attained the heights of adulation shown to the alluringly exotic raven haired shied maiden Hervor Scathach Atlanta in the Borders of the New German Republic. She is the hero’s hero! Warriors of great known and fame have based their entire careers and reputation on emulating her deeds.

She possesses the mighty mystical sword Sturm, thought to be once wielded by the Impaler, an incalculably ancient blade said to be forged in ages lost from the severed adamantine like tentacle of an Unnameable Being. For over a century this unequalled and enigmatically sultry Atlantean Undead Slayer has protected and patrolled the NGR Borders. Her death defying feats are too numerous to mention and on hearing the retelling of some of her achievements, a listener can do little more than shake his head in disbelief and wonderment, trying to understand whether he has truly heard the telling of events occurring in his time or the recounting of long forgotten myths and legends of bygone ages.

Hervor looks bewitchingly beautiful even in the heat of battle. Her clothes and equipment are always immaculately clean, with not a hair of her long luxurious and silky tresses out of place. The air around her pulsates with an intangible energy, electrifying the hearts of many a foolish suitor, whether they be gods, demons or mortals. Males and females alike vie for her attention. She seems not to notice the havoc her presence plays on those around her.

In all her doings and words she may be considered as the very epitome of chivalry, except in one minor aspect. She lives etiquette in all her action and words, softly spoken, taking a pause before speaking and only speaking when she deems it a necessity. She displays an air of arrogance, for she refuses to speak to anyone in any language except two, the first is ancient Arabic and the second is Dragonese/Elven, deigning these as the only true languages of chivalry. This meticulous observation of chivalry has led the erudite to speculate that she may be a Furusiyya, a hero, a knight, of old. Whose exploits and deeds many believe the folk and mythical heroes of humanity are based on.

It is plain to see even to a layman that she is an Atlantean Undead Slayer like no other. To those who have seen her fight she is considered the greatest of that elite brotherhood of warriors. She wears many unique tattoos that ordinary Undead Slayers only dream of attaining.

Most of the time and especially during missions Hervor wears a veil to hide her face. The veil appears to be as delicate and iridescent as the finest spider’s web, but it is made out of angel feather threads. Those fortunate enough to see her marks of heritage, an extremely rare honour indeed, for she keeps them well hidden at all times, will experience a shock to the system and stupefaction of awe, if they truly understand their meaning, because Hervor not only wears her Atlantean Clan tattoos but also the Chiang Ku’s Legacy tattoos adorn her person. This revelation in itself would be a surprise and a half, but the ramifications of the meanings of the Legacy marks and the particular Atlantean clan her marks designate her to be from, are truly staggering.

Her Atlantean marks of heritage denote that she belongs to the Khfaash clan. This revelation will be nonsensical drivel to most people, even to the most powerful and ancient Atlanteans. Only those beings that have made it their lives work to seek knowledge about the Atlanteans, their origins, strengths and weaknesses, and to study antiquity may know a little about the Khfaash clan.

Hervor is well known in the NGR and its Borders as a great Knight's Errant. For many years she served in the NGR's military forces, being part of their most illustrious and elite Special Forces unit. In fact it is her knowledge and input that has to a part helped Triax and the NGR develop and build their many anti-supernatural technologies. It was one of her special forces unit's daring missions to seek and destroy the Monster Nations arsenals, that revealed to the NGR the possibility of Atlantis supplying armaments to the Gargoyles. At one point her unit including the legendary General Rasheen, whose exploits earned him a promotion to command theatre of operations in the mainstream military.

Hervor disassociated herself from the NGR military after the NGR government's expulsion of D-bees from their military. Their Elite unit was disbanded but as a tribute to their valour, the unit still exists and it is the pinnacle achievement of an NGR soldier to be invited to join its hallowed ranks. Unlike some of the members of her team, Hervor remains a loyal friend to the NGR, some of her friends went to seek adventures elsewhere and some continued to work for Triax and the NGR in other capacities. While others became embittered by what they saw as a betrayal, some retired as best as they could in the Borders, while others set started their own businesses like mercenary companies. One of the most prestigious mercenary companies in Europe is led by a one time colleague of Hervor.

The NGR military still consider Hervor as one of their own. After all she looks completely human and many NGR citizens have always seen her as such. The ordinary citizens of the NGR see rumours of her being a D-bee as propaganda by their enemies. Her tattoos for the most part are kept well hidden and ordinary subjects are unaware of their magical nature, being tattoos they don't raise to many questions as many human soldiers get tattooed when they join the NGR military.

Hervor still plays a vital role for the NGR, she shares her intelligence with them and her knowledge in fighting demons is unparalleled. She is extremely photogenic and her reputation goes before her. She has served the NGR well as a publicity ambassador, to get their messages across to the D-bees of the Borders in a more friendly and diplomatic way.

There are standing orders that NGR soldiers must provide all assistance to Hervor if she needs it or requests them to do so. She can even commandeer command of NGR outposts and regiments, if she deems fit, such are the high regards that the NGR government and military hold her in.

Since leaving the NGR military Hervor has been patrolling the NGR Border regions, doing what she can to protect the NGR from the Monster Nation's aggression, as well as providing assistance to ordinary people trying to survive. It was Hervor's reputation and her wise council which helped Taron establish the Freebeing Nation (FBN) in the Southern Borders. Hervor is a member of the governing council of the FBN, providing her wisdom to the fledgling country. Taron is one of the few people who is aware of her true nature, because as a Master Assassin of a Splugorth Lord, it is his job to learn of these things quickly. After several meetings with Hervor he was certain of his hunches. He hasn't revealed his knowledge to Hervor or anyone else.

The establishment of the FBN has left her free to concentrate her efforts in the Eastern Border regions. She had been a regular protector of Freiburg, and its mysterious destruction, has left her a bit desolate. She has taken its destruction personally and seeks to find answers and bring those responsible to account. She is doing what she can to help rebuild it, patrolling the surrounds where the people have sought refuge and a new make shift settlement has sprung up. In time a more permanent hamlet may rise from the ashes of Freiburg.

It was Hervor’s intervention that saved Victor Lazlo from the Gaesates units sent to seek and destroy him in Munich. Hervor saw ten gargoyles surrounding the besieged Victor Lazlo and his valiant defenders. The Gaesates appeared eager to pit themselves against the renowned Hervor and test their mettle. They challenged her to a Gauntlet match, and it was during the battle while the gargoyles were intensely engrossed in the combat before them that Victor Lazlo and his allies slipped away to safety. Hervor easily defeated the first four gargoyles she faced one after the other, starting with the least able in battle craft amongst them. It took a lot out of her to defeat the next two, who were far more experienced and powerful and she bravely tried to hold her ground against the seventh gargoyle to fight her.

This one was clearly a veteran and bristling with power and a battle of attrition ensued, and Hervor knew that it was extremely unlikely that she would be able to continue onto the eight match of the Gauntlet. Beaten to an end of her life, Hervor still didn’t surrender, slowly taking toll on her tenacious adversary. During her fight, she heard the on looking gargoyles whisper to each other that there was no way an Atlantean Undead Slayer could take so much punishment as she was taking during the battle, irrespective of how powerful and experienced he was.

To her surprise the gargoyle commander, her tenth opponent in the Gauntlet match, intervened and ended the battle. Praising her for her bravery and skill in combat, saying her reputation was well earned. He stated that she was free to go, she had won that much by her display in battle and ensuring her comrades escaped during her suicidal distraction of the gargoyles. He said using etiquette and with humility that it had been their honour and privilege to cross swords with her and still walk away with their lives as they had been found wanting in the arts of war. Hervor was and still is shocked by this display of honour and chivalry by what she regards as demons.

One of her former team mates has become a rival of hers because she sees Hervor as a sell out to the NGR after D-bees were expelled. Her rivals name is Hexx, a luscious and ravishing elven woman, who vies with Hervor in beauty and warrior skills. Hexx now has only disgust for her once former team mate and worse Hexx has allied herself with the forces of darkness to stand against Hervor and the NGR. Hexx has become a Faustian (the True pact with a Supernatural Intelligence) and has allied herself with Romheim a Grotesque Beast (whom Hervor exposed masquerading as a General in the NGR army, he too is out for Hervor's blood, as his master's plan have been jeopardised. A Grotesque is a greatly enhanced supernatural creature. The demon Lords of Hades and Deevil Lords of Dyval, sometimes let their minions the use of a mortal soul. The mortal soul is used to empower the supernatural being. For game purposes in HU2 give the demon the powers and abilities from a super class in HU2 book, in addition to their natural powers. It is interesting to know that Supernatural Lords view this as a crude and lowest form of use for a mortal soul.

The discovery of such a powerful deevil in the upper echelons of the NGR military has sent shivers down the spine of Hervor. Heroes had been exposing nefarious supernatural critters living amongst the human and d-bee communities of the NGR and it's surrounds for many years. It was an acknowledged cold war within the NGR, but the NGR had established extremely effective protocols to deal with such infestation.

The startling conclusion that those in the know have reached is that a great many of these embedded agents have been dyvalians. The NGR's focus was on the Monster Nations. Those are mainly demons, and the Dyvalians modus operandi is subterfuge. It is inconceivable to think that these agents of Dyval may have precipitated the war between the NGR and its demonic neighbours. The NGR's Inquisitors, who deal with such issues have been put on high alert to scour the NGR for such aberrations and remove them with great prejudice.

A few years back, Hevror rescued a group of inexperienced adventurers from the Heart of the Black Forest. These adventurers had a shifter amongst their number, who had been given great power for one so young and who had been promised more, if they could reconnoitre into the Black Forest. Hervor know believes that those naive heroes may have been working for a demon lord from Hades, looking for rival Dyvalian activity and open rifts to Dyval. If the demons of Hades imagine Dyval is involved in the NGR, than the demons will respond and they don't operate subtly. The NGR must eliminate as much of the Deevil infiltrators as it can before its too late, because if the Lords of Hades decide to do it, they will employ a scorched Earth policy, with little regards to who gets in their way.

Khfaash Clan

Khfaash Prophecy

Legacy Tattoos

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