Heather Snowfall
Wizard Heather Luutar
Wizard under Gwydion Ainros
Heather Luutar was born into an impoverished branch of Clan Luutar, which had briefly risen high after Garland's Conquest, yet soon fell into disgrace with Aormek's Rebellion. Heather was the second daughter of a couple anxious for a son, and plans were being made to marry her off before she could walk. Yet who would wed the second daughter of a disgraced clan? Dubraigh was still a port of some influence, and her mother Lady Megraen proposed wedding her to a successful merchant in search of a high name. Her father Lord Ollaegh would have none of it, however.
They began grooming Heather for a hostel, until their son Ollart was born. Heather, age five, quickly fell from their attentions. When she began to display an interest in spelling, Lady Megraen took it upon herself to push her toward a merchant, not as a wife, but as a speller. Heather was in shops more often than at home then, even sleeping in storerooms most of the time. She was a skillful speller and mathematician, but by the time she came to the attention of Wizard Gwellyn (called Gwellyn Grace) she was twelve, far too old to apprentice under her. Gwellyn instead took her on as a speller in her service.
Time and again Heather showed herself more than capable, even taking it upon herself to study magics by observation. She took instruction from apprentices half her age, as well as from the entertainers in the city. At eighteen, she convinced a twelve-year-old apprentice named Effel to tutor her further in magics. Yet for all her commitment, Gwellyn maintained she was too old.
This all changed in 856 RA, with the imprisonment of Agathe the Younger, Wizard to the new king, Gwydion Ainros. Gwydion's Mox Master, Prince Allad Ainros, sent to Dubraigh for a new wizard immediately. It was a great honor, yet Gwellyn had no desire to leave, nor was Lord Urdrus Sirtal anxious to release her. Gwellyn's apprentices were deemed too young or too vital. They dithered for nearly a fortnight before Lord Dormaan Eskmai dared suggest they send Heather Luutar to them. The Luutars were slowly regaining influence after the shame of Aormek's fall, and the Eskmais were their fast foes ever since Garland's Conquest. Sending Heather away meant one less Luutar, and if she should fail, the shame would fall upon their clan. At one-and-twenty, Heather was named a wizard with no formal training and sent to Aerwoth.
Such was not to be, however. It was the first days of a terrible Winter, and Heather's party was stopped in the Midwhites by a great blizzard that lasted twenty days. Accompanying her were two Mox Men, a few servants, and several traders hoping to sell imports from Bastis for great profit. The servants were the first to turn back. The Mox Men threatened them fiercely, yet they themselves turned back toward Dubraigh the next day. The merchants and their defenders gave up one by one, and Heather was finally forced to return with the last of the merchants. The blizzard let up on their way back, but they knew the River Nightfall would be impassable. Without any means of sending word to the king, Heather was forced to let them wonder if she had died, been displaced, or simply ignored their command.
Heather came back to Dubraigh with the title Heather Snowfall. Mocked though she was, she was now a wizard and deemed too important to serve as a mere speller to Gwellyn. She was put into the service of her great uncle Lord Oramaegh Luutar. Lord Oramaegh was among the wealthiest of the clan, but still poor compared to other families of note. As such, he could offer her little more than room and board, and ordered her to resume taking service with merchants, to bring in more coin.
Despite all these setbacks, Heather Snowfall continued to establish commerce with Clan Eskmai and Gwellyn Grace, and continued to take tutelage from Apprentice Effel, especially in natural magics. Effel would eventually become Gwellyn's favorite, and the likely choice to replace her upon her death.
Though both honored and entitled as a wizard, Heather was still viewed by most as a mere speller. This came into sharp relief as her work with the rulers of Dubraigh brought her into repeated contact with Daanil Eskmai, heir to Lord Dormaan. The two were of an age, and the heir began to warm considerably to Heather. She was of course aware of their difference in station, but is said to have reciprocated his charms. One night in 859 RA, seemingly without motive, Lord Urdrus Sirtal ordered Daanil to Malbrand, there to serve as a Mox Man, "to season him for war." Daanil served the chief of Malbrand for three years, and returned to find he was betrothed to the daughter of a Urudunite governor. He was wed to Lady Mizarr in the Summer of 862 RA. Mizarr, unjustly, would come to be known as Lady Misery by many a teller and traveling magician. Rumors about Heather and Daanil would persist for years.
By this time, Heather Snowfall had come to learn of Penny the Wise, the wizard who took her place when she was blocked from serving the king. Penny had earned a remarkable reputation, and many credited her with the period of peace and prosperity the land was enjoying. Heather was rumored to have felt some bitterness over this loss of opportunity, but publicly she praised the Wizard for her work. She sent so many missives congratulating Penny and attempting to establish better contact between Dubraigh and Aerwoth, that Wizard Gwellyn was obliged to step in, suggesting the woman was usurping her position as a representative of the city.
Though the port and its residents were thriving as the West rarely had, this veneer covered a growing animosity between the Clans Eskmai and Luutar. Ollart, Heather's own brother, was slain in a street brawl by Mox Redham Eskmai, Lord Dormaan's second son and husband to the daughter of Lord Urudan Sirtal, the new Lord of Dubraigh (Urdrus having died of a chill the previous year). Redham received no punishment for his actions, leading to multiple accusations from members of both Clans against various enemies. One of these accusations came from Lord Dormaan himself, who charged Wizard Heather with the seduction of his heir, Daanil. The matter was brought before Lord Urudan, with both Lord Dormaan and Lord Oramaegh bellowing viciously at one another. Lord Oramaegh, a man past fifty years, grew faint and collapsed during the second day of arguments and was taken under Wizard Gwellyn's care; Lord Dormaan was said to have laughed at his misfortune as he was taken from the throne room, boasting that he was fit as a man half his age while Oramaegh was weak and frail.
Heather fought to be allowed to care for Lord Oramaegh, as she was his wizard, but Gwellyn refused her under consideration of the accusations. Lord Oramaegh would die of a burst heart before the day's end. Heather found herself without employ and, worse, without a defender.
Without even time to grieve her great uncle's death, Heather was brought before the throne the next day. Conviction seemed certain, but Daanil himself broke into the room with none other than his wife Lady Mizarr to speak on Heather's behalf. It was said by many that Lady Mizarr's defenses were faint and supported strongly by Daanil's insistence, yet all the same she spoke on behalf of the woman accused of seducing her husband. Lord Dormaan argued so vehemently against his own son and his wife, many feared he too might collapse. Yet in the end, Lord Urudan sided with Wizard Heather. There were of course many other cases of Luutar against Eskmai, and not all accused were as fortunate as Heather Snowfall. Lord Orlaegh, Heather's father, would be accused (falsely, according to many) of stealing several Khabarese rugs belonging to Lord Dormaan. This would lead to the impoverishment of Orlaegh and Megraen, who thence became dependent upon the recently unemployed Heather for their wellbeing (their first daughter, Lily, had been married to a Urudunite governor's nephew).
Heather continued her correspondence with Penny the Wise, asking her to find a place in her service. Penny did not provide one, however, so Heather sought and received a position as speller at Saolmoth for Clan Graunt. Speller was a lower position, but the Graunts were a great and ancient clan, and Heather could escape the politics that had nearly ruined her more than once. It was widely said amongst Clan Luutar that she sent significant payments back to her parents every moon turn.
She served at Saolmoth for only two years, however, before Wizard Gwellyn died of burst bowels whilst fending off Springlight Fever. In early 865 RA, Heather Snowfall was invited to serve at Dubraigh as Wizard to Lord Urudan Sirtal . She was reportedly reluctant to accept, but the wizard she then served was five years younger than herself and unlikely to leave Saolmoth. This seemed a rare chance for promotion for a woman who had once been deemed too old to ever become a wizard.
So Heather Snowfall returned to Dubraigh. It was not long after her arrival that she learned the offer was made only to appease the Luutars in yet another petty conflict with the Eskmais, and that she had not been expected to accept. Gwellyn now had ample replacements among her own apprentices, most notably Effel, who had once been Heather's own tutor. Much more fighting came of this, and some feared civil war in the streets of Dubraigh. There were more causes than this for such conflict, but Heather hoped to quell the strife by ceding her position to Effel. Though six years younger, Effel became Wizard of Dubraigh, offering Heather a place as her First Apprentice. Once more, the Wizard Heather had her title effectively removed.
Less than a year after her return, Lord Dormaan Eskmai died of a broken leg after a fall whilst descending from the solar of his manse. Daanil and Mizarr became chiefs of Clan Eskmai, and the next day Daanil offered Heather a position as Wizard under his service. He further offered his first daughter, Uressa, to a Luutar boy of good standing named Gollinaar. Heather was again reluctant, not wishing to enflame old rumors, but needed this wealth to support herself and her parents. As expected, servants and spellers began to gossip in the first week of her new service.
The subject of Lord Daanil and Heather Snowfall would never again become a matter of public justice, but it was used to undermine them both in the petty squabbles between the two families. Lady Mizarr is said to have frequently begged her lord husband to dismiss Heather: out of jealousy according to some, but merely to preserve his own position according to others. The talk became so intense, that in 868 RA Lord Daanil sent Heather to the Khabarese isle of Alheira Mou to establish stronger trade relations with Lord Davad Kivank there. During her two-and-a-half years there, much of the sea trade that had been going to Bastis became redirected, and Dubraigh again grew wealthier.
In the mid-Spring of 871 RA, Heather returned to Dubraigh after receiving word of her father's death. Lord Ollaegh had no sons nor brothers to inherit, so there was much controversy over who should take his meager wealth (and, it was whispered, his debts). Heather was by no means transformed by her time steeped in Khabarese culture, but she did return with the notion that her mother (or herself) was perfectly fit to inherit Lord Ollaegh's possessions. This was not unheard of in the West, though such women were typically placed under the stewardship of a male protector. Lord Daanil Eskmai had volunteered for just such a service, and his clan was eager to seize upon what few honors and fortunes the late Lord Ollaegh possessed. By the time Heather had returned, Lord Daanil had already taken effective possession of her mother, housing her at his estate. He had refused to officially seize Lord Ollaegh's wealth, waiting until Heather returned to consult with her, yet despite this show of respect, the two were reportedly shouting at one another within minutes of their reunion. Heather Snowfall and her mother Lady Megraen had vacated the estate by day's end, living in Lord Ollaegh's old shadow-of-a-manse with no servants. Within a moon's turn, Lady Megraen was sent north to live with her first daughter, and Heather once again begged and received a position as speller under Wizard Effel's service. She was again made First Apprentice by Summer's end.
In The Lost Grievances of Heather Snowfall, Brallen the Brevitous alleges that Heather was growing mad, obsessed with the ill fortune that kept her from serving King Gwydion. Brallen claims several spells were sent to Penny the Wise, some sycophantically praising her, others spewing curses, all insisting Heather be allowed to join Penny's household. It seems odd that Wizard Penny would not respond to such wild implications, and Penny the Wise did indeed respond to missives from Heather following her return from Alheira Mou (Penny proved especially interested in their views on gender, and rumors of strange magics farther inland), but no responses have ever been found to any unhinged demands for a position.
Despite all Heather Luutar had done to improve Dubraigh, Clan Luutar's fractious status prevented them from reaping much of the benefit. The Eskmais continued to gather power, and Lord Daanil was named Mox Master to Lord Urudan Sirtal in the Winter of 871 RA. Rumors about the two had quieted at this point, yet this would sharply reverse in 872. Lady Mizarr died birthing Lord Daanil's third son, Mazan, that Spring. Lord Daanil spent a bare moon's turn mourning his wife of ten years before seeking Lord Urudan's blessing to wed Heather Luutar.
Scandal erupted immediately, and the Eskmais and Luutars were again at each other's throats. To his credit, Lord Urudan did not dismiss the suit out of hand. It could well have been a step toward easing the absurd tensions between the two clans (one that, at the time, seemed certain to one day end in Luutar's destruction). Still, Heather was a Wizard sworn. Besides, she had voiced no interest in wedding Lord Daanil, and her time amongst the Khabarese made her unlikely to meekly submit. The fact that she was nearing forty years and unlikely to bear children, though, was a matter brought up more often than her own desires, especially by Clan Eskmai.
The issue raged on for the rest of the Summer and Autumn, with many parties taking up sides. The First Hostess of Dubraigh offered to absolve Heather of her oath, saying that uniting the two clans was more important. Deinain worship was still powerful in the West, however, and most such adherents of the old faith were opposed to the marriage, likely for no better reason than that the Host of Hosts supported it.
This time it was Lord Daanil who was sent away. The governors of Urudun were fighting off riots in the chief city of Arjhed, and Mox Master Daanil was sent to consult with them on defenses. His first son Mox Daaran took over most of his duties. Like most of Clan Eskmai, Daaran was open in his disdain for Heather Snowfall, and she learned to keep her distance from the ever more powerful family.
Heather continued her correspondence with Penny the Wise, and many suggest that this is why, in 873 RA, Penny sent a spell requesting that Heather join her at last at Aerwoth. Penny had fallen ill in the course of her work, and felt she needed an experienced Wizard to assist her. Much of Penny's career had been defined by her work with Prince Allad Ainros, the Mox Master of Aerwoth, and his recent death in 870 RA had left her overworked. Heather accepted the offer, yet it was said she delayed and dragged her feet upon departing. Rumors ran that Lord Daanil meant to return and steal her away to Urudun, or even that the two meant to travel to Aerwoth together, or else fly to Alheira Mou where they might wed. Lord Daanil in fact returned mere days before Heather finally left for Aerwoth, yet there is no record or even rumor of their so much as setting eyes upon one another before her departure.
Sadly, Penny the Wise' health did not improve, and by the time Heather Snowfall arrived, she had passed. Penny was greatly beloved, and was even granted the unique honor of being buried in the royal crypt of the Ainros Clan. King Gwydion had no particular opinion of Heather Luutar, but in honor of Penny's wishes, agreed to entitle her as Wizard of Aerwoth. After fourteen years, Heather had at last arrived.
Yet the Hosts were not finished visiting their trials upon this wizard, for 873 RA marked the beginning of the Three Years Winter. If Heather had truly felt she might have handled the Hard Winter of 856 as well as Penny the Wise, some force seemed intent on proving otherwise. King Gwydion was older and wiser now, yet he had lost his two most effective administrators, and for all her focus and labor Heather Snowfall was new to power. Far more died than in the Hard Winter, and on both sides of the River Nightfall. Imports from Bastis kept the West in better health, yet still they suffered grievously. History does not generally blame Wizard Heather for this, but there are plentiful stories of the commons making bitter use of her title.
The Three Years Winter compelled the southern cantons to close their borders (those that were not iced over), and many regard this as a precursor to the increasing levels of isolationism that would lead to the Stock Wars, a hundred years hence.
Heather Snowfall is sometimes credited with the plans to hunt down "the Spirit of Milgroff," an old man wandering the Fiirwood and pillaging defenseless peasants, pretending to be the Deinain god Milgroff Muler, the god of death. Heather took no recorded action in the hunting the criminal down, but the man was indeed caught and hung from the battlements. King Gwydion was said to have slain Winter, and it was not long after that the harsh weather ended. Gwydion was often called "Winter's Bane" afterward.
When the Winter broke at last in 876 RA, the commons were looking for hope, and Revellia's leaders were anxious to grant it to them. Yet before any festivals or celebrations could be planned, war broke out. The people of Berleigh had been poaching in the Elkwood, their ancestral forest, which was now Urudunite property (called the Eskiwood). Urudunite forces took Berleigh and marched onward into Revellia, forcing King Gwydion to act. Against Heather's counsel, the King rode forth, leaving his Mox Master Connon (son of the revered Prince Allad Ainros) in charge. The Urudunite forces were overwhelmed and pushed back into Urudun, though the Elkwood was not retaken and remains a point of contention to this day.
In a remarkably unwise move, Mox Master Connon Ainros staged a coup and overtook Castle Aerwoth in the King's absence. Genev the Terrible claimed that Heather whispered evil thoughts into Connon's head, though what exactly her intent could have been after so long remains unclear. Perhaps blind ambition after being denied her place for so long. The speller Melka records, however, that it was Heather Snowfall who convinced Connon to ride out and meet the king in battle when he returned and besieged Castle Aerwoth. This action reflects more the desperation of a man who realizes too late the foolishness of his actions: Connon was not beloved, and even in the castle itself there was dangerous dissent. King Gwydion had him outnumbered and outsupported in every way: to ride out was to die. Yet for some reason, Connon chose to do so. He was quickly slain (by the King himself, according to Melka, though Genev the Terrible credits an unnamed warrior of Clan Capall), and order was restored.
Many Mox Masters were chosen from among the Westerners, in order to invite unity between the two halves of Revellia. King Gwydion ordered Heather to choose from among the Western clans such a man, and she quickly selected Wiilak Oghnar. The Oghnars were a minor clan, an offshoot from the Wulks who had displaced Clan Ainros and reigned as kings during the Rule of the West. Yet they were relatively free of the Dubraigh's squabbles between Eskmai and Luutar, and Wiilak in particular was regarded as a neutral-minded man (to the extent that he minded anything at all). And so Oghnar and his family moved to Aerwoth.
Despite her storied, accomplished, and challenging life, this may be the one act for which Heather Snowfall is best remembered. It would be Wiilak Oghnar who eventually named Gwydion's third son, Prince Ruarc, as Regent during the minority of Prince Gwynt, son of Gwydion's first son. Many reflect on this act as directly linked to Gwynt's purging of the spelleries late in his reign, the First and Second Compact, the Witches' War, the fall of Clan Ainros, even the end of the monarchy that came long after Gwynt's death, and look with wonder at Wiilak's decision. Those given more strongly to wonder will look then at Heather's choice to summon Wiilak.
The final five years of Heather's life were relatively quiet. She managed to prevent a grain shortage, funneled taxes into Urudun to aid them after throwing off Khabarese reign, and even did her small part to aid the rift between the Luutars and Eskmais by taking young Diirell Eskmai as an apprentice in her last two years of life. Diirell would never serve as a wizard, but did serve two Aerwothi wizards as a reliable speller.
Heather Luutar, called Heather Snowfall, died peacefully in her sleep, in the midsummer of 879 RA. Many of her spellers remained, but her two primary apprentices departed: one to Saolmoth where she would eventually become Tisella Truant, and one to the isle of Alheira Mou. Her fate is unknown.
Conditions
Ethnicity
Professions
Life
4835
4879
44 years old
Birthplace
Fiirwoth
Family
Children
Eyes
Brown
Hair
Chestnut
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Earthen (tan)
Other Affiliations