Hilda Svendottir

Hilda Svendottir is the least revered of the Exarchs. While that is understandable given the nature of her contributions to the Crusade of Light, it is still a shame that even in Vikinmark there is no love for her. There is respect, to be sure, but no admiration. There are two main causes for this. Firstly, we now live in Alverion's divine grace, protected by The Barrier. As a result, the realities of large scale war are a mystery to almost every citizen of Bastion, which makes it hard for them to grasp the magnitude of what Hilda accomplished. Secondly, she was cold, pragmatic, and strict and ruled Vikinmark thusly for over forty years. Details from Hilda's life in the Time of Shadows are scarce. Such is the case for almost all information of that time, but we know considerably more about her fellow Exarchs. She, like Grimnor Deepdelver and Halvard Tastad rose from inauspicious beginnings. However, both of those men had followers who knew them in the Time of Shadows and survived the Crusade of Light to tell their tales. No so for Hilda. In addition, after the creation of Bastion, Hilda was vehemently opposed to discussing her life before the Crusade. What we know of her then, comes from notes in the journal of Aeolith Zinwain and some hard to confirm tales of people who claim to have not known her, but known of her. We know she was born to a merchant family, and can be fairly certain she was one of many children. Her father, it seems, was not well suited to being a merchant. Everything we can piece together paints the picture of a business barely keeping itself afloat. While impossible to confirm, as she refused to speak on it, it also seems that her father was a harsh man who did not gracefully accept his inadequacy. By some accounts, this resulted in hard lives for Hilda and her siblings. By other accounts, the phrase "hard lives" is far too kind. Back in the realm of more reliable information, we know that by the start of the Crusade of Light Hilda Svendottir was roughly forty years old, and the head of a sizable mercantile empire. We also know she had no family. Rumors abound regarding how she want from a middle child of many to running her family's business and having no family. With so little in the way of agreement between the rumors and no way to confirm them, it would be imprudent to include them here. What lifted her to such heights of success in the Time of Shadows may be unclear. What is not unclear, is that her skill for logistics and management allowed The Righteous to be an army instead of an immobile gathering of starving people. As said, today we cannot grasp the scale of war. The largest single army assembled and put to purpose in Bastion was roughly ten thousand strong. The Righteous numbered over one hundred thousand. To move so many people. To feed them. To prevent the spread of disease. These are staggering challenges, and they were met by Hilda Svendottir. Every day throughout Bastion, further glory is heaped upon Krathag Stormeye Nola-Kukena and Grimnor Deepdelver for their prowess in battle. The skill Halvard Tastad and Yunesa Zinwain are lauded in every corner of our world. Aeolith Zinwain's charisma and leadership are the envy of every mayor and noble lord. All five of them, and the grand army they lead, would likely have starved to death as they watched our world fall to darkness, were it not for Hilda Svendottir.