The Witch of the North

Overview

Yiyi, born Shui Qiao in 118 BC, was a legendary archmage, prophet of Urdall, and one of the central figures of The Great Magic War. Once known as a soft-spoken wanderer and healer, she rose to power as the symbolic heart of magical freedom across Ebbavion. Beloved in Eslira and Huichon, and feared in Valon, Yiyi led an alliance of dragons and mages against the rising tide of magical oppression. Though officially declared destroyed, Yiyi is in truth imprisoned in the Realm of Time, used as the anchor of Evriras’ lichdom.

Magical Profile

Yiyi is widely considered the most powerful human mage in history - the pinnacle of what mortal magic can achieve without divine origin. Though primarily a master of Chronurgy, her magic blends elements of chaos, illusion, and temporal projection.

• Chronurgy Mastery: She can pause, fold, and loop time. She is the only mortal known to access the Realm of Time freely.
• Echoform: In combat, she may manifest alternate versions of herself from other timelines.
• Glimpse of Peace: Temporarily suspends violence, forcing combatants to experience possible futures.
• Living Spellcraft: Her emotional state subtly reshapes reality - flowers blooming when she smiles, mirrors fogging with sadness.
• Wild Magic Precision: Her spells often manifest with colorful, dreamlike phenomena, but always under her precise control.

Despite her power, she retains a humble, nurturing demeanor. She fidgets with her jewelry when nervous, enjoys impersonations, and often introduces herself simply as "Shui."

History

Early Life

Shui Qiao was born in the isolated village of Kentori in northern Huichon, the daughter of a priestess of Urdall and a blacksmith. Considered a miraculous child, her conception was seen as a divine gift after her mother prayed to Urdall. From a young age, Shui displayed strange temporal distortions - candles flickering backward, fleeting visions, time loops in speech.

The villagers began to fear her, calling her cursed despite her gentle nature. Rejected by her temple and community, she left for the coastal town of Hongata, working quietly at its docks.

One day, pirates raided Hongata. Shui fought back using reflexive bursts of magic, defending dock workers and wounded citizens. Impressed - and frightened - by her power, the pirates took her captive instead of killing her. As their ship wandered through the Silent Sea, her magic grew unstable. She caused lights to bend, voices to echo from future days, and time itself to stretch around her. Eventually, terrified, the crew made her walk the plank near a deserted island.

It was there, on that island, that she met Evriras, a young, exiled mage who had also washed ashore.

Friendship and Awakening

Stranded together, Shui and Evriras grew close, teaching each other magic and shaping their philosophies. Shui leaned into the chaos of the world with empathy and wonder. Evriras, by contrast, sought control, craving immortality and dominion over fate. After escaping the island, they traveled briefly as arcane scholars, until their paths diverged.

Shui, now calling herself Yiyi, began slipping in and out of the Realm of Time. She emerged decades later with immense magical ability and spiritual clarity. Rather than seeking power, she traveled Ebbavion healing others, inspiring outcasts, and planting seeds of resistance against the anti-magical laws of Valon.

The Pact of Flame and Freedom

After witnessing decades of cruelty toward magic users and magical races, Yiyi traveled to the Dragon Mountains and performed a rite of memory, inviting the ancient dragons to remember what had been lost. One by one, they joined her:

• Bizud Eternal Fire
• Ryllaeled the Scary
• Peomer, Lord of the Green
• Ietulth the Hungry
• Orsyri, Bringer of Death

Together with the support of Eslira and Huichon, she founded the Free Accord, a magical resistance movement. Her vision was never conquest, but liberation.

The Great Magic War

The war began not with a roar, but with a whisper. As Yiyi’s teachings spread, so too did fear among Valon’s rulers. High king Golmund Crovan declared her a heretic, the dragons a threat to order, and magic a plague to be purged. Troops were sent to Eslira’s border. Magic schools were burned. dragonborn and tieflings were driven from cities.

Yiyi sent a message, written in time-warped sigils that arrived before the messenger did:

You outlawed what was born in us. Now we return what you forgot.

— the Witch of the North

Before the first battle, she sought out an old friend—Xilliel, husband of Cor'etriel Inastina of Falenora, and once her closest confidant. They met in secret beneath the silver canopy of Mylfalon, where the trees shimmer with ancient light.

“You believe in me,” she whispered.
“I do,” he answered. “But I serve a people afraid of what you’ll bring.”
“Then help them see.”
“If you cross that border,” Xilliel said, “I will be on the other side.”

They parted in silence, each walking into different tomorrows.

When Yiyi entered Newmire, she came alone.

Time slowed around her as she approached the throne room. Courtiers froze mid-breath, the air shimmering with echoes of other timelines. Before High King Golmund Crovan, she bowed - not in submission, but sorrow.

Golmund’s body unraveled into bark and breath, his voice becoming wind in the leaves. He became a living tree, planted in the center of the palace - aware, eternal, and rooted in the very land he once ruled.

Some called it justice. Others, mercy.

Despite her growing legend, Yiyi still hoped to end the war peacefully. She reached out to Evriras, her former friend, believing he might still help her broker peace.

Instead, he betrayed her.

Imprisonment and Betrayal

In a private meeting beyond The Veil of time, Evriras sealed Yiyi within a repeating temporal fragment - a prison in the Realm of Time. He did not destroy her; he anchored his phylactery to her, using her eternal presence to fuel his transformation into a lich.

Valon declared her dead. History books praised Evriras as the hero who ended the war.

Her dragons scattered or fell. Her name was stricken from record in many parts of Valon. But her familiar, Scrabble, remains active - seeking the one who may someday free her.

Legacy

To Valon, Yiyi is a dangerous myth. To Eslira and Huichon, she is a symbol of hope and resistance. In hidden places across Ebbavion, rebels still wear hourglass charms in secret.

Some say that time itself will fracture the day she returns. Others say she never left - she simply waits between seconds, watching, remembering, and smiling when no one else does.