Ivar The Undefeated

Ivar the Undefeated

 

Champion of the God Hands

 

Early Life (220 BR – 190 BR)

Ivar was born among the Northmen of the Frozen Waste, a brutal land of endless ice and storm. From boyhood he was larger, stronger, and more relentless than his kin. Stories claim he never lost a duel, whether against man or beast, and he bore the scars of countless trials without ever faltering. Among the tribes, he became known simply as the Undefeated, a title that clung to him even in the sagas of his enemies.   Yet Ivar’s hunger for battle was more than mortal pride—it was an emptiness that no victory could fill. When whispers of the Handites, the cult of the God Hands, reached the Frozen Waste, he followed them south. In 190 BR, he swore himself to the Handite creed, abandoning tribe and hearth to serve darker masters.  

The Crimson Spire (190 BR – 185 BR)

By the time of the Purge of the Handdites, Ivar was already a terror upon the battlefield. At the Crimson Spire—the fortress of the Handdite sorcerer Malzareth—he fought alongside the cultists against the newly formed Order of the Silverbrand.   Ser Aric Dawnshield led the Order’s vanguard. While Dawnshield battled Malzareth atop the Spire and dealt the killing blow, Ivar carved his legend in the blood-soaked marshes below.   The Silverbrand knights told grim tales of a Northman berserker who slew a dozen for every wound he took, his axe never resting, his voice raised in curses to the God Hands.   Though Malzareth fell, Ivar never tasted defeat. He killed and killed until the marsh ran red, and his name became a nightmare whispered in Silverbrand barracks.   This relentlessness drew the gaze of Zonid, first of the Dark Gods, who raised Ivar to become one of his champions. The gift was immortality: his body locked in the prime of his strength, never to wither, never to know the weakness of old age.  

Champion of the God Hands (After 185 BR)

With Zonid’s blessing, Ivar became a scourge of the Order of the Silverbrand. For centuries he served as a living weapon of the cult, wielded against anyone who opposed the Handdite faith.   He earned a place at the side of the God Hands’ legions in countless wars, feared for his brutality and inability to fall in battle.   His reputation spread beyond the cult: even his enemies called him Undefeated.  

The Death of Eldric Thorne (27 PR)

Perhaps Ivar’s most infamous deed came in 27 PR, when he struck down Eldric Thorne, the founder of the Order of the Silverbrand. Eldric had been a smith and visionary, chosen by the goddess Krina to wield the Silverbrand itself. His slaying by Ivar was a wound that cut deep into the Order, both spiritual and mortal.   Ivar’s sword shattered Eldric’s guard and split him down, a symbolic vengeance for Malzareth’s fall decades earlier. In the years that followed, he hunted and killed many of Thorne’s descendants, waging a private vendetta against the bloodline that had birthed his greatest enemies.  

Legacy of Blood (27 PR – 620 PR)

Through the centuries of the Platera Reckoning, Ivar has remained unchanged. Where the Order rebuilt and crusaded against monsters, Ivar waited in shadow for the chance to strike them down.   He has appeared in every age, a deathless warrior of the God Hands.   The Thorne family, especially those tied to the Silverbrand, carry his name like a curse. Generations have fallen to him in duels, ambushes, or campaigns.   His presence is proof of Zonid’s favor—an eternal reminder that the God Hands still touch the mortal realm.   Ivar the Undefeated in the Age of Darkness   When Zelistra De’Fera’s demon legions surged from the east and Marcus Tibur’s devils pressed from the west, many thought Ivar would answer their call. He did not.   Ivar was Handdite, bound to Zonid alone. He would not bend knee to Zelistra’s false empress-claims, nor to Marcus’s infernal pacts. Though all three fought beneath the shadow of the God Hands, Ivar saw no reason to serve lesser powers when he already wielded the favor of Zonid himself.   Instead, Ivar waged his own wars.   He stalked the battlefields like a wolf, cutting down Silverbrand knights, Tibur legions, and even Zelistra’s demons when they stood between him and his quarry. To him, all were prey—save those marked by Zonid.   To the Order of the Silverbrand, he was an eternal foe, a shadow that undid their victories and struck from nowhere.   To Zelistra’s generals, he was an unpredictable terror, a berserker who would tear through their vanguard only to vanish back into the mists.   To Marcus’s devils, he was a rival claimant of slaughter—a champion not bound by infernal contracts, but by Zonid’s cruel gift of immortality.   Thus, he became a paradox of the Age of Darkness: neither ally nor servant to the great powers, yet always present in their wars, leaving ruin in his wake. Survivors of every faction whispered of him. Some called him the Northman who cannot die.   In summary: During the Age of Darkness, Ivar fought for no banner but Zonid’s. He was not counted among Zelistra’s demon hosts nor Marcus’s infernal armies, but his presence haunted both sides. He was an eternal reminder that while mortal empires rise and fall, the Hand’s chosen remain.  

The Battle of Blackfen Marsh (c. 571 PR)

  The marsh boiled with flame and shadow. Zelistra’s demons surged like a tide of teeth and fire — vrocks circling in the air, dretches swarming in the muck, and a hulking balor at their back. The Albion men, ragged farmers turned soldiers, held their line behind wicker shields, praying the Order of the Silverbrand would arrive before the horde broke them.   Then the storm came.   Not of lightning — of steel.   Ivar the Undefeated emerged from the fog like some primal spirit of the north. His axe gleamed with old blood, his wolf-pelt cloak whipped by the wind, his eyes alight with the fever of battle. At his side, Albion men faltered, recognizing him from whispered sagas — the immortal Handdite, butcher of the Thornes. Yet he did not cut them down. Not this day.   With a bellow that shook the reeds, Ivar hurled himself into the demon ranks.   His sword clove through a vrock’s wing, dragging the shrieking creature into the mire where he crushed its skull beneath his boot.   When the balor’s whip cracked across the marsh, Ivar caught it around his arm and wrenched the fiend to its knees before splitting its chest in a spray of black fire.   The dretches came in droves, clawing, biting — and Ivar laughed as he drowned them in their own filth.   The Albion men, stunned, followed his charge. For every demon that reached them, Ivar had already slain three. His savagery carried them through the night, until the marsh was piled with demonic corpses and their stench choked the dawn.   When silence came, the Albion captain approached him. “You saved us, Northman. Why fight with us?”   Ivar’s eyes burned, his voice low as a growl: “You were nothing. They were a challenge. Only challenge is worthy of me.”   Then he left, walking into the mist as if the battle had been nothing more than a passing amusement.  

The Battle of Ashen Dunes (588 PR)

  Dead Lands of Tudor   The land itself was ruined — black sand, twisted stone, skies choked with sulfur and smoke. Zelistra’s armies had made a kingdom of carrion here. Demons roamed in endless packs: glabrezu prowling on four claws, horned devils twisted into mockeries of men, and a tide of fiend-born thralls who knew neither fear nor fatigue.   The Order of the Silverbrand was cornered. Ser Aeldric Dawnsworn led three hundred knights into the Dead Lands, only to find themselves surrounded, their banners sinking in black dust. The demons came on with shrieks and war-cries. The Silverbrand were outnumbered ten to one.   And then the marshland fog parted — though there were no marshes here. It was no fog at all, but the pale breath of a warrior who never knew defeat.   Ivar the Undefeated strode across the dunes. His axe dripped with ichor, his wolf-pelt cloak scorched with a dozen old fires, his eyes alight with a hunger the demons could not match.   He spoke to the knights, though they raised their blades against him: “Fight, Silverbrand. Live. I will not have Zelistra’s carrion take my prey. When the war is done, you are mine to kill.”   And with that, he hurled himself into the fiends.   He split a glabrezu in two from shoulder to hip, its halves writhing in the dust.   He wrenched a horned devil’s spear from its grasp and used it to impale three thralls at once.   His laughter carried over the battlefield as the Silverbrand knights, bewildered but desperate, rallied to his side.   For two days and nights they fought, Ivar never faltering, never resting. When dawn came on the third day, the dunes were carpeted with demon corpses, their blood black against the pale sand. The Silverbrand survived — bloodied, broken, but alive.   Ivar stood among them, his axe buried in the skull of the last fiend. He looked upon Ser Aeldric, his face streaked with gore, and said: “Remember this mercy, knight. I saved you, not for your gods, not for your oaths — but so you may one day fall to me. Live long. Grow strong. And when the Age of Darkness ends, know that Ivar waits.”   Then he vanished into the wastes, leaving the Silverbrand stunned, haunted by the knowledge that their savior was also their executioner.  

Present Day (620 PR)

Now, in the year 620 PR, Ivar still fights for the God Hands. While kings rise and empires collapse, his axe and sword still gleams with fresh blood. He is not a warlord, nor a priest—he is a weapon. And until the Hand of Zonid itself is broken, Ivar the Undefeated will never fall.   Ivar’s Ledger   “The Hand marks. I deliver.”   Slain   Eldric Thorne (27 PR) — Founder of the Order of the Silverbrand, slain by Ivar’s sword.   Ser Aemric Thorne (119 PR) — Grandson of Eldric, fell in single combat at Dawnkeep.   Lady Varra Thorne (212 PR) — Silverbrand commander, decapitated before her knights.   Ser Caldon the Faithful (341 PR) — Marsh Wars hero, gutted before his people.   Dozens of Silverbrand Shardblade bearers — Moonfire, Oathfang, Ashenbrand and more lost to his hand.   Generations of Thorne kin, hunted wherever they tried to hide.   Unnumbered Silverbrand knights, slain across centuries to keep the Order bleeding.   Yet to Slay Bloodline & Order   Reyn Thorne — Last scion of House Thorne, gemstone-bearer.   Rheana Thorne — His twin, the shadow in silence.   Any wielder of the Silverbrand Reforged (if it exists) — His promised prey.   Any avatar of Krina — For to slay the Light is his final mockery.   The Adventures   Genethia “Neth” Roth — Goblin amulet-bearer.   Kasien Ash-Fall — Bladesinger wizard, seeker of God Hands.   Desnora Odseniron — Dragon-blooded sorceress of Sturvik.   Ulfred Lodvar — Northman warrior of Fenris, a mirror of what Ivar once was.   Tyrion Grimbeard — Dwarven monk of Albion.   Gojo — The pale half-elf warlock, bearing the whispers of darkness.   Alpha Shield — Warforged paladin, anathema to Zonid’s will.   Enemies of the Hand   Zelistra De’Fera — The Demon Queen who dares claim her own dominion.   Pehliff — Wielder of Fate Killer, who scarred both mortals and goddess alike.   Cormick Throne — Noble defiant of the Hand’s reach.   Challin — The Black Swordsman sworn to end the Hand.   The Black Swordsmen — Every member who takes up blade against the Hand is marked for Ivar’s axe or sword.   “He never loses, because defeat is not allowed to him. His god chained him to victory, and in that chain lies our ruin.” — Silverbrand chronicler, 341 PR