[center][b]THE VOYAGE OF HJALDR, BLESSED AMONGST MEN[/b][/center]
[center][i]Written by Hallfrid Crowsfoot[/i][/center]

[center][img=http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/EriksonVikingShip.jpg][/center]

HJALDR Crowsfoot voyaged across the uncharted Icevein Inlet in an act of bravery that would become legend throughout Norsia, and his reward was the lush and bountiful land of the Vale which now bares his name. Even at the time of this writing, his family still presides over the eminent, warm and fertile lands of the Vale as a reward for Hjaldr's bravery and courage in charting those untested and unsafe waters.

The Crowsfoot are a house older even than the Vale - a petty noble house from what is now Coldsmarch, who had decided that the life of subservience no longer suited their pride, and decided that beyond the as of yet uncharted Icevein Inlet lay a land untouched yet by the ambitions of men. Thus, with money gathered from all available sources and the sale of his family's last manse, Hjaldr, his wife Miravine, his two daughters Jarra and Yartha and his sons Ransund, Åmund and Ruhen. He gathered about him his most leal bannermen, who came with their families without thought of what may lie ahead. It was these men, with not a penny to their names, that sailed forth from from Coldsmarch one fateful night.

The journey was long and perilous. The assembled had brought salt pork and salt fish enough to last for weeks, but fresh water had become a quick concern. The men began to thirst, and three servants died. Hjaldr's wife Miravine and his daughter Jarra fell ill too, and for a time it was feared they too would perish. However, one night, as the moon illuminated the waves, an iceberg passed close to the ship - close enough so that one could reach out and touch it. Hjaldr's youngest daughter Yartha, then just a girl of eight years, watched as a seagull swooped down atop the berg and drank heartily from its top, where some melted water had accumulated. The girl rushed quickly, chipping off large segments of the berg and drinking of them heartily. She brought some to Miravine and Jarra, and they too drank of the fresh water, untainted by the brackish salt that pervaded all else. It was with this in mind that Hjaldr knew his youngest daughter had saved his life and that of his whole family, and he was well pleased, and would never forget this great miracle, nor the quick thinking of his daughter. Yartha would for the rest of her life be known as Yartha Quickfleet, and would be the founder of the city of Red Roost.

One day, near landfall, a thick fog descended on the ship and many feared they would hit rocks and sink. Some began to express disillusionment, for some more men had died since the water crisis. Fearing revolt, Hjaldr looked to the skies for a sign from the gods. It was then that the Ice Nymph Faetiara appeared to him, riding on an iceberg nearby. She was a pretty, ageless creature with a delicate touch and eyes that glimmered with the flames of the sea and the gods. She told Hjaldr that she had drowned all men who had tried to cross the inlet in the past, but his honourable nature and devotion and convinced her that it should be who is allowed to pass forward into the bountiful lands beyond.

She smiled at Hjaldr, and with the authority of the gods told him that he would own the land he discovered from the very coast to the heathen lands of the Elves, by divine authority. Then, she cleared the fog, and kissed Hjaldr tenderly on the head. There, a crown formed of fine, iced crystal that sat delicately on his head and shimmered constantly so as to appear half-transparent and occasionally as if it were not there at all. This crown remains the finest artefact of the house Crowsfoot - Faetiara's Diadem, or the Ice Crown, is used in all crowning ceremonies for new Jarls.

Landfall was made with the Vale shortly afterwards, and at the very spot where Hjaldr fall and kissed the rich dirt, his son Ransund placed the family banner from which the capital city of Firsthold would grow. His other children rode forth, starting holdfasts and towns of their own and farming the rich land in the name of House Crowsfoot. Yartha went to Red Roost, and was the first Norsian to make meaningful diplomatic contact with the Elves of Galadriel, and with the cultivation of the land came a divinely ordained wealth and prosperity to the region that has been uninterrupted ever since.