» Tue Jan 07, 2014 8:50 am Celebrating our legions Heroes: Olfrid Frost-Veins.
The ‘celebrating our legions hero’s’ is the central title in a series of publications which contain approved lore and inspiring stories from the Empires most glorified hero’s.
Imagine for a moment, avid reader that you are a solider of the imperial legion, you stand with thousands of others in the greatest army that has ever existed. It is the highest honour to fight in these same illustrious ranks which have produced some of the most exhaled hero’s the Empire has ever known. Your duty is to preserve the peace and rule of law in our Empire, and when battle arises, to vanquish our foes with devoted passion and fury of these hero’s of the past.
Book II
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We continue our journey, respected readers, with a rather special individual from the Empires glorious past, Olfrid Frost-Veins, a notorious vampire hunter and slayer of undead. Although Olfrid never officially joined the Imperial legion, he was contracted by the Empire on numerous occasions to quell undead or deadric threats in Cyrodill and further afield.
But before we even start to learn about Olfrid, we must first comprehend the northern people of Skyrim’s the traditions.
Nords tend to be highly superstitious, and their folklore reflects this. Nordic names are often chosen based on omens, given in a special ceremony when a young nord becomes of age.
When a young nord becomes of age he is banished into the vast snowy mountains of Skyrim for weeks. There he must hunt a mythical creature known as an Ice wraith, (I have only ever seen one of these creatures once, and believe me it was not a pleasant sight!) If he returns having slain the beast, he recognised as a man and has all the rights and privileges of a full citizen of Skyrim, additionally he is presented his clan name.
I hope now as you read on about mighty Olfrid, you will come to understand Nordic traditions. The strong and hardy people of Skyrim have always stood with the Empire, and for that we are grateful. But Skyrim is as foreign to an Imperial as the towering forests of Valenwood or the vast deserts of Hammerfell, many traditions in Skyrim will seem extreme to one less travelled as I.
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Our journey takes us first to the very pinnacle of Skyrim, to a moderate settlement called Dawnstar.
According to the locals, it is here that clan Frost-Veins was founded, by Bjorlam and Aela.
Clan Frost-Veins is known throughout the hold (a hold is the Nordic equivalent of a county) as hunters of vile undead creatures. For decades Bjorlam and Aela kept Dawnstar safe from marauding groups of Volkihar vampires. It is here, at the very tip of Tamriel, where winter in eternal, that Olfrid Frost-Veins son of a vampire hunter is born.
To better understand Clan Frost-Veins and Olfrid himself, I arranged an interview closer to home in the charming town of Chorrol. Here I spoke to a relative of the Frost-Veins clan, Bjark, the great great nephew of Olfrid. I asked him about his great great uncle.
How did you know about your great great uncle?
Well I knew him through Hedvig you see. That'd be my great great Grandma. Woman lived to a ripe old age, full of stories. Always talking about how she and Olfrid would traverse those grand old mountains up north in search of vampires.
What would you consider Olfrids most famous exploit?
Ah, too many to tell friend. I'll tell you one of Hedvig's old favourites. 'The Battle for Castle Morke.' 'Twas a dark Skyrim night, and a group of vampires held up in Castle Morke, in Eastmarch near the the Morrowind border, were terrorizing passing travelers. The Empire had set up camp and had been figuring out a way to drive the vampires out for days. I'll give you one guess as to who came along next. That's right, Olfrid Frost-Veins. Straight in and straight out from the way I hear it. Two hours later he walked out of the burning Castle with an Ancient Vampire head in his left hand and 'Stenddar's Justice' in the other.
And the Legion did roar as Olfrid got back on his horse and left for Blacklight's Legion Garrison.
I hear he was rewarded handsomely for his services to the Empire.
Aye, he was, Olfrid was presented with number of honourary titles for services to the Legion. Much to the jealousy of the legionnaires.. He didn't care for any of that stuff though. Still, I think he respected the Empire up until old Martin died. My family slew vampires for the glory of the gods. The very same reason why I'm still brewing up these cures after all these years.
So, I understand there’s and old wives tale that clan Frost-Veins were bestowed a rather special blessing from Arkay, that they were immortal so long as they purge Molag Bal’s undead creations from the land. Why do you think Arkay chose the Frotst-Veins clan to carry the blessing?
You know about that huh? The Legion knows more than I thought. We usually just put that down to family superstition. Rumour has it, Olfrid's still up there in the Throat of the World. I don't know whether to believe that, and it's not my place to go finding out.
I wish there was someone old enough to give you the answer you want, but there ain't. My best guess would be that the Frost-Veins were the best vampire-hunters northern Tamriel ever saw. Not only that but they did it for the right reasons, for the glory of the nine divines, and not for the coin.
How do you think the people of Dawnstar felt having their best vampire hunters up and leave?
“Well, way my da tells it, they just up-and-left one morning and never came back. They weren't very.. social. They kept The Pale safe no question, but I doubt they were the kind of folk who would then sit down afterwards to share a bottle of mead with the townsfolk.”
Did you ever meet him and what was he like?
Aye, that I did. A few times. Ah, but I was but a wee lad. Tough old bastard that one, would put any other Frost-Vein to shame. *chuckles* Well except maybe his da. My family was living down in Cyrodiil at the time. We went to see him up in Riften with Hedvig, never did call her grandma.. too far down the line. He showed me around his forge and gave me a crossbow that belonged to my grandpa. Got robbed by bandits a few years back. That's one of reasons I never showed my face around Riften after that.
Why do you think the Frost-veins got so involved with the argonian invasion of southern morrowind?
Way I heard it they hired the Argonians and Kahjiits as labourers back in Morrowind. Old Olfrid even made a good vampire-hunter out of a couple of them, you wouldn't want to cross a blood-thirsty leopard now would you? *chuckles*
Nords aren't known for their fondness of the other races, unlike the folk here in Cyrodiil. That's where he lost his eye. Aye now that's a tale! Got struck straight in the eye with a longsword. Legend has it that Olfrid pulled it straight back out and slayed the very same Argonian who took his eye, plus a few more. I put it down to bloodthirst, you see his da passed in the same battle.
When Olfrid’s father was slain on the battlefield do you think it changed him in any way?
Who Olfrid? Nah. He never was sentimental. I don't think he liked the lizard folk too much after that though. He saw an Argonian in the same way he saw a blood thirsty vampire. I've heard rumours that... aren't too nice. Like the one outside Riften.. lizard didn't even provoke him from what I hear.
During the Oblivion crisis the Imperial legion relied on the Frost-Vein clan's knowledge of killing Daedra, do you think the Oblivion crisis would have ended differently without them?
Certainly in Morrowind. I hear Olfrid and Bjorlam held off more than their fair share of Daedra during the Sack of Aldruhn. Fled to Balmora after they knew the battle was lost. House Hlaalu had time to prepare after that. Hedvig was in Cyrodiil at the time, she went their to study in the Arcane University and didn't end up going back to Morrowind until after the Oblivion Crisis. She knew old Martin Septim, did you know that?
Dunmer are notorious for shunning outsiders, it must have been hard for the Frost-Veins to be accepted by the Dunmer people, and did they ever talk about life living on the border?
Aye, those Dark Elf folk don't like outsiders so much. Olfrid didn't take it to heart though, Nords were much the same in Skyrim. The Elves soon looked past their prejudices after the Night of Ancients. Ever hear about that? No less than four battles on Morrowind's borders preceded this great battle when the Frost-Veins repelled a malicious attack on Blacklight itself. That's one battle I could never silence Hedvig about. Her favourite story to tell was the one about Olfrid beating an Ancient Vampire to death with nothing more than an unloaded crossbow. Poor sod ran out of bolts you see, and what's an Archer without his bolts? Instead of running like you or I would, he gripped his Crossbow with both hands and swung the bloody thing at the Vampire, went right through his skull. *chuckles*
What was Olfrid’s favourite weapon?
Why his Crossbow of course! Whole family used them back in those days. Well, that and Restoration. Olfrid and Hedvig always valued their parents for looking past the typical Nord shunning of the arcane. Any of the Frost-Veins could summon up a powerful healing circle that repelled undead upon entering, heal a wound as big as an Iron Shield.. you name it.
He was the first to take up Destruction mind you, even I can't get my head around that one. Now I know that Vampires don't like fire much, but I never did see the need for that much power. You know the type of power that could burn down a building, or fill an enemy's veins with scorching flames. He liked to summon up one of those flame-cloak spells. Anyone who got too close would be set alight. Luckily no-one else in the family practised such things. His parents never were too happy about him delving into that stuff.
Did he use special bolts or holy water?
Saw a ton of his homemade bolts up in Riften. I was a bit too young to take notice of any special makes, but looking back I think he took quite the interest in the Dwemer. He never was a scholar, but he appreciated good gear when he saw it. Come to think of it he had a couple of old Dwarven Crossbows with him at all times, the man had good taste, raw power over subtlety.
Well, he used to have some clever old Enchantments on his Crossbows. One of the most famous family relics is called 'Stendarr's Justice.' For most common undead, the bolts from the bow had a way of repelling them while scorching their flesh. Would've taken a master enchanter to fix something like that up. But then his da knew his way around that type of stuff. No doubt he passed it on to Olfrid. Hedvig on the other hand studied Alchemy with her ma. I'm lucky to have a few of the old family formulas lying around. Shor knows how many times they've aided me in curing Chorrols ills.
Where do you think Olfrid is now?
Hedvig passed last month. Died of an awful plague in Morrowind. Olfrid was with her, I know that for a fact. He didn't care if he died, old sod must've been over a couple of centuries when she died. I won't say anymore than that, but heed my word; if he's in Sovngarde it ain't because of old-age.
I wanted to go to Blacklight to meet with the family, but Hedvig insisted that I stay here with Gjertrud, the young lass. Probably for the best, ain't no use for me to be gettin' some plague that'll stop me from raising my daughter. I'm sorry to say that old Olfrid probably ain't with us anymore. And it's best not to go finding out either..
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So there you have it dear readers, the history of Olfrid Frost-veins, the heroic nordic witch hunter who is renowned for his righteous yet sometimes calculating deeds. The Frost-Veins clan are an impressive example of what virtue and a well found cause can achieve. The legion is humbled to have contracted clan Frost-veins on many occasions; their work was some of the best in dealing with the strange unbegotten creatures of the netherworld that the legion has seen.
No one knows what became of Olfrid, the family believes he may still be alive, but there are those that are doubtful. One thing is for certain, though; he remains in history as one of the greatest vampire hunters that existed, so much so that even the gods themselves favour him.
I hope you've enjoyed learning about our legions heroes and that you will continue to further your knowledge about the Imperial legion, by reading book three in the series.
Notice:
If you should like to be considered for this series of short publications, then I urge you to send me a letter containing information about your deeds within the Empire, you do not have to be a member of the Imperial legion but it is preferred. You must, however, abide by the Empires laws.
