The Prophetess
A religious leader from the Northsong Cycle
The Prophetess, sometimes called Prophetess (without the article) as a proper name, was the preeminent leader of the Nordling folk from the second epoch onward. Over the centuries, she earned a reputation for secrecy, misdirection, and guile.
As in the case of the more benign Prophet-King of the Lost Kingdom, conventional beliefs about the Prophetess’s nature varied. Different folk and individuals disputed her origin: the immortal descendant of unseen- and human-folk, a spirit-being herself (accursed or otherwise), one of Livyat’s chaos-spawn, or mayhap an entire line of human mystics masquerading as a singular soul.
She ruled the Nordlings of the Elder World, and sometimes those of the Fledgling World, from her remote, fortified temple. Its precise location, somewhere on the frigid northwestern corner of the Elder continent, was not widely known. She cultivated an aura of mystery about her and the legions of priestesses who surrounded her. Warriors, even yarls, rarely met with her, and few wished for such an audience.
The Nordlings’ yarl of yarls and the Southrons’ eternal empress were her wards in the distant days of their youth. Some chroniclers attributed the volatile diplomatic relations among the Wavebone polities—Elder World Nordling, Fledgling World Nordling, and Southron—more to the personal histories of their respective leaders than to their folks’ native belligerence.