A Brief History of the Ice Witches of Malkedor

Written by Ultramarine

Let's start with the basics. Ice Witches are creatures who live in the sub-arctic areas. One might look for "Malkedor" on a good map and not find it, mainly because Malkedor is a person, not a place. According to legend, Malkedor was a female deity who bore our race. There have been many discrepancies as to whether or not the Ice Witches are an all-female race. Well, of course not. The term Ice Witches are used as mankind refers to both genders, so Ice Witches also refers to Ice Warlocks. Ice Witches are creatures which can stand frigid cold more than most species. We have very warm bodies, and can tolerate temperatures well below freezing. All have a shade of blue complexion, deep ebony hair, and solid blue eyes, no iris or pupil. Apparently, for outsiders, it's quite hard to tell us apart.
For all history, there has been one tribe of Ice Witches. There may have been others, but they either remain in deep hiding or never survived. Our ancestors lived in Antarctica. Now if Antarctica then was anything like it is now, it was very boring, so it is easy to understand why they were nomadic. At one point our evolutionary ancestors had wings, but now we have mere decorative limbs sprouting from our shoulders. We lived with little order, and petty squabbles over food, men, and clothes came between us.
The first records of history begin with the rising of Kar'Elle Ushadi. This Ice Witch took control of the tribe and created a sort of order. She taught us how to work together, and soon, a sort of society was built, and a crude form of government was established.
The first outside contact we made was many generations later under the rule of Caria Oria II with an Atlantean gargoyle scouting the area. The scout explained to them the history of Atlantis, and opened our eyes to the world beyond the icebergs. Immediately, forms of trade and an alliance were made with Atlantis, and many curious young witches and warlocks left to seek out fame and newfound lands. But of course, nothing comes without a price . . .
With the revelation of our existence to the Earth, some of the Earth found that they weren't too fond of us. Perhaps it was because we were blue. Anyway, Rome in particular found that they weren't too fond of us. Now back then, Rome was renowned for not being too fond of anyone who wasn't Roman. And we were far from Roman.
The Roman emperor at the time got some gladiators and enlisted the services of the Egyptian alchemist cult, the Brotherhood of Osiris. These brothers made a potion, which the gladiators drank. This potion doubled, even tripled their strength and changed them to a dark red complexion, and gave them a limited form of pyrokinesis. They were called Pyres. Their first attack against the Ice Witches in the rule of Caria Oria XIV had little casualties, as our Atlantean, nymph, and elven allies bailed us out.
We got to pay them back soon enough. A few centuries later Freya did that little Purge thing, and we harboured refugees. Shame about her too, Freya was a very nice girl. And so the Ice Witches, under the command of Ice Warlock Connol Chag, lent a hand with the construction of two of the eight new outposts the Atlanteans were building. We helped with Kalasia ("Atlantean Outpost Which Was Assisted in Construction by the Ice Witches of Malkedor") and Haraticca ("Eighth and Final Outpost").
And it actually wasn't much later when the Hunters enlisted the Sisters of Circe in the destruction of all eight outposts, and, under the rule of Tara Ushadi, the Ice Witches took in refugees again and were the major part in the final destruction of the Sisters of Circe on their island home of Aeaea near Greece.
Shortly after that, the Pyres attacked a second time, with greater numbers (we found out about this later. It turns out that each generation of Pyres would kidnap and impregnate women. Now, every time a Pyre had sex, a result of the potion caused them to have twins or triplets, and always male). Our forces were greatly devastated, and probably would have suffered even more had our elven allies not intervened. So, led by Mariaunna Chag, the Ice Witches built the Ice Palace. The Ice Palace was actually not a palace. It was a stronghold, and was the only stationary monument of the Ice Witches, as the tribes were still nomadic.
The Ice Palace was a base of operations for the Ice Witches, and was particularly massive. Most of the entire race could fit into it comfortably. So, whenever the diminished forces of Pyres attacked again, the tribes would recall to the Ice Palace where the trained army could handle the Pyres. After a few attacks with zero casualties for our side, we saw little of the Pyres for the next few centuries.
So, we haven't seen much action. I was recently appointed ambassador to Lan Mesinsure, the latest outpost (I wonder how long that's gonna last). Our current leader is Tara Uranvei, who seems to be doing not a bad job. Signing off, Ultramarine.