Katarina is a vigorous warrior of the Snow Clans: humans living amongst ice and cold in the far north of Daren. Theirs is a life of toil and hardship, but in stark contrast to their many trials among the Snow Plains, they are boisterous and spirited individuals, celebrating life in its many forms, knowing it to be a precious and fleeting thing. The martial culture of the Snow Clans produces many stalwart warriors – and their leading female fighters are known as valkyries.

Like so many Snow Clan warriors, Katarina was once an energetic and unrestrained young girl, eager to see the world and prove herself to her peers. At the age of 13, however, an event changed her life forever. Her young brother, Vilske, was lost in the woods near their home. The adults spent days searching, but eventually, lost all hope of finding the young boy. Unwilling to accept this, Katarina went to the woods herself, to find him. Hours after that, she found the pale, blue-whitish body of her brother, and as she hugged and cried over him, an old crone appeared behind her: “I was almost bringing him home…”. She looked at the old, bent woman before her, and said: “No! I want to bring him to his real home! My home!” – the crone then whispered to the young girl: “Would you trade places with him, if you could?”, to which she quickly replied: “Of course I would!”. The old woman smiled, and vanished. As soon as she was gone, Katarina’s brother began gasping for air besides her.

She shared the rest of her youth by her brother’s side, and watched him grow into a handsome young man. But now, she hears whispers of an old voice in the wind, calling her south, and she knows she must follow…