Speaker of the Red Curse, forger of the Axe of Glass, first Disciple of Kord
?-2,000
Sent by Kord to instruct and aid the Hunters of Cain, and to give them the Glarith Key.
Faced with the renewed subjugation of his people by the giants of Fal Torth at the end of the giant-dwarf war, and the inevitable savage reprisals they would suffer, Niotanv reluctantly used his last resort; a mighty magic known afterwards as the Red Curse.
Details of the spell are long lost, not by accident, and no-one since has ever dared learn or cast it. The effects were devastating; ninety percent of the giants of Fal Torth were killed outright, and those that survived were altered - drastically in some cases - by the power of the Curse. Unfortunately, the effects were not limited to the giants. Over half the original dwarf population had already died in the war; the Curse killed half the survivors. The effects were not limited to living beings; the cities of the giants were laid in ruins, and the entire land rendered uninhabitable.
Speaking the Red Curse earned Niotanv his name, but it was the salvaging of the dwarf people from the aftermath that earned him his place as the First Disciple of Kord. If it had not been for his leadership and skills and determination, the wounded, battered, shocked survivors of the dwarf race would have perished in the ruins of Fal Torth. Niotanv encouraged, healed, guided and led his people southwards, and by great good fortune managed to stumble on the Versate Pass leading through the mountains to the plains of Known Alair. It is doubtful whether any of the refugees would have survived had they attempted to cross the Engereor anywhere else.