The Outlander

The Outlander is the player character and protagonist of The Outlander Saga. While their appearance, gender, abilities, and equipment are custom to the player, there is a set backstory for them.

Prologue
The Outlander is the child of Athelm, the patriarch of a wealthy merchant family in Velior. Despite Athelm raising them to take over the family trade, the Outlander is more interested in fighting, exploring, and hunting than in studying trade and economics.

The Outlander is first seen in Summerheath, at Athelm's estate. After a sparring session with the bodyguard Yolan, Aemon, Athelm's brother, arrives at the estate with a band of armed men, explaining that there is a crisis happening in the capital, and directs the Outlander to go with his men as he searches the estate for Athelm. Yolan is dubious of the men, and orders the Outlander to find their father, only for the Outlander to witness Aemon be murdered by Athelm. Yolan and the Outlander fight off Aemon's men, but are overwhelmed, and Yolan is killed as the Outlander is taken prisoner.

The Outlander is blamed for the death of his father, as Athelm pays off the servants, and is sold into slavery as punishment. They are headed for Aldland on an Azari ship when they are hit by a storm that capsizes the ship and allows the Outlander to escape, with most of the crew being killed in the wreck.

Act I
The Outlander awakens in the village of Brim, where they meet Yrma and her granddaughter Berid. Yrma asks what the Outlander was doing on the ship (even if they lie, Yrma will theorize that they were being carried as a slave), and upon confirming that they were a slave, Yrma states that as custom, they are her slave now, and grants the Outlander their freedom. She explains that for years she has had visions of a figure standing against a wall of fire, and believes that the Outlander is that figure. She tasks the Outlander with getting help from her old friend Bali in Anstad. As the Outlander waits, a feud breaks out with a rivaling village over ownership of the Outlander, as they were recovered off of their land. The Outlander, knowing little about Aldic culture, invokes Einvigi, a duel in which they fight a large hammer-wielding villager named Fyrir.

The next day, the Outlander sets out for Anstad to meet Bali. Upon meeting the Outlander, Bali is initially uncaring for their situation before the Outlander impresses Bali by showing knowledge of the text he is reading. Bali agrees to visit Yrma, sending the Outlander to retrieve artifacts from Geleadh's Tomb, the resting place of an ancient Elven sage.

After retrieving the artifacts, the Outlander is tasked by Bali to clear out Dawnhill, Bali's old manor that has since been taken over by bandits. After defeating a bandit chief named Graywood and his pet bear Yrsa, the Outlander discovered Graywood had a captive bore-squirrel, a rare animal capable of traveling across realms.

Bali's studies confirmed that Yrma's vision depicted a Convergence with the Realm of Fire, although he could not find any reason that it would be a major event. To understand the significance of this, Yrma suggests performing a Ritual of Transcendence by the Bygate to the Realm of Fire in the ruins of Carraig Daon, a cursed Elven city. The ritual first requires the Outlander to journey to the peak of Mt. Vedrfolnir to retrieve Urdal Root, guarded by an insane cannibal. This requires the Outlander clearing the ruins of goblins, ending with a fight with a goblin shaman riding a troll.

Yrma leads the Outlander in the Ritual of Transcendence, allowing them to send their consciousness back in time to the War of the Rose. The Outlander relives the last moments of an Elven soldier named Aeolas, including his fight with a berserker named Skolgrimir. Through this vision, the Outlander learns that there is a large population of Elves residing in the Realm of Fire, as many of them were able to escape by traveling through a Bygate located within the castle during a Convergence.

Act II
After discovering that the Elves escaped to the Realm of Fire, Bali theorizes that they are planning an invasion when the Convergence occurs. To verify this theory and retrieve tangible proof, the Outlander is tasked with finding a Bystone, a magical artifact that will allow them to travel across realms using Bygates. The only lead Bali has is a man called Sparrowhawk, who can be reached through a butcher in Ostrgard named Egger. Egger tells the Outlander that Sparrowhawk was imprisoned after a heist went wrong, and assigns them to help a woman named Polecat in breaking him out. The prison break is successful, and the three escape and return to Dawnhill, where Bali reveals that Sparrowhawk is his nephew, whom he raised after the deaths of his parents.

Sparrowhawk tells the Outlander the location of the Bystone: Himinhellir, the tomb of an honored skald, and the two set off to find it. After battling with a Kraken and retrieving the Bystone, the Outlander travels to the Realm of Fire, where they are ambushed and captured by the Elves. While captured, the Outlander sees that the elves have a massive military force ready for invasion, and meets their leader, Aevlena. The Outlander is ordered to be tortured to death, but is rescued by an unnamed masked warrior, who aids in their escape and orders them to travel to the Realm of the Giants and find Mimir, before being killed.

The Outlander finds a Bygate to the Realm of the Giants, guarded by BOSS. After crossing the Bygate and battling a giant named Finsturkr, the Outlander finds Mimir, a speaking statue, who instructs him to plunge a dagger into his heart in exchange for the wisdom they seek. The Outlander complies, and while dead, receives a vision in which Mimir instructs them to collect water from springs of each of the 9 realms, in order to cast a spell that will stop the invasion of the Elves. The first spring is located at Mimir's base, but the Outlander is told to travel to the Realm of Ruin to find a man that will tell him where the others are.