The Martyr of Hustadt
Saint Ingahild was a Braicosi child saint who lived in Torvaria around 500 years ago, during the period when heathen Ymiri barbarians raided extensively along the northern coasts, ransacking churches and laying waste to all.
The city of Hustadt was isolated and had old weak walls, and so the populace lived in fear of the Ymiri reavers. When word reached them of a large horde of invaders advancing toward the city, the cowardly Lord of Hustadt sought to appease the Ymiri chieftain by offering his own daughter as a wedding bond.
The Lord was himself a follower of the old gods of the north, and held no love for the Prophets of the Trine. He saw here an opportunity to break his daughter of her devotion to the Braicosi faith.
His daughter, Ingahild, was too young to marry. She also did not fancy the idea of being sold to a heathen warlord, and so refused the proposed union. At first her father counseled and cajoled her, then ordered her. And when that failed, he had her whipped raw.
When the Ymiri horde stood at the gates of the city demanding entry, the pious child still defied her father with quiet forbearance. There, before the assembled townsfolk of Hustadt, she entreated them to look to gentle Braius for deliverance, rather than to submit to the pagan invaders. She commended that, by the grace of the Child Prophet, they would know mercy this day.
So tranquil and holy was her countenance, that the folk were emboldened to resist, and refused to open the gate to the Ymiri. Her father was so enraged by her disobedience that he stood her upon the battlements and beheaded her there for all to see.
What happened next is the stuff of miracles, for it is said that the body of the girl Ingahild did not fall limp, but instead only stooped to pick up her fair head in its hands. Cradling her own head in her arms, Ingahild strode past her father, and the gates of the town were thrown open so that she might approach the heathen army outside.
Standing there before the assembled army of hardened Ymiri raiders, Ingahild touched the hand of the Ymiri chieftain, who immediately fell to his knees. He swore an oath to the Holy Trine on the spot, with the rest of his army quickly following suit. Converted to the faith of the Prophets, the army ceased their reaving, though not before the Ymiri chieftain put Ingahild’s wicked father to death, and had his corpse hung from walls of the keep for all to see.
Ingahild’s body was given a holy burial in accordance with the rites of the Prophets, and she was soon after added to the canon of Saints of the Holy Trine.
Saint Ingahild is traditionally depicted as a young woman holding or cradling her own decapitated head in her arms. Her worship is common across northern regions of Torvaria, Vosmir, Dobrinya, and parts of Wellundia.
She is the patron saint of converts, translation, female scholars, and lost items. She is is often symbolized by a banded goose.
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