Isdalf

Isdalf was a legendary wizard, the first person in recorded history who mastered Magic. Most students of the arcane arts spend years to study his achievements, yet they only cover a very small part of it. Isdalf is widely credited with not only discovering how to use magic but also developing the first techniques on how to teach it. Although he had contemporaries who also mastered the Arcane, but they often hoarded their knowledge and were unwilling to share it. Isdalf, on the other hand, was more than willing to teach anyone who asked, he trained hundreds of students, most of whom returned to their homelands to found the first wizard academies.

Isdalf lived up to a venerable age of 300 years. There is no reliable record on how he died, but the teachings of most deities associate Isdalf with The Gnome who Defied the Gods. According to this legend, a proud gnome wizard became so powerful in his elder years that no mortal could oppose him and no feat of magic was beyond him. The people bowed before him, made him their leader and started worshipping him. This angered the Gods who demanded that he publicly submit to their authority. But his pride got the better of him and instead he publicly mocked the Gods. Such defiance could not go unpunished so the Gods smote him in front of the crowd to show that no mortal is above the Gods. Most academics are skeptical of this story as Isdalf is always described as a wise, reserved person, it would be very uncharacteristic of him to do something so foolish.