Svaðilfari, the noble beast.

Svaðilfari is the stallion who fathered Loki’s first born, the eight legged steed Sleipnir. He is a proud and unyielding beast.

+Once upon a time+

Legend has it that the union occurred between the stallion and the mischief god in the guise of a mare during a ploy to distract the beast and hinder his master’s building of the walls circling Valhalla, a work which had been commissioned by the Æsir at the beginning of their settlement.

The reason? 
When an unnamed builder offered to build a formidable fortification for the Æsir that would keep out invaders, he asked as his price the goddess Freyja, the sun, and the moon.

The Æsir reluctantly agreed to this, but conveniently placed a number of restrictions on the builder, including that he must complete the work within three seasons with the help of no man.
The builder made but one request; that he may avail himself of the aid of his stallion Svaðilfari; this was permitted thanks to Loki’s influence, who had taken pity on the builder.

What the Æsir did not expect was that the stallion Svaðilfari was far stronger than the builder and was able to haul enormous rocks without breaking a sweat. When it was clear they had made alarmingly fast progress on the wall, three days before the deadline of summer the Æsir were forced to convene and agreed unanimously that it had been Loki’s fault. They subsequently threatened the liesmith with the promise of a horrible death unless he set out to right his misdeed, and compelled him to cook up a scheme which would result in the builder forfeiting his side of the bargain. The mischief maker swore oaths to devise a successful plan, no matter what it would cost him.

That night he appeared unto Svaðilfari in the form of a beautiful mare which caused the stallion to become frantic and tear apart his tackle; the chase then began and continued all night long, culminating in their union and causing for the work of the builder to be held up.

Eventually the Æsir realized that the builder was a hrimthurs, and called upon Thor to dispose of him (which he accomplished by shattering the hrimthurs’ skull), breaking their bargain with the builder.

To this day Svaðilfari deeply resents the Æsir for the deceit suffered at their hands and the loss of his master, in particular Odin (whom he loathes for using his only son like a common steed) and his master’s murderer, the arrogant god of thunder.

As for Loki, his mare, the beast holds a deep-rooted resentment exacerbated by the many years of disgrace and solitude spent after those events, bereft of his only son, a seed stolen from him via means of nefarious deceit; he knows not of Loki’s true motivation for those acts. He also detests him for having allowed Odin to take Sleipnir as a steed.

+Appearance+

As a stallion he is a large beast, twice the size of a normal horse and infinitely stronger than any creature known in Asgard; his coat and mane are as black as night and his eyes are aglow with vermilion. Borne of a star, he breathes fire through his nostrils and flames may at times engulf his form at his bidding, resulting in his internal temperature to rise to thousands of degrees.

If magically transfigured into the form of a man, Svaðilfari appears to be a tall, ruggedly handsome male in his late thirties with ice-blue eyes, a large build and long, unkempt hair, the colour of dark chestnut. He is unaccustomed to being a two-legged creature and is, therefore, incredibly clumsy in this form despite the strength he is still endowed with; he is also devoid of any social etiquette, so he still displays many equine mannerisms and behaviour.