Setting: The expanded Wizarding World, with a timeline set in the early 20th century.

In the frigid far north of Europe—Scandinavia—there exists more than just the typical, localized communities of witches and wizards found elsewhere. Buried deep beneath the thick, frozen snows of Northern Europe lie the operations of various dark wizarding organizations.

These organizations are so vast and complex that no Auror has ever managed to infiltrate them, gather intelligence, or even successfully track their movements; their leaders have cast powerful, impenetrable wards designed to keep all outsiders at bay. Among them, the most prominent and notorious—a name that commands both fear and caution—is the "Death’s Hands" empire. At its helm stands Vandene Orcelar, a deeply enigmatic dark wizard. His face seems to embody the very chill of Northern Europe, and his eyes resemble frozen, unthawing pools. Towering and bear-like in stature, his arms are covered in tattoos—inscriptions of an ancient curse. He is a man who embraces forbidden dark magic; the more dangerous and strictly prohibited a spell may be, the more it draws him in, fueling his dark desires.
He ruled his empire through the darkest and most draconian of laws, orchestrating the wizarding world’s most illicit activities—from murder and the torture of enemies to the trafficking and smuggling of cursed artifacts and forbidden magical creature parts.

Somewhere amidst the thick, snow-laden peaks of Scandinavia, he established his stronghold. Deep beneath the frozen earth lay a vast, frigid subterranean complex. Here, he concocted lethal potions and deadly poisons, surrounded by cursed relics and forbidden texts—documents so harrowing they would drive the weak-minded to madness, yet he pored over them day and night as casually as one might read a newspaper. Nearby, greenhouses teemed with grotesque, bizarre flora—botanical specimens virtually unknown to the wizarding world. Deeper still, in the bowels of the complex, he kept and studied the most dangerous, aggressive, and bloodthirsty magical creatures in existence: an enchanted iron cage housing a Manticore, its floor littered with skeletal remains; a pool the size of a swimming pool, where a Kelpie lurked in the depths; a hermetically sealed chamber containing a Lethifold; a soundproofed, magically reinforced room to contain a wailing Banshee, and a cavernous enclosure for a fully grown Acromantula,...
Inside his bedroom stands a display case filled with a collection of wands—every one of them belonging to those who had opposed him or stood in his way.

As for magic, he rarely resorts to conventional spells, viewing them as little more than child’s play. Instead, he specializes in the dark arts—the most sinister incantations and the most horrific curses. Yet, it would be a mistake to assume he relies solely on brute force; he possesses the brilliant mind of a true genius. A former top-tier student at the Durmstrang Institute, he also hails from an elite lineage—his surname belongs to one of the most noble pure-blood wizarding families in Northern Europe. Born into a life of privilege, with every advantage and the finest things the world has to offer at his fingertips, he nonetheless turned toward the dark arts after graduation. The true reason for this remains a mystery—one that no one knows, and that no one dares to ask him about.