Book 1: Umoja

General Overview

The winds of chaos swirled on the border of Ardorserii. In the month of Father 1013 AE, the nation of Alilnegi stationed 40,000 troops on their border much to the surprise of Ardorserii. The leaders of the Ardorserii responded by bolstering the numbers of their border fortress of Westwind with 30,000 sellswords. Three groups experienced this conflict from three different perspectives. Group 1 (Blades of Honor) were recruits on the front lines of the border. Group 2 (Pride & Prudence) were a group of commoners and adventurers traveling through the capital of Ardorserii. Group 3 (Sanguine Light) was composed of nobles who tried to navigate the political waters of Ardorserii's most prominent noble houses as they began to clash with one another.

Blades of Honor Characters

Malach

• I traveled the world to find my story. Instead, I discovered the trail to my demise.

• My name is Malach My people called me a heretic. I’m from a stretch of marshes known as the Lowlakes on the distant continent of Galken. I left the lakes and tribes of my lands to travel to these foreign shores. Bearing cursed blood, I ran from assassins and soldiers. I find myself in this strange nation of warriors and heroes to find my purpose.

Stormur Errason

• I lost everything. So I’ve come to the land of heroes as the tempest travels from the sea. The blood of my enemies will be the rain of the storm I bring.

• My name is Stormur ErrasonI lived in the Tidegate of Alilnegi. I served as the Oarmaster of my seaside village. I lost my wife, my son, and my village from religious crusades. I’m here today to enlist in Westwind not because I care about Ardorserii, but because I care about the coming war and I want to take revenge on the country that took my family from me.

Woody

• There is beauty in pain. I’ve marveled at it’s elegance my entire life.

• They call me Woody. Ageless people married in circles to the high members of our society. I was sought for my appeal and forced into a circle I never wanted. I fled to this country to make my own choices and my path in life.

Kana Orrendell

• Fortune never favored me. Fate never smiled in my direction. Why should I share my joy with others?

• My name is Lord Kana Orrendell. If you’re half-dorii and half serii, it means neither human nor elf want you. But my mother did. She loved me with every fiber of her body until she went on a pilgrimage to the northern Earthfire Temple. Her caravan was attacked by bandits. After the lost of her, I could serve no gods, no lord, or no family. But at this fortress with my guard at my side. I can serve the blade that draws blood.

Lumigrax Solhart

• My family is complacent in suffering and servitude. I can no longer abide their weakness. I will find resolution with my own strength and my own blade.

• My name is Lumigrax Solhart. I’m a fireborn. They say our people’s births are signs from the gods… others consider us omens. As a man barely of age, a cult kidnapped my brother and I. I watched him be sacrificed on an altar. With the help of a roaming adventurer I barely escaped. I knew I could no longer be complacent with how my family was treating. I swore my sword to whoever would take it.

Lantir Kiv

• As a frail orphan, they all thought I was weak. But I watched… and I learned. Knowledge is true power and I will be the most powerful of them all.

• My name is Laintir Kiv. My mother is the Vice Administrator of the Ethics Council. That was always humorous to me, because I never considered sleeping with a traveling diplomat and bearing and leaving a bastard son to die being a very ethical thing to do. Regardless, I survived. I hold her secret, and I’ve come to know secrets… can be quite valuable.

Pride & Prudence Characters

Tristan Filanth

• I will make my name known with the great heroes of old. I will gain power and drag this doomed nation towards salvation. For my countrymen, for my family, for myself.

• As a holy sage of the Four Ascended it is my duty to walk in their footsteps. My story is my gospel that I give to the commoners I aid. As a regional hero of my hometown in Eleath, I've come south to the capital to continue growing my legend.

Brock Brooks

• You can’t tell me who to love. The heart is meant to be explored, just as the world should be.

• Coming from noble birth, I don't tell others much about my past. The house I hail from sought to control who I bonded to, and so I left. I find myself in the nation's Capital with beautiful women on every street. I don't understand why I didn't leave sooner.

Eirkas Virjeon

• I was raised by a wolf, but that does not make me uncultured. I will come to understand these people just as well as I understand the lay of the land.

• I hailed from the Northern forests of Alilnegi. I was raised by the wolf spirit that watches over my village. A passing thief nearly died at the gates of our peaceful town. My opportunity to travel the world came after I nursed him back to health, he gave me a ticket to a noble's party in Ardorserii. 

Elias Orrendell

• I am not tied to responsibilities thrust on me from the privilege of my birth. I will define my life on my own terms by bonding with those who I deem worthy of my respect.

Roman

• Sometimes you navigate life's rivers. Other times you find yourself caught by their currents.

• When Papa Drake died, I got a job offer to come sail river boats in Ardorserii. The waters have been my passion since I was born. But after I saw the river boats were transporting human cargo I couldn't keep quiet. The next thing I knew everything went black.

Sanguine Light Characters

Arabella Toles

• My birth was a demonstration of vanity. My father abandoned us. You say I have everything, but in truth I have no one.

• I bare blood forged from gods, but I hold no power in my family. I am a redundant third born daughter from a political marriage. I've only ever sought love. One of my family  members has gone missing and her empty estate speaks poorly of my family's current condition. I've been sent to occupy the holdings to maintain appearances.

Zai Toles

• There are things you need to know. Then there are things that you don’t. I’ll keep the gold coming, as long as you don’t ask where it came from.

• Being born into the Toles family means you acquire certain skills from the family business. I've never liked my uncle or my mother. I've never known my father. But I will use my skills for whoever will pay for them, and when I can strike it out on my own, I will abandon them all.

Eve Delequin

• I’ve seen the worst of this world. I will do everything within my power to spread light. The power of a smile pierces deeper than a dagger.

• I come from the lawless region of Galken known as the Clutch. In my hometown of Dagger Gulley they didn't send letters to deliver messages, they sent mercenaries with knives. No matter how bad those around me think things have become, I will remind them that as long as they are breathing they have a reason to smile.

Torq

• The Undead are a scourge on our world. Without mercy, without rest, and without hesitation, they should be slaughtered with all of my fury.

• I serve in the Chantry of Discipline. The fire goddess, Soyesa, is my guiding beacon. My Chantry was aided by the Ethics Council recently and to help repay the favor, I was volunteered to escort these crime hungry nobles to their new home.

Dirge

• Brother, enemy, friend? They’re all just words that don’t change the one motivating truth of Ilderon… gold.

• I come from a band of mercenaries called The Merry Band. I killed the last two brothers of my band for 8 gold. I heard these nobles are paying and will hire a sword.

Ackthou

• They killed my people. They burned down my temple. I’ve come to the land of heroes to seek a life greater instead I struggle. I’m not proud of what I do, but when the sun rises I still draw breath where others cannot say the same.

• I was hired by the Toles to protect their caravan of nobles. I despise the Toles, but I seek calmness and balance within my life. A chance to further my skills and earn some additional gold will never be over looked.

Carter

• I was born into slavery in Morsia. I killed the man who claimed to own me and I'll never call no man master again. I figure I do a little crime here and there around Seadale, then eventually I can kill all the people who keep the slave business going.

• I've gotten into the business of smuggling. I came to Ardorserii with my Justicar friend who has no idea what I do for a living. With the winds of war building in the nation, it's likely a good place to make a coin. Any gold I acquire will of course be put to good use.