Name
Ilayna Blackwater / Edessa Thorne

Gender
Female

House Name
Blackwater

Age
Twenty-four

Appearance
5’6” and hair reminiscent of the midnight skies with sapphires for eyes, Edessa Thorne has the look of a child of Gorgon, but a common look nonetheless. Bearing fur or cloth cloak depending on the weather or environment she is generally well-prepared.

Homeland
Gorgon

Race
Human

Bio
If not for Thomas Briar, the woman known currently as Edessa Thorne would have likely lived an entirely different life.

Twenty-four years prior to the present, she was born a daughter of the royal dynasty known as House Blackwater through the union of Lord Blackwater and Lady Briar. As the Princess of the Kingdom of Gorgon she was baptized as a part of the royal family with great expectations designed for the young royal. Of course, she was far behind in the line of succession with three elder brothers who were well-read and well-trained in the way of duty. As she was baptized there was one man who would be bound to her protection for his life, a knight and experienced ranger known as Edwic Devain; assigned as her guardian and protector, Ser Edwic would go beyond the expectations of duty to ensure safety and worked with the then spymaster of Gorgon to designate royal safehouses, escape routes, and similar contingencies for the safety of not only Ilayna but any royal at home in court.

When Lord Arthur Blackwater left his kingdom for the war against Malfear he left his spymaster and brother-in-law (Thomas Briar) as leading regent of Gorgon, giving the man the beginning that would excite his taste for power and control. Not long after when Ilayna reached her eighth anniversary of her name-day, the worst of possible events occurred at home in Gorgon—the betrayal of House Blackwater, and the murder of her bloodline by someone that was trusted to their protection: Thomas Briar. The spymaster and regent had often plotted in secret to steal what he believed he deserved, the first murder he would commit would earn him the title of kinslayer as his sister and mother of the Blackwater heirs would lay dead in the streets of the capital. Ser Edwic cursed himself for not seeing the treachery beforehand and organized several other knights sworn to other heirs to retreat and to stay away from the designated safehouses for Briar created them and knew about them. Ser Edwic himself took to the north as he dragged the eight year old daughter of Gorgon through the forests and swamps until he could get as far as possible.

The safety and survival of the Blackwater line was now abruptly in the hands of men sworn to protect its heirs. Ser Edwic’s loyalty unfaltering, he ensured that no harm would come to Ilayna while he still breathed air of this world; the Blackwater line would not end in a flood of darkness and treachery. Traveling to the Valarian countryside, Ser Edwic and Ilayna Blackwater disappeared and Mauldin and Edessa Thorne emerged. Hoping to avoid any eyes and ears that could report back to Thomas Briar, the two Gorgonite individuals began to cut out a life from village to village in the township of which they settled to protect themselves from the fear of assassins and spies.

Her name changed her dynasty taken, and life distressed; the girl known as Ilayna Blackwater was now Edessa Thorne, and now sprung up amongst commonfolk in an assortment of backwater villages and hamlets. Coin became sparse, food rationed, and despite the two Gorgonite’s resilience it never did stop the dwelling and nightmarish dreams that taunted them. The nightmares throughout the years would be a constant torture for the former Princess of Gorgon as she remembered the hushed panic, her mother’s blood drenched on her uncle’s knife, Ser Edwic’s hand preventing her from screaming in horror, the exhausting dread of Thomas Briar’s Blackwater hunters, the sound of the dogs, and the feeling of being stripped from her brothers whilst the feeling of never being able to speak to her parents again—it was insufferable. Her guardian attempted to calm her nerves throughout the coming years, but it would do nothing for the true psychological damage that she was dealt.

Despite the deep sense of psychological turmoil in the young girl’s mind, Ser Edwic instilled a sense of resilience and rigid strength in her. Originally coming from the commonfolk himself before he was knighted when he was much younger, Ser Edwic knew what it took to survive in their newfound environment. Fashioning himself as an adventurer, tracker, bandit hunter, and general problem solver—the people in this rural Valaria found much use in the man they would come to know as Mauldin Thorne. His skills as a ranger of Gorgon came into much use as he put coin and food on the table whilst also training his believed ‘daughter’ in the same skills he had honed decades prior. Dexterity, Gorgonite-style hand-to-hand, swordplay, archery, tracking, survivalism, and collective “common wisdom” would be things that Edessa would learn and surprisingly she had a knack for a few of these skills, perhaps taking after her elder brothers who had idolized the rangers of Gorgon. From eight years after her nameday to seventeen years after it she would become a capable ranger indeed as Mauldin’s training was nothing but extensive. But inspired to not be so weak as she was when her mother died in front of her eyes, and to prove to her guardian that his training was not for naught.

Two years after the “completion” of her training and some field experience in surrounding villages as well as trading posts it came to be her guardian’s end of days as he was stricken ill—an illness that would take the ranger-knight’s life at sixty years past his nameday; a remarkable age for someone who had been living in bad conditions and throughout a traumatic and taxing life. As she buried him in a grave that read only as: “Maurin Thorne – beloved father and protector.” So it was here at nineteen years past her nameday that Ilayna “Edessa Thorne” Blackwater began to live life from one outpost, caravan, and village at a time as she tried to put her past behind her and live for what she was taught by both Ser Edwic and her royal family that now laid in the dirt and was with the gods.

Injustice and chaos thrived in the lands and whilst she saw herself as ‘moral’ she knew that coin would have to come first if she intended to continue eating—though where heroics occurred oftentimes people were thankful for their endeavors. The Valealian frontier was chaotic and upset as rebellion, mage-hunting, and banditry began to run rampant thus creating an unstable world to travel in for the young woman though it was also as easily to be looked upon as for a hireling/problem solver-type of individual that it surely would be profitable for their career. For her, there was a struggle as her moral fibers of virtue and good nature began to shout out in her head; for if she could stop tragedy to consume other lives she would save others from the misery she felt every night when the nightmares called out to her like a frightful spirit. “Nobody deserves to be overthrown by tragedy nor misery.” – she kept telling herself such thoughts to make sure she didn’t devolve into a narcissitic hiresword that cared only for coin and their survival; hireswords that she had heard that ignored bandit attacks because there was no coin in helping a hamlet from getting raided and pilfered or even those hireswords that would join the bandits on such raids. By the Coin and not by the soul was such a terrible way to live life.

For five years she traveled across Valeal; helping who she could while getting by on her personality and actions. For some villages, hamlets, and outposts the name “Edessa Thorne” has some significance despite her small actions, but those who suffer remember their friends. While seen as not entirely selfless, she has helped where others would turn them away with a glance that reeks of the phrase: “That’s a shame.” – She wants to help people and survive doing it, but sometimes she thinks her small actions have gotten rescinded as soon as she leaves these settlements. She hasn’t really found her purpose in life as this Valealian “ranger”. But given the political and socio problems growing in the world… something will absorb her eventually.

Footnotes

65 years ago: Edwic Devain is born of a common house of Gorgon.

33 years ago: Edwic Devain is knighted.

24 years ago: Ilayna Blackwater is born of the noble ruling house of Gorgon.

18 years ago: The Kingdom of Gorgon joins the war against Malfear.

16 years ago: Thomas Briar, the then spymaster and regent of the Kingdom of Gorgon begins a coup d’etat against the Blackwater dynasty.

16 years ago: Ser Edwic escapes Gorgon in order to safeguard Ilayna Blackwater.

16 years ago: Lord Blackwater withdraws from the war to return home to combat Thomas Briar’s treachery.

16 years ago: Ser Edwic creates the identities of Mauldin Thorne and Edessa Thorne, goes into hiding.

15 years ago: The coup in Gorgon ends with the death of Arthur Blackwater, defeated in battle at King's/Traitors pass. Thomas Briar claims the Gorgon throne.

5 years ago: Edwic Devain/Mauldin Thorne dies.

Name: Tegan, Warden of the Magi

House Name: None (Note: Her family back home has taken up the surname Stormgaze since her departure and while she keeps in contact with them, she does call herself by that name.)

Age: 29

Appearance: Tegan has a body consistent with the warrior culture of her people. She is tall, standing just short of six feet while wearing her sturdy boots. Being female, she lacks the bulk most commonly associated with a Guardian or other soldier types, but instead the muscles along her limbs and torso are long and each group well defined to compliment the fast, agile style in which she needs to fight to compensate facing foes commonly stronger than herself. Her face is oval with only the slightest protrusion of cheekbone visible beneath sun-darkened skin and her chin is small and rounded. A nose that looks to have been broken and then realigned on several occasions sits beneath intense eyes the color of rolling thunderclouds and hard with experience few others in the Circle can claim. Tegan’s high brows make it easy for her to vividly express her emotions, though they rarely stray from their crooked lift that accompanies her normal, lackadaisical smile. She enjoys letting the loose waves of her light, ashen brown hair fall around her shoulders while residing within the Tower but will almost always twist it into a thick braid while traveling, training, or on the hunt for feral mages. She has quite the impressive collection of battle scars, ranging from the most minor of blade nicks to a few scores longer than her forearm. The fingers on her left hand were crushed during an altercation and she did not have the luxury to have them set properly or allowed time to heal. As a result, most of the digits on that hand have limited dexterity, while the pinky and ring fingers don’t function at all and are noticeably misshaped.

The Guardian claims a total of four whole outfits for herself: two sets of training clothes which consist of a pair of black breeches, a red tunic with crest of the Wardens sewn on it in black thread; a set of worn, though well-oiled and cared for, leather armor made for training and traveling; and her full regalia plate armor in the style of the Wardens complete with helm and shield. It’s not uncommon to see her wearing a simple black leather glove on her left, injured hand. Tegan will never be seen without her slim, meticulously maintained longsword belted to hang doggishly off her left hip, while a dagger stays sheathed on the right.

Homeland: Ferros

Race: Guardian

Spells: Ritual of Sealing

Bio: Tegan was the fifth and youngest child of her family and born in the Ferronian capital of Snowhearth, high within the mountains that covered most of kingdom. Her father, Drest, was a royal guard who had left the mentorship of the Ivory Tower before his fifth year of Guardian training and her mother, Isolde, was a seamstress who worked at a shop specializing in finery. The family lived in one of the upper districts of the city and earned enough of an income to provide a comfortable lifestyle for their brood, and a young Tegan never found herself in want.

Being the youngest of five had its own brand of hardships, however, her three older brothers and sister constantly warring despite their mother’s chastising. Tegan often got the brunt of any sibling rivalry, being the baby of the family, and had to quickly grow thick skin and fast wit. This helped her greatly when she grew a little older and was allowed out of the house on her own. Being a society who celebrated the warrior so much, it was very common for children in Snowhearth to carry little wooden swords tucked in their belts and duel with one another; Tegan was no exception. When not occupied by house chores or by sword lessons given by her father or eldest brother, Cadeyrn, the young girl was often running with a small pack of practice sword wielding children like herself, fighting for honor and to prove her skill. She routinely came home at night with a bloodied face and bruised body, sometimes crying and burying her face into her mother's skirts but more often than not with a proud grin plastered across her face.

When she reached the age of thirteen Tegan, like all her siblings except her sister before her, began her official training as a soldier of Ferros. She would follow in her father’s footsteps. She would learn to better wield a sword, to shoot a bow, to wage war. The strict discipline of her betters and the harsh training would shape her into a formidable fighter. Then she would volunteer to leave for the Ivory Tower and learn to control the magical power she knew she was capable of wielding but never had. After four years there she would return home a warrior mage and, unlike her father, if she had grown strong enough under the tower’s tutelage she would earn her place among the most famous heroes of Ferros. The challenge of it rang heavily in her ears and the honor of it called to her young, ambitious heart.

Tegan would not have to wait long for either a challenge or her chance to earn honor. For it was not but a few months after she had completed her initial training as a soldier that the hordes of Malfear surged into their kingdom. When the armies of Ferros pushed past the Stoneguard Mountains to face the enemy, Tegan was among them. She was young and fast and so for the first two years of the war was made a messenger. It was no easy work and she often found herself scrambling through a gauntlet of swinging weapons and arrows arching down from the sky as she raced from one side of a battlefield to the other with only a shortsword to defend herself. Luckily she was largely overlooked by most of the combatants and managed to come back from errands mostly unscathed.

By the time she was sixteen Tegan was serving as a sword-arm on the frontlines of the war. They had had so many casualties that the military had been stretched thin and even younger children than herself were being conscripted into the army to perform the jobs Tegan and her training mates once had. The older children were needed to fight. Now she was a part of battle after battle, only pure luck and her own tenacity allowing her to survive. Through jungles, on the sides of mountains, and in the midst of valleys she waged war with Malfear’s army. She forged through what seemed like unending seas of the undead and barbarians time and time again. So many of her brothers and sisters in arms she had lost that Tegan often wondered why she was left standing. People so much better than herself -stronger, faster, smarter- had perished, yet she remained. Remained to step over their corpses to push back the enemy, to hold them as they screamed out in their death throes, to bear their bodies to the huge funeral pyres, to carry on for them.

Well before the war was over did the young woman give up on the concept of fighting for her own honor; the childish notion that it had been. It was for the men and women who stood with her, shoulder to shoulder, in which she fought. Her ethos became one of loyalty and camaraderie, to honor those who sacrificed everything for her and being willing to do the same for them. She grew better for them as she no longer sought glory for herself. And so, five years after she had marched from the kingdom’s capital, Tegan celebrated the victory of Ferros over Malfear’s horde, not as the foolhardy child soldier she had been, but as the adept warrior she had become.

When she returned home to Snowhearth for the first time in five years Tegan went immediately to her family’s house. There she found her mother and elder sister, Treva, and the three of them embraced, and cried, and rejoiced in their reunion. The three women waited several weeks for the men of the family to return from the wars, after all there were still some skirmishes and pocketed groups of resistance that could be keeping them from home. Every time the watch would sound horns to announce the arrival of another group of soldiers Tegan would climb up the ramparts to watch them march doggedly home. Then she would scamper back down and walk among them as they filed into the gates in an attempt to find one of her brothers or father. But only Cadeyrn ever returned. After a month where no horns sounded at all did Tegan finally accept the death of her two brothers and father. She didn't know if she'd ever learn when or how they had perished.

Still wanting to follow the path her father had, it was then that Tegan decided to make her way to Valeal to seek out the Order of Magi. She was perhaps one of the first Ferrorians to come to the Circle for training since the five year war (and probably one of the last) and it was no surprise that the young warrior chose the path of the Guardian. Already a veteran of combat and skilled with her sword, Tegan only became better as her instructors chiseled away at the rough fighting style she had used to survive full scale battles and refined it into one of precision and finesse. She was always at the top of her class, though she was generally not well liked among her male peers from rival nations despite their instructors’ insistence that all within the tower were equals. During the first few years of her training and while all the students acclimated themselves to a new way of thinking she had few friends, though those she did have she considered good ones. She would also often find solace in writing back and forth with her family back home, or even speaking with the Archmage of Ferros on occasion to get news of Snowhearth.

On the first day of the fifth year of her training, Tegan’s magic was taken and her life bound to the Circle. Though not her original intent upon entering the tower she did not regret the decision to stay. Though her brother had amassed himself a small holding and influence with the royal Ferrorian family, becoming a military advisor and taking up the surname Stormgaze in the process, there was no life for her in Snowhearth any longer. She had come to see the magi and guardians her family, albeit a crazy one, and had grown accustomed and contented with her life.

Her last year of training was turbulent. The tempo of the training grew even more rapidly and the hunting feral magi was not the type of fight in which she was accustomed. But luckily her skills in swordsmanship and uncanny ability to survive even the most brutal of situations saw that she gained full acceptance into the order of the Guardians. Her very first mage partner was one she knew well, as they had begun their training at nearly the same time within the Circle. Abe was a Gorgonite, though more tolerable than most the others, and they had even become close friends throughout their studies. More importantly, though, was that they made fantastic partners. They had quickly gained a reputation among the Circle as one of the go-to teams for the most dangerous hunts, as their efficiency and the level in which their fighting styles were in tuned with one another was something few other pairs could master.

However, nearly six months ago the two had been ambushed by a fairly large contingent of knights from the Order of the Rose while returning from an unfruitful feral mage hunt. Abe did not survive the encounter; Tegan shouldn’t have either. They had fought well, but were simply outmanned and could not hold up against so many well-trained combatants. Tegan’s memory of the fight was fuzzy at best, but she did recall seeing an arrow down her partner while she wobbled on unstable legs and used her waning strength to swing her sword ineffectively at the knights that circled her like vultures. After that, she was told that she had been left for dead by the Rose knights, but had been happened upon by fellow members of the Circle before she had a chance to actually die.

After having a little more than a month’s time to heal and rest from her injuries, Tegan returned to her normal duties. Or at least, as normal as they could be without Abe. She has not yet been assigned a new, permanent mage partner, however Tegan often supplements teams going out on hunts or other dangerous missions where having another sword would be beneficial. She can also often be found teaching swordplay techniques to both Guardian and Mage trainees as well as their full-fledged counterparts in the circle. With the rumors saying that Malfear has dragged himself back out of whichever hell he’d been sent to, and constant urgings via letters from her family in Ferros that she abandon the Circle and return home like the Archmage had, Tegan is willing to do just about anything to keep her mind and body busy.

Name: Alaric Vastille

Gender: Male

House Name: Vastille

Age: 19

Appearance:


Homeland: Gorgon

Race: Mage

Spells:
Hydromancy- Alaric's specialization in water magic comes from growing up near the Gorgon coastline, where the sea can be life or death, and very often both. As such, he naturally gravitated toward manipulating it with his magic, and he's gotten quite good at it.

Constructs- In particular, he's very adept at creating and controlling Water Constructs, with his favorite being a large serpentine dragon that he uses for both attack and defense.

Bio:
If you were to ask any of the noble families in Gorgon of the Vastille family, you'd get a number of mixed responses. The family is most known for providing Officers in the Gorgon Navy, many of them the finest Captains of their time. While this makes them potent protectors of the nation on the high seas, on land it makes them nearly nil. Thus, when the civil war broke out between the Briars and Blackwaters, the Vastilles were largely unable to assist either side. As a result, they did the only thing they could do- they continued to lend what naval support they could to the war against the barbarians, often transporting lifesaving supplies to the forces of Valeal. Thus, their reputation at home was divided; some agree that their course of action was correct, and that doing what they could for the greater good was for the best, while others declare them unloyal to one or both kings for not sending their support to Traitor's Pass. Through it all, however, the Vastilles stay true to the words of their House; "Safe harbor amidst any storm." Or, as the patriarch often translated, "The storm cares not for the color or creed of those in its path. The port should care just as little for such things." Any who come to the Vastilles seeking aid or assistance would have it if it could be, and that mentality has rubbed off on the middle child of the current generation, Alaric.

While his older brother Tobias is groomed to be the next head of the House and his little sister Lily is taught to be a proper lady, Alaric has by and large been taught the ways of the sea and the wind in the hopes of becoming a captain in his own right. But more than any chart or knot, Alaric has taken his family's philosophy to heart; he makes it his priority to be a rock for those around him, someone who they can rely on to defend them in their time of need. So much so, in fact, that he dreads not being able to protect those important to him, and even moreso he fears needing the protection of others- all because of an incident when he was younger.

During the war against Malfear, the Vastille fleet often served as rescuers for every nation, ransoming survivors from the necromancer's clutches time and again throughout the war. One such rescue was made by Alarcic's uncle, Vardos, as he salvaged a battered group of Ferrosian and Kainian warriors and children from the rocky coast. One of the survivors was an orphan who had lost her entire family. Her name was Kotori, and young though she was, there was a fire within the girl. Vardos took a liking to her, and instead of leaving her to the refugee camps he brought her home and introduced her to his favorite nephew. "This," he told her, "Is Alaric. I've made arrangements for you to be our ward and his right hand as he grows up, so the two of you should try to get along." And so they did. It was unusual at first, as neither one of them was accustomed to such things, but over time Alaric took a shine to the young girl, and as they grew up they were nearly inseparable. One day, however, all of that changed.

It was seven years before. Alaric and Kotori had ventured into the wilderness near the family estate, as they had been wont to for years. They knew it like the backs of their hands, and they saw no need to fear. This time, however, something occurred that they did not expect; a man suddenly appeared before them, brandishing a sword and muttering about betrayal and abandonment of the king. Before any sense could be made of him, he was lunging toward the two, his weapons singing as it tore through the air, barreling toward Alaric. At the last second, however, a force knocked him to the side as Kotori threw herself into him. The blow sent him sprawling, but as he recovered he looked up just in time to watch the assailant slice Kotori's arm off as she took the blow meant for him. As she collapsed, Alaric felt utterly powerless. How could he have allowed such a thing to pass? But, as the man advanced on him again, he found himself unable to do anything, in spite of the rage that broiled within him. Not long after, however, an arrow flew forward and struck the man in the neck, slaying him as one of the sailors under his uncle arrived on the scene. With great haste they carried Kotori back to the family estate. Alaric was told she would survive, but her arm could not be saved. For his part, Alaric was devastated. Not only had he failed his friend, he felt, he had failed his family creed. That was when he made his decision. He had some magical power, that the family was aware of, and in his mind honing it was the only way he would find the strength he needed to live up to his family and overcome his regret. Thus, with a heavy heart, he bid adieu to his home and set off for the Mage's Tower.

Much to his surprise, however, was who arrived the next year, declaring that she was still his right hand, and that if he was set on becoming a full-fledged mage it left her one recourse- becoming his Guardian. Try as he might have, there was no dissuading her, and several years later they both graduated from the Tower, and now roam the world helping those in need and hunting Feral Mages who would do others harm...