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Gender
Female

Race
Ascended Human

Age
31

Physical Appearance
Epheria is a woman that stands at five foot ten inches. Her hair is platinum blonde and often kept back in a bun or ponytail with a white gold gryphon hairpin holding her hair back. Her eyes are a luminous whitish gold that glow faintly with holy energies. Her most prominent features are her large angelic wings that span out to eight meters from wing tip to wing tip when fully outstretched. In battle, Epheria is often seen her ornately crafted plate armor. When sitting on the Throne of Gryphonne, Queen Epheria is often wearing a combination of ceremonial light plate and beautiful silks trimmed with silver and gold. On her back, between her wings and running down to her tailbone is a tattoo in black ink written in ancient runes, words of a prophecy spoken long ago that foretold Saint Epheria's coming.

History

ᚨ ᚹᚨᚱ ᚾᛟᛏ ᛟᚢᚱᛋ
ᚠᛟᚱᛖᛁᚷᚾ ᛒᛚᛟᛟᛞ ᛁᚾ ᛟᚢᚱ ᚺᛟᛗᛖ
ᛏᚺᛖᚤ ᚲᛟᛗᛖ ᚠᛟᚱ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛏᚱᛖᚨᛋᚢᚱᛖᛞ ᚤᛟᚢᚾᚷ
ᛟᚢᚱ ᚷᛟᛞ ᛁᚲᚨᚱᛁᚢᛋ ᚲᚺᛟᛟᛋᛖᛋ ᚨ ᛒᛚᛟᛟᛞᛁᛖᛞ ᛚᛟᚡᛖᚱ
ᚺᛁᛋ ᚲᚺᛟᛋᛖᚾ ᛟᚾᛖ, ᚹᛁᛏᚺ ᚷᛁᚠᛏᛖᛞ ᚹᛁᚾᚷᛋ, ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛖᛗᛖᚱᚷᛖ
ᚨᚾᛞ ᛞᛖᛚᛁᚡᛖᚱ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚠᚨᛏᚺᛖᚱᛚᚨᚾᛞ ᛏᛟ ᛋᚨᛚᚡᚨᛏᛁᛟᚾ

The Prophecy of Saint Epheria

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Epheria was like any other young girl in the small mountain kingdom of Gryphonne. She learned the women's trades, was the subject of desire for many amorous young men, and she would attend the Roosting Ceremony to welcome the famous Knights of Gryphonne home after long campaigns of war. To say she was unremarkable was an understatement.

Things changed quickly for Epheria, however, when two kingdoms that shared a border with Gryphonne went to war and pressured Gryphonne into taking a side in order to allow their respective armies to take advantage of Gryphonne's advantageous mountain passes. While Gryphonne wasn't a weak country by any means, his neighbors were far more powerful, both in their military strength and their economies. When Gryphonne declared that they would remain neutral and their passes would be closed to both of their armies, no peak nor valley within Gryphonne's border was exempt from becoming a battlefield in a war Gryphonne had no part in. The strategic value of Gryphonne's mountain passes was too great to pass up, and soon both kingdoms marched their armies across Gryphonne's borders to secure them. In time, the country was split in half as the greater nations became locked in a stalemate over Gryphonne's territory. After the ebb and flow of war saw both sides push deep into the country, only to get beaten back by the other, the passes at the borders of both nations quickly became strong fortresses where they would serve as bastions from which to deploy troops and maintain security on each country's flanks. Foreign troops would march forth from these great fortresses across Gryphonne's land to hopelessly assault the other great nation's fortresses, leaving Gryphonne a war torn nation. The fortresses, with their gates closed and barred, allowed no passage, and Gryphonne quickly fell into an economic depression as crucial supplies couldn't be imported, and their extravagant goods couldn't be exported.

Epheria was eighteen when the capital city of Gryphonne, Cloudsreach, became the next great battlefield. Her husband at the time, a Knight-Captain, led a valiant defense at a crucial gate leading to the inner city before being overrun. Both of the greater nations had made an attempt at the city in order to capture the most treasured items Gryphonne had, the namesake of their kingdom, Gryphons and their eggs. Using highly trained gryphons, the victorious nation at Cloudsreach could simply fly over the impassable mountains and fortresses to strike at the heart of their enemy. Epheria ran up the mountain side, avoiding the soldiers of both greater nations as they sacked her homeland, until she arrived at the gates leading to the inner city. There she found her fallen husband and his ten best men, all killed and trampled under the weight of one of the nation's slave soldiers. Epheria knelt at her husband's side and cried, her hands clasped together in prayer as she begged for Gryphonne's patron god, Icarius, to put an end to the madness. Her prayers were cut short when she heard the heavy rumble of horse mounted knights charging up the hill, soldiers of the other nation racing toward the peak to catch up to the slave soldiers nearing the Gryphon Roost. Epheria heard something, or rather, she felt something. It was a whisper in her bones and her muscles to take up her fallen husband's sword and stand against the cavalry charge alone. She hesitated at first, but then felt another call... Do not be afraid... Stand and fall...

Epheria wrapped her blood soaked fingers around the hilt of her husband's sword and stood with a poor stance, the gleaming tip of the blade pointing at the heavily armored knights and their horses. She didn't stand a chance... The cavalry ran her down, hardly even noticing her there at all. Her body was crushed beneath the trampling horses. After they had passed, she was as indistinguishable as the rest of the bodies strewn about the gatehouse. But from Epheria's perspective, she still stood. She was in a daze. She felt weightless, formless, utterly nihilated. She felt as though she had passed straight through the steel plated horses and remained standing as the initial wave barreled past to head further up the mountain. She turned toward the inner city, but instead of seeing the city, she found herself standing on nothing in the cosmos. Before her was the sun, massive in scale, writhing and swirling as its energies perpetually fueled it.

"ᛖᛈᚺᛖᚱᛁᚨ" a voice said, a bright silhouette of a man emerging from the sun.

"Icarius?! Wh- ho-" Epheria said, her voice breathless.

"ᚤᛟᚢ ᛋᛏᛟᛟᛞ, ᚨᚾᛞ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚠᛖᛚᛚ. ᚾᛟᚹ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᛒᛖᚠᛟᚱᛖ ᛗᛖ. ᛁ ᚺᚨᚡᛖ ᚨᚾᛋᚹᛖᚱᛖᛞ ᚤᛟᚢᚱ ᛈᚱᚨᚤᛖᚱᛋ."

"I don't understand..." Epheria's memory was all just a haze.

"ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛗᚨᛞᚾᛖᛋᛋ ᛖᚾᛞᛋ ᚾᛟᚹ. ᚨᚾᛞ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚨᚱᛖ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛟᚾᛖ ᛏᛟ ᛖᚾᛞ ᛁᛏ." Icarius said as he outstretched his hand.

"Me? How can I? I'm no soldier..." Epheria frowned.

"ᛏᚨᚴᛖ ᛗᚤ ᚺᚨᚾᛞ, ᛖᛈᚺᛖᚱᛁᚨ, ᚨᚾᛞ ᛏᚱᚨᛁᚾ ᚹᛁᛏᚺ ᛗᛖ. ᛏᚱᚨᛁᚾ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚹᚺᚨᛏ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᚠᛖᛖᛚ ᛚᛁᚴᛖ ᚨ ᛚᛁᚠᛖᛏᛁᛗᛖ, ᛒᚢᛏ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛟᚾᛚᚤ ᛒᛖ ᛗᛖᚱᛖ ᛗᛁᚾᚢᛏᛖᛋ. ᛏᚱᚨᛁᚾ ᚹᛁᛏᚺ ᛗᚤ ᚹᛁᚾᚷᛋ, ᚨᚾᛞ ᛚᛖᚨᛞ ᚷᚱᚤᛈᚺᛟᚾᚾᛖ ᛟᚢᛏ ᛟᚠ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛋᚺᚨᛞᛟᚹᛋ ᛟᚠ ᚹᚨᚱ, ᚨᚾᛞ ᛒᚨᚲᚴ ᛁᚾᛏᛟ ᛗᚤ ᛚᛁᚷᚺᛏ. ᛏᚨᚴᛖ ᛗᚤ ᚺᚨᚾᛞ." the god instructed her.

Epheria stared at the hand for a long moment. The closer her hand drew to Icarius', the slower time around flowed. Then her hand fell into his much larger palm, and he took it. In the material world, the dark clouds above the mountain cleared outward as a ray of bright light pierced through and shined over the gatehouse. Epheria's corpse, ruined and broken, elevated from the mud and rose a hundred meters into the air. The fighting around the gatehouse stopped as all looked upon the ascending body. Then a lance of energy beamed down from the sun, carried along by the ray, and engulfed Epheria's body. The force of the sunbeam hitting her threw some onlookers off balance. The flash of light forced people to look away. But when it cleared, there hovered Epheria, resurrected by Icarius' glorious light. Great white wings flapped slowly, effortlessly keeping Epheria aloft in the sky as she looked down at her ruined city and dead countrymen. What was left of her torn clothing was been singed and burned at the edges. In one hand, she carried her fallen husband's sword, and in the other was a spear that any Gryphonnian would recognize as the Spear of Icarius as depicted in the ancient standing stones.

Epheria turned her glowing golden gaze to the mountainside as she saw the cavalry that had ran her down slamming into the back of the slave-soldiers just hundreds of meters before the Gryphon Roost. With a great beat of her wings, Epheria launched herself toward the invaders, the sun bouncing off of her pure white wings and gleaming gold in the orange sky. She alighted between the enemies and the roost and stood alone before the ever advancing cavalry. Not one knight made it past her. She was a whirlwind of strikes and fury as she crossed swords and pierced armor. Her wings allowed her to very quickly change her position and approach at unexpected angles. Those who knew Epheria before her ascension knew that she could hardly swing a fist to save her life, and yet here she was single-handedly fighting off the elite knights of Barallia.

When she was the last one standing, Epheria could hear the thunderous cheer of the Gryphon Knights in the roost behind her. They had returned to the roost to protect the young gryphons once the motive of their enemies became clear. Standing in the towers of the roost were great winged gryphons with plated knights saddled on their backs. They spread their great wings and roared triumphantly as their knight companions urged them to dive from their perches. Epheria took flight at the head of the Dive of Defiance. The counter-attack was fierce, the Knights of Gryphonne galvanized by the appearance of their new saint. Every foreign force that found themselves below the gryphon knights either surrendered or were mercilessly cut down by blade, beak, and claw. Years of oppression and hardship in this foreign war had inspired the vengeance of the Gryphonnian warriors. For every kilometer of their capital city liberated, more Gryphonnian soldiers rallied to the Dive of Defiance and to Saint Epheria.

In under an hour, Cloudsreach had been retaken. Following the battle, Saint Epheria lead the Knights of Gryphonne on a two year long campaign to drive off the forces of both greater nations. Every fortress they came across was easily defeated by the flying knights coming over the mountains. Once they were driven from Gryphonne, Epheria returned to Cloudsreach and was greeted by a thunderous applause. In her absence, statues had been erected in her honor, and she even found herself to be a sort of religious symbol for the Sunlight Ecclesium, Gryphonne's dominant religion which worshipped Icarius. With the war in Gryphonne over, Epheria turned her efforts toward rebuilding the war torn country. The king had died during the final battle of the war, but the people were quick to decide that Epheria should inherit the throne. She was the chosen of Icarius after all, and everyone knew her name from small child to grizzled old veteran. Epheria accepted her country's appointment.

Epheria has held her place upon the Throne of Gryphone ever since. New fortresses were established at the kingdom's borders, this time facing outwards, and people from all over the world have come to see a living saint with their own two eyes. Gryphonne has since become an economic and military powerhouse in its corner of the world, but since Epheria had ascended to the throne, the country has never gone to war since. It promotes a strict policy of neutrality and defense high up in the mountains. But now with the rise of a dark and ancient threat, Epheria must leave the peaks of Gryphonne for the first time in over a decade. She must, because once again, Icarius has spoken to her.

Equipment
Blade of Noblesser
The sword of her late husband, Knight-Captain Hieronymo Noblesser of the Knights of Gryphonne. It is a hand-and-a-half sword with a red hilt, ended in a golden pommel and crossguard. There is a luminous diamond inlaid into the center of the crossguard. The blade is magically enchanted to forever keep its keen edge.

Spear of Icarius
A legendary and fabled weapon crafted by the god Icarius himself. The spear manifested into form when Epheria was resurrected. The spear glows vibrantly in the day, and glows enough to be a source of light at night. The metal of the elongated blade-like speartip swirls with magical fire as though it were a piece of the sun. A strike by the spear of Icarius burns and can potentially ignite victims. Epheria can also fire a beam of sunfire from the spear from a distance.

Abilities
Wings of Icarius
Wings gifted to Epheria by the God of the Sun himself. They grant her the ability to fly.

Holy Magic
Epheria is quite knowledgeable in the arts of holy magic. This magic can be used in a number of different ways, though it is most commonly known to be used for healing or banishing unholy foes. Icarius has taught Epheria how to use solar magic as well, a sub-type of holy magic that channels the energy of the sun. Solar magic is usable only in the day.

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Number
250 Total

20 Flying Cavalry
Knight-Captains in full plate armor
Armed with spears, swords, and shields
Mounted on winged Great Gryphons, all of which are armored
Divided into four squadrons of five

80 Cavalry
72 Knights-Brothers in light plate armor
4 Knight-Captains in full plate armor
4 Knight-Sergeants in full plate armor
Armed with spears, swords, and shields
Mounted on wingless Demigryphs, captain and sergeant Demigryph's armored
Divided into four squadrons of twenty, one captain and one sergeant per squadron

100 Infantry
A combination of dismounted knights belonging to other knightly orders, squires, and regular Gryphonnian armsmen
Knight and squire equipment varies, armsmen armed with swords, spears, and longbows and protected by chainmail and padded leather

50 Support
Stablemasters, blacksmiths, cooks, quartermasters, administrators, spiritual leaders, medical staff, and war council all fall under this group

Specialization
The most notable trait of this regiment is their unique flying cavalry. Their ferocious gryphons allow the Knights of Gryphonne to outmaneuver most hostile forces. They are great for surprise raids. Despite their small numbers, the mobility and strength of the gryphons and demigryphs are a huge force multiplier in favor of the Knights of Gryphonne.

Due to their unique ability to take flight, the Knights of Gryphonne are exceptional in mountainous regions where the terrain is limiting for any ground based force. This also carries over onto any other hard or impassible terrain that most armies would circumvent, allowing for the Knights of Gryphonne to strike at exposed flanks and critical supply lines with ease.

Description
Knights of Gryphonne all wear the heraldry of their nation. Their gleaming armor is covered by a tabard of red and white lined in gold. Their emblem, a sun peaked mountain is centered on the chest of the tabard. Knight-Captains wear either bright red or bright white capes. Sergeants and up have winged helmets. Knights of Gryphonne wield hand-and-a-half swords with shields or cavalry spears with a longsword sidearm. In more recent history, some Knights of Gryphonne have begun to experiment with crossbows to be able to strike from the sky without ever swooping or landing.

The rank and file armsmen that support the Knights of Gryphonne are equipped in a standard fair of padded leather and chainmail, and they'll wield common martial weapons found in the regular forces of most armies. The padded leather makes the regular troops a muddy brown when amassed, but their shoulders bear the red and white colors of Gryphonne.

History
The Knights of Gryphonne are famous purely for the beasts they ride on. They are a small order of knights as the winged and highly intelligent Great Gryphons are difficult and rare to breed, and demigryphs are much more difficult to train because of their more feral nature. Due to the difficulty of breeding gryphons of any variety, those inducted into the chivalrous order are thoroughly vetted and they all often have a prior reputation. Most Knights of Gryphonne originally hail from many of the country's lesser knight houses, ones that are more akin to knightly houses of other parts of the world.

Before the Foreign War in Gryphonne, the Knights of Gryphonne would often march out to fight off hordes of orcs and goblins, hillman tribes, or encroaching nations trying to exploit the resources found within Gryphonne's mines. A handful of minor wars have given the Knights of Gryphonne a well respected reputation and an air of notoriety for their exotic tactics which make full use of their steeds' unique abilities. The Knights of Gryphonne are the country's pride and symbol of independence.

During the Foreign War, the Knights of Gryphonne set out to observe the battles of two greater nations to ensure their bloodshed and carnage wouldn't bring harm the Gryphonnian people. Unfortunately, the rich landscape of Gryphonne's lowland valleys and abundance of gold and precious stones in the mountains made Gryphonne a highly coveted stretch of land, and the knights would unfortunately be forced into defensive battles to keep the two larger nations from stealing their resources. The Foreign War led to the loss of nearly eighty percent of the knightly order, and even after twelve years of peace, the Knights of Gryphonne haven't been able to fully recuperate their numbers. Still, they are a proud order, and they are staunch protectors of independence and peace. Despite that, many have learned not to incur the wrath of the Knights of Gryphonne, lest they fall victim to vengeance from above.

Country


A mountainous landscape situated in the western reaches of the continent. Gryphonne is still out of reach from the darkness for now, but already the country has begun to fortify and prepare for the impending doom. Luckily, the mountains serve as natural barriers, putting Gryphonne in an excellent position of defense. With impressive fortresses guarding the passes and entrances to the mountain roads, Gryphonne will stand in the darkness for a long time yet to come.

The people of Gryphonne are sturdy. Given the natural landscape, most Gryphonnians are adept climbers and miners. Those who grow up in the mountain valleys farm and provide wheat to the nation as a whole. Hunting is common in the wilds of Gryphonne, with many hunters resorting to falconry to find their quarrels. The high altitudes of the nation have made the people naturally resistant to biting colds, as the winters in Gryphonne are unforgiving and the storms are relentless. The people refer to Gryphonne as the Fatherland.

Their architecture consists mainly of stone harvested from their great rock quarries. The capital city, Cloudsreach, occupies the gentler slope of Gryphonne's largest mountain, Mount Icarion. Some portions of the city are even built into the mountain, and there is a sizeable undercity mostly inhabited by dwarves. Gryphonne has many tribes of savage hillmen that often raid the valley towns and villages. Goblins and other greenskins come out in the summer and spring seasons to raid at night.

As suggested by its name, Gryphonne is the home of the Gryphon, large apex predators that are a cross of large cats and birds of prey. The flying species of gryphons, Great Gryphons, are very rare and noble creatures. They possess a burning intelligence that is on par with humans. The more common demigryph is wingless and more feral. But their bestial nature does not mean they are stupid animals. On the contrary, Demigryphs are also quite intelligent, and they thrive in pack societies like wolves. Demigryphs are large and strong enough to be used as steeds as well, and they are often bred and rigorously trained by the Knights of Gryphonne.

The patron god of Gryphonnian society is Icarius, the God of the Sun and the Sky. The nation's church, known as the Sunlight Ecclesium, worship only Icarius. Their cloth of faith is red and gold, and they worship at midday when the sun is highest in the sky. The Summer Solstice marks the Gryphonnian New Year. The faith of the Sunlight Ecclesium reaches out to nearly seventy percent of the population, and those who don't necessarily worship still respect the Ecclesium and partake in their holidays.

Ruins of towns, cities, and fortresses dot Gryphonne's landscape. Remnants of the Foreign War which brought the country to the brink of collapse. Saint Epheria's emergence and following liberation of the country has since saved the country and returned it to a position of strength. Statues can be found all around the country of Gryphonne's living saint and ruling queen. Taverns and town centers are often occupied by bards singing tales of Saint Epheria's exploits.