Helathor of Xaranda was an Umantari weapon smith who lived during the Great War, over 500 years ago. He was said to be a quiet man, surprisingly meek and soft-spoken for such a large and powerful man, and for one who made weapons. His weapons, and his swords in particular, were much prized by the small cadre of warriors of the city (for Xaranda was a city of scholarship and learning, not war), as they were said to never break and to always turn an opponents blade just that little extra bit.

When the forces of the Necromancer poured out of the Savage Mountains and pillaged and raped their way south, the city prepared their defenses, which were mostly of magic. The Telnori mages of Xaranda did not despise their warriors, but knew they could not stand alone against the horde that was fast approaching, and so bent all their energies to Great Wards and the creation of Great Beasts.

The city was soon besieged, but the powerful magics of the mages held, and their fierce Beasts even drove away the powerful Demon General, Khanaribas the Corruptor, at least for a time. But they could not defeat the army of Gülvini, savage tribesmen and fell beasts, only hold them at bay. When the the King of Serviana called on the mages of Xaranda for aid to stop the Corruptor, who was laying waste to all the land, they sent their Great Beasts to his aid, knowing that this would weaken their defenses and that the city might fall.

And it did. When the Necromancer’s forces finally breached the wards and walls, there was terrible destruction, looting, raping and death. Many of the citizens of the doomed city fled down the Silvereye, in boats swiftly prepared as the defenses failed; others fled overland to the northwest, where the enemy forces were thin.

Helathor, knowing his city was doomed and his home lost, gathered together as many of his neighbors as he could, especially the children, and told them he knew a secret way out of the city, one that would take them beyond the besieging forces lines. Taking up a battle sword he had just that day completed, he led the fearful group to the city walls, only to find the streets already overrun with Gülvini and savage men.

But Helathor never paused, swinging his great sword at any who blocked their way, and the people who saw it were amazed, for the blade seemed to shine with an inner white light that struck terror in the hearts of the invaders, and even a glancing blow from the blade could send man or beast to a screaming death.

Reaching the secret passage that would lead to safety, Helathor turned and held the enemy at bay, while all his people escaped. When only a handful remained, they being most of the few warriors or fighters he had found, he told them to go also, and to lead the people north to Lairial “where they shall be ever safe from these horrors.” His companions were loath to leave him, but his will was adamant, and they knew the people would need protection on the long road.

Two only stayed at the hidden opening, in the hopes that Helathor would defeat his foes and escape with them. But the city was burning by then, and for every enemy he killed, two more took their place. In the end Helathor was overwhelmed and slain, buried beneath a mountain of his foes… but not a single one who had seen the escape of his people survived him. As the two warriors quietly sealed the passage behind them, they saw that no enemy would come near the now-dark sword of Helathor where it lay near his blood-stained hand… and though it had slain many that night, blade itself seemed untouched by blood or gore.

The warriors did lead the people Helathor had gathered to Lairial, as he had commanded, and the story of his heroic stand and the power of his obviously soul-infused sword was told far and wide. Already people were calling him a saint… but with the horrifying Rape of Lairial less than two years later, where a great many of his surviving friends and neighbors were killed, his legend took a bit of a hit.

Some of the children survived, however, as part of the Lairial Odyssey, and they never lost their faith and gratitude towards their saviour, despite his less-than-perfect prophecy. Years later, after the war was long ended, one of them, Hordel Wolthan, returned to the ruins of Xaranda. There he claimed to find the Sword of Helathor still laying where it had fallen from his dead hand, unrusted and seemingly untouched by time.

Hordel then built a shrine on the spot, and placed the sword within, and from that day forward became a monk devoted to the veneration of St. Helathor. Others eventually joined him, and although they were never very many, and their saint never gained much popularity in the wider world, they maintain his shrine to this very day. And it is said the lingering power of his pure soul keeps the Sword  shining and untouched, and that any who believe and touch the hilt will gain great prowess in battle against evil, most especially the Gülvini.