Erol Doritar is the second son of a scholarly Kildoran family who pursued a military career against his fathers wishes, and as a result of a disastrous, unauthorized misadventure has spent the last several years as a POW, a slave/gladiator and, more recently, a pirate. Born 16 Vento 2994, in Delfarin, the great capital city of the Kildoran Republic, the 24-year-old has become a skilled fighter. Very good with a gladius and battleaxe, his greatest expertise is with the spear and trident; he also wields a mean net, and knows how to fight dirty.

Standing 5′ 4″ tall, he has a slender but well-muscled build, black hair and hazel eyes, and weighs a solid 140 pounds. He has a wiry strength and sharp reflexes, as well as an above average intellect. His years in the Darikazi arena and the Taruthani Games has left him with a firm grasp of combat medicine, and his months at sea with Darikazi pirates has given him rudimentary sea-faring skills. On horseback, however, he has been compared, unfavorably, to a sack of potatoes.

When Erol was 12 his father, Belin Doritar, a well-respected scholar and teacher, moved the family from the capital to the castle town of Medälk to take up a position as touter to the children of the powerful Senator Aric Kenorda. His mother, Norina Doritar (née Velmin), an artist and poet of some repute in the Republic, was less than thrilled with the move, as was Erol.

Norina’s works of art were much sought after in Patrician homes in Delfarin, and she had been asked to read her poetry at the Opening of the Senate twice – an honor that she has twice declined at her husband’s insistence. Erol believed he was jealous of her success, and disdainful of her poetry, especially. He always saw the move to Medälk as a way for his father to distance his wife from the centers of Kildoran culture and influence.

From that point on, conflict with his father grew stinger and more frequent. Belin expected him, like his older brother, to follow in the family tradition, and become a man of letters and knowledge. But Erol was always more physical and extroverted than cerebral and introspective. He always felt that Evol, his older brother, more than made up for his own scholarly deficiencies – tall, slender, bookish and quiet, he was everything their father wanted and expected in a son. Despite their lack of common ground, or perhaps because of it, the brothers always got on fairly well.

It was the same year that the family moved to Medälk that a Korönian fighting order out of Darikaz, The Red Hand of Pain, seized the Republican keep of Bremkin. This was a shocking blow to the Republic, and full out war was avoided only because the Republic was still reeling from the devastating floods of the previous year, which had severely damaged the capital city and much of the fertile farmland of the Molisan Valley.

Erol were as incensed as anyone at this outrage, and furious at his father when he took a longer view of the event, talking about “the inevitable ebb and flow of the tides of history,” and not taking it seriously (or so it appeared to the young Erol). This was when he first began to rebel against his father’s rule, by taking up the worship of Cael, the Immortal Paladin, rather than Shala, Lady of Wisdom and Knowledge.

When, four years later, the Arushali Earl of Somkari sent armed knights to seize disputed manors along the border, Erol rejoiced when the Republican forces not only repulsed him, but seized the castle of Somkari and the keep at Urdol, gaining a whole new province for the People and Senate of Kildora. It also seemed to put the legions in a position to take back Bremkin Keep with luck and bold leadership.

It was then that he decided to join the Legions, although his first impulsive attempt, at age 16, was rejected – the recruiter didn’t believe the boy was really 20, the legal age to join without parental consent. But two years later he had filled out and bulked up enough to fool them. Running away from home that spring, he was soon a raw recruit in the Topaz Legion based in the fortress town of Olyron, on the Darikazi border.

Near the end of his first year in the legion he was part of an unauthorized attempt to retake Bremkin Keep. An ambitious captain, wishing to show up the great Marshal Satirnus, took two cohorts out on a “training mission,” only to turn aside and invade Darikaz.

He did manage to take the Korönian fighting order by surprise, but unexpected reinforcements from Tovasir doomed the expedition. Most of the legionnaires were killed, and many of the survivors were captured. Since no one knew of any family connections Legionnaire Erol might possess, he was one of the few not eventually ransomed.

After several months in the dungeons of Bremkin he was dragged in chains to the slave market in Tovasir, and there sold by The Red Hand of Pain to the masters of the Taruthani Games. For the next four years he was trained and forced to fight for his life as a gladiator in the bloodthirsty arenas of Darikaz.

In the autumn of 3017 he managed to seize an unexpected chance and escape from the great arena in Izmirk, capital of Darikaz. Hiding in the low, deadly dives of the waterfront, he made the acquaintance of a “freebooter” captain, who was looking for a few good men to fill out his crew. Claiming a bit more knowledge of the sea than he actually possessed (which was none), and bolstered by his demonstrated facility with violence, he was accepted into the crew of the Silverfish.

Unfortunately, life at sea was not all that Erol had hoped for, particularly with a band of pirates. He more than pulled his weight, learning the ways of the ship quickly enough, and his fighting skills made him popular with many of his crew mates. But his unwillingness to kill innocent prisoners did not endear him to the captain or first mate.

When it was Darikazi shipping the pirates preyed on, he managed to quell his scruples – four years of listening to the bloodthirsty crowds at the Games had not made him love the Darikazi any better than he had before. But when they captured and butchered the small crew of an Arushali fishing boat, he drew the line.

Having no desire to return to Darikaz, he eventually decided that being the captain of his own ship might be the best solution to his problems. And there were more than a few members of the crew who agreed that Erol would make a better captain than the one who currently held that post. They began to plot a mutiny.

Unfortunately, not all of Erol’s supporters were entirely trustworthy, and his plans were betrayed to the captain and first officer. Fortunately, the captain’s camp was also possessed of those sympathetic to Erol, and he received warning of the plan to seize him.

It was night and the Silverfish was anchored off the coast of a large island, east of Darikaz. No lights could be seen, and it was a fair swim in unknown waters, but really there was no other choice, cut off as he was from his unready supporters.

With a heavy sigh, he stepped onto the starboard rail, then knifed silently into the dark waters, little knowing that that leap had plunged him into a future that would rock the world…

Devrik Askalan is the bastard son of the Kildoran patrician clan Nordaka. His father has never formally recognized him, so he has always gone by his mother’s Olvânaali clan name. Born 27 Novara 2992, the 26-year-old stand 5′ 9″ tall, with a heavy, well-muscled body weighing in at 180 pounds. Medium complected, he has dark red hair and deep green eyes, and is considered somewhat… plain. It is his voice that attracts the attention, however – deep and grating, like steel on stone, its harmonics causes discomfort to most people. He speaks as little as possible, except around friends, and even then he is abrupt and to-the-point.

He is a superb warrior, especially with the battlesword and spear, and a somewhat indifferent fire mage of the T’ara Kül convocation of Yalva. The reason for this indifference is his pyrophobia, which exists despite, or perhaps because of, his natural affinity for fire. For the past year he has been making his own way in the world as a hired sword, most recently with the mercenary company of the Hand of Vengeance.

His father is Brandis Nordaka, an Equestrian (knight) of the Kildoran Republic. He is an important landholder in the Moralo Province, a stern, humourless man who takes himself very seriously. His mother is Seria Askalan, a Kalathir (warrior woman) of the northern land of Olvânaal. She met Brandis when they were both campaigning against the Firalani tribes in the Savage Mountains. Less forbidding than his father, perhaps, she is no less demanding of her only offspring. Devrik has one much younger half-brother, his father’s heir, Ernell Nordaka. Twelve years Devrik’s junior, his birth was, in part, why his father never recognized Devrik formally. But only in part.

Devrik was born on Akenar Estate, in Moralo Province, in the Republic of Kildora, but his early years were spent in the small town surrounding Thurnok Keep. His mother raised him, with the aid of her sister, for the first 12 years of his life, instilling the hard virtues of the North into the boy… she gave him his first sword when he was 10, and her own father’s keltan (northern dagger) when he went to live at Akenar with his father and his wife.

It was with his Aunt Kathela Askalan that he sat gazing at the stars and learning the Northern constellations. His mother saw to the early training of Devrik’s body, but it was his aunt who nourished his soul and taught him that one could “look beyond the horizon” for unknown truths.

Equar Brandis seemed to be grooming Devrik as his heir for the first two years he lived at Akenar, as his wife had been unable to produce a legitimate one after a decade of trying. He was taught the Equestrian virtues and skills, and his surprising strength made him particularly adept at the battlesword. This was one of the few things the young Devrik did that seemed to please his father, although his father’s wife, Elsbet, remained cold and aloof.

Unfortunately, two things occurred around his 14th birthday that destroyed his chance at legitimacy and a future as a Nordaka: Elsbet finally gave birth to a son; and fires began to break out around the estate. The first was enough to prevent his becoming the heir, although legitimacy was still possible; but when he was accused of setting the fires, even that seemed unlikely.

When a fire broke out one night in the nursery where Elsbet and her infant were sleeping, both were nearly killed. Despite his being the one who raised the house, and carried the baby to safety, suffering smoke inhalation that forever damaged his voice, Elsbet was convinced that Devrik had purposefully set the fire. His father brought in a cantor of Korön, Kirdik Hanol, to examine his son; the man was able to absolve Devrik of willfully setting the fires, but he also claimed that the boy’s innate psionic gift for fire had unconsciously caused them. He called it the “gift of the God,” but Equar Brandis said it left Devrik unfit to be a lord of Kildora and unsafe to have around his family.

The Cantor Kirdik urged Equar Brandis to give his son to the Korönian temple for training as a warrior of the God, but his mother objected vehemently. After a tenday of arguing, during which the youth was kept in a room devoid of combustibles, it was decided to send Devrik to Kerig Chantry, in Darikaz, a joint house of the Yalva and Tykizu convocations of the T’ara Kül. Four months after his 14th birthday Devrik was shipped off, and his father made it clear that his tuition was the last gift to be expect from him. Cantor Kirdik was furious, and for years afterward he would visit Devrik, trying to persuade him to a vocation in the Church, to no avail.

Devrik spent the next ten years at the Kerig Chantry, and they were, on the whole, miserable years. For while he had a natural affinity for fire that excited his early teachers, he had developed a tremendous fear of it as well. More accurately, his fear was of the damage he might accidentally cause by creating fire; this rather severely hampered his lessons and progress as a fire mage.

But those years were not completely bad; Sorvil Wendeth was the most patient of his Yalvani teachers, and the one who best helped him tame his deep-seated fear of uncontrolled fire. Sorvil was the first person who ever believed wholeheartedly in Devrik, and even at the last claimed he would one day realize his full potential.

Ilor Kelskon, a native of Devrik’s mother’s homeland of Olvânaal, was his greatest teacher of the Tykizu martial arts. Knowing Olvânaal only through the tales of mother and aunt, he learned much about his heritage while getting his ass kicked by Vendari Ilor. The master also encouraged Devrik’s arcane studies by promising to make him a battlesword when he was able to fill it with the fire of Yalva, a task he eventually achieved. Ilor also introduced Devrik to the wise woman Mataya, known less charitably to some as the Stinky Hut Hag. She instructed him in the art of Astromancy, building on his early lessons (some of which he didn’t even realize were lessons) with his Aunt Kathela.

Devrik’s best friend during his school years was Sarno Janir, a student of the Tykizu convocation, and a native of Arushal. He started a year after Devrik, and being from Arushal, was a target for the many Darikazi students. After Devrik thrashed several boys, including the hulking bully Bazlo Dornkurl, who had been tormenting Sarno, the two quickly became best friends, and although he finished his apprenticeship two years before Devrik, and returned to Arushal, they have remained good friends, as the vagaries of the Post allow.

When Devrik reached his majority at age 25, he left the chantry to find his way in the world. Most of his teachers, while liking him personally, were disappointed in his performance, and few held out any hope that he would ever progress beyond the rank of Kolori, or journeyman. He soon fell in with a mercenary company, the Hand of Vengeance, led by Colith One-eye, and for more than a year enjoyed the camaraderie and excitement of their work, which was mainly fighting barbarians in the Blackmist Mountains.

Then, in early 3018, while on leave and drinking in a dive bar in the dangerous Northhaven Docks area of Izmirk, Darikazi, Devrik was drugged and kidnapped by pirates, seeking bodies to fill out their crew. And thus began the adventure that would propel him into a future of glory and fame…

Mariala Teryne is a T’ara Kul of the Xavar’na convocation, the school of magic specializing in the powers of mind and spirit. She belongs to the Order of the Violet Eye. Born on 28 Sarnia 2994, at Danoc Manor in Etana Hundred, Thergarshire, in the feudal kingdom of Nolkior , she is 24 years old and in her first year as a Kolori, or journeyman. As is customary, she is expected to travel for at least a year and a day, learning how magic works in the real world, developing new spells, and gathering interesting artifacts for the benefit of her chantry.

Mariala stands 5′ 3″ tall, with a medium build, a medium complexion, dark red hear and hazel eyes. While not especially beautiful, she is far from unattractive, and has  certainly had her share of admirers. Since falling in with Vulk Elida and Drake Dartoff, and later on Devrik Askalan and Erol Doritar, she has grown rapidly out of the shy, somewhat unassuming persona of her school years. She has learned to use her powers in support of her friends in battle, and has begun developing her own unique magics. And given the amount of violence that the Hand of Fortune (as the group has recently taken to calling themselves) seems to find itself immersed in, she has begun to wear a certain amount of armor under her gowns…

Mariala is the unacknowledged bastard of a minor nobleman, Ser Naldaro Danoc, by the female knight Sera Alia Teryne. The two met in 2986, while both were attached to the Army of the Kurikmarch, fighting the fierce northern barbarians called the Firilani. The two fell in love, despite Ser Naldaro’s recent marriage to a considerably older woman, a marriage arranged and forced on him by his father. Naldaro and Alia maintained a sporadic love affair for five years, until Alia became pregnant in 2991.

His wife apparently barren, Ser Naldaro was thrilled at the birth of his first children – twins, a boy and a girl. Alia retired from active duty and accepted his offer to become Bailiff of Ashu Manor, a moderate-sized fief owing to Danoc. Mariala was born three years later, followed by a brother in 2997 and a sister in 3000. Lady Kayla, Ser Naldaro’s wife, was less pleased with her husband’s other family. Each new child felt like a reproach to her own inability to provide an heir. But she knew her duty as a nobel wife, and has endured… while loveless, the relationship on both sides is cordial, and a tacit silence is maintained on the subject of Ashu Manor and its residents.

Ser Naldaro was always as an attentive and doting father, as his duties and responsibilities allowed. His own father, Ser Hardan, as the head of Clan Danoc, has steadfastly refused to allow him to recognize his bastard offspring, in the futile hope yet of legitimate heirs. But for all his glowering disapproval, he couldn’t prevent his son from loving his children. Indeed, for all his grim insistence on proprieties, Ser Hardan himself has been known to unbend so far as to smile on those rare occasions when he is around his grandchildren. When the old man dies, whoever becomes clan head, Ser Naldaro is certain to formally acknowledge his bastard children, allowing them to take the Danoc name and to inherit.

Mariala left her home at the age of 16, when her father paid for her entry into the best Xavar;nai chantry in the region. For several years prior, she had been having increasingly frequent flashes of prescience and clairvoyance, until it became obvious that she had the gift of the T’ara Kul, and would need training. Despite a relatively happy childhood in the country, Mariala was glad to leave the stern discipline of her mother, with whom she had been increasingly in conflict. Sera Alia had little truck with esoteric matters, and little understanding or patience with her daughter’s “dreamy, impractical foolishness.” Nonetheless, they both cried when the day came for Mariala to leave for the journey to Aquina Chantry, on the shores of Dragon Lake.

Seven years of study at the foremost chantry of the Xavar’na convocation has given Marial a very solid grounding in the magics of the mind, and the power of the human spirit. Her natural ability to see the future and perceive the ethereal world, however, while strengthened and somewhat trained, remained only sporadically under her control. On Höl Kopia of 3017, on gaining the rank of Kolori, she left her school behind to begin her journeyman’s year of wandering. Taking boat at Râgnol Keep, she crossed the waters of Drragon Lake to Kar Kolhurn in the neighboring realm of Arushal, seeking the wisdom of an old Vendari (Master) named Edine Taris. Rumor had it that he was adept at the art of prescience, and you hoped he might teach you to better control your own gift.

But he proved an irascible old man, with little interested in training or even speaking to “a child barely weaned from her mother’s teat.” He did, eventually, give in to the point of allowing Mariala access to some of his books, but adamantly refused to be drawn out of his own esoteric studies to even the simplest of questions. In the end, though she gleaned some clues to spells unknown to her and learned something of the theories of foretelling, she left Magister Taris’ sanctum feeling like she’d wasted six tendays of her life.

But during the year-end celebrations of Kristala Va, she met two men who would change her life forever, and start her down the path to greatness…

Drake Bartoff is the nom d’adventure of Draik Bartyne, a mercenary, amateur apothecary, and some-time temple guard for Kasira, Goddess of Luck. Born 11 Kilta 2992, the 26 year old has a wiry build, standing 5′ 6″ tall, with brown hair and hazel eyes, and weighs 146 pounds. Of average looks, he has a pleasant singing voice, and amazing agility and reflexes, the latter of which has served him in good stead in battle. Moderately claustrophobic, he has been dismayed in recent months at the number of times he’s found himself in small underground spaces… a recent violent encounter that turned him to stone for several days was the last straw. He is now retired to his home town of Dür, Nolkior, where he intends to carry on his uncle’s apothecary business and conduct his own researches.

Darik was born in the castle town of Dür, in Kinenshire, in the Kingdom of Nolkior, to Ser Athal Bartyne and his wife Lady Elesa Bartyne (neé Semos). Sadly, Lady Elesa died just a ten-day after his birth, of a birthbed fever. Dartik and his older brother Alakor spent their early years at Cleme Manor, the fief their father held in the nearby countryside. Though their father, as a knight of the Caelite clerical order The Lord of Paladins, was often away fighting the northern barbarian tribes, it was a generally happy childhood. Draik looked up to and lionized his brother, six years older, and for his part Alakor was always protective of the boy.

This happy life ended when Draik was seven years old. Ser Athal was killed in battle with the Firilani during a skirmish in the Kurikmarch in Kilta 2999. The boys fell under the guardianship of their uncle, Ser Athal’s older brother, Querdon Bartyne. An apothecary in Dürtown, and a recent widower, Querdon had little interest in the boys except as free labor. His rearing of them, as of his own two sons, alternated between neglect and harsh discipline. As they grew older he found uses for them in seeking out the plants he required and for the drudge tasks of the laboratory.

As unpleasant as this was, at least Draik had the love and support of his brother – until the day he disappeared, two years after their father’s death. Querdon seemed surprisingly unconcerned, claiming Alakor had run off, too lazy to face “a man’s work.” But Draik never believed it – his brother had hinted to him in the month before that he suspected his uncle was involved in some shady business, although he was unsure exactly what. Draik was stubbornly convinced that his brother had been murdered for learning the truth – if not by their uncle, than by whatever shadowy men he might be involved with.

It was almost eight years before he learned the truth, when he discovered a note from his brother, long lost and brought unexpectedly to light. Following that clue, Draik uncovered his uncle’s hidden dealing with Ser Danyes Bernan, a local knight who was secretly the head of a Zalik-mal group dealing in illicit drugs. Querdon supplied the group with many of the forbidden plants and extracts they needed. Draik became certain that Ser Danyes had killed Alakor, and that his uncle knew it.

Determined not to suffer the same fate, Draik fled from Dür with the aid of Komnal Julander, a freehold farmer who had been friends with Ser Athal and out of remembrance of him had always been kind to his sons. He saw Draik of well provisioned and with a few coins. Vowing to return some day and exact justice on both his uncle and Ser Danyes, Draik headed into the night. When the sun rose again he had become Drake Bartoff, freebooter and adventurer.

During the next eight years he became a mercenary, working both independently and with some of the mercenary companies abroad in Nolkior, Arushal, Darikaz and the Republic. The first, and most important was the Hand of Vengeance, where he met the man who would become both mentor and friend, Colith One-eye. Taking him under his wing, training the raw 17-year-old  boy, he saw to it that the boy learned the skills to survive in a hard world, despite not being a natural warrior. Eventually Colith sent Draik off to another company, and from there he became a body-guard to a tent maker in Kamdisol, Kornun Tayarte.

His most recent job was as a Temple Guard at the Lothkir temple of Kasira, the Goddess of Luck, in Arushal. There he met a young noble scion, Vulk Elida, who was training to become a cantor. Over the last couple of years the two became close friends, and when Vulk left the temple to begin his mendicant year as a newly anointed cantor, Drake left with him. This was due in equal parts to a desire to protect his friend, and out of boredom with the life of a temple guard.

Vulk’s first commission was to deliver a vital message to the Earl Savartim at Kar Kolhurn on the shores of Dragon Lake, even though it was late in the year. There, during the year-end celebrations of Kristala Va, they met a very nice young scholar, Mariala Teryne, whom they convinced to accompany them south to Savartim before the snows began in earnest. Little did any of them realize then what a fateful meeting it was, or that something great had begun…

Vulk Elida, of Clan Elida, is a newly consecrated Cantor of Kasira, the Immortal Lady of Luck. Born 5 Turniki 2994, on Elidar Manor, in Thaldant Hundred, Ulionshire, in the Kingdom of Arushal. He is a very handsome man, standing 6′ 1″ tall, with a medium build, weighing 180 pounds, with auburn hair and blue eyes. Since his consecration in the summer of 3017 into the Third Circle of the Mysteries, he is able to perform all the rituals of that rank that he has been taught. He is a fair hand at providing field first aid, amplified by his native healing talent. He has learned many tricks to compensate for his colorblindness, and his skill at heraldry is fairly good, as is his grasp of Arushali folklore. He has some knowledge of the law, and a minor skill at drawing, especially maps. Quite fond of fishing, he also loves to practice tricks of legerdemain, although he is still far from good. He is trained in the sword, but is a rather indifferent swordsman. His skill at unarmed combat, however, is excellent, especially in defense.

Though born in the country, Vulk was raised mainly in the walled town of Virzon, the major settlement of Ulionshire and the third largest town in the kingdom. He spent many summers at Elidar Manor with his siblings and cousins, under the watchful eye of his Aunt Ulina. Four years ago, on the death of his grandfather, she was selected by the Clan Council, with the support of his father, as the new Clan Head.

His father is Tulath Elida, the Herald for the City of Virzon, and Vulk wished to follow in his footsteps. But his color blindness made that difficult, leading him to join the Cult of Kasira, Herald of the Immortals, after being rejected by the Violet Mantle Palace of Arms. As many clerics of Kasira also find employment as heralds, this seemed his best option for pursuing his dream. Currently in his mendicant year, when cantors newly consecrated into the Third Circle of the Mysteries are required to wander the world and try their luck, Vulk has gained several boon companions with whom he has shared his adventures.

As the Herald for the City of Virzon, Vulk’s father represents the Lord Mayor and the Council in official business outside the city, maintains the Citizen Rolls, and conducts the census of the lands under the city’s control every five years. His mother is Lena Elida (nee Hargalen), of Nolkior. She met Tulath when he was a young herald for the Earl of Devok, visiting Baron Carialis at Westrox Keep in Nolkior. Being from a good, if minor, family in Eichel Manor in Ambaris Hundred, Daretshire, she was an acceptable match for Tulath, who fell quickly under the spell of her beauty. They were wed in Virzon on 18 Sarnia 2982.

Vulk has three older sisters, one older brother, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. He also has 11 nieces and nephews, as well as 11 first cousins. He’s not particularly close with his three older sisters, except for Kalyn, who is a cantor of Shala in Lothkir. His older brother Naldaro was recently knighted and is a Captain of the City Guard in Virzon. He knows little about the lives of his younger siblings, as he left for the Temple in Lothkir at age 16, when they were still quite young. In the last eight years he’s visited the family only a few times a year, although various combinations of relatives have visited him in the big city fairly regularly.

Vulk and his friend Drake, formerly a Temple Guard, finished a commission from the Temple in Lothkir at the very end of 3017, delivering an important document to the Earl of Savartim at Kolhurn Keep on the shores of Dragon Lake. Late in the year as it was to be traveling, the weather had been good and they had no trouble getting so far north. Wanting to to return south as soon as possible, however, hoping to find a lead on a suitable position as a herald, they planned to set out immediately after the Kristala Va celebrations of the new year.

It was during those celebrations, however, that they met a pleasant young female scholar, Mariala Tyeryne, and convinced her that traveling south in their company would be safer than on her own, and more interesting than a winter in Kolhurntown. Despite a short acquaintance, she agreed. Perhaps she sensed that this chance meeting was something more than chance, that the seed of something great had been planted…