Sosha Irontail Sosha Irontail is a young Aramon of about fourteen years old. Her father, William Irontail Soulblade, was apparently killed before she was born, and she has no idea who he is. She also never knew her mother. As a baby, she was found by the Sisterhood of the Sun in the city of Dayport, and raised in the Sisterhood's orphanage. Raised like a human girl, several key points of her race's culture are missing from her background. She has no real idea about Aramon customs or courtesies, and has never heard any Aramon legends. She has no idea what the markings on her tail mean, and hasn't made the link between her tail's Family Crest and that of her father, the legendary Azure Paladin. Upon hearing the legend of William Irontail Soulblade's deeds, and the story of the angelic runeblade Azurewrath, Sosha has made it her mission to find the six shards and the hilt of the legendary weapon and reassemble it, thus completing her father's legacy and achieving her birthright. Maria Swiftblade Maria Swiftblade is a young Aramon in her early teens, likely a year or so younger then Sosha. She first encounters Sosha on the road, and they travel together for a short time until Maria hitches a ride and moves on her way. The daughter of the Felana bandit king, Orochi Kunau, and an Aramon woman, she seems to live in her own fantasy world in which she's a princess of true royalty. Prim and proper, and a little full of herself, Maria is fully educated in Aramon culture and history, very unlike Sosha. As Maria is half Felana, she has less then a quarter the upper body strength of an Aramon her size. Due to this, she can't effectively wield a sword in true Aramon style. Instead, she carries a rapier, and fights in a fashion no Aramon has ever seen, striking with the weapon one-handed. Adept at parrying blows in a fashion that leaves more traditional swordsmen off-balance, she capitalizes easily on any weakness. This style of swordsmanship, called fencing, is unlike anything seen before, and cannot be effectively countered by traditional Aramon swordplay. From the beginning, Maria is under the guidance of Meerkah. Having been raised by the Aramon anti-paladin all her life, she has had a sheltered and proper upbringing. With Meerkah to instruct her in Aramon law and culture, she has a deeper knowledge in customs then most others her age. He also made sure she understood that he is not her father, and she has met with her real father on occasion when Meerkah visited the Bandit King's city for supplies. It's rumored she has feelings for the Dark Lord acting as her guardian, but these feelings are neither confirmed nor apparently reciprocated. William Irontail Soulblade William Irontail Soulblade is a legend amongst Aramon culture, the most recent in a long line of Azure Paladins, those Aramon knights brave and just enough to be chosen by the angelic runeblade Azurewrath; the young Irontail spent a majority of his teenage years adventuring. For many years, he traveled alone, from town to town, aiding with troubles where he was able. One fateful day, William helped a young human man with some bandits. This human was Jacob Greymalkin. The pair became friends and partners immediately, and spent the next several years adventuring together. It is on one of these quests that the two stumbled upon the Holy Keep, and after wading through skeletal undead, William uncovered Azurewrath's resting place. Here, he was chosen as the newest Azure Paladin, and here he earned his Third Name, Soulblade. According to the story, William and Jacob recruited other great warriors from all across Balrond - Bree Magdelwindys, of the Racnan, Rheln of the mysterious Felana, and Tessa Leafdancer joined the pair. Together, these five broke through the lines of demons and undead surrounding the Darkening, and challenged the dark wizard Morgoth and his plans of conquest. While Jacob, Bree, Rheln, and Tessa broke into the Black Spire, William volunteered to remain behind and protect the entrance. This is where the legend claims he met his end, at the hands of a greater demon - A Balrog - summoned by Morgoth to try and do away with the bearer of Azurewrath. As the legend goes, William and the demon fought a grueling battle. This ended with the Paladin's victory, though in its dying throes the Balrog succeeded in shattering the blade of Azurewrath. Left with naught but his fists in the face of Morgoth's undead army, the legend claims he went down fighting. His body was never found, just heaps of smashed zombies and skeletons, heads and bodies crushed. It's notable that when the heroes left the tower, there was not a single creature, alive or undead, surrounding the tower. The legends highlight William's bravery and state how he is proof of the noble nature of the Irontail clan. He was an amazing man, and a good friend. The others depended on his strength of character as well as his strength of body. Shortly after his death, the party disbanded. It's rumored that Rheln was a lover of his, and that she is Sosha Irontail's mother, which might account for the young Aramon's wiry build. However, others blame Sosha's build on an improper upbringing, rather then impure breeding. Meerkah Shieldshatter Swordbreaker, the Dark Lord, the Anti-Paladin In the earliest ages of Balrond, when the mistakes of the gods were first placed there, the Aramon were among them. Even as the culture developed - Rapidly, under their creator's advice - there was the temptation of evil. Meerkah is one of the first few who answered this call of darkness. Speculation put the time Meerkah first turned to evil as around twelve thousand years ago. As one of the original brood of Aramon, it's believed his first evil act occurred somewhere between ten thousand and fifteen thousand years in the past. Legends about him persevere all throughout history, spaced some thousand years apart. Each atrocity more horrible then those before it, each massacre more violent and bloody then the last. Ten thousand years ago, it's said, Meerkah created the Split Peak when he fought Tyron Steelwill Braveheart at the summit, and missed with a downward stroke of his sword. Tyron, one of the earliest documented wielders of the angelic runeblade Azurewrath and thus the first Azure Paladin, managed to kill Meerkah in this particular legend. The legend ends with Tyron separating Meerkah's body into twelve parts and concealing them throughout the land of Balrond. The Anti-Paladin's massive sword took four horses and a stonework cart to carry off the mountain. The black blade could not be broken or melted down, and so the decision was made to lay the weapon whole into the foundations for Graystone Castle. Tyron agreed to this act, separating Meerkah's legacy so that he may never again plague the world with his evil. It's said that Meerkah is the one who, single-handedly, razed the Aramon citadel Graystone to the ground some thousand years later. This citadel had stood against the decaying hordes of The Darkening for centuries prior, and its collapse heralded a bloody undead invasion into the Aramon and Human lands of Balrond. According to legend, the Anti-Paladin led his festering army in a foul wave through the Human lands, threatening even the Skirrl lands to the far north. It's said Meerkah was killed by a lucky Ballista shot during the siege of Balsoth, the Human capital. As the legend goes, when Meerkah fell, the Undead lost their will to fight, and the entire army faded to dust around him. Just when minstrels began to forget the story of Graystone, some thousand years later, Meerkah made another appearance. When the Army of Light marched into the Dryreach desert, hunting for a sect of cultists attempting to invoke the God of Chaos, he appeared like a ghost. The single survivor's account - Still available in libraries today - claims he tore a bloody swathe through the entire army, crushing rank after rank, wielding a massive sword as though it were no larger then a kitchen knife. Meerkah disappeared again after this, and wasn't seen again for another millennium. The cult, as it turns out, summoned not a true god, but the White Beast of Caerbannog, and was summarily destroyed by fang and claw. Meerkah's next documented appearance in history was during the Mage Wars, some three thousand years before Sosha's adventure. It's known that Aramon are highly vulnerable to magic, but legends claim that the most powerful spells, the most knowledgeable mages, couldn't even faze him. Several accounts claim he simply absorbed the magic and kept coming, indiscriminately tearing soldier, mage, and citizen apart with his huge weapon of choice. Morgrim, a Human necromancer who at one point hired Meerkah as a guardian, wrote in his journals: The Aramon's sword, black as pitch and sharper then any razor, would call magic into itself and away from its master, thus protecting him from harm. - This could mean only one thing: Meerkah's sword is made of Adamas, a rare and dense metal used by mages to control potent spells, due to its ability to absorb any excess energy. However, no mage would use more then a single needle, which had in it the weight of a steel ingot. A sword the size of Meerkah's must have weighed half a ton if not more were it made of pure Adamas. After the Mage Wars, Meerkah vanished once more into the fog of history, appearing again during the Ithica conflict. Ithica, an island chain off Balrond's coast, became host to a aggressive kingdom of Felana who had organized into a political power. Having poor military strength, the kingdom enlisted the aid of mercenaries to supplement their army's ranks. Meerkah, it's said, was enlisted as one of the country's generals. The legends claim it took the entire United Army - A mixed force of Aramon, Felana, and Humans numbering in the millions - to kill him, with casualties in the hundreds of thousands. Accounts claim Meerkah himself was responsible for more then three quarters of the numerous slain warriors. After Meerkah's death, the United Army crushed Ithica, and then disbanded in the years following, through disputes and distrust. With tales of Meerkah's death spreading through Balrond, the oldest legends resurfaced. Tales of how he destroyed the Brotherhood of the Sun sanctum some eight thousand years ago, scattering the Aramon paladins all over Balrond. The valley in which Meerkah was killed, in the years following, changed from a barren waste to a vibrant land constantly dotted with Morning Blooms. However, the flowers in this one valley bloom all day and all night, not just in the morning. Scholars have termed this strangely behaving breed of Morning Bloom the 'Mourning Bloom'. Accurate counts, every year, show that there is always the same number of flowers every year, in spite of seed or spore. Research has revealed that this number exactly matches the number of soldiers killed by Meerkah during the Ithica Conflict, in this very valley. The valley has been named 'Gravetide' by the Aramon, and is regarded as a sacred place. Meerkah's most recent appearance, some hundred and fifty years prior to Sosha Irontail's birth, held none of the violent fanfare from his past manifestations. Rather, he came quietly. During the Morgoth incident in which Jacob Greymalkin and his gathered allies dispelled the evil necromancer, Meerkah served the man as a general who worked from the shadows rather then in the open as in the past. It was Meerkah who subverted the Baelrog used by Morgoth to distract the latest in a long, proud line of great Aramon Azure Paladins - William Irontail Soulblade. When Jacob dispelled Morgoth, disappearing in the sphere of magical light alongside the wizard, Meerkah left the Black Tower. Following the incident, Meerkah appeared in the Felana bandit capital as a mysterious cloaked Aramon. There, he spoke with the Bandit King, Orochi Kunau, and 'convinced' him to give up his newborn daughter by taking the life of his Aramon wife, Tabitha Swiftblade Fireblood. With the infant Maria Swiftblade in his care, Meerkah Shieldshatter Swordbreaker vanished into the night. That was thirteen years ago. He was never seen again. - The reason why Meerkah has lived so long is, in fact, because he hasn't lived. Following his initial turn to darkness, Meerkah began serving one of the darker gods lording over Balrond - Soukah, god of pain and death - doing this god's dirty work in the mortal realm. Each time he's appeared, he's followed a mission to kill and destroy until he himself is either destroyed by his enemies, or lives until age claims him. Every thousand years or so, the dark god sends his spirit back to Balrond, refashions his body, and sets him to work. Its widely believed Meerkah founded the Shieldshatter clan himself, thus suggesting he earned both his surname and his actual Earned Name of Swordbreaker. Given his immeasurable strength, and the sheer size and weight of his Hammerblade, it's entirely possible he still maintains the suggested reputation. Legends claim Meerkah has smashed his way through castle walls in a matter of minutes, using only his fists. Legends also claim his sword - an ancient Hammerblade some eight feet long and two feet wide - is made of pure Adamas, a dense metal that absorbs magic. Given the size of the weapon, if it were made out of pure Adamas as legends claim, the weapon must weigh over half a ton. Of note, no modern blacksmith has the training required to fashion a true Hammerblade or properly work that much Adamas in this day and age, which renders Meerkah's weapon rather unique in its design. Meerkah himself is a mystery. The legends focus on his deeds and actions, but hold no accounts to what kind of man he truly is. In actuality, Meerkah is a quiet and calm man, projecting a very stoic exterior that easily conveys his physical power and self-confidence. Thoughtful and calculating, as well as a master tactician, he is a fine master in the art of when and where to appear, and what to do at such a time. Meerkah is a connoisseur of fine poetry, which can be guessed from his extensive vocabulary in both Aramon and Common languages. In this latest era, Meerkah has grown bored of his lord's orders. While still intent on fulfilling his master's goals of destruction and chaos, he's doing it his own way this time. In the most recent years, he has taken Maria Swiftblade under his wing to aid in his machinations. While it's apparent the younger Aramon may have feelings for him, he shows no signs of returning them.