Aronis Tenspells

Naturally creative and intellectually gifted, Aronis won a early apprenticeship in the arcane brotherhood known as the Spellfist Coven. He was an object of intense scrutiny, for his father was the founding father of the prestigious elitist fraternity. Because of this, his teachers singled him out and so did many jealous rivals. His teachers were more envious than his peers, for they could not teach a prodigy much other than pointing out minor flaws and inconsistencies in his knowledge.

Because of his friendlessness within the order, he had gained a friend on the outside...a crafty thief named Orath. Aronis admired the thief's no bullshit approach to life, his reflexes and great cunning and adopted some of his survival instincts. Orath however learned much about poetry and the arts, history, and the mysteries of seducing ladies of court. He'd also instilled in the rogue a sense of purpose other than filling ones own pockets at the expense of others, and to use his talents to further the common weal.

Fortunately the head of the Spellfist Coven favored Aronis and spearheaded his graduation to the annoyance and chagrin of all within the order. Orath who disliked guilds had masqueraded as a tax collector and been stealing taxes set by city-lords who were most corrupt. He had given the gold back to the poor and folk he had daily dealings with. They soon joined the Midnight Cadre and further honed their skills together, seeing much of Nyr they'd never seen beyond Lor's walls and performing for the King of Jez'zur, for the countessa of Celene, and even for the barbarian king of Nyriddia.

Lord Daynar recruited the two as agents for his house, with wages they could not ignore. The Duke employed them in strategic plans that required skill and finesse most of his men did not possess, nor did other house-lords.

PERSONA:

Calm and collected Aronis has the discipline of a monk and the restraint to match. Being the complete opposite of his brother from another mother, he is methodical and a great planner, highly organized and very sensitive to things that are out of place. He is quite a obsessive/compulsive when it comes to details, and others find it of high comical value when he fusses about things that are out of place or scattered. In magic he is a creative spellcaster and is adept at countering other magic-users spells, but he usually employs spells other casters tend to overlook...spells that are more utilitarian than destructive or protective. He is shy yet gentlemanly around women and even a romantic, though not a womanizer at all. He has a deep passion for history, art, and knowledge of religion.

Orath

Description:

Out of the shadows crept a tall sleek and feline form, who walked on padded feet like a panther. His hair was a mane of shoulder length blue black wavy hair, and his deadly looking eyes were slits that appeared to shine despite their infinite darkness, they shone with a profound mischief and intense alertness. His clothes appear woven out of shadow stuff, and he had on a suit of black chimera hide spike studded leather armor, fashioned with hidden sheathes along the rib-cage that sported a slew of black steel throwing-daggers.

History:

Son of a famous prostitute, Lady Jhael. She was once a royal courtesan in Corealus, credited with gaining the aid of the pirate prince to fight the Nyriddians at sea. The nobles wives at court seethed with envy at her wiles and influence and had plotted her ruin. Fleeing the royal capitol she became the madam of the Succulent Succubus that later became the most prominent whorehouse in all of Nyr.

She had her son privately tutored by a rogues gallery of thieves, cutthroats, con-men, professional killers, swordsmen, and illusionists. At an early age he left Lor to join the Midnight Cadre, a traveling band of actors, artists, acrobats and street performers. Here he gained a job as a sword-eater, a knife-thrower, and a fire-breather...later to become an acrobat and juggler, where he met the mage Aronis Tenspells. The two became close and learned from each-other new ways of seeing life and new tricks in avoiding premature death.

After journeying in the troupe for a year both mage and rogue embarked shared a series of mishap adventures in Lor and Corealus, gained a reputation as retriever of stolen items and general detective work. Lord Daynar hired the pair for having known Aronis's father. Daynar tasked them both to rescue a close friend of his from the dungeon of Lord Rowkan, one of his fierce rivals who was torturing his friend to extract secrets concerning House Succundus. Orath did more than rescue Daynar's friend but also stole a nifty wand of magic missiles which he'd gifted to Aronis, and for himself a dagger of damage.

While Aronis is the level headed thinker and problem solver, Orath lives for the moment and thinks on the fly, often with an unbeatable measure of luck and other times ending in disastrous results and his blunders have gotten him into many jams but have also inadvertently freed him from the same predicaments ironically enough. A ladies man, gifted liar, and gambler he has many layers of deceptiveness and trickery that would make most thieves confounded with disbelief at his audacity.
There is a 50% likelihood he possesses some stolen treasure of lesser magical device/item he appropriated from other npcs outside of his inner circle.

Items of note:

Invisible short-sword, +4 Defender: this invisible defender blade allows Orath to parry and attack in the same instant.
Stealth armor: black chimerae hide studded leather armor, +15% to hide in shadows
Eclipse cloak: teleport via shadow 30'
sentient whip of fangs:+3 weapon, hybrid of a bullwhip and a cat-o'nine tails, ending with 4 evil looking bladed attachments.

History of the World

Ages ago, men had begun to lose faith, and piousness was supplanted by the darkness in mens souls. They'd started to cease reverence of the Gods and turned their hearts to pure evil...the world had become a veritable hell overnight. Elves fought with great diligence to rid the world of the pestilence of men, and of orcs. Rich in magic and martial skills the elves decimated the populations of both of these young races. This genocide came to be known as the Great Cleansing, or the 'Great Purge' by the elves.

The council of Greater Gods voted to unleash the God of Storms, Wrath to wreak the seven dooms on men, and orcs. With a heavy laden heart and great reluctance he succumbed to the wishes of the council, unleashing the Tarrasque's unto the world that destroyed the ones who displeased the Gods. Wrath became so saddened by this that he turned his mighty temper upon his fellow deities and destroyed them. They could do nothing but be die, for his secret power was the ability to turn any attack against itself. Wrath's sword smote the entire council, his blade known as Godslayer could strip a deity of his, her or it's divine power...and he had absorbed their abilities becoming one of the greatest deities in all the seven heavens.

After the purging of the heavens, the hells, and the entire world he journeyed throughout Limbo, throughout the Astral and the Ethereal planes restoring to life dead Gods whose names and histories were lost to time. He restored the council, and thereafter...mortal life to Scarlor. This was a terrible time, for deities were made to be worshipped...it was their only sustenance...and he had starved for a century whilst repairing the damages dealt by his own two hands.

Incredibly weakened without followers, Wrath made a pact with the mage-king Lhandros of a dying sphere in the heart of the multiverse. Wrath gave Lhandros the power of divining the near future, where his world was to come to a crashing halt. So Lhandros had cast a unique God-spell which teleported his entire capital city to the brave new world of Scarlor. The elves who were rejoicing the disappearance of their foes became angry and dismayed by this of abrupt intrusion, and they advanced on the city known as Corealus.

The elves were startled, mystified and stupified by the men who not only spoke elvish but knew magic, and were moralistically and spiritually evolved. An alliance was formed, and the elves turned from foe to friend after having met King Lhandros only once. This was a fortunate thing, for foes had also come in great multitude as the Dead Gods brought their own peoples to repopulate Scarlor...orcs, hobgoblins, goblins, ogres, trolls, dark-elves, Dragons, and other fell beings. But there were also other goodly races, new races. One such was known as Dren, and they looked like comely humans to the sharpened eyes of elvish. But they were a warrior race who quickly dominated the entire world, and ruled many lands and continents. However, once they had conquered Scarlor they grew bored of the idleness of being conquerors. Watching others fight or fighting weaklings brought the Dren no pleasures in their hearts and souls. Some Dren had even grown to such catastrophic might as to be able to challenge the Gods and best them and with little effort. The deity who conceived of the Dren was Wrath himself, and it was the infusion of his very soul into their creation which made them so terribly strong and mighty.

The Dren had departed the world shortly after they subjugated all lesser races, and they were bound to conquer the lower planes of existence as they developed over time an enmity for evil and those who practice it. As they warred in the eternal strife that defined the abyss and hades, Lhandros started his own work. The new king settled the lands and dispatched spies and scouts to study the known lands...claiming for himself and his people the 'Inner Kingdoms', these were the lands bordered by the Sea of Planes to the west, and the Black Forest Kingdom to the east, the capital forest of the Elven Empire. To the northeast were the Gate Mountains, the seat of Dwarvish Imperial power. As its name implied, it was a vast mountainous region that hid within its heart many Gates to other mountain rages throughout the world. While historians and scholars alike passionately debate the reason for the Dren having left the world so abruptly, it is thought by the elite of sages that the true reason was that they were exiled by the God Wrath for their rebellious ways and defiance of his statutes.
Some are said to still exist in hallow chambers beneath the Dune Seas of Sind, the largest wasteland of Scarlor.

After thousands of years passed, the race of man elevated above all others, even the elves who diminished and nearly faded into extinction except in the confines of their black forest realm. Men decimated the goblinoid races numerous times in wars of epic portions. In the aftermath of these brutal times came the rise of the house lords wherein men fought in political arenas of subterfuge and intrigue. It was when diplomacy replaced the sword and espionage became the dagger of this more sophisticated world. However, whilst busy and preoccupied with these endless struggles and power-plays, King Lhandros fell from grace and in secret sought immortality, for his twenty sons and daughters constantly plotted his demise so they could seize control of his power and rule the entire world betwixt themselves. Lhandros abducted and imprisoned a child of eternity, an ancient vampire who slept deep beneath the world in a shadowy crypt. He stole the dark gift from it, drank deeply of its immortal blood and was born to darkness, then destroying the vampire he stole the dark gift from. However, his scheming brood...constantly paranoid and alert also became vampires, for it was common amongst the supremely rich to seek out means of prolonging their precious lives. Lhandros then sired a dhampir in secret, his intent was to use it to destroy those of his children who rose against him and other vampire nobles that dared to plot in the shadows. When the child was born he sent his dark agents to appropriate his new creation, but an agent of a meddlesome bunch known as the Watchers beat him to it. In the thick of a storm filled night rode Danathron, ranger and hero through the Forest of Dis he rode his horse to the brink of death, until he landed at the doorstep of a secret order of warrior nuns where he left the object of his perilous mission.

Lord Daynar, Danathron's older brother was a young merchant prince and while others of his kind were politically connected and thrived on favors or alliances for strength, he was endorsed by the Elves whom he loved and dwelt among for a long time in his early youth. It is a result of his association and training among elven folk that he is sharp witted and observant, able to fight with superiority in the longsword and longbow and wield magic with equal ferocity. His father Rowenarc the Wanderer was a half-elven adventurer who had high ideals and great dreams of a world where men lived by honor and high ideals. Daynar amassed a wide circuit of influential and powerful demi-human allies, and before returning to his homeland had in secret bought out the failing enterprises, holdings, and debts of his fathers enemies...gaining power over them. He gathered to him men whom his father had loved, whose loyalties were not bought by coin or lies and who were wise or highly skilled in a great deal of important things. One of these men was Magnus Tenspells, a mage who had been a member of his father's band the Silver Blades of Nyr. Magnus had been a valuable asset to Daynar's successes and endeavors, for he was also a member at council in the circle of city-lords that presided over the most prized megalopolis in Nyr, the city known as Lor. Magnus mentored the brash swashbuckling swordsman that was Daynar in magic and statecraft. Daynar had a love for magic but his abilities were more prevalent in martial ability. With the city-lords as his newest supporters he was able to cleanse Lor of the Black Rose Commando Assassins, the slayer brotherhood who slew his father. Avenging his father's murder, he also went about bankrupting the nobles who had enlisted the brotherhood to murder Lord Rowenarc and his wife. Daynar himself would have died that night had his father's servant Lyla stole him away through a secret passage beneath Succundus manor.

Achieving the noble title of Duke, it was thought that he would certainly ascend to the throne of Nyr. However, Daynar backed the lady Everanteska instead for he had no designs on the throne. Despite her controversial line and the history it held, Daynar was able to quell dissent by publically backing the princess and heir of Rodac and using the love the people held for him to agree to Everanteska's crowning.
The only caveat Daynar placed on the princess Sybil Everanteska was to choose an incorruptable man as her protector and captain of her guard. Lord Ciordan Silvermane was that champion, a paladin whose sword was responsible for the destruction of the Dracolich Darkwing Draygos.