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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wizardneedsfood" data-source="post: 1754005" data-attributes="member: 20242">Braedon Al'KennStats coming soonThe people of the Lysette Highlands had been a strong and proud people for as long as almost any one living could remember. They were a loose conglomeration of clans perched in their villages inside the rocky Lysette hills. On the north a turbulent sea bordered them and much of their southern border was a desolate forest the Highlanders simply called the Wildlands. On the east and west things got a bit different however. To the west of the Highlands was a powerful mageocracy/theocracy known as Alsinde. Relations between the Highlands and Alsinde had never been all that great and the two geo-political entities had fought each other on several occasions. Still the wizard priests of Alsinde respected the fierce warriors from Lysette and were actually thankful that the Highlands served as a buffer between them and the other powerful nation of the region, Tilnfall. Tilnfall was ruled by powerful human overlords who consorted with demons and had managed to turn tribes of savage humanoids into their servant armies. Several times just in recent memory the peoples of Alsinde and Lysette had worked together to keep from being overrun by Tilnfall but these alliances were tenuous at best.But this isn’t the story of Lysette as a nation, at least not yet.This is the story instead of one of her sons…Braedon Al’Kenn. Growing up in the Kenn clan village, Braedon was the son of one of the clan’s great war leaders, Jonas Al’Kenn. Because of this, Braedon lived something of a life of luxury, though luxury among the Highlanders was still a hard existence. From the time he was 8, Braedon began training with weapons of all kinds. He showed a great skill with all of them, but especially with swords. Throughout his childhood, Braedon looked up to his father for the hero he was and put a lot of pressure on himself to live up to what his father had done for the clan. While his older brother Moesh excelled in the healing arts under the study of the village matriarch, Braedon spent all of his time with his childhood friend Alyx practicing even more with the sword. The two young warriors, boy and girl both became infamous through the village both for their growing martial skill and the ingenuity with which they managed to steal weapons to practice with and find hidden places in which to practice. At the age of fifteen, Braedon and Alyx were placed in the same patrol unit under the command of Moesh and the three again proved their worth several times; thwarting incursions by goblins from Tilnfall and killing a few raving beasts from the Wildlands. Upon turning 18 however, Braedon and Alyx were assigned to different units based on their skills. Alyx was put in the elite Spear Maidens for her coming of age trial while Braedon was selected for the Blue Steel organization, the most elite and independent group of soldiers in the entire Lysette military.The Blue Steels were an ancient brotherhood of warriors dating back to the founding of the Highlanders as a separate nation. They had originally been the personal body guard of the small group of blue dragons who had decided to aid the Highlanders in overthrowing their Alsinde masters all that time ago. Warriors chosen for the Blue Steels faced a long and arduous journey before finally being assimilated into the group.For the first step of the process, Braedon spent a week in fast and in prayer to the Light before staying awake all night as the priests of the Blue Dragons prepared him for the next ritual. At dawn he was presented to the matriarch of the clan who announced him ready. Taking up his sword he was brought into the chamber of the clan’s single wizard who spent the next six hours working spells on the young man. At one point Braedon had to dip his sword into a vat of molten delenium. When Braedon left wizard’s chamber he looked worn and haggard, and had a tattoo of a two handed sword stretching from the base of his neck to the small of his back.The next day, Braedon was sent out with a small group of more experienced of the Blue Steels to complete the last part of his trial, hunting a beast of the Wildlands in its own environment. The small company spent a week hunting through the dense forest without finding anything.One day they stumbled upon a strange sight; a group of hobgoblins, led by a Tilnfall dressed demon were attacking a small band of humans with the assistance of beasts native to the Wildlands. The human defenders were falling rapidly as the ever closing circle of attackers came closer and closer to the beautiful female sitting on a horse in the middle of the remaining humans. She was casting spells at the attackers and a long sword was strapped to her back but it seemed that the whole position would soon be over run so the Blue Steels immediately went into action. Charging down the hobgoblins, they tore into them from behind and cut many of them down before the demon turned his attention to them and cast a spell that gripped them all with fear and stopped them dead in their tracks. The demon laughed as the hobgoblins cut down the humans remaining around the girl and the trapped Blue Steels likewise began to die. Burning with rage, Braedon struggled with all he had inside to move, to fight. Suddenly it seemed there was a flash of light around him and the layer of delenium on his blade melted off, flowed down the hilt of the sword, and wove itself into the tattoo on his back. When the light faded, Braedon could move again and his hair had changed color to a dark blue, an indication that the magic of the bonding had worked and he’d been accepted as a Blue Steel. With white hot passion he cut a bloody trail through the hobgoblins and felled two of the Wildlands beasts before gaining a spot next to the now unmounted female. Without a word the two of them nodded to each other and fought their way out of the circle of opponents. Over the next few days the two fought a running battle as they struggled for the edge of the Wildlands. They didn’t talk much, but a bond seemed to grow between them.The female was actually Krysa, the second daughter of Queen Illsair of Alsinde. She wouldn’t reveal why she was in the Wildlands but she did indicate it was a matter of great importance for her kingdom. Finally they fought clear of the Wildlands and entered Alsinde, were the magic of the country’s border kept their pursuers at bay. That night they camped free from worry. That night they lay together.While traveling the next day, they were found by an Alsinde patrol led by Krysa’s older sister and Illsair’s heir, Jayna. Upon site however, Jayna had the blue-haired Lysettian arrested for suspicion of killing Krysa’s guards. Jayna wouldn’t listen to her sister’s reports of what had actually happened, accusing Braedon of using magic to trick Krysa’s mind. Things go even worse for the young warrior when Jayna learned of what had happened the night before.Krysa tried to convince Jayna to spare Braedon however. Instead, she gave him the worst punishment possible...he was sent to Hopeless Island.</blockquote>

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