Born on the first Oerthday of Ready'reat in CY 493 on his family lands in the Theocracy of the Pale, Arminas tar Valantil (i.e. "Royal Tower" of the House of Valan) was the eldest son of Miryan tar Valantil. House Valans was a minor branch of the Suel descent nobility of the region, not the wealthiest, nor the most respected, but far from the lowest and most ignoble. They stood above many of the Oeridarian people who lived within the boundaries of the Pale, and ranked among the noble houses who ruled beneath the dictates of the Church of Hextor. Over the past fifty years, the Hextorian church had garnered more and more power unto itself, forcing the minor noble houses to give up most of their ancient perogatives and rights, even their voice in the governance of the state.
Miryan tar Valantil opposed this. He spoke against the Hextorians across the length and breadth of the Pale, and had assembled many common folk who agreed with him, as well as some number of the nobility, both Suel and Oeridarin. Thus, on one fine spring day early in CY 499, "bandits" slaughtered the entire bloodline of the House of Valans, before being destroyed themselves by a vengeful troop of Hextorian cavalry. The theocrats publicly mourned his death, as well as the death of his wife, his three sons, and four daughters, but in private celebrated in glee. Miryan's death threw the opposistion into disarray, and many noble families gave full throated support to the Church; after all, they knew, even though they could not prove, whom the "bandits" had worked for.
But not all of the House of the Valans died that day. Young Arminas, only six, was in the fields with an elderly servant, the oldest of the Armsmen of the House Valans. Staying hid in the fields of wheat and barley, they fled the massacre and escaped. The old Armsman took Arminas to the only place where a Valans might receive help: a monastary of the Order of the Steel Rain. Only the master of the monastary was told of Arminas's lineage; to all others he was but a common orphan. For three years, the Armsman, whose name has been lost to time, lived at the monastery, but he passed from this world in the winter of CY 504.
Arminas grew, and kept the secret of his family name. And at the monastary learned to harness his anger and his hatred, becoming quickly a promising young cantidate. On Starday of Needfast in CY 508, at the age of fifteen, Arminas took his vows, becoming an initiate of the Steel Rain. Over the next six years, he progressed in his studies, and traveled throughout the lands of the Pale, in the company of others of his order, until one summer day in CY 514, an event occured that would eventually affect all within the Pale.
The old master of the monastary had passed away years before, and the secret of who Arminas really was (generally known at the time to both the world and his brother monks as Valin) became known to the new master, a worshipper of Hextor. He informed the Theocrats in the capital of Wintershiven, and for two years, the fate of the last known scion of the House of Valens was debated in secrecy. Finally, Stannis, Archbishop of the capital, decried that the boy was well upon the path of joining the church, as the Steel Rain was becoming more and more "attached" to the philosophies and tenets of Hextor. Ironic, since it was Stannis, some sixteen years previously, who personally led the bandits and fired the homes, stables, and grain silos of Miryan, feeding the rich soil with the blood of his house and kin, and the ashes of the House of Valens.
Having received permission to the bring the young man to the worship of Hextor, His Excellency the Archbishop rode to the rural monastary of the Steel Rain where Arminas tar Valantil (or Valin, as he was then still known) lived. His coming had been well prepared, for Osylin, the new master of the monastary, had personally taken a hand in Arminas's training. Osylin was devoted to the theocrats in both body and soul, and had been rewarded by Hextor himself; his deeds were unassailable in the light of day, but his soul was rotten and corrupt. But none of this was known to the young man he took beneath his wing. And he showed Arminas his view of the world: that the strong must defend what they have, else someone would take it; that might makes right, and only in the strength to destroy was found the strength to create. He spoke to the young man night after night, and told him the "truth" about his parents, how they had died because of their support of the Theocrats, and their love of Hextor. And with the coming of Stannis, his work paid true.
Burning with the desire to avenge his family, and having never been told the real manner (or reason) for why they died, Arminas gradually came to believe Osylin. And when Stannis arrived, and announced to the entire monastary, that the last scion of the House of Valens had been found, and was standing amongst them, his spirits soared! Stannis, who knew of the young mans pride and arrogance, stroked the fires of his soul, and asked him to come to Wintershiven and be publicly acknowledged as the heir of his House. The older monks of the monastary were stunned by the announcement! They knew the true storey, but had vowed long before never to speak of the growing threat of Hextor, nor involve themselves in the political infighting of the Pale. Now, Arminas had nothing to balance against the lies pledged by Osylin and Stannis, and gave himself to the Church! Had those monks known of the Valin's background and history, life would have been very different indeed.
One third of the monks protested, the others, all younger ones under the sway of Osylin and Hextor, threatened and mocked them. Within a year, all those who voiced concerns that night were dead, or in exile, and the Order of the Steel Rain would be an arm of the Hextorian Theocracy. Arminas rode that night in the company of Stannis to Wintershiven, and was instructed along the way in the glory of service to Hextor. More lies were told that night, mixed with the smallest amounts of truth, and fanned hot the fire within tar Valantil. When the caravan stopped for the night, Arminas pledged himself to Hextor, and swore an oath to serve only him!
Upon arrival at the capital, events were rapidly transpiring. The old nobility, weakened over the years by fear, decadence, and corruption, signed over to the Theocracy complete control of the government of the Pale. Lyrin, the High Theocrat, was chosen to rule over the entire land of the Pale, with the people and the noble houses having no say, only the prelates and priests of Hextor.
Lyrin, a very old and powerful priest, disagreed with Stannis, for his predictions of the future showed only blood and woe, when paired with the House of Valens. He summoned forth young Arminas, as well as the Archbishop, and gave instructions. Stannis he appointed as his chief prelate, and to him to gave responsibility for the moral instruction of the people, as well as ordering him to assemble the Fist for war. Arminas, on the other hand, Lyrin ordered to leave the Pale, in order to join forces with a band of adventuers containing the deposed heir to the Dutchy of Temh, a bold young man of twenty-six years named Maklin Teramaguth. He was ordered to join the band, and spy upon their activities, especially Crown Prince Maklin, and report back what he heard. In truth, Lyrin hoped that the adventuers would discover the spy in their midst and kill young Arminas.
The band of adventuers did not exactly welcome Arminas, for he made no effort to hide his devotion to the Lord of Tyranny. Ruthless, even at this early point in his career, he made only two real friends among them. Maklin, the very one he was sent to spy upon, and a wu-jen from the far West, by the name of Hikaro. For three long years, the band roamed the lands around the Nyr Dyv, and forged allegiences of blood and steel. However, as the group rested in the city of Greyhawk during the autumn of CY 517, they were attacked by assassins while resting in an inn. The assassins were killed, but the group was arrested and charged with murder! Framed by agents of Lyrin, the group was exiled to the prison isle of Coventry, deep within the inland sea of the Nyr Dyv, which was warded with ancient magical protections that prevented any who arrived upon its shore from ever leaving.
Arriving upon the prison isle, Arminas was seperated from the group, and fighting the filthy, half-mad inhabitants, mostly exiled criminals and mad-men, he found a path into the interior, where a great temple had once stood. Badly injured, there he rested, until a vision appeared to him. The god Hextor had projected a vision of himself to Arminas. He assured him that great things were his yet to do, and that the time of his death was not yet. Healing his champion, the Lord of Tyranny ordered Arminas to descend deep within the decaying temple, and there he would find the key that would enable him to leave the cursed island. And so Arminas did, and deep under the temple, he was reunited with his fellow adventurers, most of whom wished him dead, but two who were glad to see him alive and well.
In the bowels of that deserted ruin, the group discovered what all of the gods (not just Hextor) had sent visions of: the only way off the Isle. A permenant gate stood here, but the gate stood closed. By the lettering upon the arch, the group discovered that the gate opened only one day a year, for one hour only, and that the day was tomorrow! But during the night, fanatical islanders tracked them down, and a viscious battle ensued. Though the party stood triumphiant, many bore hideous wounds, and the powers of the gods seemed weak here. Arminas suffered greatly, losing his right hand, as well as his left eye in the fight.
His two friends, Maklin and Hikaro, bound his many wounds, but had left to them no magics of healing. During the night, all were plagued with night-mares and visions of horror, and Arminas awoke to find himself alone in the dark depths of the complex. Before him, upon a throne of bone, set a pale-faced creature, who called himself Mikellian, a vampire lord. He had been watching the adventurers since their entry to his home, and desired a companion, Arminas. Mikellian offered the gift of the undying to Arminas in that hour, and with it the power of being one of the most feared creatures of the night. But Arminas rejected the offer, and yelling to Hextor and his comrades, rushed the creature.
Hearing the yell and the sounds of combat, Maklin and the others fought through a legion of undead things, and stood before the throne of Mikellian. After a mighty battle, in which Arminas lost much more blood, Mikellian was forced to retreat as a stream of mist. Weak from blood loss, as well as the loss of life energy, Arminas collapsed, falling through the floor to a cellar beneath. Here, Mikellian lay upon his coffin of earth, powerless since the first rays of light were rising far above. Heaving himself from the ground, Arminas thrust a shaft of wood into the creatures heart, as Maklin cleaved the nightdemon's head from his shoulders, and the group warmed themselves by two bonfires: one for the head, the other for the body. During the celebration, Arminas discovered a small chest, and within that chest, a mummified hand and eye. Drawn by a strange, irressitible compulsion, he placed the hand upon his stump, and the eye within his own ruined socket, and the Hand and Eye of Vecna the Undying joined to Arminas in that moment.
His energy returned to him, and power coursed through his veins. Along with his companions, he turned to go to the still dormant gate, and return to the world from this Isle of the Damned. And so they all did return.
But, upon leaving the Isle, the companions discovered that what had been merely a week for them had been five years for the rest of the world! It was winter, CY 522, and the world was at war. Iuz had been freed from his prision and returned to rule his lands by an iron hand. Others opposed him, but the gods were not free to fight Iuz upon this plane. Bound by his oath, St Cuthbert was unable to physically return to Oerth, lest all of the gods agreed. Incabulus refused, since with war his dominion was enlarged. Mortals were left to fight upon their own, without the avatars of the gods.
The Pale and Temh were threatened by the forces of Iuz, and as the group slowly made their way north, tales of war reached Arminas and the others. The Grand Duke of Temh, Galen Teramaguth, was going more insane by the day, his realm littered with the corpses of those who fought him. The Dutchy teetered upon the brink an an abyss, with Iuz ready and willing to snap up the entire prize. Upon arriving at the Palish city of Midmeadows in the south of the Pale, upon the borders of Nyrond, they were met by Stannis, and a host of the Fist of the Hextor. The Arch-bishop welcomed Arminas return, though he was now grown powerful indeed. Through his scrying, he say the artifacts that Arminas now wore as his flesh, and in his heart knew fear.
Alone, the forces of Hextor and the Pale could not defeat Iuz, but Hextor's army was not alone. A great summit was called for in the spring of CY523, meeting at Midmeadows. There, soon after acheiving the rank of Master in the Order of the Steel Rain, Arminas stood as witness to the most bizarre alliance since the ancient days: the union of the forces of Hextor and Heironious! The worshippers of the two gods formed a common church, devoted to the worship of the Brother Gods, to fight the war for common cause. But, the union needed a symbolic gesture. Arminas was ordered by Lyrin to marry one of his adventuering group, a lady warrior from the up-most West in service to a paladin of Heironious! The warrior, Lady Arna, hated Arminas, as well as Hextor, but agreed to make the alliance happen; Arminas was as distasteful of the union as she, but had sworn to follow the church.
Released from all oaths, ancient and fell, they both swore allegiance to the new church, to both gods acting in concert, and that day the union was complete. Of course, Arminas ordered his new wife to stay home, away from battle, from the war and from her friend. And, like a dutiful wife, she obeyed, though secretly fury and hate boiled within her breast.
Shortly thereafter, Arminas, Maklin, and Hikaro, entered Temh, and led a rebellion against Duke Galen. The people rose, seeing in Prince Maklin the embodiment of his esteemed father, and followed him. In a vicious battle before the gates of Nevrond Nevrest, Maklin's army of common-folk routed the few soldiers who fought for the Grand Duke. Gibbering with fear and insanity, Galen fled for the palace, but met Arminas in the court-yard. Within moments, Galen's head adorned the mast from which arms of Temh flew, and Maklin was crowned Grand Duke of Temh with a crown soaked in blood.
Maklin knighted Arminas, in his Order of the Silver Dawn, and made for him a permenant place in the Halbadier Guards, those soliders of Temh who safeguarded the Grand Duke and his family.
For four years, the war with Iuz lasted, until in mid-summer of CY 527 the Vile One was captured and imprisoned in a secret dungeon far, far from his northern home. With peace, the various factions become unquiet. Arminas had progressed in power, and was by now one of the ruling High Masters of the Order of the Steel Rain, a Master of Winter in title. Less than six months after the conclusion of the war, Arminas was called to Wintershaven by Stannis, now the High Theocrat of the Pale.
In the mid-winter of CY 527, Arminas was told to prepare himself and his monastic followers for a quick, short, victorious war with the faith of Heironious. The alliance would be broken, and be broken in blood. Arminas refused! He had given oath, freely sworn, to serve the church of the two combined, and would not betray them. Stannis grew angry, and in his fury at long last revealed the truth: who exactly was behind the death of his family. Who Arminas in fact now served. The fact that Arminas had no choice, for in giving his oath to Hextor, he had given his soul to a tyrant far worse than Iuz.
Yet, though his heart raged, Arminas still refused, and was taken from Oerth in a flash of blinding light! In the celestial vault above Oerth, where the gods watched events, Arminas was brought before Hextor himself, not an avatar, but an angry god in all his fury. He then accused Arminas of breaking his oath, of being a traitor, to which Arminas then replied.
"It is not I who have broken an oath, Great One, but you. Your oath to me, that your bond upon me was laid aside, that I may serve the combined church. You would have me set aside my word, sworn and witnessed, as though it were nothing, and for that I cannot forgive you, Lord of Tyranny. I too do not like the Heironians, but despite out differences, I cannot, I willnot break my oath to the church. Not for you, not in fear of you, not for anyone."
Hextor raged, and went to strike down the insolent mortal. But he was stopped by Heironious, who appeared and waged war upon his brother. When they ended, they proclaimed the church of the Brothers was split, never to be reformed. Hextor claimed as his prize Arminas, but Heironious shielded him and swore that Hextor would never claim his soul, for it now dwelt in protection.
Hextor left in rage, and thus did Arminas stand in the Vault of the Gods above Oerth, confronted by Heironious. He asked Arminas to turn aside now, and lay down his past, and serve him alone. And Arminas replied.
"Your ways are not mine, though you know the strength of oaths. The church has been dissolved, and though I thank you for your hand shielding me, it was not by my asking. I owe you nothing, Lord of Righteous Battle, and nothing further you owe me. I am done with gods, great or small, and wish never to speak with, or think upon, any yet again."
And Heironious too was vexed with anger, that this mortal would spurn his offer so callously. And Heironious spoke, "So it shall be, then, that til your dying days, you will know nothing but ruin and calamity. For your arrogance, your pride, you shall NEVER know the touch of any god in your despair, none shall lay claim upon your soul, and you will roam the ether eternal. This, mortal is your fate, lest you repent."
And Arminas spoke, "Then it is my fate. I do not believe in fate, and the gods themselves, should this be inflicted upon me, will have reason to quake in fear. I do not worship you, so YOU threaten me? I warn you now, all of you, for now and forever, stand not in my path, for you shall regret to the end of time denying me anything. Begone!"
And trumpets howled, and drums pounded, and from beyound the Vault of the Gods rang out the voice of the Over-God, "Let it be SO!", and thus Arminas found himself back upon Oerth.
Hunted and pursued by the forces of the Pale, Arminas, now a wanted criminal, returned to his home of exile in Temh. To his wife, the Lady Arna. And turning towards her, he spoke of his journey, and of the gods, and of what was said. Of the collapse of the church, to which they in symbolic union were wed. Turning to the Lady Arna, Arminas released her from her vows of wedding, and bade her leave, to go where she might, and live as she could.
Yet, here he had neglected to see past his own pain, and in Arna, now divorced from this man she hated and despised, something snapped. Before he could react, Arna's long quiet sword was off the mantle and thru his body. Her fury was spent only after he was well dead. Arna then splashed oil across the house, set fire to to the house of Arminas, and slit her own belly open, to die in the flames.
Thus, for the first time, but not the last time, did Arminas die.
And so ten years passed in the lands of Oerth. But in the winter of CY 537, upon the day of his birth, Arminas was raised from the lands beyound those known by the living through the efforts of Grand Duke Maklin and the wu-jen Hikaro, his friends. For events were coming to a boil in the lands of the Flaness, and his strength was needed once more.
The "Grand Alliance" of nations that had fought against Iuz so many years before was dissolved. Few believed the Pale had the resources or the will for a long and difficult fight, and indeed, many Palish were not eager for a confrontation. But the lords and ladys underestimated Stannis, and in the Spring of CY 538 a fury of blood and iron was released upon Temh by the Fist.
Though raised from the dead, Arminas had lost both the Hand and Eye of the Whispered One, these had vanished from his body in death, and were not to be seen again by tar Valantil. His body was restored, and arms and equipment gathered. With his strength restored, and his anger roused, he went before the Grand Duke Maklin, in his capital of Nevrond Nevrest. There, he was released from his ceremonial duty, and given permission to leave the kingdom. On a moonless night, Arminas crossed the Yol River, and entered the Pale.
For the next two years, Arminas quietly wandered the Pale, speaking with the leaders of the few Suel houses left in the land. He roused the common folk of the land, long oppressed by the religion of the Tyrant, and told them, both Suel and Oeridarian that the time had come for all Palish to take back their country. He raised a rebellion against the Church of Hextor.
The Fist of Hextor was weak within the country, it's legions being engaged in fights deep within Temh, Urnst, and Nyrond. Few troops remained, and on 4th Godsday, Flocktime, CY 540, he struck at the capital of Wintershaven. His troops took the city, and Arminas confronted Stannis within the bowels of the temple at its heart. The battle was long, and hard, but in the end, Stannis died upon the Alter of Hextor by the hand of Arminas. Gathering his forces, he ordered the temple desecrated, the alter broken, the building fired, and for the death of all priests and servants of Hextor.
Thus, for a season, did peace come to the Pale.
In CY 541, Arminas tar Valantil was declared by acclamation the Prince-Regent of the Pale. He set forth and codified a new legal system, one in which the law was strong, and could not be ignored or broken by the powerful and mighty, without justice being served. The ruins of war were swept aside, and the country was rebuilt. For seven years, until the fall of CY 548, the people of the Pale would know prosperity and freedom.
Arminas grew restless with the diadem of service upon his head, but remained as ruler in Wintershaven. Many attempts upon his life were made, the Church of Hextor remained his implacable enemy. Nyrond and Urnst refused to recognize his rule, as his devotion to Hextor and his ruthlessness were well known to them. They thought his denouncement of Hextor a lie, and the actions of the Church a trick to weaken their defenses. Only Maklin and Temh gave Arminas aid and assistance.
In the summer of CY 548, Arminas met Lady Sara vin Ragunat, the daughter of one of the great Suel houses of the Pale. Physically, Arminas was in his prime, his aging frozen seven years before on his thirty-second birthday. The Lady Sara had just celebrated her twenty-third birthday. Arminas, for the first time in his life, fell in love. Over the summer, the two feasted, and courted, and were happy. And in the fall of that fateful year, they announced their intentions to wed.
But the Hextorians were not done with Arminas. In league with a group of disgruntled Palish nobles, who had lost power to the common folk through the changes to the legal code and social structure by Arminas, they gathered a group of assassians and cut-throats. On the eve of their wedding, the Lady Sara was taken from her fathers home, and hidden in a secret fortress deep within the Rakers.
The renegade rogues of the Pale appeared before tar Valantil in his court of Wintershaven. A promise was made; the return of the Lady Sara, should Arminas abdicate his rule. Though loath to surrender under duress, Arminas gazed across the land. The Palish army and the people supported him. Many of the Lords, both Oeridarian and Suel did likewise. The renegades made no mention of their connection with Hextor. And so did Arminas agree, though he would appoint his successor to the throne.
It was at that time that events quickened. Iuz escaped his prision and returned to Dorakka in the north. Temh came under assault. The renegades, led by Lord Kiriam zak Gorsham, had led Urnst and Nyrond to the belief that they were worshippers of Heironious, and that Arminas was killing the followers of the Bright God. And in the confusion, as negotiations for the return of Lady Sara were formulated, the assassins made their final mistake.
Lady Sara attempted to escape the hidden citedal, and in the chase was pushed from the parapet into the rocks below. When the news arrived to the renegades, they panicked, and attacked Arminas in an attempt to slay him before he could discover the truth. They failed, and blood once more stained the Great Hall of Wintershaven.
Full of fury, eyes blazing with wrath, Arminas led the people and army of the Pale throughout the land, and slew all who had any connection with the renegades, the assassins, and with Hextor. Urnst and Nyrond marched upon the Pale, and war raged throughout the north, with both the Pale and Temh under seige.
In late winter of CY 551, all appeared lost. It was then, that a stranger appeared in the court of tar Valantil. Hikaro, old and wizened, but powerful in his strange western magics demanded to speak alone to Arminas. He told Arminas of his divinations, and his prophetic dreams, and that the oath Heironious swore long ago was coming true. He spoke of war, and of fire, and of death and betrayal. Not merely for the grieving Arminas, but for his people, who had become feared through the Flaness. An offer was made. Hikaro had spent the last score of years travelling the planes, and he knew of a far place, a place where the Palish could rest and rebuild, but from which they could never return.
Arminas pondered long and hard, and then addressed his people. He told them of the cost of the war, in lives as well as gold, and of the actions of the Gods against him. Of their fate should he stay, and of that should he leave. He gave them a choice. One month, then assemble in Wintershaven those that would choose to leave. Arminas travelled to Nevrond Nevrest, and made to Malik the same offer. Gripping the hand and arm of his old friend, Malik, Grand Duke of the Dutchy of Temh, likewise choose exile with his people in a new world.
One month later, to the day, while the combined soliders of the Pale and Temh held back the armies of Iuz, Urnst, and Nyrond, the people followed Arminas tar Valantil through the massive gate opened by Hikaro, into a new world.
