The names of the first council are still held in records, but most of the populace know them by different titles. Each represents a virtue or calling that the citizens may aim to follow.
The Protector
The first council member was Glyndwr the Dwarf, She commanded the defence of The Last Bastion for years, granting the rest of the council the time they needed to complete the Soul Anchor. She went forth into the frontlines dozens of times, inspiring her desperate troops into herculean demonstrations of valour and courage. She knew most of them would die, but also knew they had to die for the city to live. A few days before the Soul Anchor was completed she was brought home, mortally wounded but she managed to survive long enough to command her forces from the backlines to see the work complete. Her house was named Stoneshield in her honour, and many of her descendants have been called to military service or to work in the Skirmishers. The most prized possession of the house is Glyndwr’s Armour, displayed proudly in their Manor House, dented and scratched from her many battles. The current Thain of the Stoneshield house is Owain, who is the councilmember overseeing the Skirmishers.
The Scholar
Elorien was a Scholar exiled from her academy for researching forbidden magics. By the time she arrived at The Last Bastion, those who exiled her were dead and there was no such thing as forbidden magics any more. The Soul Anchor’s capabilities were too complex for most of the city’s leadership to understand, let alone to build it. Only when a lone Dwarven voice spoke up in defence of her designs did they begin to see the glimmer of something they hadn’t experienced in years - Hope. The Dwarf was another founder of the city, Cerrig the Builder and Elorien’s partner for many years. Shortly following the completion of the Soul Anchor Elorien sequestered herself away from the public eye, and very little is known about what happened to her for the remainder of her years.
The Builder
Very little of the city known as Bastion wasn’t touched by Cerrig. Partnered with Elorien’s designs they created many wondrous structures including the walls that kept the city safe and the Soul Anchor itself. Many master masons and craftsmen since have examined The Builder’s work and declared that no mortal hand could have crafted or engineered it as the workmanship is so perfect and the workings are incomprehensible. As the Founder with the most tangible legacy in the city, The Builder is one of the most revered, Cerrig kept on working for many years after the Soul Anchor was completed and had many other achievements, but the ones he was most proud of were his numerous children who formed the Craghammer House. The Thain Ceri sits on the council, but there is also Craghammer Foundries, run by her younger brother Gwyn who manufactured the Warforged twenty years ago.
The Provider
As The Last Bastion accepted more refugees a town that previously held thousands swelled into one that held hundreds of thousands. With the majority of the land rendered barren, crops and livestock were far from sufficient. A Dwarven druid named
Bronwen had fled her Forest home as the forces of the Betrayer closed in. Seeing the plight of so many Bronwen began using her abilities to grow crops in most unusual circumstances as well as teach others her gifts. The survivors teetered on the edge of starvation until the Soul Anchor was completed, at which point Elorien joined Bronwen and they created an abundant source of food, manufactured in a facility known as
N’uma’ner. Several years later, Bronwen shocked her heirs by declaring she was leaving the city, and was returning to the wastelands. She was never seen again. Her child remained in the city, following in her footsteps and administering N’uma’ner. Their house has prospered since and now is one of the most prosperous in the city, the Vineguards.
The Prophet
Long before that Cataclysm reached The Last Bastion, the city had already begun to prepare themselves against the assault, bringing in some of the most talented individuals, soldiers and craftsmen. While their neighbours mocked their conviction that the world was beginning to end, Bastion made plans. The reason they were prepared was because of the High Priest of their Temple, Aelwen. He had presided over their religious rites for Centuries, preaching the ways of the gods, and adherence to their tenets when one day, he gathered the entire congregation, and told them of the coming catastrophe. Their gods were gone, having abandoned them and a threat was on the way to them all. Many didn’t believe the warnings at first, but with the support of the Town’s Administrator, Olandir the population were convinced of the danger. Adapting to a life without gods to have faith as well as the divine magic they provided traumatised many, both natives to the town, and refugees. Aelwen believed his entire existence centred on the gods, but without them, he learned the people were his true purpose. As the cataclysm arrived, Aelwen began to rediscover his ‘Divine’ powers, healing and protecting many. He taught that faith in your people was what really powered the Magic.
The Prophet was lost recovering Glyndwr from the battlefield, struck down while healing her wounds but by this point his legacy was already in place.
The Shepherd
One of the first refugees to arrive into Bastion was a Human named Arden, a Drover from the neighbouring countryside. Moved by the charity of the City, the sacrifices made to protect total strangers and the wondrous work being done to try and save them all, Arden wanted more than anything to help. Most of his fellow refugees did their best to aid the efforts in the city, but military matters, crafting or magical research were all well beyond Arden. What he did know was the lands around the city, having travelled between them for years. While walls were being built and armies assembled, Arden voluntarily left the safety of the city to find others like himself, and guide them back to the city. He made these trips dozens of times, and as time went on they got more and more perilous, often having to skirt around the enemy’s armies with dozens of frightened noncombatants following his lead. These excursions went on right until the final days of the war.
Arden didn’t believe he was doing anything special, but by the time he returned from his final excursion, nearly a quarter of the population of the city had been brought in by him, single handedly. This included The Scholar Elorien with whom Arden would eventually argue with Bitterly.
While an uneducated farmer was far from what the city thought it needed his unparalleled bravery meant it was impossible for him not to end up on the First Council. He balked firstly at the honour, and then at the decisions made by the remaining members. Arden railed against the restrictions on new occupants to the city, but was continuously outvoted. He turned his attention to improving the city and its conditions for its inhabitants, forcing concessions out of the Council slowly, over years. Arden is interred in the Ancestor’s Temple, beneath the Soul Anchor the only Human to be granted this honour. Inscribed on his grave are reported to be his final words “Surviving isn’t Enough”.
The Architect
Olandir was the Administrator of a small town, and she was happy with this life. She didn’t harbour any ambitions for more power than she had, and enjoyed the day to day life of ensuring the town ran well. When her friend Aelwen came to her, with his theories on the world coming to an end, she took some convincing before eventually accepting Aelwen’s convictions as sincere. When the news was shared with the town there was a panic, and the people looked for leadership. Olandir took on the responsibility, bringing together the very best individuals to prepare for the coming apocalypse. Her decisions weren’t always popular but she felt it was her responsibility to do what needed to be done for the good of her people. With the arrival of Elorien and her partnership with Cerrig, Olandir was able to finally formulate a plan for something more than delaying the inevitable- the survival of the people left in the world.
Olandir served until her death, several hundred years after the creation of the Soul Anchor but she ensured very little was known about herself, considering a servant of the city, not it’s ruler. The structure of the city’s government is a direct result of her determination and vision.
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