Asterion Blackhorn

"I've never witnessed a warrior who fights with as much anger and tenacity as Asterion Blackhorn. His rage and hatred fuels him to unapparelled heights in combat... and it hides a deep, overwhelming grief."

Vernon Ford

Commander of the Bloody Suns

Asterion was born on the 2nd day of Hearthfire in the year 6672 CY to a well-known family of smiths in a small, nondescript village sitting on the road between Na'ath and Me Ling. His parents named him Asterion Blackhorn, for his unique black horns that sat above his head. As a calf he learned the family trade from his father Durrak and two older brothers, Jarak and Carnak, as his family forged everything needed in the village from the weapons used by the village warriors to the farmer's tools. As he grew older, he found the most enjoyment when watching the warriors spar. During his teenage years after a day of hard labor in the forge, he would take one of the swords from the display rack and practice for hours each night. Eventually, one of the village warriors by the name of Fasfen Stormhorn found him practicing in the woods hacking away at a tree and offered to train him at the end of each day. This continued for several years.

After four years of training under Fasfen, he declared Asterion's training complete, with nothing further to teach him. Asterion was able to hold his own against Fasfen, and even won their training sessions from time to time. A year before reaching adulthood, Fasfen and the village commander approached his father about joining the warriors. Without hesitation he told them that his place was in the forge, and tried to make him swear that he would never pick up a sword again. While nominally agreeing, he knew it was a promise that he could not keep. On the eve of Asterion's 20th birthday, his mother Oenna woke him in the middle of the night with a bag packed and a sword that he had forged and hidden from his father. She told him that his heart did not belong to the forge, but was the heart of an adventurer. She bid him farewell, and he left his hometown to embark upon his journey.

Over the course of several years Asterion wandered west, eventually making his way from Xa'a to New Iskar. While it took time, eventually Asterion mastered Iskari, and joined the Iron Fist Mercenary Company. While most shunned him as an outsider, one person did not, a human named Gabriel, who would become his closest friend. Asterion and Gabriel embarked on many missions together, eventually working their way into the upper echelons of the organization. They became a well-known pair; Asterion with his sword and Gabriel with his powerful greataxe. While they discussed their personal histories at great length, Gabriel talked little of his family or their trade, although Asterion was able to discern through context clues that they were quite wealthy. All Asterion knew is that Gabriel had a brother who was cruel and sadistic, and so Gabriel fled his home. After a little over five years of service Gabriel convinced Asterion to return home and make amends with his father, as the guilt of abandoning him in the middle of the night weighed heavily on Asterion. Thus he left Iskar and returned to the Xa'a Empire in the east. Asterion returned to his village to find he had new brothers and sisters that had been born after he left, and his mother embraced him warmly. His father however gave him only a cold welcome.

Asterion's family had grown in his absence, with his brothers married and with families of their own. He regaled his family with stories of his adventures, and tales of his good friend Gabriel. While his father remained distant, the rest of his family was enthralled by these stories, and Asterion remained home for some time, eventually falling in love with his childhood friend Indira. After a brief courtship, they would marry, and Asterion sent word back to Gabriel that he would not be returning to Iskar. Over the course of the next several years Asterion and Indira would have two children, a son named Jardiax and a daughter named Ela. Despite the cold reception from his father, Asterion would continue his training under him, becoming a master smith. While he never let his fighting skills dull, he found himself picking up his blade less and less with each passing year.

Five years after returning home, Asterion was stunned to find Gabriel at his door, requesting his assistance. Gabriel had come to Xa'a to locate and return the missing daughter of an Iskari diplomat. Unable to find the girl and worried for her safety, he was able to convince Asterion to join him in this venture, a favor to one his considered to be his brother. Picking up his sword once again, eventually they gained information that the girl was located near Kelasari Glen in the province of Yama Kor. Upon reaching their destination however they discovered that it was a trap set by a local warlord whom Gabriel's family had angered. They were captured and tortured for several days, but were able to barely escape when they had the chance, their captors were close behind. Just a day after escaping their captors caught up with him, and in a fiercely fought pitched battle, Gabriel took an arrow intended for Asterion and died. His best friend had given his own life to save his, and Asterion blamed himself for becoming careless and letting his guard down. Asterion buried him on a cliffside overlooking the Guardian Ocean on the western coast of Yama Kor and sent word to his family in Duskenvir of his passing. Overwhelmed by grief at the loss of his closest friend, Asterion began his return journey home.

During the journey back Asterion became quite ill due to the wounds he suffered in the hands of his captors, and was forced to seek assistance. His recovery took a month before he was strong enough to continue his journey. As he neared his hometown, his heart was filled with dread as he saw black smoke rising above the hill that obscured his vision to the village, and he could hear the sounds of combat over the ridgeline. Rushing home, he saw his village being pillaged and burned to the ground. Fighting his way towards where he knew his home to be, he saw his family captured by the attackers, who used their prisoners to secure Asterion's surrender. Hearing the screams of his children as they called out for him, Asterion watched as a figure clad in black armor, wielding a greataxe of similar make to Gabriel's stride into the area introducing himself as Gabriel's brother Malagos. His eyes flamed in rage as he observed Gabriel's greataxe strapped to Asterion's back. Malagos pressed Asterion for the details surrounding Gabriels' death, which worked him even further into a rage. By the end of the story the anger and pain was evident in his eyes. He approached Asterion, leaned in and whispered, "This is for letting the brat die". The then turned in a flash and unleashed that powerful axe upon Asterion's family, butchering them before his very eyes. First he removed the heads from his brothers, desecrating their corpses, eventually working his way down to Indiria and the children. Asterion screamed for mercy where there was none to be had, the only response from Malagos being brutal laughter. By the end Asterion was almost delirious with grief, and the final words he heard before he fell unconscious was, "suffer in pain and despair, knowing that I have taken everything you love from you, as you did to me."

When Asterion awoke the flames had consumed his entire village, except for the forge and anvil, which remained untouched by the flames. Freeing himself from his binds, he grieved over the corpses of his loved ones. Over the next several days, Asterion buried everyone within his village in the village graveyard, as was the tradition. Returning to the smoldering remains of his home, he was able to retrieve both his sword and Gabriel's axe. Consumed by grief and rage, Asterion swore vengeance. Melting down both the axe and sword, he crafted a new axe, and swore a blood oath to remove Malagos' head with it, just as he removed the heads of his brothers. Taking over a week to gather his strength, he left to return to Iskar to begin hunting down Gabriel's brother. Arriving in Duskenvir, he found no signs of Gabriel's family. He wandered the lands for many months, until finally fatigued and penniless, he joined the Bloody Suns, an unscrupulous mercenary company in the Silver Coast in the hopes of funding his continuing search for Malagos.

During his time with the Bloody Suns Asterion became known for his ingenious battle tactics and ferocity in battle, earning the moniker "Ghostblade" for how fast he would cut down his enemies. After seven years of fighting and failed searches, Asterion had spent every drake he had and was no closer to finding Gabriel's brother. Finally in a tavern in the Silver Coast he overheard two Lionel speaking about how their town was destroyed by a group of soldiers led by a man carrying a black axe, clad head to toe in black armor. Asterion interrogated them on this, and garnered some information, namely that the two had escaped before being sold into slavery, but that the rest of their village was being taken to Xa'a to be sold. Armed with this information, Asterion left to return to a home he had not seen in years. Older, more experienced and filled with a sense of purpose, the fires of vengeance ignited within him, Asterion returned to Xa'a.

Relationships

Wife: Indira
Children: Jardiax and Ela
Parents: Durrak and Oenna
Siblings: Jarak, Carnak and Kiru

Organizations

Iron Fist Mercenary Company- A mercenary company based out of the Silver Coast, the Iron Fist is a small but elite organization that only takes on the most challenging and high value contracts. Led by a mute Stoneborn Dwarf by the name of Clayton Zander, he has led the Iron Fist over the last decade to their status as the preeminent mercenary company in the Silver Coast. With Veronica Sands, the human bastard from the Razorwind Desert at his side as his field commander, they are a terror on the battlefields of the Silver Coast.

Bloody Suns- A rather unscrupulous mercenary company operating out of the Silver Coast, the Bloody Suns are known for their appetite for gobbling up as many contracts as possible. Often undercutting the bid of other mercenary companies, they don't care who they work for or what they are tasked to do. Led by Vernon Ford, a human, they have become quite popular in the shadowy underbelly of the Silver Coast, although their casualty count is often quite high.

Species

Minotaurs

Age

42 (6714 CY)

Date of Birth

2nd of Hearthfire, 6672 CY

Gender

Male

Belief/Deity

None