Ryllan

Ryllan is the Captain of the Fifth Batallion of the White Hawks. A giant of a man, his leadership and martial prowess proved a key part of the White Hawks' success in the Great War, and made him a prominent figure in stories told about the unit's exploits.

Before the Hawks

Not much about Ryllan's life as a child, and he prefers to keep it that way. He claims to have been a mercenary as far back as he can remember, and if it weren't for the shadow that falls across his face when he mentions this, he might well have been telling the truth. Found as a refugee by another mercenary band, the group's captain, Mathor, took him in as a page, to clean his armour, sharpen his sword and so forth. Mathor favoured a substantial hand-and-a-half longsword, but Ryllan took the opportunity to give the blade a few practice swings whenever he sharpened it. Shortly after, Mathor took a wound to the leg, and his company began to break and scatter until Ryllan took up Mathor's sword and stood over him, completely untrained, but completely fearless, determined to save the man who had taken him in. He fared surprisingly well against the enemy's forces, and seeing this, Mathor's mercenaries were inspired and came to their rescue.
After the battle, Mathor offered to have a sword comissioned for him that would be a more suitable size, but Ryllan refused, saying he would prefer a true longsword like Mathor's, arguing that the extra length would help compensate for his lack of height and reach. Mathor offered him his longsword on the spot, saying it served Ryllan better in combat than it served him. Ryllan trained obsessively from then on, though he quickly outgrew Mathor's longsword; he now wields an 8 foot long beast of a greatsword, a weapon few other humans can hope to bring into a ready stance, let alone wield effectively.
Since those early days, he has left the battlefield several times, only to find himself inexplicably drawn back to the war within a few months, or finding the lines of war shifting, as if the war wanted him back and was coming to claim him. He served on both sides of the war several times, seemingly favouring the losing side where he could put his life on the line. For it is in battle when he is one wrong move away from death that he truly feels alive.

Serving the Hawks

Ryllan's first encounter with the Hawks was tense, as General Gavin Tethren would later describe it. The Hawks, then a small mercenary band, along with a contingent of the Chelestran Army, had assaulted a fortress defended by Ryllan and a handful of freelance mercenaries. The defenders were badly outnumbered, and the Chelestran regulars quickly took the outer walls and slew most of the defenders, then ordered the Hawks to take up positions on the wall while they pressed on to secure the small keep. The first few regulars entered the keep, surprised to find the gates unbarred. There was a commotion, then Ryllan emerged from the keep, every step a killing blow, and every blow a step, as inevitable as death itself. As he came within range of the Hawks' archers on the wall, he suddenly switched to an evasive pattern, sidestepping arrows aimed at him as gracefully as a dancer. Then-Captain Gavin ordered the Hawks to cease fire, and before long, Ryllan had single handedly routed a force of 50 Chelestran Army soldiers.
The Hawks quietly withdrew from the walls. That night, Gavin rode out alone to the fortress, then tracked Ryllan to where he had stopped for the night. He offered Ryllan a chance to join the Hawks, to be a part of something truly special. Ryllan declined, saying he wanted a challenge, and would find none fighting with so disciplined a force. So Gavin drew his rapier and challenged him to a duel. And for once, Ryllan found himself soundly outmatched, and quickly fell to Gavin's lightning fast rapier.
He awoke in the Hawks camp, his wounds and hands bound. The soldier assigned to watch him called out, and Gavin arrived quickly. Ryllan asked why he wasn't dead.

Your death would not serve me, so I chose to take your life instead. Until the day you can best me in combat, your life is mine to do with as I please.

— Gavin Tethren

Their first few months together were difficult, but after seeing action with the Hawks a few times, Ryllan began to fall in line, finding service as part of an elite unit accustomed to being outnumbered and using unconventional strategies far more to his liking than he believed, and now he has served Gavin faithfully for years. Despite his brashness, Gavin promoted him to Batallion Captain as soon as the Hawks grew to a size that supported such a separation, valuing his capacity for strategy, his loyalty, his leadership and his astonishing swordsmanship despite his undisciplined attitude.
Since the war ended, Ryllan has grown increasingly uneasy with the situation. He feels his place is on the battlefield - any battlefield - not guarding some King and his pretty gardens. Most of the Hawks think him steadfastly loyal to General Gavin Tethren, but those who know him best are beginning to wonder if the day isn't coming when he again challenges Gavin to see if he can win his freedom.

Ryllan's Secret

For those who enjoy the mystery, you should skip this secret. You should also skip it if you want to avoid reading about human sacrifice.

Ryllan's parents were killed in the war, and he was turned over to a group who claimed to represent The Embrace, who were by this point putting most of their resources into caring for refugees from the war and seeing them to safety. But they were no humanitarians - they were cultists seeking to summon their master, a dark being named Ter'Gromuth, to reign over this war as is his right. They gathered several children as sacrifices, as the summoning demands the blood of the innocent. Ryllan was among the last of the children they needed. Each child was anointed with accursed oils and branded with the mark of Ter'Gromuth as the ritual began, and bound to stakes embedded at key points in the ritual circle. Ryllan was bound at the westernmost point, the last to spill his blood to welcome the dark god. With the cultists either performing the ritual or watching the action, he struggled against his bonds, and managed to work his way loose. He fled long before the cultists noticed, and without his death to conclude the ritual, the portal could not open all the way...just enough for an angry demon god to reach one hand into the world and pull the fools who had failed him at such a critical moment back to his realm where he could properly explain his disappointment...
Ryllan still bears the brand of Ter'Gromuth, and it is this, he believes, that causes his unending fascination with war. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, or allow anyone to see it.

White Hawks Captain Rank Insignia

Rank Insignia of a Captain of the White Hawks. The 5 diamonds indicate this belongs to Captain Ryllan of the 5th Batallion

Designed by Rashkavar using Coat of Arms Design Studio (Free version)
Heraldric charge originally sourced from "A Complete Guide to Heraldry" by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies and Illustrated by Graham Johnston, originally published 1909.