Lord Palidar

Lord Palidar (a.k.a. The Sunslayer)

Lord Palidar is generally considered the the founder of the order of Paladins of Verol, and was a mythical leader within the primordial nation states that would go on to become the Halori Empire.
Palidar's origins are lost to history. The current Imperial family claims that he was part of a branch of their dynasty, but this is unverified and generally considered to be bluster rather than credible history.
What is known about Palidar is that he started as a humble knight, standing to the last at a frontier outpost on Iphelon, which has since been made into a shrine in his honor, hosting some of the few Halori to willingly go to Iphelon.
Although he was the sole survivor of his outpost, he fought against the wild and magical beings–this was a time when magic was much more prominent–relying on the charms on his armor and shield to keep him from dying. Suffered countless injuries, he survived because the magic knitted his body back together, and he fought through the pain to rout his enemies.
After being made the lord of a holding on Iphelon–one that he had to claw from the wilderness–he settled down to a relatively quiet life in contemplation of the gods. He was often called to martial feats to protect his land, and he was spared the intrigue of the court. Various legends say that this is because he was unpopular with the king of his homeland and not invited to return from Iphelon, others say that there was not yet a noble court worth mentioning at the time of Palidar's life.
In any case, near the end of his natural life Palidar was recalled to Halor because of the Dawn of the New Gods. During this time he acquired an item of mythic power, the Sunlance. As with Palidar, the origins of the Sunlance are lost to history; the Church of the Unsung God claims that it was given by the Unsung God to permit the slaying of New Gods. The Paladins of Verol silently maintain that it was a work of master Artifice, though they have faced sanctions from the church for claiming this publicly. Within the Paladins, Palidar is often portrayed as a master artificer and sometimes as the creator of the Sunlance. Outside of their ranks, this lore is basically unknown.
The council of knights and lords deciding who should use the Sunlance settled on Palidar: he had proven his valiance on the frontier and his righteousness in the depth of his face.
When the fated moment came, tragedy struck. When the weapon was activated, it consumed the sun, and the sheer power it contained nearly rent Halor in two as Palidar struggled to contain the weapon. He annihilated several of the New Gods despite the damage it was causing to the land, but in the damage he caused to the earth he killed the Birthing God.
The world became cold and barren. The war was not won, but the mortals had lost all hope of maintaining the power of the Old Gods. Palidar was found blameless, but with the sun blotted out and the Old Gods distant, there was no chance of returning to the old order.
Over the weeks following his use of the Sunlance, Palidar grew increasingly unstable. Horrified by the magnitude of his actions, Palidar threw himself in front of the Sunlance, disintegrating in its final pulse of energy. With this sacrifice, the sun was restored to the sky, but the Birthing God remained dead forever.
The myth of Lord Palidar seems to bear some truth, as there are still places in Halor where eerily straight or unnatural canals appear to have been carved into the earth. However, in well over a thousand years nobody has managed to make a credible claim of finding the Sunlance. There is archaeological evidence to suggest that the cult of the Birthing God disappeared at the Dawn of the New Gods, further lending credence to the myth.

Species

Man

Year of Death

12 WY