Arden Vernador

Article Contents

Arden

"What do I think of the state of the land?"
.....
"Well, I'd rather not think about it! There's your answer."

Arden Vernador is a half-elven prince from North Cassel. Growing up he dreamed of becoming a knight. He reached his goal and is currently a middle ranking Knight of the Order of the Void. He is stationed in Galleska and normally has very little to do with his home country unless he is there on a mission. Arden has deployed with other Void knights across the nations of Eastern Vreathe and has made a name for himself. Whenever the Void Knights are hired for a job, Arden is often requested by name.

Personality

Arden is an example of someone who doesn't change much, regardless of what happens in their life. He has always been straight forward and confident, more in spite of everything that has happened to him than anything else. He has almost always felt like he could stare down any threat and walk away unharmed. There are only a handful of times in his life where he was shaken and not really sure if he was doing the wrong thing.

Arden is said to make some pretty poor decisions sometimes, and he usually laughs it off when things go downhill from those bad decisions. When things get bad enough, he always goes straight for a sword and uses threats to get out of the situation, even though that can usually make things worse.

Physical Description

Arden is a half-elf and is the average height for a half-elf at 6'5". He is taller than most iron humans, but is significantly shorter than most Elves who are often over seven feet tall. He has piercing blue eyes characteristic of a Vernador and dark brown hair. Elven and half-elven men both have trouble growing facial hair, and Arden is no different. The fact he has facial hair at all is likely because he is a Vernador, as both his father and uncle are described as having glorious beards.

Arden is almost always wearing his void armor during the day whether he is in a combat situation or not. During mission down times when his armor is being repaired, he wears dark clothing with shades of greens and blues, as well as a set of dark steel vambraces and greaves.

Full name:Arden Vernador

Race: Iron Half-Elf
Ethnicity: Lyonnese and Casselian
Age: 25
Birthday: June 7th
Height: 6'5"
Gender: Male

Titles:

Prince of North Cassel

Prince of Lyonne

Knight Scion of the Order of the Void

The Mageless Knight

The Scion of Earth

Children

Equipment

Void Armor

This is a set of steel plate armor, layered with dark Moissanite Crystals. These crystals come from the scales of Loralkas, the Black, an ancient Dragon Lord. Underneath this plate armor is steel chainmail and thick canvas padding.

Void Armor is said to be nearly indestructible and can protect the user from some of the most powerful attacks imaginable, physical and magical. Arden has been struck by lightning several times in quick succession, and survived being blasted by Renelle Vernador's absurdly powerful fire magic, walking away without even a scratch.

The armor itself isn't unique among the knightly order he belongs to, as every single void knight has at least one set. Those outside the order can only dream of having a set of armor like this.

The Fallen Star

An elven broadsword created from the body of Etaltra, the Impervious, another ancient dragon lord. The blade has a darkened look to it, and is able to absorb magic attacks. The gems on the cross guard and pommel are made of Chessylite, also known as Azurite. This copper mineral is excellent at conducting mana, allowing the user to send magic spells downrange with ease, though Arden is not known to cast magic. He doesn't use flashy magic spells in fights and usually lets his swordsmanship speak for itself...then he lets his nearly indestructible armor take the hits when that fails.

Family

Brenon Vernador

Arden was the only member of the family not in Cassel at the time of his father's death, and he didn't hear about it until the body of Brenon's second wife, Maria, was sent to Galleska for burial.

Queen Eryka

Arden's mother. Eryka found it difficult to manipulate Arden like her other two children, so for the most part she ignored him. This never affected Arden much, who was free to chase his dream of becoming a knight. He doesn't have a bad relationship with his mother, but he still doesn't care much for her either.

Renelle Vernador

One of Arden's older sisters. When they lived in Lyonne, Arden frequently protected her from being picked on by the full blooded elves, which brought no end of annoyance to Renelle. The two also frequently fought to determine who was actually stronger, but these destructive fights usually ended in a tie.

Isabel Vernador

Arden's other older sister. Growing up, Isabel had a small amount of admiration for Arden's one track mind of wanting to become a knight. She greatly admires Arden for being the only one of the three of them who was able to look their mother in the face and say no.

Saya (Vyerin)

Arden's younger...sister? Arden has always been sure of himself and what he wanted to be, so this makes Saya's identity crisis a bit confusing to him. He still thinks that Saya is the only rightful ruler of North Cassel after their father died and has offered to help her retake the throne. But Saya wants nothing to do with it.

Aerynn Vernador

Arden's cousin. He taught her how to use a sword and how to use various defensive spells after an incident around five years ago. Whenever Aerynn is on the road she always requests that Void Knights be her escort. Arden and Jessie are always the ones who take the mission.

Jessie

A half-elf from Ordland, a fellow knight of the Void, and Arden's wife. Jessie is always calm and composed and can think her way out of just about any situation without ever having to use her sword and shield. This is the complete opposite of Arden. The two trained together and went on many missions together, and eventually married.

Friends

Marcel

Commander of Cassel's 4th Fleet, located in the Voltaic Seas and the Xiralgus Isles. Arden knew Marcel when they were kids and both are glad they can still trust each other, especially in this time of Cassel's political uncertainity and virtually everyone is planning against each other.

Ronan

A former knight of the void that fell to vampirism several years ago while on a mission in the Kingdom of Yurria. Using the help of Lucia, a knight of a different order, Arden tracked Ronan down to kill him.

Cindy

Order of the Void

Isolda

A captain of the Void Knights that used to be in charge of training the new recruits. She is said to be one of the best swordmasters out there and regularly has to teach younger members of the order how useless their reliance on armor and magic actually is. Arden is no exception to being taught this lesson a little too often.

Commander Gils

At 80 years of age, Knight Commander Gils is the oldest human of the order. He still leads knights into battle, leading cavalry charges to break through enemy lines. Apparently Arden's grandfather, Vernador XX, fought beside Gils on the battlefield many years ago during a military campaign in the Dragon Marches.

History

Early Life

Arden Vernador was born in Marsan in the year 2969 I.A.. His birth wasn't as controversial as his older sisters, but it still caused annoyance among the kingdom's nobility because their father, Brenon Vernador, now had three half-elven children, which would be absolutely unacceptable if he were to become king. Brenon didn't care for such things as he was second in line to the throne anyways. This wouldn't last too long...

Growing up, Arden wanted to become a knight. That was his one goal. Arden's father was quite happy about that, as Brenon was a Knight of the Order of the Drake, a human only knightly order based out of Cassel. Arden's mother was less than happy about that, though Arden was never quite sure why. He didn't care though, and spent most of his early childhood playing pretend and dreaming of when he would get to become a knight and wear his own set of armor.

A Squire of the Void

Eryka found it difficult to manipulate Arden compared to Renelle and Isabel, so she considered him completely useless, at least as far as her political scheming went. When Arden was 10, he was sent away. Arden was to join a knightly order, and Eryka gave him a choice for which one to join. He chose the Order of the Void, which ahd no presence in Cassel or any of the Kingdoms in Eastern Vreathe. He went off to Galleska, to Abgrund, the City of Armor, which was located to the west of the other side of the Mountains of Cil.

In order to be considered for the Order, Arden had to challenge the Master At Arms to a duel and hit her at least once. The one in charge at the time, Isolda, was not impressed by Arden. She's seen far too many young lords sent off to join an order of knights because they were useless everywhere else in life.

The fight opened with Arden being almost immediately disarmed. Isolda pointed her blade at Arden, telling him the fight was over. Arden then used his skills in magic to create a set of Earthen armor, covering his body in granite. Isolda shattered her blade attempting to strike Arden, so then resorted to using her hands. Arden rushed Isolda, and managed to strike her once on the face, but was quickly thrown off balance and was sent head first into the castle wall, knocking him out. Arden did succeed in joining the order.

Scionic Order of the Abyss Task #1

So you want to be a knight and of all the orders and sub-orders out there, you chose the Void? Good luck with that!

The first task of any new Squire of the Void is to challenge the master-at-arms to a duel and hit her once. Just once. It Can be with any attack you can think of, a bolt of fire, an arrow, or even a musket if you dare.

Careful now, Isolda is not one to suffer foolishness! The chances of you succeeding are zero if you are not attacking her with the intent to kill.

- Knight Commander Gils

Gaining a Lore Crystal

Arden spent the next six years as a squire in the order, refining his skills with earth magic and learning how to use a sword. He made friends with Jessie and Ronan around this time, and trained with them over the years. Most squires were attendants to various knights in the order during this training. Arden spent a few years under Isolda then a few more under Gils. Arden was told a number of stories about his grandfather Vernador XX, who was a knight in the Order of the Void before becoming King of Cassel.

When Arden was 16, he was invited to join the order as a full-fledged knight, but only if he ventured into the Mountains of Sil to retrieve a Moissanite Lore Crystal, which the order uses to make their nearly indestructible void armor. To obtain this crystal, Arden would have to spend a week just getting to the Loralkas Impact Crater, then spend a week traveling back. He would also have to do this alone, and this would be a test of his survival skills, his willpower and resolve.

When Arden went into the impact crater, he was able to find his prize and gathered several fist sized chunks of crystal. Before he left, he heard several voices and identified what looked like two members of a Dragon cult. He was quickly overpowered by the first one. The other, Arden recognized her. It was his sister, Renelle Vernador, who was somehow a thousand miles from where she was supposed to be. Ren travelled with Arden back to Abgrund. While Arden waited for his armor to be made, the two caught up with what happened over the last few years.

When Arden's armor was finished, he put it on and was made a Knight of the void by commander Gils and the authority of the church. Of the many different places he could choose to go, he decided to go back to Cassel. His station would be at the Void Fortress of Abime in Verdina. Before he left, Gils gave Arden the Champion's Seal. This would allow him to compete in the annual Chivalric Tournament of Champions, a high level competition between knights from across the continent. Cassel was hosting the tournament this year.

Tournament of Champions

The Chivalric Tournament of Champions means many different things to the knights that compete. For Oscuria the Dark Cloud, the winner of five of these tournaments, it was to prove their skill with a blade is still as sharp as ever. For Renelle Vernador, it is to prove that she is better than all the humans and elves that hated her. For Arden, he doesn't care to prove anything really. He knows where his abilities are at, but he also won't pass up the chance to show off, or to fight Ren again. Deaths and major injuries are quite common in this tournament so when Brenon Vernador found out that two of his children were competing, he tried to stop them. Ren and Arden both refused and competed anyway.

The early rounds went rather easily for Arden. His skill with a sword wasn't quite as good as some knights, but his skill with earth magic combined with his void armor made it pretty much impossible to actually incapacitate him. The first knight that gave him trouble was someone known as the Aqua Knight. Arden recognized her as Cindy, a descendant of the water goddess Ibora. She could easily manipulate an ocean of water with ease.

Arden nearly drowned during the fight and was thrown around by torrents of water. His earth magic was nearly useless once Cindy covered the entire battlefield with a meter of water. He won by... throwing mud. During the last time Cindy threw Arden under the water, Arden grabed two large handfuls of mud, and when he resurfaced, he threw it at her.

Cindy was completely thrown off balance by this, just long enough for Arden to completely close the distance between them and knock her out. After a short rest and just enough time to dry off his armor, Arden went to fight the next round.

There is no shortage of people on Vreathe that are masters of water magic. Cindy is the only one I'd rather never fight again!

The next fight was against an old man from the Order of the Drake known as Oros the Impassible. This person was very skilled with earth magic, much more than Arden was. On more than one occasion during the fight he buried Arden under tons of rock. Arden won by doing something Oros and no one else expected. He threw his sword, which struck Oros on the side of the head. Oros yielded. Arden then went to the semi final round, againt his sister Ren.

I spent most of that hour-long fight either on fire or surrounded by it. At one point, Ren didn't even use a sword to defend herself, only her magic! We used to always be equals, but here, she was levels anove me... I don't know what happened to her when she was in that "Realm of Feylisa" but if I want to keep up, I have some training to do!

This fight lasted the longest of any other at the tournament. Arden's defenses were too strong for Ren to do any real damage but Ren's fire magic was too much for Arden to get close enough for long. The fight at one point turned into a punching match between the two because Arden took Ren's sword before Ren use her fire magic to superheat both of their weapons.

The fight actually came down to who ran out of mana first, which was Arden. This confused the audience as Arden didn't appear injured in any way and he wasn't actually observed casting any magic the entire fight. Ren appeared much more injured, but Arden was the one that was unable to continue.

Arden was still the third place winner of the tournament. He recieved quite a bit of money as a reward and was given the title of the Mageless Knight. His uncle Eldon Vernador gave him the Onyx Sword. Every (non-elven) knight in Cassel and the rest of Vreathe gave him their respect, but Arden was annoyed by this defeat...

Tragedy

A Scion of Earth

Stopping the Vampires of Yurrimkil

At the request of his sister Ren, Arden and a small force of Void knights travelled to the Kingdom of Yurria to help with the vampire problem. While some knightly orders like the Leviathan have vampire hunters, the Void Knights are specifically trained to deal with them. The issue here was that vampires had infiltrated every level of society in Yurrimkil, even the king was a vampire, and dealing with them was going to take some effort.

These efforts ended up starting an entire civil war between Yurrian loyalists and an anti-vampire faction. In the chaos of this war, a group of knights broke into the king's palace to stop him. It was discovered that the king had a large Bloodstone and were attempting to summon Lithane. The Void knights did their job, fighting off the vampires and stopping that from happening, but they suffered heavy losses. of the twelve knights that entered Yurrimkil, four were turned into vampires and three were killed. Before the remaining void knights left the country, they had to track down their brothers and end their lives. Arden was tasked with finding his friend Ronan and taking him out.

Using the help of a Leviathan knight named Lucia, Arden found where Ronan was hiding. They went into the dark cavern and found his friend. After a short battle, They gained the upper hand and pinned Ronan to the ground with ice spikes. Arden tried talking some sense into him, but Ronan was already long gone, replaced by a being that was wholly devoted to his goddess and would stop at nothing to summon her to Vreathe.

Arden had his sword drawn, ready to end Ronan's life, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He left Ronan and took the fallen knight's void armor as proof he had fallen. As he walked away, Ronan called Arden a coward and hurled a number of insults at him. Arden let Lucia have the honors of killing the vampire. In his last bit of humanity, Ronan asked Arden to throw away the diamond ring in his armor, Jessie must never see it! Lucia then removed Ronan's head and burned it to ash.

Loss and Love and Chaos

Jessie had traveled with Arden and Lucia to take down Ronan. She couldn't stand to see Ronan as a vampire, much less fight him as one, so she waited outside the cave. When Arden left the cave a few hours later, the two didn't exchange any words. All they could do was shed tears and embrace each other. Their best friend was gone...

It should be noted that Arden was only 18 at this point in his life. He's had already lost his father and his young brother, which hit him hard enough. In the last year he also failed to protect his fellow knights on several recent mercenary contracts, most recently including his best friend Ronan. It was too much for the young man to bear. He left his station in Cassel and went back to Galleska.

Over the next two years, Arden and Jessie grew closer together, first by the loss of their friend, then by their resolve to protect each other. The two became inseparable, going never going on any missions without the other.

One night, the two had a conversation about how close Jessie and Ronan were to each other, then the conversation switched into being about them. Arden revealed that Ronan had a diamond ring and he kept it. He said he was going to throw it away like he promised, but... Jessie held out her hand and told Arden to give it to her. Arden then put the ring on Jessie's finger and the two became engaged.

When the two were deciding where to have the wedding ceremony, there was an emergency call for knights to go to the Corruption of Maeos. The Void knights answered the call and sent a force of several dozen knights to the Dragon Marches. Arden and Jessie wanted their wedding ceremony to be during the full moon while they were there, if they could find a quiet moment to do it.

What followed was an evening of fighting chaotic forces of the land during a full moon when they were at their strongest. The reason for the emergency call was that a Lunar Eclipse was happening that evening, which temporarily powered up the chaotic forces there and left the people hopelessly outnumbered.

After the eclipse had ended, a few hours before sunrise, the forces of chaos were beaten back. It was then that the two married on the battlefield, surrounded by friends, fellow knights, and the smoldering corpses of thousands of monsters. The two still call it the happiest day of their lives.

Preparing for War

It started with an envoy from Renelle. She wanted to raise an army to take out King Eldon Vernador. The reason? The Death of Marla

Entry for WorldEmber 2023

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