#Ondathion Knights

[thaneirstaer]

“At least it wasn’t fruitless”

Story put under a read more cause I dont wanna spam

Our battles throughout the war torn country were bloody, they were exhausting, they were costly.  

"At least they're not fruitless."

We kept repeating, battle after battle, friend and comrade after brother and sister in arms fell, whispering names on their lips for a final breath, a lover, a spouse, child, parents, God. It all became white noise by the end. I am no paladin, no cleric, no savior of the sick and injured. I could only give the solace they did not die alone. Hand gripped in hand until theirs's went lax. But it was worth it.

We glared upon the mighty Wall of Fallen, impossible in scale it took those of us whom never seen it before's breath away like a mighty gust of wind blowing into us, pushing out all strength. In unison we stepped forward, spear and sword, shield and forward, banners of all our lands in unison, a rainbow of tattered cloth, mud and blood. Beasts of war adorned armor and shield, battle scarred they'd seen the worst of this we thought. The King's Guard, more a band of brigands, ransacking farmsteads and small towns for gold to help fund his campaign. Our captains spoke of worry, the raids continued but our enemy had never grown stronger. Swords were still tarnished, horses malnourished, did Fool King Edmund think he could win but sturdy walls and ballistae alone?  

We cared not, marching turned to sprinting, the mud underneath us caused every step to be taken with increased haste, throwing ourselves to the walls as great ladders were thrown up them. We had to get the gate open; a smaller detachment snuck around to open the gate at our signal. The torches flared, horns sounded and battle cries were given but no movement at the gate. The few archers and spearmen atop the wall were overrun. They were trained, but so were we. And we had numbers. Dozens of women and men, soldiers and outlaws, all who banded together to see the Fool King fall. We made our way to the guard house with reckless abandon. We just needed the gates open. Consolidate our forces into a spear tip and drive it through the heart while archers rained hell upon our foes from above. Five of our own were ahead of me, sword and daggers, spear and pitchfork in hand screaming bloody murder. And as quickly as our advance began. It ended.

One strike as he burst from the guard house. One swing of his mighty sword arm and they were thrown from the walls, a bloody outpouring of gore as pieces fell to the slick mud below and atop our troops. A helmet of crimson red, horns adorning like a dominant bull, a thick black cloak, furred edges and armour thicker than the walls he stood on. This figure gave us all pause, he raised sword and shield to the air and bellowed out louder than any mortal sound could be as fire rained down across the other side of the wall and the part behind us. Like slamming fists from the heavens of molten flame and ungodly power they crushed down, troops wiped out as the King's Guard's true force rallied and marched up the walls as the gates opened beneath us. And he marched forward.

My hands were clammy, my helmet obscured my vision as I ducked and dipped, I found myself closest to the wall to our side of a body of men, holding with grim resolve behind our captain Benedictus.

"Foul spawn of the North! We are unbo-"

No glory was given, in a single strike he crushed through the captain's breastplate, splitting him like a log for firewood. Benedictus' sword found it's mark, pierced straight through the mighty juggernaut's chest. Where the heart should be. It acknowledged it with passing annoyance before cutting through us. Lifting his sword high he cut through Emilia like she wasn’t even there, Tobias' throat was slit before he could even scream, Sebastion's greatsword was shattered, piercing him as the Monster of the Wall threw us with terrible force. I lunged forward at the Monster. He was towering over me, larger than the largest orc, more akin to a troll for sheer gait and bulk. But as deft as an elf, his gargantuan form dodged me as if I were a stumbling child I lunged deep, piercing his side to the hilt I shouted then I saw his shadow, the blade arching down to me. I released my blade and raised my shield, it was like paper to a butcher’s knife, his sword struck at my shoulder, I felt cloak and chain shatter, steel piercing my body as he lifted me on his blade.

The first the wind took me as a boot made contact with my back, before secondly the ground embraced me, darkness then took me thirdly. I could taste the blood, I could hear their voices, an unjointed chorus screaming my name, screaming “my lord” desperate, they needed my help, they clawed at me.

"Get up"

A soft voice like a candle in the abyss of darkness, a hearth flame in the freezing depth of winter. A gauntleted hand reached down to me, it took all my energy to lift my right arm up to Them. And I was pulled from the pile of bodies. We were in route, screams were everywhere, camp was in the woods, we had to flee their and flee further. All my energy turned to run as agony sank deep into my bodies, clinging to me like hot tar. My left arm, like a festering conflagration, barely hanging from my torso. The noise, subtle but massive drew my gaze, I saw him atop the walls. Cutting swaths through us all in a gory conquest. And there were nine others, marching on terrible flaming horses through the gates, the retreat horns were sound. A voice rang into my head in that moment;

"At least we could save some. At least it's not fruitless"

[thaneirstaer]

((Munday time: TELL ME ABOUT WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE THANE?! :D))

Well this is a rabbit hole, so to explain where Thane originated from we gotta go all the way back. So the rest of this goes under a read more before it is a WALL OF TEXT

This has also evolved from a what inspired me to make Thane to also being a How I Made Thane

The tldr here was “He wasn’t my first choice of character but then I decided I could move away from a violence first, brutish character to a character who is capable, and has strength but choses to strengthen his voice and bring reason to situations first.”

The first human warrior I made in warcraft was a character which is now my namesake, Dasacht.

He was an older grizzled smith, survived the later two of the game’s early history wars, warcraft 2 and 3. A hard ass soldier who was primarily more akin to an attack dog that kept getting parts of himself replaced after losing them in battle, fake eyes, metal arms and the like. He became synonymous with me and it’s the reason the trope of “Dad Character” tends to linger still to me.

I have always enjoyed martial characters especially humans because in a fantasy setting with magic, massive monsters and impossible odds, there’s always something so appealing to being just a person, willing to stand against all of this, being the bulwark to the impossible.

In 2017 a friend of mine was coxed into running a dnd campaign for a setting she had been working on for a long time by my girlfriend, after my girlfriend showed her character designs for Khoury Al’Essador, my girlfriend’s character.

As such I got offered to join the campaign and actually I had two other character designs I was interested in playing first, both being “dibs’d” by the other two party members. The first was the idea of playing a werewolf character, however I was told I couldn’t later, finding out that one of the party members was a werewolf from an order of werewolves who fight planar entities and the undead. This being everyone’s favorite bitch, Blue’s Tala��

After that I presented the idea of playing a gunslinger, kinda cowboy kinda lone ranger, but the gun guy trope was plucked up by the party’s plucky prick Zalrich Goldwood 

This left me looking both at the party and my character options and trying to think what characters were left that I could play. Character’s that I thought I would enjoy, so I had an idea for a knight, but primarily not a paladin, not to begin with anyway, he would earn being a paladin in my mind. This and having played a lot of Total War Warhammer which has a lot of imperial soldiers, knights in shining armor and desperate against all odds sort of fights. 

So me and the dungeon master, both being massive fans of Dragon Age, Grey Wardens and the like, I asked “Where in this world would have Griffon Knights?” To which she slapped Ondolathom on the map and went “boy have a spot for you”

So then I get excited and roll out my stats for thane, using a 4d6 discard lowest system. This usually means you’ll get a pretty solid state line 10 being an average man 20 being superhuman in that stat. For example being 20 in strength is herculean. So I roll my stats.

Oh

None of these are truly remarkable but I put my highest in con, as the knight character it makes sense my character be tough. But the other stats aren’t amazing, so this is where we go from making the skeleton of thane’s character design to literally fleshing him out.

He has a relatively ”Okay” strength score  it is above average, dex is low so he’s slow and not as good with finesse tools or accuracy. He’s not remarkably smart, which I’ve played into his story as “always wanting to be a scholar” but he was refused from going down such an avenue as a child. His wisdom isn’t the highest, he is not a perceptive person nor remarkably charismatic.

So this is where we decide on what skills Thane is good at.

Animal Handling I always wanted as a kid preferred quiet places Thane got along best with his horse and when he eventually got a mutt dog Cagfir he became Thane’s best friend. So that was a purely self indulgent “I wanna pet the dog” character trait

Athletics was my way of working around Thane’s relatively low strength. Athletics can be used for pulling, lifting, doing jumps, the kind of physical exertions without necessarily being combat. This is where Thane has managed to grapple, toss or hold monsters much bigger than himself to being impressive.

History is his upbringing, he was taught Ondathion lore and history when he was young, and I’ll mention religion here too as both were “necessary teaching” from his youth.

Insight is the ability to discern truth of someone’s words or intent. He is a noble, he was taught to be able to look at someone and figure out their motives behind colourful words and soft smiles.

Persuasion is his best skill, and the part of Thane I enjoy the most, given he is not some physical behemoth, both not being very big as a person (only 5ft 7) and not that strong, I decided Thane could look at talking and diplomacy best, given his abilities from the Oath of Redemption as a paladin, Thane gains further benefits to this, allowing him to talk people down or convince them to see reason.

[thaneirstaer]

LFRP Thane Eirstaer

Details under the read more, feel free to message to clarify anything

THE BASICS ––––

Age: 26

Birthday: 21/Guri/Ahnvis/Burning

Race: Human (Ondathion)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bicurious

Marital Status: Single

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE ––––

Hair: Dark Brown

Eyes: Blue

Height: 5ft 7inches

Build: Strongman build, 91kg/200 pounds

Distinguishing Marks:  I mean, just look

Common Accessories: Usually in plate armor, with a necklace of dark iron, wrapped around a beautiful ruby.

PERSONAL ––– –

Profession: Knight, Rebel, Wandering Sell Sword

Hobbies: Sketching, writing, singing, horse riding, exercise

Languages: Common, Giant, Elvish, Dwarvish, Draconic, Celestial

Residence: Ondolathom Captial, Dragonhorn Castle, Any tavern on the road

Birthplace: Ondolathom Capital/Greenland for modern au/Stormwind for WoW

Religion: The Setonian Pantheon(canon) The Light (WoW)

Patron Deity: Tenerahs, Of the Onyx Blade

Fears: Failure, Death, Disappointing others

RELATIONSHIPS –––-

Partner:  None

Children: None 

Parents: Lord Lairge Eirstaer, Lady Onorach Eirstaer

Siblings: None

Other Relatives: Arda& Leocroi Eirstaer (Grandparents)

Pets: Cagfir, one big happy mutt boy

TRAITS –––-

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ––– –

Smoking Habit: N/A 

Drugs: N/A 

Alcohol: Occasional drinks.

RP HOOKS ––––

The Wandering Knight

You can almost always find Thane in a tavern, on the road, passing your usual place of work or local haunts. 

The Resting Artist

Find somewhere beautiful in your world your character likes to relax at? They can find a tired paladin sat down, sketching out the scene be it sun rise to sun set he would be there drawing it.

Wherever The Road Takes

Thane is a wanderer, wherever his dreams command him to go, he will wander, so it’s very easy to just say he is familiar with your world and setting to make interactions easier.

Modern Armored Warrior

Be it Overwatch, a Comic verse or other modern interpretation, Thane is from an old money family, with contacts with anomalous organisations to travel the world and bring thunder and steel to wrong doers. Or maybe he’s just out at a nightclub who knows.

[thaneirstaer]

Lineage of the Eirstaers (Part One)

Under the read more is a listing of all of thane’s lineage, it’s a doozy

Riogla Eirstaer, first of his name, of the first to touch the banks of Ondolathom. The Betrayed and the Beloved.

It was his efforts that earned a small few folk their freedom, together from Devenaria he lead them to Ondolathom as there was a great exodus of slaves and criminals, seeking to earn a good living as good folk in what they now called home. Before it was naught but wildlands, unclaimed by Northrealm, the neighboring province. Realizing folk sought to carve their one fortune so close by, Northrealm attempted to force Vasselment, and of course, this ended as well as you can expect for a group of folk just freed from slavery and war broke out.

 Northrealm greatly underestimated the resolve of Ondathion people and sought peace meetings, seeing Riogla as a primary individual in this a one to one meeting was proposed. He went alone and unnarmed as requested, found late past the witching hour by his bond brother, Markus Manypelts, who promptly slaughtered every single living thing he found in vengeance. When the giant’s senses returned to him he stood infront of Riogla Eirstaer’s body, his then young son Leocro Eirstaer, beside him, ensuring that a reckoning shall be had.

Leocro Eirstaer, first of his name, loyal first and finally to his family. The Old Lion, the Orc Herder.

Northrealm knew not the pain they had wrought themselves, as for the next years of the war, Leocro showed what a cruel intelligence could do. Hit and Run tactics, salting the earth, using captives as live bait, luring monsters to nearby Northrealm encampments. Even using folks who had been criminals in Ondolathom as cannon fodder in battles. It began apparent quickly that Northrealm would slowly be drip bled and before long this war would be entirely unworth it’s effort, so they sued for peace and to the surprise of all, Leocro insisted on it as a good notion.

Through this he weeded out all he knew he could and could not trust, those he could he galvanized to his cause, to have forces ready for him. The meeting was to be a now forgotten settlement on the border between the two countries, Leocro would never attend, instead luring orcs from the northern wastes of the country, while the Northrealm army and traitors were put to the sword, Leocro led his forces directly into the Northrealm capital. Distinctly lacking an army to withstand the assault Leocro now decided on the terms of surrender for Northrealm. 

Thane Eirstaer, first of his name, Knight Lord of Ondolathom

The uncle to the Thane you know, this was to be the next lord of the Eirstaers and perhaps a soul that all of Ondolathom may get behind as a king, tragically before he was wed to his wife and before such loyalty could be achieved, he died in a tragic hunting incident.

Lairge Eirstaer, first of his name, The Boisterous, the Whore Monger, The Black Sheep

He never expected to become a lord, he only wanted to whore and drink his days away, to be loud and jovial with no duties to himself. But his stupid brother hand to die didnt he? So he was left to marry and become lord of his house. Under his father’s request his son would be named Thane. Lairge cared little for him, just like his older brother the boy was, stupid little boy. Lairge would make dark northrealm deals, sleep with whores for no other reason thane to make illegitimate heirs to his position. His is loud, he is abusive and he rules.

Thane Eirstaer, Second of his Name, The Young Lion, Hammer of Baal, the Returned, the Branded, Chosen of Tenerhas

This poor soul.

Thane was born with three generations of expectation on his back, a duty to a goddess, an abusive father and a world that seemed to gravitate misfortune to him. He failed his final rite of knighthood, being the first person to fail this part of the ritual. He went south of Ondolathom to the country of the Rustinglands, first man to volunteer, he did not expect to come back. Truth be told that was his plan from the start. A woman he was quite smitten with however, convinced him to return home one day, if not for anything else, then just for her. 

He failed to come back to her alive, he died in the battle for Fallin’s Wall, cut nearly entirely in half. The magic brand of that attack left him in a haze of pain, dreams and agonized drinking for a year, until he had a vision to either die and let the pain take him or to fight on now, or never. So he fought it, he commands it’s power and he still intends to free the Rustinglands from it’s tyranny, now chosen by Tenerhas for reasons he knows not. He will die for the Rustinglands if he must, to make his way home, to succeed for once in his life.

[thaneirstaer]

"I heard you are a Nobleman?", Mar was not someone who would indulge in gossip and listen to rumors, yet this information had stuck with her. She looked at the other over the small fire between them that was not big enough to sooth the coldness of the night that would dig past layers of cloth like icy claws: "How comes you are not in a warm castle, making politics?"

@halforc-mercenary

"It's not my choice."

Thane dropped another log into the fire, pushing it into as good a place as he can with a stick. Even under his armor his left arm shook with it's usual weariness.

"I wanted to be a scholar, I wanted to read the mysteries of the world and learn forgotten histories, magics and wisdom."

His smile cracked into a slump, his shoulders dropped and the wind bit him hard, pulling the cloak about him further. Even an Ondathion could feel tonight's chill.

"That's what I wanted, my father on the other hand, well, he wanted me to succeed where he didn't even attempt. He wanted me to be like his dead older brother, like his father and like his father before him. He wanted a knight, so I was pulled from books to training for war. Once my task is done and this tyranical coup is laid low...I should return home."

Thane took a sip from a waterskin before tucking it deep beneath his clothes. His breaths were long and slow.

"Not yet, not yet. Not until war is won and those we lost returned home. I'm not ready to face them yet. To face my failure."

[thaneirstaer]

8. How does your character feel about religion?9. What about political beliefs?

Thane is a paladin of Teneras, goddess of war, healing, guidance and peace. Ondathions are a mixing pot of multiple cultures, races and ideologies, though the pantheon to which Thane worships is a primary one and all knights of Ondolathom undergo a ritual to receive a vision of their fate and destiny.

Thane never received his vision during this ritual and until very recently believed himself to be rejected by his goddess, who now, it seems, views Thane as her Champion.

Thane has an Ondathion approach to politics, meaning there must be individuals in place to organize settlements, people and tasks but any, and I cannot emphasis this enough, any form of slavery or oppression is met by Thane as it would by any other Ondathion: Violently.

They fought to refuse dominion under the rule of Northrealm which tried to force the fledgling nation under vasselment, after they realized we wouldnt go down quietly by which I mean Thane’s grandfather led an army past their main force and took their capital hostage to broker peace.

Do not force others under your rule, but everyone be under mutual agreement and voting of peoples into power to better help the people of Ondolathom above all others.