Lordran

"Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing, there were monsters..." -The last Scholar of GOLB

Backstory: Lordran is the last of an order of warforged knights created by a race of demi-gods to serve in a war alongside giants to wrestle control of the surface world from a primordial race of immortal dragons. Their victory ascended the Lords into Godhood and ushered in an era of fire that brought a cycle of life and death to the barren grey world of the immortal dragons that knew neither time nor death. At the end of the age of fire, Lordran's first lord scarificed himself and ignited his soul to hold back the coming age of darkness, the age of man. His children would eventually abandon their duties and fell out of favor by their followers. The last living daughter of the Lord of Sunlight was said to have abandoned her lands and later married a War God of another land, and bared his children.

Appearance: Lordran is a warforged always clad in Silver Knight armor standing at 7 foot, weighs 400 pounds, and carries a heavy metal shield. A flowing canal is chiseled deeply into its face & blessed by a forgotten goddess. He wears a short cape on his back that bears a family crest too faded to read.

Entourage: A knighthood is among the lowest noble titles in most societies, but it can be a path to higher status. As a noble knight, Lordran is acompanyed by; his squire Alice, from a noble family of Lucir; Tom Waits, a musician from Vystuz; and Doyle, a traveling gnome brewmaster.

Lordran Awakens:

Tom Waits gets around in his later years as a traveling musician and story teller. After observing the close of another war between feudal kingdoms in Vystuz, Mr. Waits found himself stuck at the edge of a forest overlooking farmland and a run-down fortress monastery. Besides the brewing lightning storm, Tom didn't want to get caught in the open by the marauding pack of degenerates that was the result from the end of the war. Old and young fools alike that threw away what lives they had to fight and die in the war but didn't, veterans too maimed/disfigured to hold onto as part of the regular army, and those poor souls who have seen too much and gone too far to re-enter "polite society". They where sweeping through the country side as marauders and the nobles saw it as an mere annoyance that moved from kingdom to kingdom. No need to deal with it, they would scatter at the sight of a proper army, and besides, the marauders reminded the peasants why they pay taxes to nobles.

The monastery in ages past had held up against both sieges and assaults when it was full of warrior priests and battle clerics of a now forgotten goddess. Now, Tom watched the last priest flee the once glorious fortress. The priest was an old man on foot, naked save his white loin cloth. It was tradition for monks/priests to flee naked as many had found out the hard way that bandits love nothing more than to chase down robed holy-men to kill and plunder. The wind started to pick up and the rain began to fall as the marauders made their way into the open field in clear view, no doubt there might be loot to be had. The old priest soaked from the rain and eyes filled with tears begged Bashna, his goddess of war, for forgiveness for him not being able to defend her temple, and screamed at the bandits damning the thieves with every fiber of his soul, "You can run on for a long time! Sooner or later God'll cut you down! Go tell that long tongue liar, go tell that midnight rider, tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter. Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down!" The bandits laughed at the old man. The naked old fool wasn't worth wasting an arrow on. Just then a flash of lightning hit the temple. Deep underneath, in the catacombs where martyrs and renowned priests are buried, lies a set of double doors locked from the inside. No living member of the temple remembered what was kept inside. Lordran awoke underneath a veil, on a table, in an armory underneath the temple alone. Though centuries had passed, Lordran instantly knew his purpose. Sword in sheath, shield on arm, and lance in hand. Lordran found a horse and mounted.

Outside, some of the bandits had gathered at the edge of the field staying under the cover of the trees out of the rain. Others where ransacking the small town in the distance, fires starting to burn within the buildings. A group of bandits on horseback where crossing the open field on their way to the temple. The old priest was left speechless when the main gate of the supposedly empty temple swung open. The all bandits looked up to see a 7 foot knight clad in silver armor riding on the weakest looking old nag. To the most hardened veteran bandits, this was a sight to behold. No noble knight of this day and age would ride into battle in bare metal armor, instead of painting their armor in the colors or heraldry of the family that retained them. They all laughed. "Looks like someone found some armor and wants to have a go at us." One bandit finished his wine skin and threw it on the ground. Five rode out to meet the one knight as the rest watched, drank, laughed, and took bets. Lightning flashed as they met. The lone knight circled but only four bandits remained on horse. "Pure fuckin' luck. Lets get em' boys!" The rain became a torrent. The bandits couldn't hear the dying men scream as the knight fell one after another leaving them with gaping holes in their chests from the lance. The motley band of thieves began to load their crossbows, ready their spears, and plant stakes in the ground to skewer the knight's horse. As soon as Lordran finished the riders he turned to the rest of the bandits and charged. Bolts and arrows flew, some glanced off his armor, some shattered against Lordran's shield, but none found their mark. Tom Waits, and the old priest watched Lordran cut men down like a noble cuts cake. Though the knight looked like a man, he sure didn't move or kill like one. Bashna was a goddess of war and had heard the priests prayers, and was disgusted with the whole lot of bandits. So she sent them a messenger, not in her image of beauty and plenty, but one in their image... A cold, efficient, remorseless killing machine that felt even less than them when killing, and they where terrified. After killing the last of the bandits at the edge of the field, Lordran stared in Tom Waits direction just long enough to send a chill down his spine, and then he turned downhill and rode, towards town...

Tom Waits was no fool. He stayed in cover until dawn. By then the rain had stopped. He walked into town not knowing what he would find or whether he would be killed on the spot, but he had to know what happened. In the town Mr. Waits along with the people in town who had hid emerged to discover a gruesome scene. In the middle of a street an old nag of a horse was riddled with arrows, some of its wounds seemingly closed and healed but it now laid dead along side a broken lance. Dead men littered the street around the horse. Each street, alley, and ransacked building had a similar scene of carnage. Dismembered arms and legs, decapitated heads, bolts and arrows where embedded in walls, some shattered, and even a few that seemed to be cut in half. No matter the body count, each scene only had one set of bloody footprints leave. Mr. Waits came across the old priest still naked and crying. His voice now gone from screaming praise to his goddess and damnation at the doomed men. Tom Waits began to reaccount what had happened to the people in town. The word spread, the deed recorded in song and it spread like wild fire. The priest returned the temple to find Lordran. For the first time in many years pledges and acolytes began to show up who wanted to serve the once forgotten Bashna, donations poured into the temple from the survivors of towns hit by the marauders and those who thought they would surely be next. Tom Waits met Lordran formally in the temple. Mr. Waits wanting to know Lordran story and Lordran wanting to know more about this era. Having seen the effect his knightly actions has brought on his Goddess's temple, Lordran decided to set out into the world to once again spread the name of Bashna with Tom Waits by his side to witness and record Lordran's deeds in ink, sweat, and even in the blood he shed.