In the darkness that followed the Sundering, a new Faith was born: the Temple of the Cleansing Flame, devoted to avenging the High King's death and revering the High King and Saint Malorn, the Temple's founder. Faith is the source of a healer's power, and the final measure of his capabilities. Rumors abound of other healers who follow the teachings of the Elemental Hierarchs, the Beast Lords, or even the wicked doctrines of the Lords of Chaos. The ancient and secretive Druids devote themselves to the Balance and the Mother of the World. The Holy Church of the All-Father draws the greatest number of healers into its ranks, with its legions of divine saints and hierarchies of angelic lords offering a vast array of powers and miracles to Prelates who believe. Many simple healers go on to devote themselves to one of the Great Faiths, pledging their life and efforts to advance the causes of their chosen path, and are rewarded with even greater powers and miracles. The healing of wounds and sickness is the best known gift that healers possess, and the most valued in this age of conflict and pestilence. Healers are sensitive souls whose belief and devotion allow them to find the divine spark within them, and use its power to alter the world around them. A trace of the divine will and its capacity for creation exists in all living things, and is concentrated in beings of thought and reason, the true Children of the Gods. Everything from the lowliest slug to the brightest Archon in Heaven is their handiwork. There are Primal Powers that exist Outside the world we know, who wrought the World and all the Universe in the uttermost beginning. Alas, his downfall and The Sundering have shown how much a single fighter can destroy. The High King himself showed how much a fighter with a sword could change the world.
In these dark times, such men are desperately needed. Besides, when the forces of Darkness or Chaos threaten the world, it is the fighter, not the mage or healer, who meets them head on, and always stands in the greatest risk of death.įighters tend also to be leaders of men, who can rise to lead entire armies and govern over kingdoms. Steel has a discipline all its own, and a master fighter is capable of feats of arms that can be as potent as any magic. Try telling that to the fencing masters of Mellissar, who have trained eight hours every day with their blades since their fifth birthday, or the yeomen of Gend, who legends say can fire twenty arrows from their longbows of yew in the space of a minute. The fighter's path is the easiest, they argue, for the warrior lacks the faith and devotion of a healer, the long, arduous study of the mage, or the rogue's finely honed craft. Men of action, fighters depend upon their strength and toughness to survive, and many regard fighters as dull-witted sluggards. Whether they fight for a cause, for glory, or for the simple love of slaughter, they fight. The Knights of the Petty Kingdoms, the mounted archers of the Horse Nomads, the soldiers who follow the War Lords, and the Great Berserks of the Frozen North are all fighters at heart - no matter the particulars of their craft. Ours has always been a Fighter's world, and our history is replete with examples of the warrior's creed. For the mighty and humble alike, even the greatest of Quests begins with but a single step.įrom the times before the First Dawning some Heroes have pitted their strength against their foes, overcoming adversity through force of arms. Whatever their race, those who aspire to greatness must walk one of four paths to triumph or oblivion.
More than ever, it is a time when Heroes can change the world, for good or ill. Just as the world was shattered, War and Chaos threaten to shatter everything the All-Father's children have achieved. Since the time of the Turning, things have grown even worse. From the rising of the Dragons to the great invasions of Chaos and the War of Tears between Men and the Elven empires, conflict and destruction have always been close at hand. Apprenticeships: The Four Paths of the HeroĪlas, our World has been rent with strife from its very beginning, her soil seeped in blood.
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