PCs:Bronwen Blacksteel

Bronwen Blacksteel

Background : Bronwen was born to a family of minor nobles in the city of Mikona, capital of M'Chek. Her father, Bronn, was a Paladin of Gorethar and had served the temple dutifully for many years, making quite a name for himself. As Bronwen was an only child, there was no chance of the noble Bronn having his legacy passed on to a son, so he looked upon her as the son he never had.

Much to her mother's dismay, Bronwen was very much a Tom-boy, forever getting herself into all sorts of mischief with the less respectable children of the city. It was only natural that her father would want her to continue the good family name, and he tutored her in the use of blade and bow before she was a teenager. It appeared that Bronn wanted to encourage Bronwen to become a Paladin like himself, and even went so far as enrolling her name in the Temple of Gorethar as a candidate for the Academy there.

When Bronwen was just 17 her father died whilst campaigning in Northern M'Chek, slain by a fearsome giant who also took the lives of a dozen other brave men that day. One of the survivors returned to the Blacksteel manor with her father's blade and harness and told his weeping widow the tale of how 'Bronn the Brave' had perished.

Unable to cope with the loss of her father and the stress of living with her grieving mother, Bronwen left home and headed straight to the Temple of Gorethar. Fulfilling her father's wish, she joined the church as a Paladin and took her holy vows of duty and responsibility that very day. She also swore that day that she would never again shed another tear, for there was no-one left in the world that she had loved as much as her father. No-one would ever hurt her, for now she was dedicated to her God, and he would shield her from the anguish that such close relationships ultimately bring about.

After four years of study and training, Bronwen passed her final assesment with flying colours. Even the High Priest was amazed by her talent and intuitive understanding of the doctrine of Gorethar. He predicted that great things would one day be carried out by this 'slip of a girl from a home devastated by grief'.

Taking her few meager possessions with her, Bronwen left Mikona on a ship bound for Lake Eridanus and the port city of Elysia. This was a place her father had told her about most often. Elysia was a vast melting pot where all peoples lived in peace and the better side of all mortals could be witnessed plainly and unashamedly. Bronn made his daughter promise that if she ever became a Paladin, she would head to Elysia to seek her destiny there. The great man was ever a believer in prophecy and had purportedly been granted a vision from Gorethar, that a descendant of his blood would one day be one of the greatest Paladins in all of Avlis.

Hoping to make her father proud, she arrived in Elysia with her head held high and with dreams of serving this wonderful city dutifully and bravely like a true Blacksteel.