Auric Evenhand

Before the Fall the dwarven kingdoms had been part and parcel of the Astarian Paradux. Unlike other kingdoms that were conquered, the dwarves joined the ranks of the human-led empire willingly, for their overall objective was the same. Both humans and dwarves wished to gather the Everlasting Relics and fulfill the great vision of the creators. When they were betrayed by the elves and sieged by the other peoples of the world, the dwarven troops would prove their worth and loyalty by fighting to the last and standing their ground, so that others could escape the destruction that would follow. They would punch a hole in the enemy lines, allowing civilians to escape, and would be witness to the magical cataclysm that ended the golden age of the Astarian Paradux. Many of them would perish that day, but those who survived would endure and thrive in the harsh world that was born from the ruins. That is until the arrival of Thundersteps.

When the great cyclops arrived on the continent, many dwarves were still intent on recovering as much of the old world as possible and sent expeditions to explore the outskirts of the Malediction. Soon those expeditions started to run afoul of the giant and be destroyed. The dwarves pleaded to their greatest hero, Onyx Hammerhaft so that he would defeat the monster. As the bearer of a Relic, he would certainly succeed where others had failed. When his war party returned to the city, they carried their leader atop his shield. Soon after the Onyx’s elite guard fell ill, and the whole of Midrasil would soon follow. Thundersteps had not only struck down their leader but also infected them with a plague that took the lives of many of the greatest dwarves to have ever lived. Only those who fled the city elsewhere early on or who were on missions far away would survive and, without Hammerhaft’s leadership, the dwarves would never again rise as high as in those days. They would spread out throughout the land and start new enclaves, withdrawing from the world, and many would even abandon their alliance with the Order of the Shattered Throne. Of Onyx only his legend and his Relic remained. The Voice of the Forge was a great forging hammer with a core of the purest krysalite, smuggled out of his tomb in Midrasil and vanishing into history for some centuries after. Auric’s childhood dream had been to see this legendary weapon, and that wish would soon be granted. 

Auric grew up in the free City State of Ironkeep, the eldest child of a family of merchants. His father, Ulfrith, was a master tradesman and made his living trading expertly crafted arms, armor, and other goods from Ironkeep throughout the Golden Road. They would trade the goods to the Legion of the Fallen to the south or to the Conclave in the east before going back up the road and heading north to the territories of the Order, selling the magical goods they had obtained elsewhere. The Order had its own dwarven forges and didn’t usually find a need for anything but the best craftsmanship of Ironkeep, so Auric’s family sold them the magic they lacked. It was a good life, and Auric hoped to take the place of his father as caravan leader someday. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him. 

The Order had erected a new settlement only a few years before and named it New Osterath. This fortified village was built on the Golden Road and much further south than any of their traditional holdings. It was, in fact, at the gates of Paxos and the territories of the Primal Blood, and it was to be the tip of the spear in “retaking the continent”. Similar things had been attempted before with little success, but this time the Order had invested considerable resources in the effort. They had made their claim and would stick to it come what may. Auric’s father saw this as an opportunity to open a new trade route with the newfound city and decided to direct his caravan there. When they were nearing the city walls, their wagons heavy with supplies, the caravan was attacked.

The very presence of the city was seen as an affront by the clans of the Primal Blood, and, although they had failed to raze New Osterath to the ground, the blood clans were more than happy to attack any transports approaching the city. Ulfrith and his kin were accustomed to the usual raid, but this one came with such ferocity and brutality that they found themselves ill-prepared. Auric was a young man by then and tried to protect his sister and mother from the onslaught, but he was inexperienced in the ways of war and was soon overwhelmed. Ulfrith saved him by wielding a weapon that Auric recognized from the stories as the Voice of the Forge. He did not know how his father had acquired it, but there could be no doubt. Its power was awe-inspiring, and Ulfrith wielded it with a rage the boy had never seen in his father, but there were simply too many enemies to hold back for long. The few survivors stood back to back, getting ready for the next wave of attacks. That’s when the leader of the attackers approached and challenged Ulfrith to a one-on-one battle. The orc had watched this dwarf, a merchant of all things, slay some of his best warriors and wanted retribution. He would make the man and his family suffer for daring to resist.

Auric could not have been more proud of his father, for that day he watched Ulfrith fight a battle worthy of the old legends. The orc was more experienced and much stronger than the merchant from Ironkeep, but Ulfrith fought with the valor of his ancestors. Alas, he would perish that day but not before buying enough time for reinforcements to arrive. As Auric and the rest of his family gathered around the body of his father, the orc that had killed him gloated while holding aloft the birthright of his people, taken as a prize. That was when the sky broke with searing light, and the Heralds descended onto the attackers with a fury the raiders were not prepared for. In the brawl that ensued, Auric lost sight of his sister, and he would never see her again. Both his mother and he were rescued and taken to New Osterath, but their lives would never be the same.

As they mourned Ulfrith, Auric’s mother would tell him of the secret history of their clan, of how he was a direct descendant of Onyx Hammerhaft, and how the Voice had been secretly passed down from father to son over the centuries. His lineage had a connection to the Relic, and only they could bring out its true power, but the Relic was itself incomplete, for it originally had two parts, and the Fist of the Forge had been buried and lost with Onyx. Auric could not help thinking that, had his father been able to use the full power of his birthright, he may still be alive. He thought of how the Primal Blood had taken everything from him. His father and sister were gone, but the odious cyclops Thundersteps had been responsible for the downfall of his people. He dwelt on these thoughts for some time but finally came to a conclusion. NO MORE. The Primal Blood had taken all that they would ever take from him and his kin. What they had not destroyed with their odious ways he would reclaim. Wherever he found them, he would offer them the bite of his blade and savor this vengeance in the name of all who had suffered at the hands of the savages.

Auric would grow up in New Osterath and join the ranks of the dwarves who had remained true to their alliance with the Order. He would learn the crafts of his people, how to carve stone as if it were clay, and how to carve an orc just as expertly,  but it would be at the forge that he would find his calling. Auric had a talent for bending metal to his will and forging it into the tools his brothers and sisters would need to protect the dream of New Osterath. Even as a young man the clans of the Primal blood would learn to respect one of Auric’s blades, and would go out of their way to battle their wielders, trying to conquer a worthy war prize. Dozens would fall to their hubris over the decades, for Auric’s hatred seemed to imbue the weapons with the will to perforate their hearts. Still, Auric was restless for the tribes of the Primal Blood could not die fast enough, and their numbers seemed to keep growing no matter how many were slain. He realized he would need the Power of the Voice and the Fist of the Forge to accomplish his goals. It took him decades to accomplish this.

First, he would avenge his father. He took with him his most loyal friends and tracked down the Voice, now in the possession of a vicious ogre. Among the Primal Blood, the weapon was known as cursed, for none of its wielders since Ulfrith had been able to stay alive for long after bonding with it. It was almost as if the Hammer refused to accept any but its true masters. As he killed the ogre, Auric would smile at the knowledge his father had kept on the fight. When he felled the great brute, he was surprised to recognize a dwarf among the ranks of the Primal Blood. Although time had passed, the savage had been once a boy in his father’s caravan. The clans were known to not kill the young, but take them to replenish their own ranks. The second surprise came when the dwarf offered his weapon in submission, accepting the one who had slayed his chieftain as a truer leader. A common practice among the blooded clans, no other outsider had ever been deemed worthy, but Auric had shown them the power of a legendary warrior. Others would soon follow that lone dwarf in submission, and Auric would gain that day the loyalty of an entire clan.

After this, it would take him many years to accrue enough support within the Order to fund an expedition to the cursed mines of Midrasil. From this journey, he would return alone and battered, but victorious. His right arm was now a relic of metal and krysalite, worthy of the Everlasting themselves. Now, with the Voice and The Fist together, he would become a champion of the Order, the protector of New Osterath, and the scourge of the Blooded Clans, but more than this, he is no longer the scared young man who watched his father die. The sacrifices he had to make and the friends he lost for his mission have left him calloused and single-minded in his goals. While some may find his approach brutal, none can deny his efficiency.

Auric believes in rebuilding the dwarven identity and continuing their original mission. He would use the corpses of the Primal Blood as the foundations of a new golden empire. As he is now, he knows he lacks the power to accomplish this alone, but the Order is more than happy to support him. As the Ebbing starts, Auric rallies the many allies he has gained over the years and marches towards the Malediction with two goals in mind. First, he must expand the reach of the Order and New Osterath by recovering the lost artifacts of his people so that he and his patrons can grow in power and defend their realm. Second, he must crush the Primal Blood under his boot and clean the whole continent of this insidious plague.