Kester Braedon
Kester Braedon was a Human warrior king from western Acaelica who lived sometime during the pre-Spellplague era. Although Wild Reckoning notation is inherently flawed, he is believed to have lived between 5000WR and 5100WR. In that time, he was able to conquer much of the continent, including lands which would later become The Blightstrand Desert.
Duelist
Kester was the single greatest fighter of his time and would use this to his advantage during in his military campaigns. He would prefer to challenge the leaders of various tribes and city-states to single combat in order to avoid all-out conflict between his forces and theirs.
When these challenges were accepted, Kester never lost. It is believed he spared the lives of thousands with this approach, and what few writings of his survive to this day indicate that it was these victories of which he was most proud.
Strategist
Braedon was purported to be a strategic mastermind, striking with surgical precision rather than attempting to overwhelm with force. It was always his aim to avoid risking casualties or collateral damage. This was exemplified when he was able to oust a a clan of pirates that had infiltrated and taken control of the small port city of Auchan.
Having one of his men pose as the lead bard of a traveling, magical circus, he gathered the city's mages near the bay. From there, they organized a massive, coordinated use of the Gust spell on the sails of the pirate fleet, unmooring their ships and sending them out unmanned to sea.
In the ensuing chaos as the pirates attempted to reclaim their ships, Keston and his men entered the town and secured its port, sinking the ships in the harbor and leaving any survivors to flee or face justice back in town (though none selected this latter option).
Beloved Leader
He was generally beloved of those who served under him and he maintained an intimate friendship (or perhaps even a romantic relationship according to some scholars) with his highest-ranking lieutenant, Enam the Warpath.
He was not himself a governor, however. In the regions he conquered, he would instead install people in that capacity and proceed to leave them very much to their own devices. His chief interests revolved around education and training, and the only rules he would insist upon were related to how and what children were taught. For example, the values of self-determination, skepticism, discipline and honor were to be instilled from a young age, and magic was only to be taught to those demonstrating maturity enough to wield it responsibly.
These governors were chosen according to a meritocracy and were never a consistent gender or race. This, along with the curricula he advocated, is believed to have had profound long-term effects on how Acaelica at large intrinsically eschews discrimination based on these factors.
For a man as well-loved and respected as Braedon was, almost no artwork remains featuring his image. He was not vain in the least and was in fact known to revile statues of himself--insisting that blind allegiance to a man served no one and that the time spent on them could have been vastly better used.
Military Might
At the height of its power, Kester's standing army was large, well-trained and highly organized. On the occasions it was brought to bear, it was terrifyingly powerful and attempts to battle against it were few and brief. If the records are to believed, Braedon would have been the most successful--or otherwise most insanely fortunate--military leader in the history of Acaelica.
Braredon managed to split his army into such perfect factions as to maximize their individual power while still avoiding the onslaught of ravelwinds. This made it extremely difficult for opponents to counter them without risking the same danger themselves.
As the nature of (and reasoning behind) these winds has evaded scholarly understanding to this day, the means by which Braedon was able to evade them is one of the most sought-after secrets in Acaelica. Sadly, he evidently never revealed this secret before his tragic death.
Death
Braedon himself--along with Enam the Warpath and his most tenured and elite warriors--were all slain outside their capital of Virtue sometime around the year 5100WR in an attempt to defend the city from The Void Song. Tragically, his death came at the hands of his closest friend while Enam was possessed by the dread creature. Enam himself perished shortly thereafter.
The city of Virtue was unable to withstand the creature's onslaught following the loss of their last and greatest line of defense. It is unclear how the Void Song was ultimately defeated thereafter.
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