Ardyne
Ardyne is a Minotaur fighter, a former gladiator born to a sailing tribe in the Coal Islands. After retiring from gladiator combat, he left his tribe to seek his new story and regain honor among peers. He travelled to Hekros where he joined the Heroes of Celunia and later the Crew of the Wraith.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Hartzonell. It all started with him. He created many things, including a certain race called Minotaurs. They were loyal, lawful, following the ways of their tribal roots. However, they were hidden from the world, only known as myths among the mortals that lived on Craedock, including themselves. Spotted in different territories and islands, they were well hidden from the world. They did everything themselves, they hunted, fished, gathered, healed, and cared for each other, following strict laws from their tribal leader of chieftain.
They elected chieftains differently between tribes, but communed together in general, except for those rare ones that left the tribes to do nefarious deeds. They didn’t get far, since nobody made a name for themself. Or so it seemed. Some say they were successful and are building armies out there, or bandit camps. However, there may be some people that are lead to believe that minotaurs are not just myths, but real, and they are successful people in the world, living as legendary people. They are mainly in disguise, however, this is the story of one, one who dared to venture out into the world. But this is the beginning of it all. Where it all starts.
Ardyne was born first of five, eldest of his siblings--Parxur, his oldest brother, Rilun, his youngest brother. Dhinera, Dryjice, and Vresara are his sisters, aged in that order. His life seemed almost perfect, he was raised fairly and taught respect, helping his other siblings as he grew up. He loved and adored everyone, following the law of his tribe, loyal to it. His brothers and sisters all loved each other while growing up. At least, when they were kids. They behaved, played games together, and all that fun stuff. They even made a promise while they were kids.
“Hey Ardyne?” Asked Rilun.
“Yes, my youngest?” Ardyne rebutted.
“Will we stay together? Forever?” Asked the youngest of the siblings, all of them around and looking up at the stars. Everyone was silent for a while, as if it was an obvious answer.
“Of course.” Ardyne said with a smile on his muzzle. He sighed and attempted to snuggle up to everyone, but that was lacking.
“I don’t know..” Parxur admitted, Ardyne blinking and looking over at him. “Why not, eldest brother?” Parxur shrugged. “I want to adventure further than these islands we live on and hide around. Don’t you wonder what’s out there? Out...In the sea?”
Ardyne fell silent. Rilun whimpered. “Does this mean we won’t be together forever…?” He looked as if he were about to cry.
“This doesn’t mean anything, it’s not like he’s going out anywhere. We’ll always be a part of this tribe.” Dhinera mentioned, Ardyne and Parxur looking at each other. There was a still silence between them for a while. No, this continued throughout a few days. That’s when it lead to them butting heads. Everything Parxur could do, Ardyne could do better, and Parxur tried to do everything better than him. But to little avail. Ardyne didn’t even seem to try to fight his brother. It just happened naturally that jealousy grew between the two, separating slowly. But that wasn’t the only drama in the family.
Rilun and Ardyne were the best of friends, being the youngest and the oldest, Ardyne taking a fatherly approach to the younger male. They were the closest, despite having mother and father there with them. You could almost say they were soul mates in a sense of being together forever with a platonic love. Same thing could be said with Vresara, who was the second youngest, Rilun being the youngest out of the family. That is, until.
“Moooooom! Vresara won’t stop puking all over me!” cried out Dryjice. The two parents scrambled around frantically. It wasn’t just normal puke--The poor girl was puking blood all over the place. The family was currently working on the coal islands, chopping up wood for lumber for repairs and practice of training fighters with real, weighted weapons. The two were twins and normally got into this sort of trouble, too. Ardyne quickly scooped up Vresara and carried her, heading for the ship.
“Don’t just stand there!” He shouted at his mom and dad. “We’ve got to get her to the medical ward!” He growled running as fast as he could. But everyone was just frozen, as if they were frozen in time. Eventually his mom called out. “It’s too far! You’ll never make it!” Ardyne’s eyes widened in fear as he ran faster with determination. But no matter what, how fast he ran, how hard he tried, the family was far into the woods, and whatever was eating away at Vresara was already planted deep in her, unable to just cure it out. Even with the curative powers of magic, nothing was on their side. She had lost too much blood. She was dead upon arrival of the tribe.
Ardyne never lived down that moment. He knew he had to become harder, better, faster, stronger. And with that, Parxur had to work hard as well. Upon coming of age, the two entered a gladiatorial ring, a ceremonious happening only once every five years. Those of twenty and older can enter, as that’s when they come of age. With both Ardyne and Parxur training hard with different regimes. Ardyne entered at the age of twenty three. Parxur entered at the age of twenty one. The two performed and sparred various amounts of different tribes and families, all in an intricate bracket.
Eventually came the day the two had to fight, as this event normally goes on for a week. It came to the last night, torches lit around an arena on a specifically large ship made just for the fights. It came down to Ardyne and Parxur in the final match. Surprising for both of them, as they were the youngest two in history to have made it to the finals. Normally the younger are inexperienced, lacking determination and strength despite all their efforts. Not these two minotaur. Not these two minotaur at all.
The two fought with all their might. Ardyne, with the power and greatness of a greatsword, while his brother, Parxur, used the weight and strength of a meteor hammer. Both landed blow after blow against each other, neither giving up this fight. In the end, Ardyne stabbed his sword into the chain of the meteor hammer, locking it in place. He then took a sidle and released the now stalled meteor hammer to knock a finishing blow into Parxur. The minotaur brother grunted as he was knocked down and prone, struggling to get up. Ardyne quickly sheathed his blade and grabbed Parxur’s hand to help him up.
“Are you okay brother?” He asked before being cut off at the very end, the other minotaur ramming and slamming him into the wall, gouging him with his horns.
“THE FIGHT IS OVER.” Shouted an elderly minotaur, coming down and trying to pry Parxur off of Ardyne. Ardyne was utterly shocked as blood rushed down his pecs, covering it up quickly as to stop the bleeding. “Wh-what was that for..?” He asked as Parxur was tugged away.
“I SHOULD HAVE WON FAIR AND SQUARE, ARDYNE, I WORKED FOR THIS. I WORKED FOR THIS HARDER, I DESERVE THIS. IT ISN’T OVER ARDYNE, YOU HEAR ME?! THIS, ISN’T, OVER!!!!” He cried as he was dragged away and another minotaur started tending to Ardyne’s wounds. He was utterly shocked. How could his own brother try to kill him like that? Confusion and doubt ran through his head as his hand was raised as champion of half the decade.
And that’s when things got worse.
Soon enough his family kept falling a part. First he lost his youngest sister to some unknown, surprising virus. Or for all he knows it could’ve been a spell. He wasn’t too much into magic as others. Then, his brother, Parxur mysteriously disappeared after the gladiatorship. Soon enough, his mother and father both disappeared as well. His mother fell to the same illness his youngest sister had. Or even spell. His father, while helping fish, attracted too many sharks and ended up getting his lower half eaten, leaving his upper half dead and decaying now a few feet underground.
That leaves Ardyne, Dhinera, Dryjice, and Rilun still left in the tribe. And all four siblings were going through hard times. Despite Ardyne’s victory for the family, and being the youngest victor ever, the few to enjoy it with were seldom there in the first place. He grew cold and alone on the seas, just working a job as a captain of the vessels the minotaurs would ride in that held their villages, a high honor. He felt like he could do more. But his soul felt shattered. He lost most of his family, and the family that was with him just moved onto other things, such as healing the sick and injured, or hunting down creatures of the deep. One of them even found themselves as chieftess, specifically Dhinera.
Becoming chieftess of the tribe the siblings grew up in meant that she had tons of work, and was mostly busy. As was Ardyne, though he and Dhinera did get to mingle a little bit, mostly about job stuff. They could never speak as a family together, and Ardyne was just growing more lonely. He started eyeing a few men here and there, as females didn’t really get to him, but he couldn’t find anyone that was interested back. That is, until Dhinera mentioned to him something about an orphanage.
Ardyne had never heard of such a thing before. He’s heard of some calves growing up without mothers and fathers, but not a place where they conjugate to be ‘adopted’ and taken care of. Seeing as this was a good chance to make up for his lost sister and busy younger brother, he got to work and went to the orphanage. It was new and calves were just moving in from different tribes to be adopted. It was almost like a slave trade how they treated it, really. Minotaurs would come out and choose the child they wanted and taught them to do what work they wanted to truly do, and let them do it.
Ardyne, however, took this very carefully, and picked the youngest, most unlikely calf to be picked, as they were normally thrown overboard if they were incapable of doing things.
“Hey there little guy…” Ardyne muttered to himself, his voice much more aged and matured, now that he was reaching around ninety. His glory days were supposedly over, but in fact, they were just beginning, a new golden age with his son, Balpheus. He raised him and taught him all the ways of being a minotaur, and made sure to keep him safe and happy as any proper parent would do. The calf looked very different from Ardyne, especially with his blonde fur turning white and grey. People began to slowly ridicule the caring man that came out to be Ardyne, the one that lost most of his family, only to find solace in a son he could adopt and care for.
People looked to Ardyne with expectancy of a brutal warrior, a leader, and instead of turning into just that, he took the shaft end and helped sail the ships, aiding his little one when he could. Many times they tried to throw him out and away, but Ardyne insisted with force that Balpheus stay with them.
One day, while his ship was docked for a few to hunt and scavenge, Balpheus looked up to Ardyne and began questioning things.
“...Dad?” He asked with a weak, timid voice he always held.
“Yes son?” Ardyne spoke, gruff, yet still caring. He was calm, even though storms have ravaged him inside and out.
“Why does everyone call you a cheater? They said that you once entered the tournament...And cheated your way through…” Ardyne fell silent with Balpheus. “I fought with honor, son. I did not aim to kill, instead, I aimed what was right in my heart. My brother should have earned the title, yes, but I would not let him win without a fair fight.”
“Then why did you cheat to win?”
“I didn’t cheat. I fought with my heart. Who is telling you these lies, son?”
“Garanuk is. His mother said you fought wrong. That all those things that happened to you should’ve happened.” Ardyne was silent again before slowly getting up and helping the calf up. “Balpheus…” He began as he headed towards his quarters. This talk only seemed to get worse as time went on. Ardyne kept his composure, even when facing this battle, however, the years he grew up with his son were also being chased and dashed away by whispers and lies. Ardyne grew tired of it all, until one day, the conversation ended.
“Balpheus...I need one thing from you.” The male was now around fifteen, and still sucking his thumb and carrying around a blanket. He hadn’t grown out of it. “Yes dad?” Balpheus asked.
“I need your trust in me. As I will give to you.” He finally said sagely as he grabbed his old, dust covered greatsword and handed it to the male. Balpheus looked him up and down, confused and curious. “Dad, I…”
“Can you not give me your trust son?” He repeated. The words echoed in Balpheus’ head until he slowly gave over his blanket and held the sword. Ardyne slowly smiled. “You make me proud.” He said and hugged the younger minotaur tightly. Once after, he denounced himself from sailor to retirement to Dhinera. She seemed sad to see a great warrior fall so hard, it seemed. “But that is not it.” He said as Dryjice and Rilun soon joined the duo. It was a family gathering almost, but just the siblings. Except for the one that died, and the one that disappeared.
“I love and trust each one of you, however, time has come to change. Brother has been missing for centuries, and I am tired of being ridiculed. I am going out of the tribe, myself. My son has gathered more than enough supplies for me to make a ship of my own. I ask not for what you have, but all I ask for is your blessings.”
“You lied to us.” Rilun said. “You said we’d all be together, forever, and now you’re leaving too!” He growled in anger and shoved at Ardyne. He remained unmoved, like a mountain. Dryjice just looked at the trio silently. “So this is how it ends...This is how it ends...Not with an exclamation mark, Ardyne! But with a trail of ellipses…”
“You seem not to trust me.” Ardyne simple sighed out and got up. He had already packed and set everything ready to leave to a new world. Soon enough, Dhinera grabbed his arm tightly and stopped him in his tracks.
“I love you, Ardyne, and I hate to see you go. But you are right. Change is needed. Not just for you. But for us. All of us. Please. Come back and make us proud like you once did.” She simply said, offering a poorly made dragonborn costume to greyed minotaur, whom nodded and got in a boat, setting sail all the way to Hekros to perform fights for money.
Alignment
Lawful Good
Species
Year of Birth
318 ME
Birthplace
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Grey
Height
6' 5''
Weight
300 lbs
Aligned Organization
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