Aurum Bearinglight
We will attack Dragonspear Castle, secure in the knowledge of our victory. These creatures think that they can keep out Lathander's light with a bit of fog. Come, let us show them the error of their ways. For the light!
Backstory
Click to ExpandAurum was always an exceptional child, owing to his clear divine heritage. Born to two normal human parents, he never felt that he truly belonged to them. At a young age he began receiving visions, dreams that strengthened his pull to the gods. His father, a devout follower of Lathander, happily brought the boy to the temple as often as he would go. It was not long before Aurum began studying as an acolyte in the temple, yet even this did not satisfy the sense of destiny within him. As he grew in strength and endurance, he naturally gravitated to the knights and paladins who instructed him in both martial skills and knightly values.
In due time, the Aasimar took his oaths, left the temple and began his quest. He set out to bring the light of Lathander to Faerun, to defend the weak and destroy the evildoers. But, deep down, he began his quest to discover the divine being that had given him birth.
Physical Appearance
Aurum is a tall, statuesque man with tan skin and gleaming blond hair. His eyes are gold and full of conviction, and he radiates an aura of calm and strength that is nearly tangible.
Equipment
Aurum's blade is a Sunblade, an arming sword composed of pure light granted to him when he joined the Order of Aster. When in battle his features are completely obscured by a magnificent set of adamantine full plate, a golden helmet shaped like a roaring lion, and a steel rimmed +3 Shield. Draped around his shoulders is a crimson Cloak of Protection.
Personality
Aurum is the stereotypical White Knight, a crusading paragon for good and justice. He is generally distrustful of nobility, believing that those in power all too often use their power to abuse those they are sworn to protect. He is utterly incorruptible, and once he has decided a course is right he is difficult to persuade otherwise. This, combined with his belief in his own divine destiny, can make him both impetuous and stubborn, bordering on the reckless.
Goals & Motivations
Aurum began his quest to determine who is divine ancestors were. Since discovering the Theonomicon, that quest has been completed when he discovered his father had fallen, becoming the evil creature Born. Now, his goal is to secure the lands of Toril and defeating the menace of Tharizdun for good.
History
Aurum joined the Battleborn on 21 Elesias, 1497 (See that page for details). Following the Battle of the Red Eyes, Aurum received the blessings of Tempus, granting him supernatural strength.
Click to see ancestryZariel was once an angel, impetuous and fearless in battle. She was charged with observing the battleground of Avernus, monitoring the Blood War. As she carried out her duties, however, she became increasingly frustrated with the inaction of her fellow celestials. Why did the hosts of Mount Celestia sit idle when one mighty stroke could destroy their foes once and for all!? Yet her repeated requests to join the fray were rebuked.
In her frustration she took to questing on the Material Plane when she was not scouting, fighting demonic incursions wherever she could, vanquishing them with her mighty sword Retribution, a silvery arming sword with a crossguard of spread angel's wings. It was there she met Tristan the Bold, a Paladin of Tempus and member of the "Chosen of Foehammer", who shared her zeal for battle. Together they traveled across Faerun, and as their bond grew, so did the angel's love for this mortal man in whom she had found a kindred spirit. After several years the impetuous angel threw caution to the wind and took Tristan to husband. In due time, the two had conceived a child.
It was not long after this when Zariel confessed her frustration with Celestia's refusal to march. In response, Tristan vowed to take up the fight that Zariel could not. Marshalling those of his order that would follow Tristan conducted covert covert raids on Avernus. Zariel fed him intelligence on fiendish movements and rallied support for her husband's cause among the mortals.
It was during one of these raids, while Zariel was away, that tragedy struck. The angel returned to find her husband's warriors encircled by a horde of demons led by a mighty Balor, having been caught by a demonic advance following a successful raid. Zariel watched, held back by her orders, as one after another of Tristan's companions fell. If she did not act she knew her lover would soon perish.
It was in that moment she made her decision. She drew Retribution, opened a portal to the Material plane, and called every warrior she had yet enlisted to the fight. Roaring with fury and heedless of the danger to herself or the child she carried, she fell upon the fiends, carving a bloody swath through them towards her beloved. As her rage burned hotter, her desperation grew, and her shining blade dimmed. When she snatched a hapless ally and threw him at a knot of demons in order to reach her lover more quickly, it grew darker still. Before long, the blade was as black as her anger.
Yet, for all that, she was too late. The Balor had already bested her husband, though it swiftly paid for it with its life. Alone, Zariel stood over Tristan's bleeding and battered body, laying about her with jet black blade. Dozens, then hundreds of fiends fell to her hand. It was not until a legion of devils arrived and swept over her and demon both that she was overcome. The devils took her and her husband into custody, but it was to Tristan, barely holding on to life, that they spoke.
The man looked at the form of his angelic spouse, and, kneeling a pool of his own blood, did what one does when a devil holds what they desire: He made a deal. He gave them the secrets of his order, the passcodes and phrases that would allow the devils to enter their fortress, all they would need to bring fire and sword to the Chosen of Foehammer. In exchange, he demanded three things: Zariel would be spared and allowed to continue her fight. His son would be returned to the Material Plane and raised in a safe home. And the devils would give Zariel no knowledge of Tristan's betrayal. He died, signing the contract with the last of his life's blood.
Zariel was taken to Asmodeus, who naturally honored the contract to the letter. Zariel was installed as Lord of the First to continue her war. She fought with newfound fury, to avenge the lover and child she had lost to the demons (or so she believed). In time, she came to see the devils as being far nobler, toiling endlessly to save an ungrateful cosmos from the Abyssal horde while the angels of Celestia do nothing. The babe was delivered safely to a pair of nobles who had made a deal for a child they could not conceive on their own. And history has forgot Tristan, his vow, and the details of Zariel's fall from grace.
That child, born of an angel and saved by his father's betrayal, would father children of his own. Generations later, a descendant by the name of Aurum would manifest as an Aasimar and take up vows.
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