Niri Whistlewood

Knight Commander Niri Whistlewood

Niri Whistlewood is a human woman, a former Hellrider scout, and the knight commander of the Order of the Sun in Elturel.

History

An Elturian from birth, Niri Whistlewood joined the city's Hellriders when she was a young woman. Unsuited for the heavy armor favored by most Hellriders, Niri instead enlisted as a scout, both mounted and unmounted.
In Eleasis of 1497, at the start of the Damnation of Elturel, Niri's commanders transformed into devils upon the city's arrival in Avernus, revealing themselves to be secretly Zarielite cultists. Niri survived the initial slaughter, regrouping with other surviving and non-turned Hellriders at Helm's Shieldhall.
Soon after regrouping, Niri and another Hellrider scout, the dwarf Dunmar Axeshine, were sent on a dangerous mission across the city's bridges to the Dragoneye Dockhouse, where the harbormaster, a former Hellrider named Marisima Rathanda, had a personal collection of weapons used to fight devils. However, Marisima was killed upon the city's arrival into hell by an undead Zarielite cultist named Spurnyte Mal that Marisima had hunted down and killed in life. Mal then transformed Marisima's children into undead vampires as a mockery to his once killer.
Niri and Dunmar were overwhelmed by the undead children when they entered into the building. Dunmar was killed outright and Niri was captured and tied to a chair for the undead children to "play" with. Before Niri was killed, she was freed by the Lost Star Detectives, who slew the vampire children knowing there was no way to save them. The Detectives also killed Mal, ending his threat. Niri, delirious and terrified, attempted to flee into the street, drawing the attention of bearded devils, which the Detectives also killed.
Niri was taken back to Shiarra's Market by the Detectives, which was being protected by the vampire Klav Ikaia, the former High Rider that caused the bloody Reign of Vampires fifty years ago. Unsuprisingly, when the Detectives planned to cross to Elturel's western districts, where the Shieldhall and the other Hellriders were, Niri asked to accompany them, alongside another rescuee, Lephit Ezim. Niri aided the Detectives in fighting their way to High Hall, defending the civilians inside from an attack by devils. Hearing that the Shieldhall was under siege and seeing how few soldiers were at High Hall, Niri volunteered to stay and protect those she could.
During this time, Niri's experiences with the undead in the Dock District weighed on her more and more. Though she was too young to have lived through the Reign of Vampires, the memory of that bloody coup attempt was still fresh in the memories of all Elturians. Despite his assurances to the contrary, Niri did not believe that Klav Ikaia's nature had changed, and she worried that, should the Detectives manage to save Elturel it might fall back into the hands of an undead tyrant. Gathering like-minded people, particularly former followers of the Order of the Companion, Niri founded a group she named the Order of the Sun, with the express purpose of keeping Elturel free from undead.
For the next few months, Niri and her fledging order continued to aid in the securing of Elturel and then the prepping of its defenses for its final stand, but all the while she planned a suprise strike at Shiarra's Market the moment the city was saved, to try and defeat the vampires at their weakest. Niri's order also saw a boon with the arrival of the ki-rin Enki to Elturel, whose settling at Maiden's Leap allowed fresh water to bubble from its fountains. Niri and the Order of the Sun made Maiden's Leap their primary headquarters, volunteering themselves to defend the sick and infirm that gatehred around the Bellandi Fountain.
Ultimately, Niri's planned attack on the vampires never came to fruition, despite the encouragement she recieved from the Detective Katya Sinaran when that group arrived back in the city. The fighting during the Battle of Elturel was violent and bloody, and Maiden's Leap was not reinforced by the Detectives, who prioritized the larger collection of refugees at Shiarra's Market and High Hall. The order's casualties were large enough that they couldn't hope to defeat Ikaia's forces.
To Niri's delight, however, Ikaia would not retake Elturel. The western districts' chosen High Rider, Alcor Miursa, had the backing of most of Elturel's populace, the Detectives, and the now-redeemed Zariel. Ikaia, either believing himself unable to take Elturel by force or unwilling to kill so many, fled the city with his forces, pursued by the Order of the Sun but ultimately managing to shake them.
Niri, unwilling to let Ikaia go, began organizing regular patrols and soirees to find him, but over time these efforts evovled into a general patrolling and hunting of undead. The order also grew more organized and regimented, forming the backbone of the city's new church of Torm, with Niri at its head. Though Ikaia was not found, the Order of the Sun ultimately began to continue the work of the Companion, the now defunct, undead-destroying second sun that used to hang above Elturel

Species

Human

Sex

Female

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Dusky

Belief/Deity

Kelemvor

Aligned Organization

Order of the Sun

Other Affiliations

• Hellriders