Description

Araden was born in the valley hamlets beneath the cliffs of the Inner Boletarian heartlands, the son of a woodsman pressed into royal service during times of unrest. Though noble blood did not run in his veins, his early life was steeped in loyalty to the land and its people. Recognized for his keen aim, quiet discipline, and unwavering spirit, he was chosen by a senior knight to train as a Temple Knight—an elite order sworn to guard the sacred relics of the kingdom and protect its holy sites, such as the Temple of the Flame and the Shrine of the Twin Saints. Unlike many of his brethren, who viewed their role as one of unquestioning obedience to King Allant and the Church of the Deep, Araden approached his calling with a scholar’s curiosity and a ranger’s independence. He would often spend weeks on border patrols in the forests and mountains, learning the old paths, watching for demonic disturbances, and protecting commoners who had begun to vanish under strange omens. When the Soul Arts were revived and the fog first began to spread, Araden returned to the capital expecting a kingdom girding itself for war. Instead, he found silence. The court had grown cold and fanatical. The Church praised King Allant’s newfound power as divine providence, but Araden saw something else—soul gluttony masked in gold leaf and scripture. He dared to speak against the use of the Soul Arts, calling them a hollow echo of the ancient sin that once brought ruin to the world. For this, he was cast out of the inner temple and reassigned to the outskirts—to patrol a forgotten shrine near the fog’s creeping edge. It was there that he witnessed his own brothers in arms succumb to madness, their souls twisted into mockeries of their former selves. Araden could have fled. Many did. But the fall of Boletaria was not something he could ignore. His knighthood, his oaths, and his very soul were tied to that land.