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  1. Characters

Elifaen Swiftsteel

The Green Lady
Player Character

"It is why I admire you as I do, Elifaen. You embody the same indomitable spirit that I sought to rouse in the people here. You stand against foes so terrifying it defies reason, with a smile no less. You hurl yourself willingly into danger to protect those you love, and care for. You fight for what you believe is right; even if every voice around you says otherwise."

- Kalissa to Elifaen

An eager, spirited young woman from the small Paladian barony of Nifeldeen, Elifaen Swiftsteel, known also by her moniker of The Green Lady, or the more deragotary title of The Bastard Knight in eastern Paladia, is a self-styled wandering adventurer and champion of beauty, life and innocence. After being captured in a kobold raid and subsequently staging a break out with fellow escapees, Elifaen and her fellow former captives traveled to the Crossing together and eventually founded an adventuring group, later christened the Swordbreak Company after their first completed adventuring contract. The Swordbreak Company would go on to earn widespread fame throughout the Heartlands for their deeds in the Siege of the Crossing, during which Elifaen was involved in the slaying of Vethukar Blackhand and the traitorous Carran, as well as being personally responsible for the death of the red dragon Kylndurathanir. Following the lifting of the Siege and a long period of rebuilding, Elifaen went on to marry her paramour Leoran Swiftsteel and set about wandering the world over the next fifteen years as a champion of Lyra and Paladin devoted to fighting for beauty, life, and the innocent, shedding her previous obsession with Al'varanyë and dedicating herself fully to defending the helpless.

With the onset of Fion's return to Aranor as the newly-anointed goddess of war and the bloody crusade of pillaging and reaving that followed it, Elifaen, alongside her husband Leoran, emerged as a beacon of resistance in the war-ravaged lands of Calindra. Serving as an inspiration to those at the frontlines attempting to keep Fion's violent hordes at bay, Elifaen would soon set herself upon a path of righteous retribution for the war-ravaged western Heartlands and it's massacred people, one which ultimately culminated in facing down the goddess herself in a one-on-one fight. This legendary duel, dubbed as The Duel of the Seaside Plains, would prove to be one of the key turning points of the war against Fion and her army of berserkers; Though severely outmatched against the full raw power of Fion's divine might, Elifaen's sheer stubborn will and cunning prolonged the duel long enough for the Safiran Crusaders to mount a surprise attack on Fion's rearguard, inflicting enough damage to hamper her army's advance and preventing her from further pushing east towards Paladia.

In the chaos of the battle that followed, the severely-injured Elifaen and Leoran disappeared without a trace, leaving the Crusaders as the main opposition to Fion's war. Though her actions have turned her into a legendary figure among the survivors of Calindra's destruction and western Paladia, where she is embraced as a folk hero of great reverence, her lack of allegiance during the war, her mysterious disappearance, her dishonourable gambit to stall Fion through a duel and her implicit anti-Alissan leanings contributed to a polarized image in the east of Paladia. Her current whereabouts are unknown.


History

Born on the 13th Day of the Sword, 1178 C.F., in Nifeldeen, not much is known of the circumstances of Elifaen's birth, save for cryptic references that by all accounts points to a short-lived fling and an unwanted pregnancy. Her father, supposedly, left before her mother discovered the child growing within her, and the pair never married, making Elifaen a child born out of wedlock. The circumstances of his disappearance were never elaborated upon and, bitter at being seemingly abandoned, Elifaen's mother refused to speak further of him, leaving the young girl to only guess at what her father could have been like.

Nonetheless, in spite of the disinterest her mother showed in raising her, Elifaen was still granted access to a range of tutors to attain an education far above what the usual station of bastard children would get in Paladia: She was taught mathematics and history, given lessons in home-making, and received rudimentary teachings on magical theory. Instead of embracing the lessons she was taught, however, the young girl wound up taking a shine to the heroic folk tales of ancient Paladian icons, especially those depicting the hero Linfid the Clever, who was rumored to have Elvish blood in his veins. Compounded by a lack of a father figure and her relatively slow growth compared to other children of her age, what started as a curious interest in her Elvish roots soon turned into a full-blown obsession to reconnect with her lost heritage, much to her mother's great frustration.

With her mother openly attempting to cow her interest in all things Elvish, Elifaen eventually learned to use her words and her own child-like innocence to circumvent arbitrary bans on learning the Elvish language and Elvish history. She regularly snuck out to the outskirts of the Mythari Forest, befriended the captain of the Nifeldeeni guard, convincing him to give her martial training, and convinced her tutor, an Elf of Fen'Sharran, to teach her the Elvish language in secret.

Still, life in Nifeldeen would eventually begin to bore the Half-Elf, and Elifaen soon found herself restless within such a small town; But it would not be until a chance encounter in the forest that the aspiring Paladin began to harbor thoughts of running away to carve her own path in life. Inspired by what she had seen and convinced that a greater destiny awaited her outside of her hometown's small walls, the Half-Elf then proceeded to pack her things, pledge an oath to the goddess Al'varanyë, and secure herself passage onto a caravan leaving Nifeldeen, bound for the newly-founded city of Carran's Crossing.


Spoiler territory below, highlight at your own risk!

Unbeknownst to virtually anyone but a select few trusted companions, Elifaen of Nifeldeen is actually the daughter of Baroness Aurelié de Blanchard, making her an unrecognized bastard of the de Blanchard family. With her father having left town before her birth, the young baroness was left behind to bear the brunt of the shame for having a child out of wedlock, making her an undesirable marriage candidate to a majority of Paladian and Calindran nobility; This, in turn, instilled a great sense of resentment in Aurelié, leading her to treat her bastard baby with indifference and disdain - and to compensate for her shortcomings by throwing herself vigorously into court politics. It was not until Aurelié was approaching her mid-thirties that she found a suitable spouse in the form of Lord Marcus Augustus of Coltil, who agreed to take her name in exchange for her dowry.

Following her marriage to Lord Augustus, Aurelié's relationship with Elifaen worsened and worsened, culminating in a failed attempt to tear her away from her obsessions. She attempted to have her sent away to a nearby Alissan monastery to try and get the young Half-Elf to "see the error of her ways", reasoning that her delusions of reuniting with her father would be shattered quickly enough. It was the last straw for Elifaen - with little familial ties and no friends to keep her tethered to Nifeldeen, the decision to leave for the Crossing came easy.