Kyrilis of House Nandari

Details

Description

Kyrilis (key-rill-iss) is renown Kingdom-wide by all those familiar with those in key positions of the Arkhanian Legion as one of the most, if not the most, skilled martial combatants in recent times. She is so skilled in both Griffin-back scouting and melee combat that the school of Fel’Rechaun, where she is based, reduced their funding for Griffin Riders down to one, and dismissed the rest of the unit back to the Afyr homelands as unnecessary. Few know Kyrilis on a personal level, and fewer still can be counted among her friends. She is a powerful force, and would rather be seen for her strengths and accomplishments than as a woman.

Background

Kyrilis was born and raised in Kydari, a small village on the side of Mount Feyr in the northernmost reaches of the Mythaeil Mountains, near the southern border of the Kingdom of Tellrindos. Kyrilis was seen as an anomaly when she was born, as her mother survived the process intact. She was a small child, and often treated poorly, simply for existing.

It was not uncommon for an Elven woman’s body to discharge their uterus along with their child, rendering them unable to bear further children. Despite over a thousand years of reproductive research by alchemists and healers, no solution had ever been discovered. Afyr women were raised with the expectation that their first child would be their last, if they could bear children at all.

Kyrilis was six years old when her sister Brytha was born; far too young to remember the details of the event. Not only was Brytha a second child, considered rare among their people, her mother once again remained whole throughout the process. The next seventeen years were even harder on Kyrilis as a result. Seeking to protect her new sister, she shouldered the burden of both their mistreatment, and all care of Brytha.

Their father, slowly absorbed himself in his duties and wasn’t around enough to assist, console, or protect them. Wystari, their mother, spent most of her time being studied by mystics far away from home. The village elders seemed to only care about discovering the secret to her successful childbearing, leaving Kyrilis to both protect and care for Brytha in solitude.

At age twenty-three—still a child by Elven standards—Kyrilis assisted as her mother gave birth a third time. The whole city seemed to fill the streets around their home, waiting to see if the miracle would be repeated.

It was not.

Fryja was born inside her mother’s uterus, just as most Elven children. Kyrilis was forced to cut her youngest sister free, while her mother gasped and gurgled. As Wystari’s last breath hissed through her lips, Fryja cried and wailed, wanting for warmth and nourishment.

As the citizens of Kydari returned to their posts, or homes, in disappointment, Kyrilis cradled her mother’s head in one arm and her newborn sister in the other; unaware of where Brytha had gotten to during the horrid affair.

It was two days before Brytha was found; dashed against the rocks outside of town, having fallen off the wall she often played upon against Kyrilis’s wishes.

Tevyn blamed her for everything. The death of her mother was her fault because she didn’t do enough; even though he hadn’t been around to help. The death of her sister was her fault, even though the entire village had been outside their home and could have interceded.

Completing his withdrawal from the family he’d created, he cast them aside; leaving her and Fryja to the will of the Council.

By the time Kyrilis turned forty eight, she’d made a name for herself on the streets as someone not to be trifled with. She fought every bully as if she were fighting her father; full of anger and without a care toward her own survival.

One of the royal guard, stationed in town by the Queen, witnessed one of her fights in an alley one evening. He watched with interest as she fought off three boys; each one of them taller, stronger, and armed. Once the small, unarmed girl had finished with them, he dispatched the town guard to apprehend the boys and calmly approached her.

Sir Felreix then offered to teach her in secret, feeling that her talents were being wasted on the streets of Kydari, and that she deserved better in life than what she was getting. They met after dark every night for nearly thirty years before they were caught, and Sir Felreix was imprisoned for defying the Queen. Kyrilis was similarly imprisoned, and cast aside to be forgotten.

One evening, a few days later, Toor assaulted Kydari from the southern Warlunds, blasting holes in the outer defenses, and damaging the exterior wall of the cell in which she was being held. She charged through the breach, grabbed a pair of swords off a wounded soldier and jumped into the fray.

Her presence on the field of battled turned the tide, and terrified many of the younger Toor warriors at the gates, allowing the Kydari forces to gain victory. Sir Felreix was brought to court in the trial that quickly followed, where he defended his training of Kyrilis, using the events at the gates as an example of why people like her were so valuable to the cause.

The town council begrudgingly accepted Kyrilis into service in the town guard, and sent Felreix back to Queen Nilanna with details of the events, and their reasoning for making an exception to the Queen’s decree. This put Kyrilis on the Queen’s radar, but Nilanna ultimately decided to ignore the Kydari defiance and see how events unfolded.

Tevyn detested his daughter’s actions and took every opportunity to punish Kyrilis. This abuse started drawing the attention of those who served alongside Kyrilis, who saw her as a valuable ally. Eventually, Tevyn found a way to bring Kyrilis up on fabricated charges of dissention and treason, to which she challenged him to a trial by combat. As he was the Kydari defender, the Wyk’Kydarian, she knew that meant he would be forced to fight her one on on.

After completely dismantling him in the arena, followed by supporting testimony from several guard that Tevyn had falsely accused her of the charges, the Kydari council was left with no choice but to name her Wyk’Kydarian at the age of 80, a full twenty-five years before an elf is normally considered an adult.

Two years after she assumed the role, Tevyn finally found a way to secure an audience with the Queen and used that opportunity to challenge Kyrilis’s claim to what he considered to be his title. Kyrilis was brought before the Queen and challenged on her actions, during which the Queen reminded her that she’d technically broken the law and defied the her. She admitted that the only reason she was allowed to continue her service as Wyk’Kydarian was due to her heroics versus the Toor, and warned that she should learn to act properly as a lady of standing if she wished to keep her title and remain free.

A few years later, Arkhan Vaelin arrived in Kydari, seeking passage to Vey’Thugohn to meet with Queen Nilanna to ask for aid from the Afyr. Kyrilis escorted him to the Queen, but when Nilanna adamantly refused to get involved in what she considered a ‘human war’, Kyrilis cried out in protest and was summarily stripped of her title and cast out of court.

Gahl the Raven spoke up in her defense, and then announced that he was leaving to join Arkhan’s War of Unification. In the aftermath, the leader of the Griffin Guard approached Kyrilis to take Gahl’s place among their ranks. She accepted, and then spent the next thirteen years serving as a Griffin Guard and being leveraged as a spy by various noble houses, all promising to help her improve her standing in the eyes of the Queen.

When Orluhnd Vaelin finally unified the human lands, he forged a treaty with the Ekthri and the Afyr in which the two elven nations agreed to station soldiers and spell-casters at strategic positions, as well as train at the schools of Fel’Rechaun and Fel’Vizsiour so that the various races could grow closer, rather than continuing to drift further apart.

Kyrilis was assigned as Griffin Guard to Fel’Rechaun as part of the agreement, where she has served up until her entrance into Bathed in the Blood of Ravens.

Timeline

• 02/02/1023 1E - Birth

• 03/19/1029 1E - Sister’s birth: Brytha

• 07/14/1046 1E - Sister’s birth: Fryja. Wystari dies in childbirth. Brytha missing

• 07/16/1046 1E - Brytha’s body found. Tevyn abandons his remaining daughters

• 11/04/1071 1E - Kyrilis draws attention of Sir Felreix of House Wultha’ar, begins training

• 04/01/1100 1E - Imprisoned for defying Queen Nilanna’s ban on female warriors

• 05/03/1100 1E - Breaks out of prison during a Toor incursion, and is the catalyst in the Kydari’s victory over them

• 05/06/1100 1E - Kydari council allows her to join militia, ignoring Queen’s decree

• 09/08/1103 1E - Challenges Tevyn to a duel and wins. Takes his place as Wyk’Kydarian

• 10/01/1105 1E - First trip to Vey’Thugohn, to answer to Queen. Nearly loses title of Wyk’Kydarian. Formally warned by Queen

• 08/03/1107 1E - Escorts Arkhan Vaelin through Kydari, to Vey’Thugohn.

• 08/07/1107 1E - Stripped of Wyk’Kydarian title by Queen Nilanna for speaking out in court in support of Arkhan Vaelin and Gahl. Is approached by captain of Griffin Rider guard, and offered to take Gahl’s place. Accepts.

• 08/07/1107 to 10/03/1120 1E - Serves as Griffin Guard in Vey’Thugohn. Also used by noble families as a spy and assassin.

• 10/04/1120 1E - Conscripted into service of Fel’Rechaun as part of peace agreement between Afyr and Arkhania.

• 10/19/113 2E - Bathed in the Blood of Ravens, Complication

Character History

Kyrilis was never a player character or NPC in any tabletop roleplaying sessions. I had an image of her in mind during those campaign sessions as having been a part of Laurence’s backstory, but she was never fully developed until Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. While mostly unique, she does incorporate some of the skills and personality traits/quirks of less significant NPC’s I used back in those gaming sessions.