Viera Brightspell the Supplicant of Vanity, Chancellor of Eternal Night

Role

Chapter 25

Some time ago, Viera asked her erstwhile mentor Lyeeth to write a note to
the public, indicating her desire to take on apprentices to study under her.
Every prominent archmage should have an apprentice, and Viera thought it
would be most becoming for her to have some too. Lyeeth did, with a few
additions of his own, mostly to assuage his conscience that he was not
helping her recruit Scions. For Viera's part she did honestly regard the
apprentices as not necessarily linked to the Chasm. Though, as things
turned out, the first two of her apprentices did indeed find themselves
pledged to the Chasm.

First Apprentice Merittet. He is a fascinating fellow. Viera thinks he is
either crazy with a split personality disorder, or possessed. However, she
thinks either of his personalities are safe to be around. They both appear
to be following the interests of the Scions and of her. Viera gave him some
research projects which he completed, and eventually he also raised himself
to the title of Spectre, the final step before the Becoming. So Viera has
given him his graduation, and he is now a fellow fully-grown mage, though
she cautions him that he is not on her level as an archmage yet. For that,
he would need to complete his preferred Becoming of the Vampyre.

Second Apprentice Faeha. She is also fascinating and an extreme person. She
is a complete nymphomaniac and pansexual, wanting to have sex with everyone
and indeed everything. She has of course propositioned Viera, along with
pretty much any adventurer who would dare try out such extreme and unusual
sexual paraphilia as she wants. Viera prefers the company of giant men, and
indeed does have her own stable of handsome giant men to play with as she
pleases, when she is not adventuring. So Viera turned her down. But, Viera
accepts Faeha as an apprentice, and has given her a starting project to work
on and learn from.

Role

Chapter 10

Viera has grown to the 34th title. She has also managed to accumulate 100
gold coins in the bank, which turned out to be a fairly simple feat. She
has also found that it is equally simple to spend those 100 gold coins.
This small and simple fact is a good analogy for how she has matured in
her thoughts and desires. Older, stronger, and wiser now, she has quite
drastically adjusted her goals.

First, magic and knowledge is paramount. Gaining her 100 gold coins was
very simple upon correct application of the Summon spell taught by her
guild. She would travel to a new city, and summon creatures with valuables,
slay them, and sell those valuables to the shops in the city. A few trips
was all it took to make 100 coins. It turns out, that knowledge and
personal power could easily bring great wealth as she desired.

Second, a successful adventurer has great resources. There is no need to be
stingy with her own resources. Now, Viera will frequently eat expensive
gourmet meals whenever she is in a group with others, to make a casual
display of wealth and confidence in something as trivial as choice of food.

Third, titles and possessions are flimsy and somewhat illusory. She has
seen supposedly high-ranking or wealthy individuals easily slain by might
and magic. This has dampened her level of respect for grand-sounding
titles and the illusions of high positions in a hierarchy. But her
ambition to be truly feared and respected is still in force.

Her initial fear of Daran Frostspear's retribution has now vanished.
Though she had left her post, it seemed from her parents' letters that no
one had even noticed the absence of a lowly, unwanted grunt in the Black
Sect. For all of Daran's grandstanding, it seemed there would be no
personal attention from him... as it always had been. Regardless, Viera
had seen adventures far beyond what she had ever dreamed. She had been
hunted by keen, quick, lethal adventurers who could pursue her across the
whole stretch of Thera. She no longer fears Daran Frostspear. She knows
that she would be capable of overcoming him should it come to that.

Role

Chapter 11

She has decided to join the cabal known as the Scions of Eternal Night.
Throughout her travels, this cabal's mysterious connections have appeared
in diverse places, and always as a show of unknown, powerful, magical
force. She has seen their presence in the crypts below Arkham, in the
ruins of Azuremain, in the grand, sinister, luxurious ship of Cantydine at
the Hamsah Seaport, at the entrance to the Scions' chasm, and even at the
gates to the Ruins of Maethien itself.

Viera is no magical theoretician, being a fire giant anti-paladin more
attuned to magic by instinct and brute force. But she is canny enough to
notice the common links between these disparate places, and notice also
that some mortals are able to harness this shadowy power itself.

As an anti-paladin, she is definitely familiar with the concept of magical
patronage. It is the underpinning of her guild. The guild excels through
devilish and demonic patrons who empower its dark magic. So the very idea
of channeling the powers of the Nightwalkers, or the Ccul'gra as a tome in
Azuremain named them, fit very easily into Viera's mental framework.

Another event which drove her towards this decision, was a death she
suffered from the ranger Marbacal, when she was attacked in Eil Shaeria.
The ranger had intelligently used a scroll to curse Viera, thus preventing
her magical escape, since Eil Shaeria was warded against teleportation. So
she ran into the veil of dreams, Organia, and the predatory ranger tracked
her successfully into the dream world and slew her there.

In that dream scape somewhat detached from the Prime plane, she felt her
soul flicker in that place between the Prime and the Shadow, and she sensed
that deep yearning hunger from the shades in that plane, along with malice
and power. This instilled in the back of her mind, that affinity for the
Shadow, the Negative plane. As happens with all Adventurers, her soul was
yanked back into the Prime by the blessing of the Gods, and she was
resurrected back at the altar in Galadon. She felt perhaps only a moment of
that in-between-ness, the connection to Shadow, but that moment was enough.

Role

Chapter 12

Viera has completed the task set to her by the Chancellor. She was to
research the convergence of planes, and to bring an item freely given by
one from the Refuge. The first task was straightforward, done with reading
in the Lyceum and the Witch's library. The second task took some work. Her
initial requests to those outlanders were consistently rebuffed. It was
until she noticed they had a strong motivation to attack her, that after
experiencing a few fights with Viera, they softened in their attitude and
felt it fair to offer some small gift, or a chat. It seemed the fighting
built some sort of connection with the enemy. This was welcome to Viera
and quite flattered her vanity. Of course, she was so pretty and smart that
even enemies would willingly lay down their arms momentarily to give her
their time and gifts. There are a few persons she remembers interacting
with, other than the Chancellor.

Zkrokch, a felar warrior of the Refuge, gave her the quails he hunted,
after having quite a few battles with Viera in which neither emerged the
slayer. He was quite capable, and Viera knew it would be hard to achieve
victory if she could not put him to sleep first.

Sylvus, a strange felar from the Spire, who was apparently of a gold aura,
yet harboured some strong dislike for gnomes. Sylvus was obsessed with
assassinating Viera, but had not succeeded. The few attempts he made gave
him enough comfort to engage in some conversation with our pretty giant.

Aeliel, an outlander who was hostile at first, but after a quick skirmish
in which neither emerged the slayer, was convinced to speak in peace behind
the Inn. She shared her beliefs about Thar-Eris, defilers, and freedom,
which Viera dutifully penned into a scroll. She also gave the fruits she
harvested to Viera, and Viera does love trying out diverse foods so this is
a very pleasant gift indeed.

Phindarn, a fellow anti-paladin, she had once gifted armours from Clodork
the goblin general, when Phindarn was very young. This dark-elf seemed
silver-tongued and she felt somewhat suspicious of him, but he made
overtures of peace even though Viera is aware Phindarn would seek to build
his or her weapon, just like Viera does.

Role

Chapter 13

Lyeeth, an elf shapeshifter of great prowess, who was a Performer of the
Inn. Strangely enough, Viera has the strongest inclination towards adopting
Lyeeth as her senior mentor in magic and worldly knowledge. She tried to
befriend the elf, despite their differences in gold and red auras. She had
witnessed some impressive feats by Lyeeth, such as slaying Trothon's
powerful creatures, and hearing from him about his victories and opinions.
Viera is generally inclined to like Heralds since they are keepers of
knowledge and many of them are mages. And Lyeeth has also had some fairly
long conversations with our pretty giant. Viera knows this is due to charm
and not her considerable giantess beauty, because elves and giants belong
to somewhat different aesthetic niches and neither group instinctively
appreciates the other's form.

She sent Lyeeth a missive proposing the mentorship arrangement. Lyeeth
somewhat agreed with constraints that he would not aid her in anything evil,
such as providing magic or knowledge that can be used to kill the goodly.
Viera is pleased at acquiring a mentor, and has proposed to transform her
duties as student to one with limits as well. She will not kill or refrain
from killing on Lyeeth's behalf.

Lyeeth is known as the Brightest Star. Viera normally does not like or
adopt the use of metaphor in language, but in this particular case she paid
careful attention to study the meanings of Bright and Star. She understands
that these words have multiple meanings. Bright has meanings of luminous,
but also intelligent. And Star is a celestial body, but also a prominent
luminary. Viera likes both of these words. So she thought long and hard,
how could she also have a name like Lyeeth's title? She thought of a name,
which she consulted with Lyeeth.

Thus Viera decided upon the name Brightspell. Bright, with those same dual
meanings she noted before, and spell, means both the correct writing of
letters in a word, as well as a magical incantation. Viera has trained
very hard, both in spellcraft and in writing. She has, unlike many
adventurers, actually learned to write physical scrolls and letters. This
skill she has used in her interaction with Aeliel, producing a physical
letter with the words spoken by Aeliel. Viera is particularly proud of this
feat she has accomplished.

Role

Chapter 14

Viera has grown much stronger. During her early beginnings she was somewhat
of a victim, dying more than she killed, against other adventurers.
Somehow the experiences taught her much, and she turned her obsessive focus
to becoming better. So she did, and now she boasts a feared reputation and
she knows she is close to learning the Flames of Ninaaurm. She has left a
mark on many adventurers, and so have they left their mark on her.

Gukao. Viera met this strange storm giant paladin who spoke in a somewhat
demanding manner. Since she did not think of paladins all that well, this
did not put her off. Gukao was young when they first met, and he asked for
help in getting equipment. Apparently his tone annoyed the elders of the
Light and they would not help him. Viera helped him, since in her mind,
helping a young adventurer grow stronger just brings more souls into her
reach. Indeed she has helped many young adventurers in this way, though she
always advises them to grow strong, because when the time comes she will
fight them.

Ghrudzar. Viera met this energetic, rather capable fellow member of her
guild and they initially struck a cautious pact. They met in the Church of
Morius, and exchanged small unholy weapons with a charge each, and leeched
those traded weapons, sealing their agreement in unholy magic, under the
watchful eyes of a powerful God. After that, Viera acquired some opinions
of Ghrudzar. He was capable, and very brave, charging headfirst into combat
even when wounded. Yet she could tell he came out of it with a victory more
often than not. He also managed to gain entrance into the Chasm before her,
though Viera attributes this to her inability to meet Lord Morius. She is
not so bothered by it, and will bide her time until she too can be accepted.
Overall Viera respects and likes Ghrudzar and they work well together. They
both also share a philosophy, perhaps uncommon amongst anti paladins, that
they should battle often and hard, and sometimes risk falling in battle,
because the powers of their guild are so strong that no big unholy weapon is
really necessary for them to fight well.

Role

Chapter 15

Aeliel. This druid killed Viera. Since then, Viera managed to kill her
twice. The first kill, Viera gained two temperings of her unholy weapon.
This was the mark of a strong foe, and it certainly showed in Aeliel's
combat instincts and knowledge of her druidcraft. Viera respects Aeliel and
enjoys talking to her as a foe.

Myrincyl. Viera is rather fond of this imperial assassin enemy of hers.
Myrincyl is brave and tries to fight often, even though she fears Viera and
has fallen to her several times. In spite of this, Myrincyl keeps learning
and becomes better over time, and even has success in slaying others than
Viera. Viera took some time to instruct her in the tactics she should use in
fights, hoping that this will strengthen yet another adventurer's soul, so
that she may travel in a Thera full of interesting foes who can make her
weapon better.

Another skilled and respected foe was Reynellan, who was likewise worth
two strengthenings when Viera got lucky and caught him in a mistake.
They also have a relationship of mutual respect while trying their best to
murder each other at all times.

Poce and Belmorein. Two adventurers who seemed to be learning more about
the world. Viera first met Poce by killing him, and acquired one
strengthening of her weapon for the effort. Belmorein she never killed.
After Poce's death, she turned around to help him grow in knowledge and
showed him many things. She does not think she will kill Poce again, since
he grew to his pinnacle and was committed to exploration rather than war
against other adventurers.

Role

Chapter 16

After having become more dominant amongst fellow adventurers, Viera finds
she has a somewhat nurturing instinct that may look strange for an anti
paladin. But it is not so strange, in her mind. Viera enjoys seeing many
other adventurers in Thera, and she wishes them to grow more capable and
also wishes them to enjoy fighting as she does. So even when she defeats a
foe, if she senses that the foe is somewhat inept in combat, she will
volunteer to teach the foe. Not all defeated enemies are amenable to this,
for example Faramond a storm giant warrior was rather bitter and imagined
that all other factions such as the Tree and the Empire and herself were
conspiring just to kill him. Viera tried to assuage his upset, hoping it
would strengthen his spirit and soul. An example of some enemy Viera has
outright helped was Myrincyl, she showed Myrincyl some places for getting
equipment and advised her on some combat tactics.

With more foes' spirits strengthened, so does Viera have more potential
souls to use in strengthening her weapons and ultimately, her goal is to
learn the various unholy weapon controls. So this is why Viera thinks
helping others to become more capable, even if they are her foes, is
acceptable. Of course, foes who are already capable do not need the help.

This brings us an intermediate goal for Viera. She wishes to acquire the
Flames of Ninaaurm. She is very close, and believes just two more
victories will secure it.

Same as before, she intends to gain entrance to the Chasm, despite the
long delay first due to Ululrek's disappearance and then her failure to
meet Lord Morius.

A new goal is to follow Lord Morius. Though she had never once seen him,
the prestige of his overseeing the Scions, as well as the prestige from
him being mysterious and unreachable, and got her fixated on wanting to
earn his favour.

Finally, she intends to gain her guild titles to reach the pinnacle, once
the Flames of Ninaaurm are secured.

Role

Chapter 17

Lyeeth and Viera. Teacher and student. This relationship was doomed to
failure from the start, for the chasm between them, in terms of morality,
was impossible to bridge. Viera was hunting a storm giant, Horrindyr, who
was then being helped by Lyeeth to gain titles. She killed the storm giant
in cold blood before the eyes of her mentor, and for this, Lyeeth has told
her not to address him as Teacher again. This kind of drama is exciting
from a narrator's perspective, but from Viera's point of view, as an evil
giant used to a savage world, she took no offence and did not feel overly
upset about it. Viera has a fatalistic and stoic way of accepting her
trials, she shrugs her shoulders and does not complain, whether it is the
murder by a foe that stung her, or the admonishment and disowning by a
well-liked teacher.

Perhaps in time Viera will seek out a mentor who is of a more compatible
morality to her. With regards to Viera's morals, she is evil just because
she is used to acting for her own benefit and doing what she thinks is
necessary or expedient. Such as the siphoning of souls for the unholy
weapon. She is otherwise generally quite personable to be around, and does
not act with so much malice in her heart.

Role

Chapter 18

Viera has accomplished two of her goals. She has learned the Flames of
Ninauurm after slaying enough adventurers. And she has joined the Chasm.
But first we have to tell the story of Ghrudzar, a special person who came
into her life and passed out of it just as quickly. Ghrudzar Strarzar
experienced a meteoric rise and fall. In terms of adventuring time he had
not lived as long as Viera, yet he lived his life more quickly, like a
candle that burns itself out brightly.

When Viera had already passed the 30th title in the guild, Ghrudzar was
not yet an adventurer. When Viera was slowly working on slaying adventurers
to learn the Flames of Ninauurm, Ghrudzar sped by her on the same task and
accomplished the Flames. After that, he reached the pinnacle of his guild,
and battled many and even learned to call upon Akkabal and Heglial-Gil.

Very shortly after Viera's reaching of the Flames, Ghrudzar was appointed
Chancellor. Viera had never once seen Lord Morius and thus lacked a chance
to enter the Chasm previously, despite her long-standing pledge and many
efforts including completing three tasks for Ululrek. This dedication
Ghrudzar recognized immediately upon his ascension. And so it was he tasked
Viera and Lamashtua, two pledges, with a simple task of taking the item of
power of an enemy faction. This they accomplished, with a small pitfall of
Lamashtua falling once. With the fetish in Viera's hands, Ghrudzar inducted
them both into the Scions of Eternal Night.

But just as Ghrudzar's rise was swift and brilliant, very quickly came his
fall as well. Viera does not know his reasons, but Ghrudzar had decided to
retire soon after falling and losing his powerful unholy weapon. Perhaps it
was the loss of the weapon, though Ghrudzar had long ago promised to Viera
that this would not break his spirit in the least. Viera is disappointed
that he is gone, but his passing gives Viera new goals.

First, she will gain the Arcing Touch of Akkabal. Second, she will gain at
least thirty charges in her unholy weapon. Third, she will inevitably die
and lose that unholy weapon, but she vows that she will fight on after such
a big loss. Fourth, one day Viera will be the Chancellor of Eternal Night.
For one given to Vanity, such a prominent position of power and mystery will
draw admiring gazes. All shall see the beauty and brilliance of Viera
Brightspell!

Role

Chapter 19

Viera has reached the final guild title and has become a Fist of Darkness.
Throughout the process, she has had to retrieve the Scepter multiple times,
while dodging enemies all over Thera, ekeing out a kill or two where she
can. Now she is the sole representative of the Chasm, a lone Scion standing
against a horde of enemies. Now begins her journey to Chancellorship, and
to learning the Arcing Touch of Akkabal.

Viera is keen to fill the Chasm with more scholars and allies. But she is
not able to do that until she is the Chancellor. Nevertheless, her
experiences as a child growing up in the Imperial territories taught her
that one has to act like the rank one aspires to. So Viera begins speaking
to promising young candidates for the Chasm.

She has spoken to two pledges, and one potential pledge. The first two are
both Saurian necromancers, one called Anzahr and one called Tloxoa. Of the
two, Anzahr is a bit younger, but from his reports he seemed more capable
of holding his own. Tloxoa reminded Viera a bit too much of poor old
Lamashtua, who had a willing heart but fell so very often she eventually
retired from adventure. Tloxoa would have to prove himself able to handle
the undoubtedly many foes a Scion had, before Viera would approve. As for
Anzahr, she would seek to learn more about him.

As for the potential pledge, it is a dark-elf anti-paladin called Cyash.
Viera will generally watch young dark-hearted magi or priests who are not a
part of the Empire, to potentially groom into a future Scion. Viera does not
know much about Cyash, other than that he expressed interest in the Chasm.
She thinks it is likely he will spend quite a lot of time hunting in order
to build up his weapon or learn to control his weapon.

Being the lone Scion, a special noteworthy person facing down an army of
foes, very much appeals to Viera's vanity. She is the only holder of deep
forbidden secrets, or magics linked to the Shadow Plane. And speaking to
these young would-be scholars from her position of power does very much
suit Viera Brightspell, the famous, smart, and prettiest giant!

Role

Chapter 20

As the lone Scion, Viera took battle after battle against hordes of enemies
she could barely handle. Several awakenings she experienced the thrill and
pressure of going from battle to battle, bleeding all over Thera and
burning up protective wands like water scattered into the desert sands.
From this crucible came a riddle of resilience, forged from adversity.
Viera knows not whence this blessing came, if it was from the Gods
themselves, not a God had revealed his or her presence to her. Viera had
learned the same Riddle of Resilience which usually only the Warriors were
able to learn. She takes this as a great sign that her work in Thera is
important and must continue.

As for the other remarkable event. Viera had assumed, with Ghrudzar's loss,
that the exceptionally strong weapon he had nurtured with so many souls
would have been destroyed by the Empire. But it was not so in reality.
Instead, the Empire had gifted the weapon to one unworthy anti-paladin
known as Schubek. This human woman, Schubek, had leeched the eighty two
souls belonging to Ghrudzar into her own Whip of Demonic Fury. Viera had
very seldom ever seen her wandering the realms, and when she did, Schubek
left the realms too quickly and avoided any clash with Viera.

So it was a moment of serendipity when Schubek was fleeing from the
redoubtable Aelvinia, bleeding and convulsing from the battle. And right in
Bramblefield Road did Schubek bleed to death, just as Viera rushed in to
bash her. Viera took the likely-looking weapons from Schubek's corpse, and
when she recited the scroll of identify she leapt up in surprise and
pleasure. Ghrudzar's souls! Along with four more perhaps gained by Schubek
herself. Viera wasted no time in leeching the souls over to her favoured
weapon, a mace with the head of a screaming demon.

Thereafter Viera's fortunes picked up drastically, as might be expected for
an anti-paladin. She won more than ten victories, whilst falling only once
to the indomitable BattleRager Mahinya Yahaya. Viera does not know why, but
for some reason this BattleRager, a sworn enemy of hers, did not destroy
her mace. This was entirely unexpected, and for those tense moments running
to her corpse, she had resigned herself to fulfill her previously-set goal
of persevering after a loss of a powerful weapon. The two enemies have
always shared a mutual respect on the battlefield, and each had claimed the
other's life multiple times. But Viera never expected that this courtesy
would extend to sparing her weapon, though she is of course relieved.

Role

Chapter 21

Viera appears quite personable and reasonable. More than one of the Fort
had incorrectly assumed she may be persuaded to forsake evil. This is a
mistake. Like many of the most evil villains in history, Viera thinks she
is the hero of her story. She is smart, strong, and the prettiest. All her
detractors are simply jealous. But there is no doubt that she is definitely
evil, with little to no hope of redemption because she simply does not see
her evil state as a negative.

An interesting shaman enemy of hers, Pvask, once asked her. What do you
love most in life? The answer was so obvious to Viera, she did not need to
think. Viera loves Viera. Viera is so smart, so pretty, she worked so hard
to get to where she is now. A great hero, a prominent luminary, Viera
Brightspell, shines upon Thera so that all could admire her. The world
should thank her for being Viera! Viera loves her notoriety. Her enemies
whisper amongst themselves, oh my how strong she is. They fear her, they
huddle together. They obsess over her, they send her admiring whispers of
how brave and strong and pretty she is. All this is exactly Viera's dream
life. Viera is living her best life ever and she has no regrets.

As a follower of Morius Viera believes in indulging her desires. She wants
to be glorious, admired, beautiful, strong. Any means for achieving this is
completely justified by her desire. The very concept of moral wrong or evil
is puzzling to her. She thinks instead, that suppressing one's desires is
wrong. So it is the duty-bound Maran who seems wrong to her.

So why is Viera so nice and polite, other than during attempts to murder
someone for feeding her weapon? Because she is Vain and wants to be admired
and loved. Even her enemies respect her, and openly tell her as much. She
loves this and highly encourages this by mirroring their affections.

Why is Viera an Anti-Paladin? The answer is quite mundane. Viera loves
magic. Anti Paladin is the only guild that will train giants in magic. Had
other guilds accepted giants as students, there was a decent chance she
would have studied in a different guild. That said, she has not been
disappointed by the powers of the Anti Paladin. She is one of the strongest
adventurers of Thera now, thanks partly to her guild training.

Role

Chapter 22

Daran Frostspear, now in his old age, was nevertheless a fearsome sight to
behold. Nerah and Mahar, both old giants now, quivered in fear. They had
never before stood before such a powerful Imperial. Indeed, even Daran's
servant was too high up for them to have met before. Daran was satisfied.
These two knew their place. He spoke without preamble:

Nerah. Mahar. You are two loyal subjects of the Empire. You maybe wonder
why I call you here. Your daughter. Viera Brightspell. Seem she did not
even want to take your name. More than that. Viera Brightspell, the
Chancellor of Eternal Night. Your daughter! The leader of that coven of
Arcane traitors. I gave her, and you, a chance. And what she do? Spit it
back in my face!

Daran flushed. He was afraid. Viera Brightspell, the subject of a thousand
whispers of fear and reverence. Some said her weapon surpassed any anti-
paladin's of recent history. He remembered Viera, just barely a woman back
then, standing pensively, unsure of herself, in this very office. He had
impressed her, shown her his great power. And now the student had surpassed
him in strength, had betrayed him. No, he would not dare confront her. What
would it do, other than bring humiliating and certain death? For even the
Emperor himself had fallen in a swift and brutal defeat to her. Frustrated,
he turned his fear into impotent rage and directed at his inferiors:

Nerah. Mahar. I give you one chance now. Bring Viera back to the Empire. Or
you will both face my wrath. I will send my guards to watch over you. Do
not even think of disobeying me.

The two old giants, terrified, bowed obediently and left. Not long after,
Viera received a letter from her parents, sent to her mailing address in
Hamsah. Within the letter was just the truth. Her parents begged her to
return to the Empire. Such very small minds. Viera had surpassed them,
surpassed that pitiful existence in an unimaginative Empire. She sighed,
and raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. Time for a little
detour, thought the prettiest giant.

Role

Chapter 23

A beautiful giant, armed and armoured, blazing with the raw magical power
of a master mage, strode up through the Imperial Lands. Beside her drifted
a creature of pure shadow, a Nightwalker. Ripples of fear followed the duo
as Imperial citizens cowered behind closed shutters. She looked like some
fearsome, magical queen of the night this evening. A glorious, flaming
crown of the fire giants adorned her head, her bright auburn hair streaming
confidently behind her in shimmering cascades.

Past the Palace, further north into the lands where farmers and craftsmen
and ordinary people of the Empire lived. Viera Brightspell travelled
unmolested except by the admiring gazes of frightened citizens. In a dusty
hamlet, before an unassuming house, stood a guard detail of four Imperial
grunts from the Black Sect. They saw Viera's approach and panic took them.
They made a break for it, but took barely a few steps before Viera's spell
caught them dead in their tracks. Her icy power flurried through the silent
dusty air of the hamlet and crashed with extreme violence against the four
guards. Her demonic mace howled and flared with power as it struck them
down. Viera barely changed her stride, and left the corpses as they were,
before walking into the home of her parents. Nerah and Mahar stood there,
fearful of what their prodigal daughter had become. Viera spoke:

I've grown up. I let you go. I have nothing I owe you anymore. But I will
give you your freedom. Take this money. Go to 126 Avenue of Abedim. Hamsah.
There is a house there. Live rest of your lives free from Empire threats.
I have seen things you cannot imagine. Spoke to people more powerful and
famous than you can ever meet. Even spoke to Gods. You are lucky that
again I rescue you from your life. Give thanks to me, and spread word about
how great and mighty and pretty Viera Brightspell is. I want all of Hamsah
admire me and talk about me all day. No need tell them I your daughter.
Haha, who would even believe you? Viera Brightspell surely daughter of
people like rulers, archmagi, generals, not two nobodies like you.

Role

Chapter 24

Viera has accomplished more goals. She is the Chancellor of Eternal Night
now. She is now marked as Lord Morius's Supplicant of Vanity. She has
finally met her patron Lord Morius. She was as impressed as she had expected
to be. Lord Morius exuded the personality of the patron God of Sins. He
took the form of a massive human man. He had a strangely warm, fatherly
aspect to him, yet his words and speech trembled with intense authority.
He was every bit the Father that Viera's own father could never become, not
even when Viera was a little girl.

Viera also offered her mace to Lord Morius, and indeed gave it to him. Lord
Morius was loudly pleased at that, but he returned the offering. Satisfied
at this show of devotion, Morius told Viera, gather more souls, use her
given toy, knowing it had been touched by his hand. This Viera will do, and
the souls in her weapon now hold special meaning to her, having been
momentarily held and measured by her Lord.

Of her previous set of goals, only two now remain. First, to gain the
Arcing Touch of Akkabal. And second, to persist in her life even after
losing her powerful weapon. Viera thinks this loss will happen inevitably,
since she has seen enough of battle to know that even the mighty can die.

She now has new goals. First is one given by Morius to progress towards
embodying the vice of Vanity. She must find worthy people to write high
praise of Viera to Morius. Emphasis on worthy. Second, she will seek out
apprentices. Viera Brightspell is a famous archmage of the anti-paladin
guild, in her own right. And what mighty archmage does not have students
who look up to her and do her bidding? Some of these apprentices may end
up becoming Scions, but Viera plans to accept more than just potential
Scions as apprentices. Third, she will grow the Chasm to greater heights.
Her goal is to have at least two others she deems worthy within the Chasm
with her.

Role

Chapter 9

Viera aims to become a higher ranked adventurer. Her first milestone is the
thirty sixth title, upon which she learns the keystone ability of her
guild, the Unholy Blessing.

She will also try to join a group that she views as high status. This may
be any cabal which will accept an anti-paladin. It could be the Empire, the
Tribunal, or even the Scions.

She will most likely choose a God to worship, because she has a strong
psychological tendency to associate with high-status, powerful persons, and
this desire extends also to gaining the favour of a divine patron.

Somewhat orthogonal to those goals above, Viera also aims to amass one
hundred gold coins, stowed safely away in a bank. She likes money and all
the pretty things that money can buy her.

She wants to be considered a favoured young protege of someone powerful she
can look up to. She may skip this goal entirely if she advances to the
pinnacle and is too powerful to need any mentor. But during her earlier
titles she will try to ingratiate herself with a senior adventurer.

Role

Chapter 26

Zaalreqwen. A young felar anti-paladin who seeks the village. Viera thinks
he is outright insane, though she humoured his request to speak with her.
Viera generally agrees to meet with people since she loves being the centre
of attention and she imagines they are there paying tribute with their
admiration of her. Viera found Zaalreqwen mostly quite incomprehensible,
but understood that he was a slave who was forced to serve the anti
paladins and then broke free of his captors. As for why he remains a member
of the anti paladins guild, Viera could not really understand his
explanation. But, a Villager anti paladin is an unusual adventurer, and for
this Viera thinks he is interesting enough to remember.

Coqui. Captain of the Brigade, a veteran Maran, and an archmage of
transmutation in her own right. Viera and Coqui had brief fights, neither
side making the kill. Then, Coqui spoke to Viera and they discussed magical
lore and theory briefly. This led to a longer conversation in the Inn, where
the two enemy archmages briefly set aside their differences and talked in
depth of magic. Viera explained her theory of how anti paladin magic worked
in terms of the concepts of Fiendish Patronage and Soul Energy Manipulation.
Coqui explained Transmutation and its related study of Biomancy, and their
links to the Positive Energy Plane. Viera was pleased to find a kindred
spirit in another mage. Ever since she fancied herself an archmage, Viera
had acquired a hobby of researching magical lore and theory, but this
practice is largely neglected by most adventurer mages, who prefer applying
their magic to the world instead of reading or writing magical lore.

Bazz. A shapeshifter and Elder Prophet from the Fortress. Like many Acolytes
he is thoughtful and more inclined to conversation than seeking battle.
Unlike Coqui he did not have an interest in magical theory. Instead, Bazz
asked Viera about her past and how she became who she is. Viera loves
interviews! In her dreams she imagines Theran reporters line up to interview
her so she can showboat and boast to them of her many impressive
accomplishments and excellent skin-and-hair care routine. She enjoyed
giving her proud self-embellishments so much that she neglected to ask Bazz
what she previously wanted to ask. Why is he called Dragonkeeper? Bah, Viera
was too caught up in her vanity and the limelight and forgot to ask.

Role

Chapter 27

Willou. A Herald of the Inn and a Healer. Willou is ever-friendly and very
helpful when Viera needs to explore some place or gather some item. Viera
treasures Willou as a friend for very practical reasons. This little gnome
is definitely more useful outside of her weapon than in it. He has a
carefree demeanour and seems dedicated to exploring Thera and seeking tales
of adventure from those explorations.

Nyisal. A Herald of the Inn and a Conjurer of no minor accomplishment.
Viera considers him also in the archmage category of his guild. Viera is
thankful that in her gaining of her final titles, Nyisal played a huge
role. He also seems to know many things, including perhaps of information
pertaining to a flail that Viera covets, but does not know how to get.

Sulirye. A Healer of the Empire and its High Priestess. Sulirye seems
competent, eloquent, and is even a follower of Lord Morius in the same
virtue as Viera, Vanity. Although she is a dark-elf and Healer and an
Imperial, she shares many personality traits with Viera. Superficial charm,
great self-confidence, and a preening self-promoting vanity. Viera and
Sulirye have spoken with each other multiple times in the Church, with
each side refusing to budge. Sulirye asks Viera to join the Empire, Viera
asks Sulirye to join the Chasm, but both of them continue on their own
chosen paths anyway. A pity, thinks Viera, because a faithful of Lord
Morius under the virtue of Vanity, who is a Healer, could very well have
become Viera's very best friend in Thera.

Role

Chapter 28

When she is not adventuring, Viera lives in a fancy mansion in a district of
Hamsah Mu'tazz, near Habib's restaurant which serves her favourite sizzling
lamb dish. She keeps two of the neighbourhood cats as her pets and enjoys
capturing rats and mice to feed to her cats. She likes cats. They are cute
and have a graceful savagery that an anti paladin can admire.

Her other indulgences are physical. Though Vanity is her chosen virtue, she
is also partial to delicious gourmet food. And in her spare time she eats
the best gourmet restaurant food for every single meal. The privilege of
being a famous and rich adventurer who easily rakes in coins from slaughter.

Another physical indulgence is that of Lust. Though Viera is not as much of
a nymphomaniac as Faeha, she does very much enjoy having sex with handsome
and pliable giant men. And being a woman of great resources and fame and
beauty, she has no shortage of these men. Her enjoyment of the Lust virtue
actually ties in to her Vanity as well. During her sessions with her chosen
lover of the night, she enjoys drawing out the encounter for a while and
keeping her lover desperately wanting her. This is a turn-on for Viera and a
huge ego trip to boost her vanity. Nothing quite like a beautiful sculpted
giant man just burning with intense lust of wanting her, staring at her like
she was all that existed in the world, and pleasuring her in exactly the
ways that she told him to.

Of the virtues of Morius other than Vanity, Viera is most attuned to Pride,
Lust, Greed, Gluttony in that order. She is not that keen on Rage or Sloth.
Pride is similar to Vanity in some regards, though it relies less on
external validation than Vanity does. Some Prideful people speak very little
with others, but Viera being Vain craves admiration and validation. As for
Greed, Viera enjoys money and shiny possessions. This is well-satisfied by
her career as a prominent and successful adventurer, but she could always
have ever-fancier items.

Role

Chapter 29

Viera has fallen and lost her weapon at last. All 127 souls held in the
flail were dissipated, lost forever from Thera. Korgosodom, Xzelyx, and
Eledsoere piled upon our mighty prettiest giant and slew her, while the
Nightreaver's insects prevented her escape. Yet this is not the end of
Viera's story. For she had set herself the goal of persevering after
exactly such a loss.

Just before her death, she killed Eledsoere for one final soul to learn the
Arcing Touch of Akkabal. Thus in one fell swoop, one fateful fight, Viera
has accomplished both of her remaining goals. To recap, her goals included
learning the Arcing Touch and also persisting after the loss of a major
weapon.

After her defeat, she managed to slay Xzelyx to gain one soul. Though she
is now clearly much weaker than before, Viera is still a respectable foe
to be feared on the battlefield.

Role

Chapter 30

Lyeeth has died of old age. This elderly elf had a deep and interesting
relationship with Viera, and in Viera's own wicked heart she considers
Lyeeth a friend. She thinks Lyeeth also thinks well of her, at least as
much as a goodly elf like him could possibly do. Indeed, before his passing
Lyeeth had even written very high praise, in spite of his moral qualms, to
Lord Morius and Viera, fueling her Vanity.

Viera vows to remember Lyeeth. Since she is not sentimental, she will
remember him in actions. She plans to break the Veil, over and over, and
benefit the world's mages like Lyeeth did. Lyeeth her erstwhile mentor,
may he rest in peace and keep watch forever by his Lady Rarywey's side.

Viera shall be the keeper of the Veil, and teacher to magi, and take on the
mantle she regards as having passed on to her.

Role

Chapter 31

Viera has accomplished, she thinks, more than any other adventurer alive
today. She is the best. The most famous. The prettiest. The smartest. Every
day she wakes up, she looks around smugly and thinks, wow this life is
amazing, I am literally the best person in the world. That said, she has
final goals remaining to achieve before she can consider her life's work
complete.

First, she must become a chosen one of Lord Morius. Not a single mortal
adventurer now is marked with Lord Morius' tattoo. Viera craves to be such
a chosen one.

Second, she will learn the Blessing of Sedayamin. This she believes will
happen with seventeen more souls. She will then test and document its
powers.

Third, Viera will publish a book on anti paladin magics. This she will give
either to the Lyceum or to the Witch Ishuli's library. Both places have
been worthy repositories of knowledge she enjoyed reading it. She will only
do this after she is confident she's tested out the Blessing of Sedayamin.

Role

Chapter 32

Viera has been a long lived Chancellor of the Eternal Night. When she was
first named, it took a while for the first pledges to appear. Merittet,
Seraphis, Faeha, Szioizs. They joined in quick succession. Then there was a
lull, before another promising group of young magi appeared. Vaskal was the
first of them and after passing Viera's trials, she accepted him into the
Chasm.

With the Chasm thus strengthened, she will now give them their task of
working towards the Prophecy of Eternal Night. Viera is not inherently
Shadow-attuned as some past Chancellors may have been, so her task tends
towards a practical, workmanlike approach. She asks the Scions to thin the
Veil to its most extreme, and then call every possible Ccul'gra-related
power under the Veil. She thinks a combination of a close Shadow Plane and
a thin Veil may one day trigger the Eternal Night, or at the very least make
her Scions more prominent amongst the denizens of Shadow.

Viera is also happy that so many worthy young magi have chosen to become
Scions. She thinks that is because she is wonderful, and just by being her,
a wonderful and admired Chancellor, dozens of magi pop up and flock to her.
Like an overly-proud and vindictive mother she will draw these magi tightly
to her, and indulge in their accomplishments. Yet she will also insist they
pay their respects and admiration because she is, after all, the matriarch.

Role

Chapter 33

When Viera first met Vaskal, she made him an apprentice as well. This young
giant however was very well-read and talented, and it seemed Viera did not
need to teach him very much for him to grow alarmingly quickly in power and
knowledge. He earned his spot quickly in the Chasm, and seemed a worthy
adventurer. Viera thinks he is like her when she was young, except of course
he is not pretty like Viera.

Viera normally does not make those at the guild pinnacle apprentices. But
she made an exception for a Herald shapeshifter called Damil. This
exception she made because she had not previously acquired a shapeshifter
apprentice, and she sensed that Damil had much to learn and much keenness to
learn.

Varkath, a young conjurer, had heard of Viera's formidable fame and
approached her for an apprenticeship. Viera shall give him his first
apprentice task soon.

Kareen is a conjurer of a gold aura, who did not commit himself to being an
apprentice, but was nevertheless keen to accept tutoring on the Veil. Viera
does this willingly, since he is still young, and is a mage who can assist
with the Veil. He belongs to the Spire, which Viera does not treat as enemy.

Role

Chapter 34

Viera regards herself as an archmage and a true leader of the magi of Thera.
But, she also has enough cunning to know that she is a divisive figure
amongst the small-minded magi who hate anti-paladins or Scions. Such as
those from the Tree or Fortress or Palace. So, she hatched a plan. She
contacted her apprentice Damil, and praised and stroked his ego, telling him
he has graduated into an elder mage in his own right. She suggested he
become the face of a new coalition of magi, who will help each other with
magic things such as the Veil and wands. Damil for his part obliged, and a
note was published to all of Thera by Tennaxa the Herald bard.

Viera is incredibly pleased and smug about this, like she is in all aspects
of her excellent and amazing life. She plans to give a big seminar as part
of the Curators, but she knows indeed she is really the founder of the
Curators, and will bask in the credit given to Damil. Because she regards
the entire scheme as a result of her own machinations. Such a mighty and
smart giant Archmage is Viera!

Role

Chapter 35

Viera enjoys short-term relationships and sex with many pretty giant men
when she is not adventuring. But as she grew older, all the attentions and
sex with these young, weaker men who were far below her in power, became
boring. Viera craved a worthy mate, one who would understand her life
because he himself lived the life of an adventurer.

Cue Vaskal. Not an impressive sight. Thuggish, with scarred hands and a face
that had endured many beatings. But, he was a truly talented young mage. He
had ravaged through the adventurers of Thera, felling many souls. He had
knowledge that in some cases Viera did not have, though one would never hear
Viera openly admit this. He gave her powerful items as gifts. And he once
saved her life against the Nightreaver by excising a recall wand at her. And
now, he has become Viera's mate for life.

Viera is old enough that she has enjoyed enough pretty exteriors with no
substance underneath. Vaskal is not pretty outside, but very worthy inside.
Vaskal makes a worthy husband. So one day, Viera awoke and Vaskal was there,
and he made her a wonderful gift of a Seantryn Royal Signet Ring. Viera took
this chance to proposition Vaskal with a marriage proposal. They would make
a glorious, prominent giant couple! They would put to shame the pitiful and
small couple before them, Pvask and Mystrillania! A mighty duo, two famous
and talented archmagi of the anti-paladin guild, both Scions! Their enemies
would tremble at their pairing, and lonely people around the world would
sigh and wish that they too had such a great and wonderful relationship.

Role

Chapter 36

Viera woke one day after hearing news of Vaskal's permanent departure from
Thera's adventuring world. Our pretty giant fumed, Angry! Who dare make
husband retire? She asked around and heard rumours that it was the Fortress
who killed him, destroyed his weapon, and thus instigated his premature
retirement.

Viera was sad. She hadn't even groomed and primped her hair and makeup the
usual amount, she was so upset. During one of her sessions she found Makdran
and inquired of him, and Makdran confirmed it was the Fortress. Viera vowed
revenge. She would take great pleasure each time in harvesting the soul of
a Fortress warrior!

Yet Viera had no fear. She was confident that she was such a wonderful and
great wife, that Vaskal would surely reach out and seek her out even after
his retirement. She had no doubt that his love was sincere, and not a
matter of a calculated career move. They may no longer adventure together
as a great couple, but surely they could enjoy love and family still.

She took rest after slaying Srinissi, an Outlander, and after having many
battles with Makdran. Despite her enraged efforts, she could not land the
killing blow on Makdran to avenge her husband. She returned to her rest in
quite a grumpy mood, which would only end when she checked her letters in
the mail in a dead drop near the Chasm.

Role

Chapter 37

Viera found a letter written in a blocky hand. Famous wife Viera. It is
Vaskal your mate. Where you live when not adventure? I find you.

Short and to the point. Viera straightened proudly with a smug smile. Of
course, her husband loved her with all his heart. Her heart beating somewhat
quickly, she wrote back with her address. She spent a week waiting with
anticipation, and despite the lonely feeling of an empty house, resisted
the urge to enjoy a short-term relation with a pretty young giant man.

A week later, a big bearded giant man turned up, thuggish of countenance,
with large bruised hands. Vaskal's hard life of struggle seemed completely
behind him, and he was indeed much better groomed than he typically was as
an adventurer. Viera stared wordlessly into Vaskal's eyes. Without preamble
the two giants flung themselves at each other, not to bash but to hug.

The two giants of fire burned with an affection nurtured by some time apart,
along with the anxiety of Vaskal's retirement. As was typical for this
passionate and unrestrained couple, wordlessly they moved to the bedroom,
caressing and kissing with love and urgent lust. Then, they had very
passionate sex for quite a long time. The narrator will not elaborate,
other than say it was very satisfying for the giant couple.

Flooded with post-coital warmth and affection, Viera lay cuddled up against
the crook of Vaskal's right pectoral and upper arm, looking deeply into her
husband's eyes. Vaskal, in his languid torpor, absently ran his fingers
through Viera's long, silky hair.

Role

Chapter 38

Viera breathed: Retirement suits you, mate Vaskal. Vaskal smiled back and
pulled her closer into his side. She draped one leg over Vaskal's right
thigh and snuggled in closely, and felt a warm sense of reassurance and
quiet contentment in the embrace of her mate.

Vaskal rumbled: Adventure life was rewarding. Grow so strong, get rich, get
famous! Win famous battle. But also, have famous wife Viera! I retired
happy. But have one request make of wife. Never die. If you tire of
adventure life, retire also and two of us live quiet together.

Viera snorted, and propped herself up on an elbow, and flicked her hair back
imperiously. She said: How mate Vaskal have no faith? I Viera Brightspell
smartest and strongest giant archmage of Thera! I die of old age long before
them kill me enough to break body! Wah, you lucky have wife like this.

Vaskal laughed: Famous wife! Nobody can kill and take you from me. I lucky!
Thus reminded of his wife's many exceptional attributes, Vaskal was inspired
once again to initiate erotic activity, and the two happy giants continued
in this vein yet again.

Afterwards Vaskal remarked: You know Faeha would be so jealous if she know
what we do just now.

Viera burst out laughing: Ya! But let's not have her join in. She is too
much crazy. Too small also, maybe get squash.

Vaskal's fond reply: Anything famous wife want!

Role

Chapter 39

Vaskal retired from adventure, and most others spoke of him as if he were
well and truly dead, a corpse in the ground. Yet he was alive when he turned
up at Viera's door after his retirement. But, the law of mathematics and how
adventurers age has finally caught up with Viera.

Viera realized. She only ages when she adventures, but fire giants age
exceptionally quickly when adventuring. A human could spend ages adventuring
before gaining 1 year of age, but a fire giant only needs to be around for
just over a hundred hours adventuring in Thera and would gain a year of age.

This realization came as a rude shock when one day Vaskal came in looking
horny: Famous wife, it me birthday! Vaskal then looks expectantly at his
wife who has just about started her menopause. Viera isn't particularly nice
when she doesn't want something herself, so there's some to-and-fro
negotiation before Viera settles on a deal: Ya mate Vaskal when my birthday
you take me nice holiday to Hillcrest and call me like your queen ya.

Vaskal frowns, his thuggish brow furrowing with a sudden flash of
intelligence: But last five birthdays Vaskal have, Viera get ten years older.
After come back one adventure, one year older, make celebrates for Viera.
Then more adventure, more year, more celebrates.

Viera sinks into a frown herself, the negotiations forgotten. This mystery!
Did Ladies Baerinika or Azorinne curse her because they judged her red aura?
Cursed her to make her suffer from quicker age so she would die long before
her husband?

She is very smart for a giant mind you, but not so smart as to have an
intuitive grasp of numbers. It took a week of working it out on paper before
she found out, to her horror, that the rules for adventurers are different
from denizens.

This narrator will spare you the arithmetic, since in the writing of Viera's
story we are a fan of sparing the reader all of the juiciest details. The
calculations work out to approximately Viera ageing twice as quickly given her
frequency of adventuring times in Thera.

And this is why Viera will also retire and live the rest of her life out
peacefully with Vaskal. Goodbye Thera!

Role

Chapter 8

Viera is obsessed with status. She wants to be the best, she wants to be
paid obeisance by as many people as possible. She loves being flattered,
especially by people she deems as high-status.

Related to this, Viera is also very vain. She likes owning and using
ostentatious clothing, equipment, books, anything. Status symbols are a
great favourite of hers. She tends to bring them up in conversations to
show that she is somebody important and rich. She also pays quite great
attention to her physical appearance, with both fashion and grooming.

Viera feels no attachment to her parents because she feels like she has
outgrown them in importance and status. She did just her duty in rescuing
them from a bad life, because it was better not to be considered a
traitor to one's own parents by society.

On the other hand, for persons she thinks are important, she will go to
great lengths to maintain good relationships with them. She might not
come across as sycophantic just because fire giants are terrible at it,
but from her actions and choices it will be clear that she is constantly
sucking up to her higher-ups, hoping one day to reach their status.

Although Viera loves sucking up to the higher-ups, she will nevertheless
try to reach power equal or higher to them. Upon which, she will find
someone else even higher up to impress. If she becomes the highest one,
then she will still have her God above her to obey and please.

Viera will lie about her family to people that she thinks she can fool.
She will pretend to be the scion of a noble family.

Viera owes an oath to the Black Sect. While this is not such a strong oath
as to make her potentially Anathema, she thinks that Daran Frostspear will
hunt her down if she does not return to the Black Sect.

Title History

Skill List

PK Statistics

PK Gank-O-Meter

Immortal Comments

Immortal Comments

Immortal Comments

Role

Chapter 2

Passing through each battery of tests swimmingly, Viera survived a whole
decade in the Imperial education system. Her parents for their part, saw
their one glimmer of hope in their talented offspring, and continued
working to pay her schooling fees. Indentured slaves of the Empire seldom
have any chance to rise above their lowly station in life, the entire
system is set up so that they are not given the opportunity. Instead, they
are trapped in an endless cycle of poverty, unless some very rare high-
ranking free Citizen saw fit to raise up a talented slave. Mahar and Nerah
were capable miners, but in a dusty iron mine far from sight, they had no
chance of impressing the right people. Slowly but surely, the years ground
their ambitions to dust, and they lived and worked like automatons with
just the one hope of their daughter in their hearts.

In Viera's eightth year at school, Nerah nearly died from a mine explosion.
In her tenth year, Mahar took sick from the constant dust in the mine
shafts, and Nerah worked herself to the bone to sustain their lives. Viera
heard nothing of this, only watching slowly her parents' spirits become
broken, their tempers frayed, during those few visits she had with them.
She was beaten sometimes for random reasons, and sometimes just to instill
in her the sense of urgency that she must absolutely excel in her studies.
This was fairly normal as fire giant parenting goes, and so Viera thought
little of it. The beatings neither dispirited nor motivated her, but was a
background feature of the life she had expected.

At the end of her tenth year in school, she did her final tests, which were
a well-known and brutal set of examinations meant to select the best of the
best for further study and training. They were known simply as The Finals.
Viera's life was a sad, grey, sullen affair. In her dreams the faces of her
broken-spirited parents drifted before her, night after night. Anxiety
dreams of being scolded, slapped, or simply beaten with fist and belt.
The hardened lump of fear, hatred, and anxiety drove her to a brutal,
single-minded determination of savage intensity, that same intensity the
fire giant people are known for, except this time channeled towards
ordeals both physical and mental, ordeals that could only be dreamt up by
the sadistic, cold-hearted administrators at the Imperial Education Bureau.
Her natural strength and intellect, combined with a mind-numbing amount of
endless hard work, from dawn to dusk, left her defeating all of her
competition in her school. Her results were exceptional, especially in the
final melee battle that was the Final for the subject of warcraft.

Role

Chapter 3

A fire giant, male, middle-aged, unusually dressed in robes with arcane
runes, Daran Frostspear was truly a sight to behold. A solid wall of muscle
seated behind an enormous oak desk, with scrolls, books, and writing
implements scattered about his room, the scene looked like a study in
unexpected contrasts. Viera did not know this, but Daran was so many ranks
above her family that this situation was extremely unusual and this was an
opportunity her peers would have killed for. When Viera entered, Daran
spoke without preamble.

Girl. We have interest in you. We offer you a deal. Join The School. You
know the one? Good. Every good student knows. Best school. Best future.
Expensive fees. I know your family can't afford. Your Finals were good.
The School will take you. You just need to afford. We can make you afford.
We have money. If you take our money, you join us. After finishing school.
No backing out.

What do you do? If I join you, what is my future? How does it help me?

We are the Black Sect. Empire's most powerful magicians. You know the
name. You know the fame. Black Sect are rich, powerful. If you do well in
Black Sect, your future is rich. And. Your family's future. I read the
records, I know where they work. Your father will not last long. But with
our help, everything will change. You are at a path with two roads.
Choose wisely, choose us, and your future is great.

Yes. Fine. I agree. You want me make to make oath? Tell me all terms. Show
in writing. I read. If it is like you say, I make oath.

Daran pulled out a scroll. Viera read it carefully. Then, she agreed and
swore the oath. Afterwards, she frowned.

This is not the famous Blood Oath. I know the words. But there is no magic
to make me follow.

Girl. You are still a weakling. You have promise, but you are still weak.
The Blood Oath is only when you are mature. Do not think to breath oath.
I hate oath breakers, this I swear.

Daran casually reached out an impossibly long, muscled arm, grabbed what
looked like part of the room, and uttered some odd incantation, with
weirdly precise pronunciations and tones. A brilliant burst of icy blue
light coursed through a long iron-tipped spear, and a demonic chill filled
the room.

Break oath, and no Imperial Law will save you from Frostspear.

Role

Chapter 4

Viera spent six years at The School. Daran's contract was crafty, it made
the rewards contingent on her good performance. And the bar was set high.
After a decade of slog, more years of mind-numbing, back-breaking work
awaited the fire giant girl.

The children of the elite of the Empire often ended up in this school.
Viera made some friends, mostly amongst fire giants and the occasional
duergar or human. She found the dark-elves conniving and untrustworthy.
Here it was she discovered the importance of social connections. It was
through a good word whispered in the right ear, or someone who knew the
right person, that you could get ahead of others in school. The usage of
privileged training facilities, reagents, equipment, material. These were
not fairly distributed. So Viera made friends. Her wit, charm, and good
looks gave her some valuable inroads amongst some fire giant elites, and
she even agreed to consort with a boyfriend from a good family, to further
increase her social connections.

Whenever she was not building her network, she was working. Each year there
were tests, as brutal as The Finals. And each year she excelled, and by the
third year her parents were freed from the mines and reassigned to the iron
mills. Iron making was a popular job for fire giants, their heritage making
the blazing hot furnace merely a slight irritation. By her fourth year her
parents were granted the status of freemen, slaves no longer. By her sixth
year they were given foreman privileges. Mahar and Nerah were grateful and
showered praise on their prodigious daughter, but she had grown distant
from them. They were too weak, and she, the child, had to help them. She
knew she owed them for her early education, but she felt resentment that
they needed their child to rescue them. Weakness is anathema to fire giants.

Role

Chapter 5

She made excuses of being too busy at work, and never saw them from her
third year at The School onwards. She much preferred the company of the
elite, and she yearned to be counted among their number someday. The rich
boyfriend left her for a prettier young fire giant girl, but Viera did not
feel much. She had her own future, he had helped along the way, but that
was it. She felt no need to hitch her wagon to a powerful man, and saw a
path for her own ambition, on her own merits.

The School is a concentration of the best young talent in the Empire, and
it showed. Viera was a big fish from a small pond. At The School, she was
merely quite good, and not exceptional. Each year she scraped by to fulfill
the standards stipulated in Daran's contract, but she did not outshine them.
Daran for his part never visited, he had a whole roster of promising young
fire giants to recruit and Viera was merely one of them. After graduation
Viera became a minor recruit of the Black Sect, the lowest of the low. She
trained in the practical skills of the anti-paladin guild, and paid her dues
by doing menial labour such as guard duty or cleaning or siphoning her mana
for various enchantments or potions, as and when she had enough to spare.

Role

Chapter 6

In every Theran Adventurer's story there is a critical point at which that
decision is made, or event has transpired, that explains why a given person
has become an adventurer. Viera's story is as mundane as it comes.

Viera did not perform so well as to catch Daran Frostspear's eye. Instead a
talented young fire giant boy from a better family became his protege. She
tried everything, from bribery to sexual favours, but her paltry offerings
did not impress the high-ranking Black officer. She barely got to see him
at all, only in passing sometimes along the hallways when she was cleaning
the officers' housing.

One day a great commotion was about the offices of the Black Sect. Dread
Lord, went the whispers. The Dread Lord is coming down from the Palace to
visit. All the workers and servants were in a flurry of activity, trying
their best to clean up and make a good impression. And this included Daran.
Viera had never seen Daran try to impress anyone, this was the first time.

And so Viera became obsessed with this Dread Lord, a necromancer by training.
Through her research she discovered he was a truly unusual person, different
from the denizens of Thera. He was an adventurer, able to die and reform
over and over again. Able to reach the pinnacle of the guild. Able to do
more than just live passively in the world and perform a simple role. And so
Viera resolved, with all the burning ambition in her heart, to become an
Adventurer.

During one of her few permitted holidays she took a carriage to Galadon. She
spoke to the anti-paladins in the guild. She asked around on the streets.
Everyone said Adventurers were just chosen, you could not simply sign up and
become one just like that. Not every hopeful Adventurer became one. Of
course, the heroine of our story was not dissuaded. She stood before the
gates of the Academy, with all her heart, prayed to the Immortals of Thera.

I pray to become an Adventurer. I swear I will do great things. I will write
my name into history books. I will be written into biographies. Give me this
chance. I swear by my burning heart.

When she opened her eyes she felt a great relief, like suddenly a weight was
taken off her shoulders. A kind of strength, vitality filled her. She knew
that it had happened, and without looking back, stepped forward across the
threshold of the Academy.

Role

Chapter 7

Viera's family were initially successful merchants, throwing their
political allegiance behind a smart and good leader. Unfortunately that
leader was ousted by a challenger who used brute strength. Since fire
giants observe the One Law, the challenger became the new leader. He
evicted all the supporters of the previous leader, including Viera's
family. Thereafter they lived in destitution.

When a ship arrived at Kiadana her parents sold themselves into indentured
servitude in the Imperial Lands. Viera was sent to a boarding school there,
fees paid by her parents' labour. Her parents suffered as slaves in an iron
mine and correspondingly treated her badly. Despite this she did well in
school and was eventually found by a high-ranking Black officer called
Daran Frostspear. He was in charge of recruiting promising young talents
and gave her an offer of a paid scholarship to study in the best Imperial
school, and in exchange she must work for the Black Sect after graduation.

She took the offer, and did well enough but not exceptionally well, since
the competition was far greater. Her parents were given freedom and much
better lives thanks to her, but she felt growing dislike of them because
they had shown themselves to be weak and reliant on her help. After
graduation she worked in drudge jobs in the Black Sect offices. She was
never selected to be a protege of Daran Frostspear, instead some other
more talented boy from a better family was chosen. This offended her sense
of pride.

One day the Dread Lord visited the Black offices and Viera saw Daran
himself show respect to this person. She became obsessed with the Dread
Lord, did her research, and learned that he was an Adventurer. So she
resolved to become an adventurer herself. On a free day she took a carriage
to Galadon, asked around, and prayed with all her heart standing in front
of the Academy. And the Gods granted her wish, and so she became a new
Adventurer, ready to make a new story for herself.

Role

Chapter 1

Viera is the daughter of two fire giants, Mahar and Nerah. When Viera was
very young, her merchant father threw his lot in with a young and promising
upcoming leader in a district of Kiadana. The young leader was wise and
clever, and his machinations led to a slow but steady increase in the
strength of his district. He improved food supply, sanitation, security,
and even education. For a trader like Mahar, it made sense to support such
a leader. For a while Mahar's family prospered, and Viera looked set to
live a life of comfort and privilege.

But fire giant society being what it is, another young leader arose to
challenge the first. This new leader was brawnier and defeated the
incumbent handily in physical combat. Thus by the One Law he became the new
leader. The previous leader was ousted, but he had many fervent supporters,
Mahar included. So the first step the upstart took was to discredit and
exile the supporters of the old guard. And so it was, by a stroke of an axe,
that Mahar's family fell from grace. They never quite recovered, since they
lacked connections in other districts. And soon enough they became members
of Kiadana's ever-present underclass, labourers toiling in the volcanic
depths.

When a ship from the Seaport arrived in Kiadana, Mahar and Nerah sold
themselves into indentured servitude in exchange for payment. Viera, for her
part, was sent to a boarding school cum orphanage in the Imperial Lands
not far from where her parents toiled in a mine. She was so young as to be
merely on the cusp of puberty.

Most fire giants spend but four years in school, learning to count, read,
and write, and indeed many do not succeed in even just that. The Imperial
schooling system is brutal but efficient, and the children are put through
their paces both academic and physical. Those under-performers are not
given a second chance to prove themselves. The Imperial Education Bureau
found that statistically-speaking, untalented children seldom turn around
and prove otherwise when given second chances. Viera, by some twist of fate,
inherited both her father's cunning and her mother's strength, and was even
considered pretty amongst fire giant girls of her age. And thus it was that
some faceless bureaucracy changed the fate of the family of three.

Edges

Flaws

Racial Edges

Class Edges

Edges

Mob Deaths

Timeline

Leveling History

PK Deaths

PK Wins

PK Wins

PK Wins

PK Wins

PK Wins

Arena Statistics