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Although an official delay has been confirmed for The Chronicles of Spellborn, the development team hasn't used the extra time to rest on their laurels. This week a brand new developer diary has emerged from the TCoS crew, and this one features prominent heroes and villains in the Spellborn storyline. Written by Mike Wolf, the article features images and descriptions of these protagonists and antagonists, and the Ten Ton Hammer editorial team has hosted the article for all of our readers to enjoy!

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 Heroes and Villains
by Mike Wolf

Where would a post-apocalyptic fantasy world be without its share of Heroes and Villains? Well I reckon it would probably exist, but that world would be either filled with fluffy little bunny creatures gallivanting through stretch after stretch of meadow filled with white flowers or it would be a rather dull place where nothing happens. Come to think of it, those two are identical!

In this Development Diary I'd like to pick out a few Heroes and a few Villains and tell you a little something about them. Let me stress the word little, because well, we do want to leave it up to you to find out more about the history of these people, creatures or entities. For some I had to really hold my tongue even though I so anxiously wanted to tell you more…but I can't.. I simply can't.

To quote a known Veridan historian, "How does one tell the tale of a thousand Heroes?" and well, to be honest, I have no idea! So, I just closed my eyes and whirled my finger above the great list of characters in TCoS and dropped down a few times. The first name to crawl from under my, squashed fingertip was Bazir Shadowcrest.

Heroes
Bazir Shadowcrest
Age: Unknown
Race: Daevi
Class: Skinshifter
Function: Leader of Shade's Grace
Location: The City of Quarterstone

There is a rhyme that parents in the Enclave tell their children when they are acting obnoxious or annoying. A rhyme that refers to a woman so brooding and cunning that she is feared by most, yet held in high regard by her peers.

The rhyme goes as follows:


Fortunately for the children of the Enclave, this rhyme holds no real truth.

Bazir Shadowcrest is the best Rogue in the Enclave and she knows it. Being taught by a master in the arts of the Skinshifter, she adapts to every situation with the utmost precision. Bazir is the very word Rogue come to live and has dedicated her life to the ways of stealth, precision and the art of not being seen.

The very visage of the short Daevi woman does not really instil fear in the hearts of men and many stupid and overzealous adventurers have made the mistake of underestimating this master of shadowy Skills.

Bazir Shadowcrest's personal life is a mystery and is shrouded by rumours and legends. It is not even known which High House she is aligned to, although people openly state that she calls House Shroud her home.
There are legends that tell of a master rogue that taught her everything she knows. Rumours also entail that she murdered her family on request by that same master. But whether these rumours and legends are true remains to be seen as Bazir keeps her mouth shut and only opens it to those she respects.

Although her history and private life are obscured by secrets and shadows, Bazir has dedicated her very life to the continuance of the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Her small group of elite rogues known as Shade's Grace is available for the highest price, selling themselves as mercenaries for spying, sabotage and the occasional assassination, to those that know what it is capable of. Under no circumstances will Bazir act upon any indifference between the High Houses or internal troubles within the Enclave.

She currently resides outside of the Temple of the Oracle in the city of Quarterstone where she discusses the future of the Enclave with other heroes and respected members of the various High Houses.

Doyen Sellgret
Age: 45
Race: Human
Class: Wrathguard
Function: Commander of the Marksmen
Location: Aboard the Shardship: The Silent Child

The Enclave of the Five Sacrifices would be nothing without the commitment of the people that lead the various factions and High Houses. One of those people is Doyen Sellgret, dedicated commander and leader of a group of researchers and soldiers calling themselves the Marksmen.

The Marksmen have put the focus on a race of birdlike creatures known as the Vhuul and do everything in their power to come to understand the very nature of these creatures and why they hate the Enclave with such extremity.

Doyen Sellgret swore his allegiance to House Rune at an early age and was fortunate to have wealthy parents that hastened his rise in ranks quite considerably.

After three years of spending every second of his time on experiments that involved the various magical effects upon people within the Deadspell Storm, Doyen stumbled upon a fragment of Ancestral World that contained the skeletal remains of creatures known as the Vhuul. Not satisfied with the knowledge and information on the Vhuul available to him at that time, Doyen started spending more and more time researching the Vhuul.

Now Doyen and his Marksmen are sponsored by House Rune and House Silver and have been embraced by the rest of the Enclave as a spear point organisation dedicated to everything related to the Vhuul. There is no one that knows more on this particular subject than Doyen Sellgret.

Even though a lot is known about the Vhuul and their whereabouts, the most important information and knowledge has still to be uncovered.

Orbiting around Quarterstone in his own Shardship, The Silent Child, Doyen Sellgret greets every adventurer with as much fervour as he does with the news new Vhuul have been spotted somewhere within the known Shards.

Villains
Shagaine Lusinfarn
Age: 68
Race: Human
Class: Furyhammer
Function: Leader of The Brotherhood of the Glaive
Location: Unknown

You can call Shagaine Lusinfarn a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a quitter. As the current leader of the Brotherhood of the Glaive, Shagaine has put a lot of effort in making life for everyone living in the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices a living hell. Raised prices on the shardwide market, raids on Enclave Armouries and even trying to establish forward strike posts in the heart of Enclave territory.

You could say that the rather broadchested Leader of the Glaive has done rather well for himself and his followers, but if you would look at the true agenda of the Brotherhood back when it was founded and compare it to the one that is currently used, there is a world of difference.

Shagaine Lusinfarn started his career in the ranks of House Maul. Together with his childhood friend Brole Exeto, he enlisted in the Hawksmouth Militia and served out his time as an Arms master until his right to citizenship was approved. But unlike most, Shagaine and Brole actually wanted to stay within the ranks of the Protectors of House Maul. Their request was approved and together they climbed the ranks and fought for the glory of the Enclave.

Times changed and several years after their combined joining of the armed forces, Brole was promoted to commander of the First Legion of the Maul forces. Having the right to chose his own second in command, Brole chose Shagaine. Together they devised a strategy to drive back the Howlers on Mount of Heroes and started their approach to the dreaded Howling Mountain.

But when both warriors witnessed the horrors and atrocities that had befallen the citizens of the Enclave upon the accursed Shard, they knew that more was needed than just protection of the weak and needy. Shagaine listened to Brole and agreed with his friend when he came with the notion to abandon the simplistic ideals of House Maul and start an organisation that would not only protect those citizens in need, but would also hand them food, shelter and water. Thus the Brotherhood of the Glaive was born.

But people change and the reasons for changing can be many. In the case of Shagaine Lusinfarn, the change came when he heard of the death of his commander and friend Brole Exeto. Suspecting that his friend had to have been assassinated under the command of some within House Maul, Shagaine swore vengeance. He brooded and plotted and started to direct every shred of power under his command to the demise of the Enclave and more directly House Maul.

To this very day, Shagaine schemes and plots and tries to limit the Enclave's successes at every turn. But even though the Brotherhood can count on the help of the Ousted, there are more enemies within the Shards of the Ancestral World than just the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Shagaine is brooding a clever plan and is on the verge of extracting his revenge upon those who he believes have betrayed him and Brole Exeto all those years ago.

Adinthalos
Age: Dead-ish
Race: Malvakang
Class: Vhelgar General
Function: General of the Demon Army Forces
Location: Six feet under

Prior to the world being ripped apart by the Great Collapse, the Empire of the Eight Demons enlisted generals from a race known as the Malvakang, also known as lesser Vhelgar. One of these lesser Vhelgar was a being known as Adinthalos, bigger, bolder and more vicious than any of his horrendous brethren. It was because of these characteristics that Adinthalos was chosen by Ormoburu to lead one of the primary forces within the Demon Army, that of the forward strike force.

Adinthalos followed the orders issued by his new master with vehemence and continued to lead the army to such an extent that he never lost a single campaign and Ormoburu was pleased. But three years after his promotion to the rank of general, the order came to march upon the Altar of the Undying near the city of Quarterstone. Adinthalos faltered, for the orders did not come from his master, but from one of the other Elder Vhelgar. Sworn to only obey the wishes of his master, Adinthalos was stuck between disobeying a direct order or failing his master. The Malvakang General made up his mind. Even when the Elder Vhelgar made sure Adinthalos knew that the marching orders came from the Eight Demons themselves, The Elder Vhelgar could not sway Adinthalos to execute the orders.

The Elder Vhelgar were furious but dared not go against the orders of one of their own, especially one such as Ormoburu. If Ormoburu had ordered the Malvakang General to only take orders from him, Adinthalos was not at fault.

Mere hours after the Elder Vhelgar had left, a Human and Daevi insurgent force chose to infiltrate the Demon Army Camp and sabotaged the only means of leaving the valley, trapping Adinthalos and his army and cutting it off from the Altar permanently.

The Malvakang General fought with all the force he could muster, a fight that resulted in many insurgent deaths, but also one that Adinthalos had to pay the ultimate price for, his own life.

Now the avatar of Adinthalos can only be fought by undergoing an Ancestral Dream, where it waits for those from the future to test their mettle against him.

Personal Views
The universe of Spellborn is so vast and its inhabitants so many that it is impossible to say which of the characters we have come up with during our 'little' development journey I like the best. There are those that feel like a friend and that there are those that I totally despise.

We have our share of bad *** villains, people and creatures that will make your skin crawl and those that might make no sense in whatever way you look at them. But not everything is as it seems though, there are ancient secrets to unearth and not everyone will be happy if that happens.

I hope that if you run into either the above mentioned heroes or villains or those not mentioned, that you understand that each and every character that makes a difference has his or her own ideals and thoughts. They have their own personal agenda and their own allegiances. Some appear nice and well but are complete and utter bastards, while others might appear to be a sack of Hoppy droppings and ultimately come to be known as a respectful person or creature. All I want to say is that looks can be deceiving.

If you do run into Adinthalos though, during one of our Ancestral Dreams, do kick him in the nuts for me, cause he caused me no small amount of stress. Why on earth did I ever come up with a creature that has no hands! *sigh*

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