User:AndrewTall/The Paladin

One of the early ehrsheghlien was the Paladin, born in the third century after Deismaar, Lauriel was the daughter of one of Emperor Parnien Roele?s ladies-in-waiting and her mighty bloodline made her parentage obvious to all but the resolutely ignorant. Scandalized by the existence of an illegitimate child (particularly given his failure at that point to impregnate his wife) Parnien decreed that "as the child of an unmarried woman" she "should be raised within the Grand Cathedral of the Orthodox Imperial Temple by its priests so that she is always surrounded by virtue".
Lauriel?s mother was married off to a minor noble in a far-flung reach of the empire and honor thus satisfied, most forgot about the young Lauriel. The priests however found themselves in a quandary, at that time the temple was all male, with women permitted only in relatively lowly jobs ? and certainly not within the walls of the cathedral itself. The priests compromised by legally classifying Lauriel as a boy on the grounds that one law of Haelyn (designed to allow a mother to bathe in the presence of a child without committing one of the many classes of adultery) stated that children were neither male nor female until recognized (a coming-of-age ceremony carried out by the church).
Lauriel was raised as best the priests knew how ? in a similar manner to one of the orphans taken in to be trained as priests. At 9 she was recognized as a boy for want of any legal alternative, the emperor certainly had no intention of releasing his decree and no woman could have been allowed in the church. Lauriel became the protégé of Stiele, one of the first priests of Cuiraécen and became a paladin of the order on her sixteenth birthday.
As an adult she was freed of her father?s decree, but following the church?s request did not travel to her father?s court, but rather traveled the land as a knight-errant of the church. Lauriel was an outstanding paladin and although publicly simply another knight her powerful bloodline attracted admirers and followers wherever she went, she gained rapidly in power and in just a decade became the church of Cuiraécen's greatest champion. Her public existence drew many converts to Cuiraécen's temple and the church drove changes in the law to permit women to wear arms and armor, own property, etc to ensure no stain marred her rapidly growing reputation or otherwise inhibited the flow of converts to the faith.
Lauriel fought the Gorgon (then dwelling in Vosgaard where he ruled a substantial realm) on several occasions. Legends say that Raesene, at that point still mostly human, is said to have seen her as one of the few of his relations he could take pride in, it is said he tried to sway the fiery paladin to his cause on many occasions without success, although some spoke about her equally ambivalent attitude towards him and her apparent hope that he could yet be redeemed. Some scholars of the awnsheghlien say that Raesene could, at that point in his transformation, have realized that salvation was his only chance to avoid becoming a monster in body as well as in soul, and so seen in her his one chance for salvation explaining their odd love-hate relationship.
At their last battle within the Orlenaskyy Mountains Lauriel was hurled from a cliff during a ferocious battle. Raesene, apparently stricken with grief at her death and his own mutating body left Vosgaard, and no record exists of him them until a century or so before the death of Michael Roele. Some scholars suggest he traveled to Aduria, or even Djapar or a more distant land, for a being of such power cannot hide for long and had the Gorgon remained in Cerilia then he should have left clear signs of his presence.
Lauriel did not die in the fall however, but was unable to heal herself in her mangled armor. Lauriel embraced the path of the ehrsheghlien, melding her body into her armor, and so making it possible to heal her body. Lauriel defended the church for several centuries more, before finally leaving to discover the fate of Raesene who she had long hoped to find once again, she was never seen thereafter despite the best efforts of questor knights sent to find her.
At the time of her disappearance Laurien was a 10th level paladin of Cuiraécen, 6th level ehrsheghlien, 3rd level scion of Anduiras. She had a great, possibly even true bloodline of Anduiras with a bloodline strength of at least 80 and was one of the few recipients of the Roele bloodline to apparently have the Long life ability for she seemed not to age after her ehrsheghlien transformation. It is said that any blade she carried burned with the fire of purity while her skin/amour broke weapons that struck it.

Category: Ehrsheghlien | Player Characters | Temple:Cuiraécen