James Ardannt

James Ardannt is the Supreme Hierarch of Haelyn's Bastion of Truth.

The Ardannt family hails from Hidaele where his brother Uther Ardannt is the lord of Blue Wood. As a younger son, James was fostered for a time in the temples of Haelyn, where he received his formal education. He stayed on a few more years to complete his ordination with the hope of supporting his family's political aims. Gwenaël Dhariel, a slightly older knight, convinced James to join him in seeking adventure in Cariele, which is near three goblin realms. The country of Thurazor was raiding its neighbors and often sought pillage in Cariele. James and Gwenaël fought these raiders and pursued them back into Thurazor.

James' friend, Gwenaël, fell in love with the Baron of Cariele's sister, the lovely Ivinie Cariele. James would often meet with one or another of Ivinie's attendants to exchange messages between the lovestruck young nobles. The Baron, Daenel Cariele, opposed the match and forbade Gwenaël from seeing Ivinie. Despite wining a joust and winning victories against Thurazor, Gwenaël made no headway until a hill giant began to tear up villages near the border to Markazor. James and Gwenaël found a scout from Mhoried who claimed to know the passes in the area quite well, and enlisted him among their party. As it turned out, this so-called scout, Shaene Mhoried knew very little of the area and joined the party merely in hopes of winning a share of the giant's treasure and glory. James had learned to treat wounds in his temple training, but the violence suffered by his companions in combating a giant was well beyond his healing skill. Many died in heroic combat against the giant as they fought through the mountains, but James, Gwenaël, Shaene, and a few others emerged from the quest with the head of the giant.

Daenel Cariele was compelled to offer Gwenaël what ever reward he could name, and when he asked for the hand of Ivinie, Daenel reluctantly agreed. However, it so happened that Shaene was the son of the Mhor, and when news arrived that the Mhor was seeking the hand of Ivinie for his oldest son, Daeric Mhoried, Baron Daenel withdrew his consent for Ivinie to marry Gwenaël. Gwenaël alone stole into Cariele Castle and and the two fled the castle and Cariele for the lands of Dhoesone. The young priest, James Ardannt, married the couple and earned the ire of Daenel.

James and his friends had many adventures, including meeting the young Fhiele Dhoesone in Tuarhievel while the elves yet prepared her for her later duties. They danced in the halls of Ravenroost at many of the parties thrown by Ljorrah, Queen of Stjordvik. And on many occasions they fought in Dharilein, Stjordvik, or the Giantdowns against the aggressive raids of the Blood Skull Barony.
James began to attract the notice of the Hierarchs of the Bastion through his heroic deeds, and they offered him command of knights in the temple's forces. James and Gwenaël continued to fight for Dhoesone, though their friend Shaene decided to seek his fortune in the east.

Affairs in Cariele would soon change the power of the Bastion, however, and see James rise to the highest office of his temple. Mheallie Bireon, the daughter of a dispossessed noble was able to take control of the Stonecrown Coster and lead this guild to dominance in the land of Cariele. Her rise brought civil war and catastrophe to Cariele. Both the temples of Haelyn and Aeric were destroyed in the Barony of Cariele and a new temple of Sarimie, the Northern Reformed Church of Sarimie, took its place. As this Sarimite temple grew, it expanded into Dhoesone as well, and for a time it was able to repeat its early success, overthrowing temples of Aeric and Haelyn in Nolien, Sonnelind, and Tradebhein.

The Oaken Grove of Erik found new leadership from a Brecht convert, Günther Brandt, who became druid of Dhoesone and began to stem the tide. His knowledge of Sarimie from his native lands helped him to forge counter arguments and revitalize the temples of Aeric in Dhoesone. Likewise, the temples of Haelyn needed new leadership and they turned to James, whose spirit would not accept defeat no matter what the odds.

James Ardannt was a war-priest of Haelyn who never expected to become Supreme Hierarch. He expected to command a company of cavalry, or perhaps to be captain general of all the temple's forces, but when the guild temples of Sarimie threatened to obliterate the Bastion, the temple looked to a leader with the heart of a soldier and with the passing of Supreme Hierarch Parniel Dhoesone, chose James Ardannt.

James has prevented the loss of further holdings for the Bastion and cultivated priests in Sarimite towns ready to lead them back to Haelyn. The temples of Sarimie however draw from secure holdings in Cariele to support their expansion and seem to have an alliance with the powerful Northlands Exchange as well while the inability of the Baroness to curtail the influence of the guilds is mirrored by the Bastions inability to appeal to the mercantile class. James has worked with Günther Brandt to forge a partnership to oppose the Sera's temple and restore Haelyn and Aeric as the temples of Dhoesone. The Rjurik call this partnership Holn's Companionship. Lessons learned in Cariele are now being put to use to end the advance of the Northern Reformed Church of Sarimie in Dhoesone.

While James has had some success in foiling the expansion of the Northern reformed Church of Sarimie, he remains at heart a warrior and general, not an administrator or orator. James won respect for the faith through deeds at arms and appealing to the nobility. Since the battle of Harper's Point however much of the personal admiration for James has faded, several nobles blame failings of the Bastion for the defeat against the giants for the spells of the priests were strangely ineffective in the battles and many of its most fervent supporters were crushed by the giants.

James has however won back a significant amount of respect recently by convincing the other branches of the Haelynite faith to send troops to aid in defending Dhoesone, or at least encourage their nobles to do so. In the eyes of some (particularly those who scorn Vertico Dhariel) the foreign troops are the only thing stopping goblin and orog raiders from savaging the north, and some say, stopping the elves from encroaching further on the east. Unfortunately for the Bastion, those loyal to Sarimie have begun to twist these shoots of resurgent feelings for the Bastion to their own ends by stressing the need for aid from those outside Dhoesone - and thus the importance of commerce with others.