Profile:

Kingdom: Sandalphon, Kingdom Of Glory

Birth Name: Arynsil'Varenistan-Linerison (Goes by "Aryn", that's pronounced "Air-In")

Warrior Name: Gideon

Meaning: Great Warrior [Ok, I couldn't find any good "glory" names, but taking definitions into account, you could just substitute "glorious" in for "great" if you felt so inclined.]

Birth Date: 25th day; 12th season [It's kind of like Christmas! Which is religious! "Glory" is big on religious connotation! And don't freak out, there are no Christian religions here. ^_^]

Age: 19

Family:

Father: Linerin'Ateriset-Matinorson. Was the King of Sandalphon, killed in the Last Battle. Would be 63.

Mother: Atina'Tarendalin-Aleyn. Was the Queen of Sandalphon. She willingly gave up the warriorship to her eldest daughter when the latter was old enough. Fled Fort Caheahn before it was taken by the Swarm but sacrificed herself to save the survivors of Barakur's Peak who would become the Darkness Dwellers. Would be 61.

Sisters:
Inara'Lencynthia-Ateyn. Was the Warrior after the Queen. She, too, was killed in the Last Battle. Would be 39.
Tiritha'Norenatsil-Ateyn. The younger sister, she was next in line to inherit the Warrior title but never did because she was killed at the same time as her sister. Would be 36.

Other Family: Lots of skeletons, most of which can be found on the Red Plains, with one notable exception: An Aunt of Aryn, now 58, who fled to the Great Forest when Fort Caheahn fell. Her name was Alierin'Sareneil-Mateyn. She has not since been seen, neither dead nor alive. [For fun: See if you can figure out the system of patronyms and matronyms I came up with to figure out which side of the family she's on! The answer is the King's.]

Profile Part II:

Likes: Practicing and applying his skill with the Twinblade, being alone (sort of), playing his ocarina [Please don't cry 'Zelda ripoff' on me... it's an actual musical instrument and wasn't created just for those games ~_^], Kaf and lots of it, preferably flavored with Coldleaf, and warm places.

Dislikes: The Swarm (big surprise there, eh?!), insects (because they're annoying, and because he got a very painful bite from a buzge on one of his �field trips� once), boredom, forests (he�s already spent too much time hiding behind them, darnit!), cold temperatures.

Color: Blue

Hobbies: Exploring, taking care of and using his beloved Twinblade, wondering how many other warriors are still alive, wondering if he'll ever meet any, wondering about what to say to them, composing melodies to play on his ocarina, and devising new ways to deliver the coup de grace to Swarmies with more finesse.

Aspirations: To sneak into Fort Caheahn and retrieve the Sapphire Blade and Armor, to mount Onchet's and Retupmoc's heads on his mantle (assuming, of course, that in their absence he could have a mantle), to overcome his social inhibitions.

Pet: Elias [Sandalphon was originally the prophet Elias], a bright red Spiny Furball (see Fauna) with blue spines. Don't be fooled by his cuteness. Elias has a bit of a vicious streak and has been known to use his claws, teeth, and spines on people. While most Spiny Furballs cannot be tamed, perhaps it is true that music calms the savage beast since Elias has an unusual fondness for Aryn's ocarina music. As a result, he follows Aryn wherever he goes. Elias is a relatively big Furball, about one meter (~3 feet) from his nose to the tip of his tail.

Weapon: Aryn / Gideon carries one of the Royal family's edition of Sandalphon's favorite melee weapon, the Twinblade. Generally, a twinblade consists of two large metal blades mounted oppositely on a central handle. These are two-handed weapons. The Royal Twinblade, in particular, has crescent-shaped blades whereby the inside of each crescent is formed by two smaller curves that reach a point about two thirds of the distance towards the point of its respective blade. The center shaft is hinged and can be folded for storage, but is locked in place, when opened, for use. The outer edges of the blades, for about two inches of the blade's width on either side, are made of a different metal than the body of the blades, one that is harder and does not dull easily. This metal has a microscopically rough surface and, as such, creates a dispersion pattern of the light reflected from it, looking very much like the bottom side of a CD--that is, mostly shiny grey with several rainbow patterns. The Twinblade is sharp and works quite well for both slashing and piercing. It is particularly dangerous in the hands of someone who can spin it, since it would get a lot of momentum behind it.

History:
After their second daughter, the King and Queen could not seem to conceive another child, even though they required a male heir to the throne. After a year, they simply gave up but, nearly two decades later, a child was unexpectedly conceived (rumors still circulate that this happened due to some unfaithfulness). That child was Aryn. Several months into the pregnancy, the Swarm invaded and the King went off to lead the army. Aryn was born during the Last Battle, which may well explain his affinity for combat, mere weeks before Fort Caheahn fell.

One week after Aryn's birth his mother, the Queen, knowing from scouts' reports that the army was faltering, heard that a group would be moving into the tunnels under the mountain city of Barakur's Peak to hide and decided she would take the infant there to keep him safe. She stole away from the capital City and made her way Northwest to the mountains. Several days later, when she arrived in Barakur's Peak, the tunnels were still being readied to receive their inhabitants so the Queen spent several days recovering from the journey in the Royal Suite of the city's central inn. Two days later, a badly injured messenger brought news of Fort Caheahn's fall to the mountain city, informing the people there that the Swarm's forces were pushing North, nearly on his heels. This news came about just as the preparation of the tunnels was completed, so the people who had paid or were invited to go into hiding immediately began pouring into the tunnels. The Queen had been asked to enter first but refused, instead entrusting Aryn to a relative who was one of the first to enter the tunnels. The Queen selflessly decided that she would not enter the tunnels until everyone else was safely inside.

Unfortunately, the Swarm attack came before all of the people were even inside the tunnels. At this point, the Queen was at the entrance to the hall that led to the tunnels' entrance. The Swarm's troops were getting sighted her. She knew that if she made for the tunnel, she would not be able to arrive in time for the secret stone door to be sealed without the swarm knowing, so instead she ran out of the building and led the Swarm as far from the entrance as she could before she was taken down (this they did because she wouldn't stand still long enough to be arrested). Her sacrifice gave the Darkness Dwellers, as they came to be known, within the tunnels enough time to seal the secret door, engineered to be completely undetectable visibly when closed.

The Darkness Dwellers were led by a small committee that was elected once the tunnels were sealed. This was, in fact, the only elected government that any part of Sandalphon has ever had, since the rulings of most places were decided by birthright or appointment. This committee watched over the supplies in the tunnels and monitored the activities of the Dwellers very carefully. It was they who would decide when to venture outside.

And so it came to pass that Aryn became a Darkness Dweller. He would spend all of his childhood in the tunnels, which, it may be noted, were always very warm and muggy, leading Aryn to have a strong intolerance for cold. The Darkness Dwellers passed an entire year isolated in the tunnels, in order to give the Swarm enough time to search the Great Forest. After a year, they decided the Swarm would probably have finished with the forest, and so they opened the door at the base of the mountain, which led into the deep woods. The woods would, when their stores ran out, become the Darkness Dwellers' only source of food, besides the Huenchen that they raised within the tunnels. The Dwellers that cared for Aryn knew that it would not be good for him to be holed up in the tunnels all his life so they began to take him out to get some sunshine in the forest clearings quite often. Aryn always looked forward to these outings, since the trees and the sky were new, colorful, and exciting. Many a day would Aryn beg his head off until someone took him outside. It was these outings that kept Aryn from succumbing to many of the ailments that the Darkness Dwellers who stayed inside faced, breathing the same stale air all the time. Aryn�s exposure to the sun several times a week prevented him from turning too unhealthily pale, though he was still a bit lighter than an outsider would have been.

Since Aryn was of the Royal Family, the learned Darkness Dwellers began, when he was five years old, to educate him in the standard subjects of a Royal: basic mathematics, history, language, and the art of ocarina-playing. The other standard ability of the Royal Family, the ability to wield and effectively fight with the Twinblade, was taught to Aryn by a soldier named Alendar'Sarinocha-Attison, who had been appointed along with several other soldiers to guard the tunnels. This was the only class that Aryn actually enjoyed. As for the other subjects, Aryn was not a born scholar by any means and began to grow jealous of the other young Darkness Dwellers who did not receive so many classes each day. In contrast, however, he was a bit conceited about his combat training, since the others did not receive it, and he proved to be a natural fighter. Aryn especially enjoyed the fighting training since it was conducted outside the entrance to the tunnels in the woods, providing him with his daily outing. At the same time, however, Aryn�s isolation from the other children resulted in his developing very poor, nearly non-existent, social skills.

Nevertheless, he was obliged to attend the classes he so loathed until he reached the age of 16, when he was old enough to be officially recognized as sovereign and his Warrior powers began to manifest themselves in him. Finally able to make his own decisions, he discontinued his book studies but continued to train with the Twinblade. It was also at this age that he was presented with his Royal Twinblade, which had been stored in the armories of the tunnels along with a number of other weapons, and given his chainmail shirt, the best armor available-all of the platemail had been given to the army. Unfortunately, all that was available for armor was that shirt and a pair of hardened Kaniken-leather boots, which Aryn still wears (they were a bit big for him at the time but fit perfectly now).

All this is not to say that nothing happened between ages 5 and 16 besides Aryn�s routine day-to-day life of being tutored and taking short little trips outside. In fact, it was when Aryn was 12 that the first industrious Darkness Dwellers to venture permanently out of the tunnels did so. They had no idea what had changed since they entered the tunnels or which cities were still around, so they did not cut down too many trees, using the depth of the Great Forest to hide from the Swarm whom, they figured, was still at large. They couldn�t have been more right. But, for 4 years they managed to remain undetected. Aryn, tired of the tunnels after 13 years, moved out into one of the small villages that was established. Though his outings had provided him with more exposure to the sun than other Darkness Dwellers, he still was very sensitive to it and received several bad sunburns over the years. It was in this village that he was tutored in wilderness survival by some outsiders who had lived in the Great Forest before and during the Swarm, who happened upon the villages. It is from these people that Aryn learned what he knows about the Swarm. Aryn spent three years in the village peacefully, gradually adjusting physically and mentally to life outside the tunnels. In time he began to burn less and tan more often, and he also got plenty of exercise thanks to the comparatively open spaces.

But then, when the Darkness Dwellers had been out of the tunnels for 4 years (this is not to say that they abandoned the tunnels; they still used them as a base of operations), and when Aryn had spent 3 years living outside of the tunnels, they cleared down one too many trees and the area was discovered by an aerial Swarm patrol. Aryn saw them fly over and guessed that since it was flying, it must have been Swarm. He figured that they must have seen them and decided that since he was the warrior, his presence was putting everyone in danger. He thought that the Swarm might be harsher on the Darkness Dwellers if they found that they had been harboring the Warrior. So, at age 16, Aryn packed up his Twinblade and his ocarina along with some other essentials, donned his chainmail, and slipped away from the settlement during the dead of night. He had no set destination and simply began wandering aimlessly through the Great Forest, completely unable to find his way. This is why he dislikes forests.

And so began Aryn�s current nomadic lifestyle. One day during his time spent trying to find a way out of the forest he took a break and was absently playing his ocarina. It was then that Elias came to him. Attracted by the music, the Spiny Furball emerged from the trees and when it went up to Aryn and just sat there you could have knocked him over with a feather, especially considering that he was just about to draw his Twinblade and to fend off the �vicious thing�. Instead the Spiny Furball began to follow Aryn wherever he went, and Aryn dubbed him Elias. He also noticed after a while that what Elias seemed to enjoy was the ocarina, so Aryn plays it quite often just to keep Elias around. After all, who wouldn�t want a creature covered with spikes and sharpness on their side in a fight?

Eventually Aryn found his way to the edge of the Great Forest and began wandering across the Caheahnite Plains. Being out of the tree cover, he again had to endure a transition period as he got accustomed to the exposure to wind and sun. Aryn�s gradual progression from the caves to the plains is why he doesn�t bear any permanent scars from the sun, and perhaps a little bit of luck too. Three years later, Aryn still hasn�t left Sandalphon, though he is trying to find the border, he usually just ends up going around in circles since the plains are so tractless. Aryn never spends more than a few days in one place. His only big problem is with the long, cold, snowy winter. Having been raised in the warm tunnels beneath Barakur�s Peak and not having much for warm clothing besides some furs, Aryn is not very well suited to the cold. He doesn�t really like Wet Summer either, but that�s just because he has to walk around soaked all the time. Aryn still hasn�t left Sandalphon, which isn�t surprising considering its size. Aryn figures that once he finds the river all he has to do is follow it to get out of Sandalphon.

Personality Part A: [A proud result of what I will call the super-duper Proto method, a marriage of the turkey-basting method and the surefire method.]

Aryn is perhaps most easily characterized by his solitary appearance. A childhood of isolation from his peers has left him with few social skills, and he is uncomfortable near others. Being a warrior, he believes that being near other people puts them at risk since the Swarm is seeking the warriors. Of course, his motives aren't all selfless either. It is much easier to travel alone (in Aryn's opinion) since one person requires less food and supplies and, more importantly, he feels that by himself he's less likely to be detected. In addition, he has only had combat training by himself and has no idea how to fight as a team. Should he actually spend any time with anyone else, that someone else had better not expect him to be very talkative. He only speaks if necessary, with the exception of very close friends, to whom he might actually talk quite a bit if he had any. Not that he wouldn't just end up making a fool of himself anyway.

Go antisocial boy. Of course, he can still get along pretty well though he's always alone. A combination of his childhood education, necessity, and experience has given him an appreciable ability to live off the land. He also does not like to be dependent, spending his time looking out for Number One. He knows which plants to eat and which to avoid (at least, those that are found in Sandalphon), how to build a basic shelter, and a number of other survival skills, even the ability to light a fire, though he generally refrains from that seeing as how he might as well just stand on the top of a hill and yell "Hey, Swarm! Over here!"

Another personality trait that has arisen in Aryn is a lack of emotion. Aryn was taught to suppress his emotions by his mentors because emotion overrides logic and reason and obscures judgement. In their view, any soldier of the Kingdom, above all the warrior, needs to be able to keep their emotions from taking control. The effect of this teaching is all too evident in Aryn as he can come off as cold and unfeeling whether or not he intends to, which is certainly not a huge boost to his already weak social skills. When Aryn gets so angry / sad / whatever other emotion he might get that he thinks he might actually succumb to the emotion, his usual course of action is to take out his ocarina and play something as soon as possible to take his mind off of the emotion.

Chastised sharply during his childhood for any shortcoming, Aryn developed quite early in life a noticeable fear of failure. The glory of Sandalphon shattered by the Swarm invasion, Aryn feels that the kingdom has failed and will go to great lengths to avoid the same fate. He feels that he, Being the warrior, is single-handedly upholding Sandalphon's precious little remaining glory. As such, he might even go so far as to take illogical risks if it means success.

Yet, despite that he seems to be completely independent and solitary, Aryn still keeps Elias around. Why? When he's not fighting or playing the ocarina-or anything-to keep his mind occupied, he secretly, somewhere deep inside him, craves companionship. Yet lonely as he may be inside, he is afraid to fail socially or to appear weak or dependent (as per the first 4 paragraphs of this section). So, while it may be very, very difficult to befriend him, it is possible (he just needs some social guidance).

That said, he would indeed be a valuable friend if you could get through his antisocial layer. The intense loyalty that he feels for his kingdom carries over to his friendships (at least, it would if he had any). Aryn would likely go so far as to risk his life for a friend's, but for anyone else (ie. Not a friend) he will just continue to watch out for Numero Uno.

Personality Part B [Besides the basic paragraphs already included, I thought it might be helpful to include a section that specifically answers the questions given on the Resource Page, just to elaborate.]

Tastes and Preferences:
On the surface, Aryn prefers to be alone but deep down inside he craves companionship
He spends his leisure time trying to make a plan to infiltrate Fort Caheahn, as well as fending off Swarm scouts (or just running away from those beyond his ability to fight).
Clothing is a matter of availability more than preference. Aryn can usually be found wearing his chainmail shirt with a blue shirt underneath and some black pants, along with his Kaniken-leather boots.
Aryn enjoys only the fighting, for the satisfaction of removing one more Swarmie from Euphoria. But if he had a choice, the Swarm wouldn't exist and he'd be in the Royal Halls at Fort Caheahn being fed grapes by beautiful women.
Speaking of food, who needs grapes when you have Kaf? With Coldleaf, please. And another five cups after that.
Collections? Where would he put anything, considering his pack is filled with food?
Of course Aryn has a pet! The endlessly cute yet ferocious Spiny Furball, Elias!

Objectives / Motives:
Aryn is currently trying to get into Fort Caheahn and retrieve the Sapphire Twinblade and Armor. Why? Because they're the best Sandalphon ever had to offer; crafted exclusively for the Warrior. That is, if he can find Fort Caheahn.
Failure is not an option. Aryn fears it like the Euphorian equivalent to the plague. He also does not believe in a measure of success. To Aryn, either you succeed or you fail. Period. Half-successes do not exist. Aryn is like Yoda: "There is no try. Only do or do not."
If he achieves this goal, he will use the Sapphire Artifacts against the Swarm, of course.
If he fails, he will spend months in hiding out of shame.
How does he feel about the Swarm?? They robbed the Kingdom of Glory of its glory! He completely detests the Swarm with every fiber of his being. They're the reason he's not living in a castle with servants and grape-wenches.
Aryn intends to mount Onchet's and Retupmoc's heads on his mantle [I never said he was logical].
The greatest obstacle to his success is the rest of the Swarm.
Aryn will (so he thinks) overcome this obstacle by getting the Sapphire Artifacts so that he has an easier time mowing them down.
If he could change one thing about the world, he'd get rid of the Swarm. [Standard fare WoE character Swarm angst. Yadda, yadda.]
If he could change one thing about himself, he'd have fur. Seriously. Winter sucks.

Appearance:
[Before I start, I'm going to toss out some definitions of Glory as per Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary:
-Something that secures praise or renown; a highly commendable asset.
-Resplendence, magnificence, or something marked by beauty or resplendence.]

The Royal Family of Sandalphon, even more than the general populace, are renowned for their glorious appearances and Aryn is no exception. That and the use of the Twinblade (and his hair color) make him easy to recognize as Sandalphonian. Aryn is a humyn with no extraordinary morphological features. He has a slightly dark, tanned complexion (too much sun, you know), and unremarkable, reasonably smooth skin texture. Aryn's ears, like all Sandalphonians, are a bit smaller than most other Euphorians and unpointed. He has slightly large, expressive eyes unusual in that they contain two separate colors, fading from a rich royal blue on the inner part of the iris to an emerald green around its outer edge. Above his eyes, his eyebrows are relatively straight and medium-sized. His mouth is more or less thin-lipped and shapely. Sandalphonian hair is known for its widely varying colors. Aryn's hair is blue; a shade that is a midpoint between royal blue and navy blue, and streaked intermittently with black. It is a bit long, not so long to reach his shoulders, but definitely shaggy. If he ever found a comb it would be straight but as it stands it could accurately be described as "unkempt tangly mess." Aryn stands average height for a male Sandalphonian, about 6'6" [Sandalphon is thought to be the tallest angel, so they aren't short people]. As far as build is concerned, he's broad-shouldered with a comparatively slim waist, a fine example of the theory of the Golden Ratio (for you math freaks out there). He is lean, but not skinny, as the physical conditioning involved with fighting / running from the Swarm, carrying around that heavy Twinblade, wearing a heavy pack, and wearing armor has lent him a generous layer of lean muscle. As far as distinguishing features go, he does share the Sandalphonian Royals' tendency towards attractiveness, and could potentially melt most women with a simple smile. If he ever smiled, that is. And if the woman's home kingdom didn't consider teeth ugly. Generally, the look on his face is devoid of emotion, as is his preference, but he has such expressive eyes that it is often difficult for him to accomplish this. Eyes are the windows to the soul, as they say. One other noticeable thing about Aryn is that, because of his Sandalphonian heritage, he speaks with a relatively thick accent that sounds like a mutated combination of Earth's British and Australian accents.

Ah, yes� clothing. Aryn's standard outfit (he has a few of them in his pack all the time) is a simple blue shirt, a pair of black pants, and a pair of Kaniken-leather boots worn with the hems of his pants over top, not tucked in, and finally his chainmail shirt worn over the blue shirt. He also wears a pair of black, fingerless gloves that make it much easier to handle the Twinblade without scraping his hands raw. In the winter, he can be seen donning a patchwork fur coat that he made during his time in the Great Forest.

Ok, warrior form. The transformation of the Sandalphonian warrior is unusual in that the Warrior does not gain any armor or anything like that after transformation. This means that when Aryn is wearing chainmail, which is almost always, when he transforms into Gideon he will still be wearing chainmail. However, one thing that does change upon transformation is the color of the warrior's clothing. When Aryn transforms, his chainmail becomes adorned with intricate blue and red patterns that differ with each transformation. In the case of chainmail, this is accomplished by some of the rings changing color. Any other clothing also receives color changes, so, no matter what he is wearing, he always ends up covered with patterns in red & blue (except for the Sapphire Armor� that's in the next paragraph). There is one other exception to the "same clothes" rule. He also gets a cape. The cape is blue with a red pattern running along all of the edges. Besides his clothes, Aryn himself also changes a bit in appearance. Blue tattoos in a few preset patterns, that seem to cycle between each other with each successive transformation, appear on his face. The black streaks in his hair become cherry red. And, of course, he gets a boost to his strength and access to his power. Aryn's Royal Twinblade undergoes no change when he transforms, though Aryn has a heightened ability to use it while transformed.

All of this information concerns Aryn's current equipment. Should he happen to collect the Sapphire Artifacts, the transformation would be slightly different. Since the armor is blue, only red appears in the intricate pattern, which does not change between transformations, remaining the same. Unlike the Royal Twinblade, the Sapphire Twinblade would undergo a color change, receiving its own red pattern. The cape, rather than blue with a red border, is solid red with no pattern.

So here's a two-second summary of personality & appearance:
Sure, he's ridiculously good-looking, but it's kind of wasted since� social skills? Hell no. Secretly he wants to be loved but he's afraid to let it show. Awww. [Cue violins]. Also, Aryn's not going to make the Best Dressed list anytime soon.

Powers:

Skills:
Aryn's most developed skill, by a longshot, is his impressive skill with the Twinblade. Think Darth Maul with his dual-bladed lightsabre. This, of course, is bred from many long hours of practice and application. Aryn has also learned and developed a high amount of skill in wilderness survival, as previously mentioned. His formal education up to age 16 has left him with basic math skills and the ability to read and write, talents that may be compromised in people not fortunate enough to receive education.
Aryn's least developed skills are definitely his nigh-nonexistent social and interpersonal skills. He is not good with people in the least. This is his greatest weakness as he is currently incapable of cooperation in support of survival.

Transformation: Needless to say, Aryn's transformation phrase is "For the Honor Of Sandalphon". He says this loudly and clearly, simply standing with his arms at his sides. Immediately, he is surrounded by a bright aura of sky blue light. The patterns (and tattoos) that are to exist in his warrior form appear as bright lines of sky blue and cherry red (think lines on the door to Moria in the Fellowship of the Ring, but with color). To complete this stage of the transformation, Aryn actually lifts up off the ground and hovers a few feet up with his arms outstretched. He then abruptly curls up into a ball, at which point there is a bright blue flash and he falls to the ground, landing on one knee with his head down (looking at the ground), the glowing lines having subsided to their regularly colored appearances and with his cape suddenly. That is his ending position and he is then free to stand up, do a somersault, just sit there� whatever he feels like.

Power: In warrior form, Aryn receives a strength increase as well as access to his warrior power: [This power is derived from the glory of Sandalphon's impressive army and shall henceforth be known as the power with the ridiculously long name]
The Glorious Cavalry Of Sandalphon:
Starting by holding his Twinblade level, at waist-height, the ends of the blades pointing to the sides, Gideon spins it once, swings it to one side-at which point a blue column of light appears beside him on that side-brings the Twinblade behind his back and swings it on the other side-creating another blue light column on that side-and finally brings the Twinblade to a stop in the same position as it began. When this is completed, two warriors will appear (one in each light column) in azure armor and wielding conventional military Twinblades. Once they appear, the columns of light fade out, leaving Gideon with two support fighters that he can command. They do not have visible faces, in their helmets' face openings all that can be seen is black, with two faintly glowing red eye-spots. These fighters only last until they take a few hits or until ten minutes have passed. When either of these conditions occurs, the shadow warrior in question spontaneously combusts in a blue flame which can actually damage any people nearby-Swarmies or warriors. The cavalry are independent of each other and must be dealt with individually: eliminating one will not dispel the other.

Sandalphon, Kingdom Of Glory:

Glory:

The Glory of Sandalphon manifests itself as impressive grandeur in certain cases, such as the massive Cloudreach Mountains or the city of Fort Caheahn. In other cases, such as the people, it appears as beauty or resplendence. The religious aspect of Glory is not lost on the kingdom, which practices a common religion. Before the Swarm, Sandalphon was renowned for the Glory of their army, incredibly huge and immaculately trained. This force allowed Sandalphon to hold off the Swarm for far longer than the average kingdom before inevitably falling.

The People:

The people of Sandalphon are generally quite tall [Moses called Sandalphon the "tall angel"], between 6' and 6'5" for women and between 6'3" and 6'8" for men, though 7' Sandalphonian men have been seen. Sandalphonians are renowned for their remarkable beauty, both the men and the women being found very attractive by most Euphorians. The Royal Family manifests this tendency especially. [See definitions at the beginning of Appearance]. Sandalphonians are humyns of no special distinction besides their looks. Sandalphonian hair comes in many colours and they can be easy to spot by picking out the people with blue or green hair. They are also known to be great fighters, capable of mastering nearly any weapon with little training [Sandalphon, along with Michael, carries on a ceaseless battle with Satan]. This is how they are able to use the awkward but mighty Twinblade. Sandalphonians all speak with an accent that sounds like a strange cross between Earth's British and Australian. Sandalphonians normally live to age 140 or so; the longest-lived Sandalphonian ever recorded died at 162.

Climate:

Sandalphon is a temperate country. The "winters" are snowy and the "summers" are warm. There are three separate "summer" seasons, the first being a dry, breezy, pleasant "summer", the second being a very wet, very rainy yet still warm and thus very stuffy season, and the third being a hot, dry, arid "summer". The winter is a long, cold, snowy one with no distinct divisions. The transitional periods (equivalent to spring and autumn) are comparatively shorter. These "major seasons" are divided amongst the 15 seasons as follows: five seasons are cold and snowy ("winter"), two are "spring", two are "autumn", and each of the three "summers" are two seasons long.

Geography:

Sandalphon is a huge country, extending from the vast merass-covered Caheahnite Plains in the North to the impressive snow-capped Cloudreach Mountains along the Western border, among the tallest in Euphoria. Flanking the lower eastern side of the mountains and extending all the way to the country's eastern border lies a vast, deep forest known as the Great Forest, that grows thicker the further South you go. The forest consists mostly of conifers but is interspersed with bunchgrub trees. It is the only place in Sandalphon that supports Inferno Shrubs, Coldleaf, and other ground plants of Euphoria because the trees prevent the snow from becoming as deep in the winter as on the Cloudreaches and the Caheahnite Plains. The trees gradually become thinner starting at the base of the mountains, eventually giving way to the rocks and steep slopes of the Cloudreach Mountains. The mountains are tall and rocky and remain snow-capped above halfway up even in the warm seasons. They are so high that no one has ever been able to climb to the summits., due to lack of supplies, weather conditions or impassable cliffs. The Caheahnite Plains are a massive assembly of rolling hills that can be deadly in the Dry "Summer", arid with no escape from the burning sun. The merass on the plains dies during that season, degenerating over the fall and underneath the snow for seven seasons and is reborn in the two-season transitional "Spring", forming a cycle of death and rebirth that keeps the plains green and lush until the Dry "Summer" arrives again. In the plains are several basins with lakes ringed by small bunchgrub trees and isleflowers growing in the water. There is a single large river in Sandalphon, with a number of branches, the river Metatron [Metatron is Sandalphon's twin brother. The people from the kingdom of Metatron must get a kick out of this.], which begins at the Cloudreach Mountains and flows in a winding path across the Plains, passing through the lakes of the Caheahnite Basins, eventually flowing across the border of the kingdom in the East.

Flora:

Coldleaf--Herb--This is a tiny, easy-to-miss plant consisting of two small leaves upon a central stalk. It grows to be between three and four inches high. Coldleaf leaves are ground and used to flavor foods such as kaf and chocolate. Its name is derived from its taste, a fresh and invigorating one that is reminiscent of Earth's mint. Coldleaf grows in just about any forest.

Devil's Tongue--Spice--This is a parasitic plant that leeches off of other trees for nourishment and is often mistaken by non-Sandalphonians for a part of the tree. It consists of a single long, narrow leaf that protrudes from the side of its tree host's trunk. It is ground into a very fine powder and sprinkled very lightly over a dish. The most accurate description of its flavor is that it 'tastes like burning'. Its flavor is very near to that of Earth's ginger beer. It has been known to burn off peoples' tastebuds if too much is used, but when used properly can add an effective zip to a dish. This plant is found only in Sandalphon's Great Forest.

Bunchgrub--Tree--The bunchgrub tree, indigenous to Sandalphon but found in fewer numbers in other temperate kingdoms, has an incredibly wide trunk-up to twenty feet at the base-that gradually tapers down the higher it goes as more branches branch off of it. The branches are thick and stubby and end in large puffs of leaves. At the top of the tree, the central trunk supports a huge leaf-bunch. These trees live for centuries and hollow ones make excellent shelters.

Inferno Shrub--Poison--This small plant is named for the sensation one feels in their stomachs should they be foolish enough to ingest it. In its leaves are special sacs containing a milky fluid that has an incredibly high affinity for proteins, the building blocks of cells. When the plant is eaten, these sacs burst and release the fluid, where it rips the stomach's cells apart protein by protein, producing the burning sensation and causing serious ulcers. If there is enough of the fluid, some of it will enter the bloodstream through these ulcers and begin tearing your entire body apart. This is a favorite of assassins and poison arrow makers because it is lethal, fast-acting, and can be administered directly into the bloodstream via a stab wound. Once it eats through the arterial and venous walls of the victim, they will die of internal bleeding. It is a very painful poison. Even surface contact with the fluid will relieve you of a few layers of skin cells. Morphologically, inferno shrubs are a single thick stalk that grows up to 4 feet high with several broad leaves attached directly to this stalk.

Isleflower--Flower--The name of this plant comes from its size and shape. These flowers are aquatic and grow up from lakebeds, the thick stem growing over several years until it protrudes from the water, at which point it begins to grow a huge blossom. The flower's center and petals form a relatively flat surface that, in big flowers, can be over 40 feet wide. In primitive Sandalphon, entire villages were built on top of these flowers, connecting them with bridges. These are found only in the lakes of the Caheahnite Basins in Sandalphon.

Sunfire--Healing Flower--This is a small weed with an orange-yellow puff at the top of a thin stem (like a dandelion) that grows all over the Caheahnite Plains and sparingly on the Cloudreach Mountains in Sandalphon, but is all too common, outside of forests, in kingdoms everywhere. The milky fluid that can be found inside the stalk can be applied directly to a wound to prevent infection and reduce the appearance of scars.

Besides the indigenous species, many of the plants common throughout Euphoria can also be found in Sandalphon.

Healing Plants:
Antergesent can be found in small amounts on the lower slopes of the Cloudreaches. It is rumored that there is Basme in the Great Forest, and well-known that Pultes can be found there. The rocks at the bases of the Mountains' hills support Potus.

Poisons:
Afinaka may also be found in Sandalphon, but rarely. Istim and Sienne are said to grow in the Great Forest.

Crops:
Crops in Sandalphon are grown almost exclusively around Essarin and include Chunda, Hrai, Sweegum, and Caran. The latter two may be found growing wildly in certain parts of the Caheahnite Plains.

Fruits and Vegetables:
Many fruits grow in the Great Forest and are cultivated within the cities. These include Buflwese, Loopta, Reum, and Tutajjo. Cacao is grown in the Great Forest on plantations.

Herbs and Spices:
The Great Forest supports Akimura, Frimat, Okeet, Piprit, and Sej. Sandalphonians long ago introduced many kaf flavorings to the kingdom, and it is very common to find Cinamen, Sugre, and Vine-Vanil.

Other Plants:
The Great Forest is rife with conifers. It also supports creepers. Merass covers the Caheahnite Plains.

Fauna:

Furballs:
Found exclusively in the Great Forest in Sandalphon, these are incredibly cute balls of fluff with long, fluffy tails, beady eyes, and tiny noses. They measure from one-half to one and one-half meters full-grown, keeping in mind that two thirds of that is tail. They come in many colors and several varieties:
Common Furballs: As their name implies, the most common variety. These Furballs have no particularly distinguishing features. Domesticated Furballs are almost always Common.
Tree Furballs: These Furballs live in treetops and have very sharp climbing claws. They are exclusively green in color.
Flying Furballs: These, much like flying squirrels, have special flaps of skin that they can extend to glide from high places.
Spiny Furballs: By far the least common and most dangerous Furballs, these have vicious claws and teeth, a row of sharp spines sticking out of their backs, and many sharp spines in their tails. People generally stay away from these as they're often bad-tempered.

Kaniken: These are large, four-legged, horned herd animals that are raised both as beasts of burden and for their delicious red meat. They are also a source of milk. Their hides are prized, used to make an exceptionally tough leather.

Buzge: This is a big insect that makes a very annoying buzzing sound as it flies. They rarely bite, but when they do it is painful and will itch for several days. These are interesting in that they have a total of 8 wings. They are especially common in Sandalpon's Great Forest but can be found nearly everywhere.

Bottomcrawler: These large, silver-colored fish live in the lakes of the Caheahnite Basins in Sandalphon only. They are bottom-feeders that can be caught easily by dragging bait along the lakebed, if you don't just get your rod pulled out of your hands: these fish can be up to 15 feet long. Bottomcrawlers are prized for their delicious white meat which is even exported to other kingdoms in salt, and is excellent when fried with butter. Bottomcrawler is a common find at Sandalphonian dinner tables.

Many common Euphorian animals live in Sandalphon as well: In the Great Forest, bears, hares and wildcats. In the plains, hares, wild horses, and ravens. Sandalphonians also keep domesticated cats and dogs and raise Huenchen for their meat and eggs.

Cuisine:

Sandalphonians are crazy about kaf. Many chefs spend hours of every day creating new recipes. They add Coldleaf, Vine-Vanil, Sugre, Cinamen, Cacao, milk� you name it. Some of the Sandalphonian kaf flavors include spices untraditional for kaf, such as Akimura. Many of their recipes are found disgusting by other Euphorians, such as the incredibly hot Devil's Tongue Mix, but even under Swarm rule the experiments continue.

Fanen: The most popular recipe in Sandalphon. A dish with a large amount of bottomcrawler, friend in butter with any combination of herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables depending on the chef.

Kanihuen: This is a rich, hearty stew containing Kaniken and Huenchen in a thick broth with vegetables and spices. Many people who have eaten Kanihuen while they were sick would hold that it is a magic elixir against sickness. Indeed, it is great for warding off colds and such.

Religion:

Sandalphonians all follow one common religion. They believe in a divine being, but not in prophets or messiahs. The Sandalphonian religion holds that the angels are actually different parts of the body of this divine being (each angel is assigned a part, be it a finger, an elbow, some internal organ� Sandalphon is the head. [That light radiating halo thing that is seen in Earth�s religious paintings can be called a glory]). Tradkiel makes up the soul of the divine being, the governing force that unites all the other body parts. According to the religion, when all the angels join together to form this one Supreme Being, that being will descend to Euphoria and cleanse it of its troubles and hardships. The Warriors are considered to be special messengers sent by the angels to do their bidding on the surface, so any Warrior publicly entering a Sandalphonian city would likely get swamped by people willing the warrior to seek the intervention of the angel for them. Since the Swarm invasion, the fealty of this religion�s followers has only increased. They pray for the angels to unite and deliver Euphoria from the Swarm. The Swarm sees the religion as a great source of amusement, and if it wasn�t for the fact that it would make them work less fervently, they would probably get rid of it. As it stands, they�d rather have religious people working than heathens being lazy.

Language:

Most Sandalphonians can speak Euphor, and all can speak Relnian, the language of Sandalphon, which gives Sandalphonians their thick accent. Relnian writing is done in a delicate, ornate, and flowing script.

Music and Art:

Art is ridiculously highly prized in Sandalphon, especially since the Swarm killed off half the artists. Rich tapestries, gorgeous paintings, and ornate sculptures can be found in most households. Sandalphonians are particularly fond of landscapes, portraits, and religious paintings and tapestries. The sculptures are usually of great figures in history.

All the music in Sandalphon is played with wind instruments of some type or other. Many kinds of flute and similar woodwinds are commonplace for group performers, while individual musicians choose the ocarina more often, which is also the preferred instrument of the Royal Family. Music in Sandalphon is a status symbol, so most every upper-middle class child is taught to play an instrument. Every Royal Family member is taught to play the ocarina at a young age.

Landmarks:

Fort Caheahn [See Cities and Towns]

The Red Plains: Site of the Last Battle in Sandalphon, these plains are named for how they looked after the bloody Last Battle.

Weapons and Armor:

The standard soldier's weapon in Sandalphon is the Twinblade, a vicious weapon consisting of two double-sided blades mounted on a central handle. Because it is double-bladed, it can be as dangerous to the inexperienced user as to his enemies [Time to slice myself in half!] but in the hands of an experienced soldier the Twinblade is a formidable weapon. The general method of use for a Twinblade is to keep it moving quickly, whether it be spinning or swinging, passing it from hand to hand as necessary. Since they are quite heavy, the momentum that gets behind them can be devastating. There are three types of armor common to Sandalphon: hardened Kaniken leather armor, which is effective against blades but not against blunt or piercing weapons; chainmail, which is more effective again against blades, is difficult to pierce except by very thin objects, and is susceptible to bludgeoning; and, finally, platemail-obscenely heavy, but nearly impenetrable except at the joints. Platemail can even help to lessen the impact of bludgeoning weapons. The most renowned items of the forge in Sandalphon are the Sapphire Artifacts, a light yet incredibly sharp blue Twinblade and a blue suit of full Platemail. They are superior in craftsmanship to anything else in the kingdom, showcasing the true glory of Sandalphon's smiths of the past, and are rumoured to bestow magical properties on the Warrior when he or she is using them.

Weights and Measures:

The standard unit of mass in Sandalphon is the Lead (short 'e' sound, like 'bed'), which is equivalent to about half a kilogram or just over one pound. It is divided into one subunit, the Dal (5 Dals to a Lead) and one superunit, the Dalen (5 Leads to a Dalen). The standard unit of measure is the Cinch ('s' sound), equal to about two feet (two thirds of a meter). It is divided into Sixteenth, Eighth, Quarter, and Half Cinches, each one in proportion to a Cinch as its name suggests.

Resources:

The fields around the city of Essarin are especially fertile for crops, which are grown for many miles around. Perhaps an effective analogy would be if Essarin was the nucleus of an atom, the crops would extend the length of the electron cloud. This is like saying that if the city were the size of an ant and said ant were in the middle of a football field, that the crops would extend to the goal posts. Anyway, enough about crops� The sheer volume of trees in the Great Forest has fueled an extensive logging industry since Swarm occupation, conifers being used to make furniture and the impressive, thick, hardwood trunks of the Bunchgrub trees making excellent structural components. Finally, there are also mines in the lower slopes of the Cloudreach Mountains. These were relatively shallow mines yielding enough gems and precious metals for Sandalphonian art, but when the Swarm arrived they brought in some technologically advanced digging machines and made the mines much deeper, in the interest of making pretty things for themselves and exporting the stones and such to poorer Swarm colonies. Some of the stones that may be found in the mines, but not all, are diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and topaz. The precious metals there are gold and silver.

Ethics And Law:

The people of Sandalphon have long displayed a tendency to try to obtain as much glory for themselves as possible, however they still make a conscious effort to stick to the rules governing the society. For one thing, the Sandalphonian religion is considered law within the Kingdom, and anyone who goes against its teachings is considered a heretic and is likely to be dealt with accordingly. The religious leaders have a great deal of authority. The greatest crime in Sandalphon is murder, though they will exercise capital punishment if a criminal is, in the opinion of the nobles, deservingly guilty. Almost as highly regarded is treason, considered a crime against the Glory of the kingdom. Any action that is seen as reducing the kingdom�s glory is a punishable offence. Following their militaristic nature, it is considered dishonorable to desert your comrades in battle or to retreat before the order is given. A simple code of ethics prevails in Sandalphon, dictating honesty, fealty, faithfulness (in religion and in marriage), and the following of law, to be the order of the day.

Cities and Towns:

Fort Caheahn: Once the glorious capital of Sandalphon, this tower-city has since been taken by the Swarm and no longer has any Sandalphonians living in its halls. The Swarm now uses it as a mighty stronghold. Unlike most cities, it is not an assembly of buildings and streets but an absolutely gargantuan structure surrounded by a thick wall. In a secret chamber in its deepest subterranean halls lie the Sapphire Artifacts undiscovered as of yet by the Swarm. Fort Caheahn lies on the bank of the River Metatron in the center of the Caheahnite Plains.

Barakur's Peak: This is a small walled city on a low peak of one of the Cloudreach foothill mountains. Beneath it is a network of underground tunnels designed as a refuge in times of war. These tunnels were intentionally dug near a geothermal vent to keep them quite warm (near enough to garner a bit of heat, far enough to avoid creating a volcano by accident). The location of the sealed city-side entrance to the tunnels is unknown, and they are currently only accessible from the forest entrance. When Fort Caheahn fell, a few hundred, who later became known as the Darkness Dwellers, inhabited these tunnels which extend to an entrance several miles away from the city, at the base of the hills, leading directly into the Great Forest. This is the farthest city in the West and was the last city taken by the Swarm.

Glenmeadow: This is a town built amongst the trees in the Great Forest. It is the least closely watched town and is therefore a refuge for enemies of the Swarm in hiding.

Essarin: A small town on the Eastern Caheahnite Plains, surrounded by crops. The residents of this town are enslaved by the Swarm to harvest the crops. Nearly all of the harvest is taken to Fort Caheahn to feed the Swarm there, leaving a pittance for the townspeople.

Besides these, there are a number of small, unnamed villages within the Great Forest. These unnamed villages, Essarin, Glenmeadow, and Barakur's Peak are the only cities and town still inhabited by Sandalphonians. The ruins of hundreds of other cities, towns, and villages lie scattered about the kingdom, mostly along the River.

History:



Sandalphon was always a militaristic nation. The glory of their armies had long been renowned before the Swarm. Fort Caheahn, the exact origins of which have never been discovered, served as a centerpiece for the kingdom. The people were also glory-mongers, though, and there was a lot of infighting for some time as everyone tried to carve out their own place in the kingdom.

That changed when some of the nearby kingdoms, thinking they might take advantage of the internal conflict, gathered together a large force and attacked the kingdom, going after its rich gemstone deposits and forests. This force slowly advanced through the divided nation, taking several towns and villages. This war was what pulled Sandalphon together for the first time into a glorious unity.

As the forces of the other kingdoms advanced, the Sandalphonians were settling their differences. When the enemy advanced to lay siege to Fort Caheahn (perhaps not the best of ideas anyway), they were surprised by a unified army of Sandalphon that poured out of the gates to greet them. The resulting battle would be the bloodiest in Sandalphon�s history before the Last Battle. But when the last of the enemy was cut down on the hill of Fort Caheahn by the new army in its platemail and with its Twinblades, something changed. The people had been drawn together.

It was at this time that the glory of Sandalphonian art began to appear in higher quantities. Artists emerged all over the kingdom. Trade with other kingdoms was resumed, introducing kaf, which would become a great trend, to Sandalphon. The kingdom seemed to be at the peak of its glory. It had its glorious army, its glorious unity, its glorious art borne of paints, stone mined from quarries, the gemstones of the mountains and the skill of a myriad of artists. The people had become incredibly friendly and personable, showing their own personal sort of glory. However, this peak of society was doomed not to last.

The Swarm attacked 19 years ago. Sandalphon was a glorious kingdom, with a glorious army and glorious strongholds. It was a glorious battle and� a glorious defeat. However, due to the sheer size of their Twinblade-wielding, Platemail-wearing army, the Kingdom was able to drag over several months a battle which otherwise would have taken days. They fought valiantly, even pushing back the Swarm�s initial assault, but the latter soon called for support and, in the third month of the battle, the last of the Sandalphonian army was slaughtered in one massive coup that is now known as the Last Battle.

This took place on what are now called the Red Plains, and was when the King and his two daughters, one of whom was the current Warrior, were killed. It was a shame because she never got to use the Sapphire Artifacts as Warrior. They were on their way to collect them when the strike occurred. There remains to this day a layer of rusted metal on the Red Plains where all of the armor and weapons remained. The skeletons haven�t even been cleaned up, so the entire field is one huge open grave.

Following the Last Battle, as the populace fled to the feigned safety of the Great Forest in the South, the Swarm began to take all of the cities, beginning with Fort Caheahn and pushing from one to the next bit by bit. When they took Fort Caheahn, they decided to keep it exclusively theirs as their base of operations in Sandalphon and killed all of the Sandalphonians inside, except for those that they kept as slaves. The Kingdom is, of course, entirely under Swarm control and, with the exception of Essarin, no Sandalphonians live on the Caheahnite Plains any longer. They are all in Barakur�s Peak or the Great Forest.

When Fort Caheahn fell, a few hundred people went into hiding in the tunnels below Barakur�s Peak. Though they eventually emerged, they are still called the Darkness Dwellers and those that remained on the surface generally dislike the Dwellers, thinking of them as cowards. The rest of the Sandalphonians were either enslaved or killed, leaving the population at a mere fraction of its former number. These days, Sandalphon is but a shadow of its former glory, the people living in oppression under the Swarm.

Nevertheless, the Swarm sees a potential threat of uprising in the kingdom of Glory due to its militaristic nature and rules the kingdom carefully with an iron fist from Fort Caheahn, watching even the slightest comings and goings with precise interest. The swarm keeps its food-slaves working to produce crops in the fields around Essarin during the warm seasons. The yield of these crops is usually large, and the Swarm takes over ninety percent of it to feed themselves, having effectively turned Essarin into a Swarm farm city. There is also a portion of food animal raising here, namely Huenchen and Kaniken. The people grow the food; the Swarm eats the food. Efficient, ne?

In the colder months, when the ground freezes and the fields are buried by snow, Essarin�s production of food animals increases, using stored grain from the previous harvest to raise them. Anyway, enough about Essarin. Those people living in Glenmeadow are put to work felling trees for Swarm construction projects, year-round. As for the residents of Barakur�s Peak, they are sent into the mountains� mines, made deeper by Swarm delving, to extract precious stones and several metals which the Swarm then uses to make pretty things.

As far as Fort Caheahn is concerned, you won�t find a Sandalphonian in the place. The Swarm has imported lots of their technological gadgets into the place and have built a communications tower on the roof, making it an effective base of operations to manage Sandalphon and even a few of the surrounding Kingdoms. From Fort Caheahn, the Swarm rule over Sandalphon with a sort of communal dictatorship-where instead of one dictator, there are a number of Swarmies in charge. Regardless, the Sandalphonian people have no input into anything. They are forced to obey the Swarm or face severe punishment, up to and including capital punishment.

Writing Sample:

Aryn crested one of the Caheahnite Plains' many rolling hills to find nothing but more plains. Maybe he would strike the River today, but he definitely had a lot of walking ahead of him. He continued onward, Elias trailing behind. The breezy warm season was drawing to a close and the rains would soon begin. Aryn had been following the downhills for days now in the hope of striking a basin. His goal was to reach a lake and the shelter of its bunchgrub trees before the rain began. Even just the River would have sufficed; his water was running low.

As Aryn moved down the gentle slope, he began to perceive a spot of dark green blemishing the distant merass of the Plains. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Squinting, Aryn could discern the form of a dark blue ribbon that appeared to pass through the green spot and disappear towards the horizon on either side. Could this be the River? The day was still young but Aryn pushed himself to reach the trees before the sun peaked-the last thing he wanted was heatstroke. The green spot did indeed prove to be the trees of a lake grove, at which he arrived shortly before midday-just in time. The place was just as he had expected: a wide lake ringed with bunchgrub trees and sporting several colonies of isleflowers.

One of the trees had a convenient hollow and Aryn sat down inside, retrieving his ocarina and playing a low tune while he rested. Elias lay down next to him. Aryn had scarcely been there a few minutes when he heard voices approaching. He put away the ocarina and listened. The voices spoke in a foreign language, which Aryn could not recognize. They could only be Swarm.

Aryn stood carefully, bending so as not to put his head through the top of the hollow. Hand on the folded Twinblade's handle, he peered cautiously around the tree. There they were; two Swarmtroopers toting energy weapons and looking around curiously. Aryn ducked back behind the tree-too late, one of the Swarmtroopers had seen him.

"You there!" shouted the Swarmtrooper in Euphor, "come out from there and put your hands where I can see them!"

It was Gideon, not Aryn, that emerged: he had transformed behind the tree. Having weighed his odds against the two Swarmtroopers, he was confident enough to assume a bit of a cocky attitude. With a quick rotation of his wrist he snapped the Twinblade open, locking it into place. The Swarmtroopers raised their guns.

"Put down your weapon."

Gideon narrowed his eyes. "Why don't you come over here and make me?"

The Swarmtrooper fired a warning shot that singed a spot on the ground next to Gideon's boot. He stood fast. "I'm not impressed."

The Swarmtroopers took aim at him. "Surrender immediately or you will be killed."

Gideon took a threatening step forward. "Try it."

The Swarmtroopers weren't about to argue and they both fired at once. One of the shots was a miss, the other Gideon reflected back, using the Twinblade's broad blade as a mirror. Gideon was lucky; the reflected shot hit the Swarmtrooper who had fired it dead-on. That Swarmtrooper collapsed to the ground, out of the fight.

So quickly that Gideon didn't have time to react, the other Swarmtrooper retaliated. The chainmail was nearly useless against the blast from the energy weapon, which struck Gideon a glancing hit to his side. The pain was incredible, and Gideon found himself unable to move for a moment. The Swarmtrooper took advantage of the opportunity to take a step towards Gideon and raise his gun executioner-style. That's when Elias, who had been hiding behind the tree, emerged. Just as the Swarmtrooper pulled the trigger, the furball launched itself at him all teeth, claws, and spines. The Swarmtrooper was caught off guard and the shot missed Gideon completely. This provided the lull Gideon needed to recover from the hit, and as the Swarmtrooper was furiously trying to shake off Elias, Gideon unceremoniously beheaded him, taking advantage of the weak spot in the Swarmtrooper's armor at the neck. The Swarmtrooper's limp form collapsed to the ground, Elias still gnawing his leg as his head rolled off the other way.

Gideon detransformed and began to scour the ground for Sunfire. Once he had collected an ample bundle of the small weeds, he made his way back to the hollow bunchgrub tree. Elias had already returned. Aryn took a bowl from his pack and squeezed the milk out of the Sunfires into it. Having done that, he removed his chainmail and his shirt and began to clean the wound, gritting his teeth against the pain. Carefully, he applied the Sunfire milk to the wound. Since his shirt was ruined, with a large burn hole in it, he tore it and used it to make an improvised field dressing. He removed another shirt from his pack, muttering about how few he had left, and put it on.

Feeling the need to give Elias some sort of thanks, Aryn took his ocarina and played a lively melody. Elias made a pleased squeaking noise and lay down next to Aryn. Before long, Elias had fallen asleep. Aryn quietly got up and went to the Swarmtroopers' bodies. Aryn dragged the one who had fallen first to the lake. There was an isleflower there that had grown up to the shore. Aryn dragged the Swarmtrooper atop the isleflower, shoving him into the deeper water on the other side. The weight of the Swarmtrooper's armor pulled him into the depths. Aryn repeated this water burial for the other Swarmtrooper's body. As for the head, Aryn didn't bother to go up on the isleflower, rather he just kicked it as far into the lake as he could from the shore.

Returning to the hollow tree, Aryn sat and began to repair the chainmail shirt. By the time he finished, the sun was setting over the Plains. Aryn settled back in the hollow to go to sleep. Today he had struck the River. It had been a good day.

Pictures:

Aryn in birth form just� uh� standing there and looking impossibly lanky due to my horrid drawing skills. Oh, yes, I also forgot his gloves. Just imagine 'em, would you kindly? I appreciate it.
The flora of Sandalphon
The fauna of Sandalphon. I apologize for the furballs
The Royal Twinblade, Aryn's weapon of choice
The Sapphire Twinblade