Estel

*"A ranger had to travel this far from his forest. That pretty much summarizes how bad this world has become."*

Estel, during the celebration of the Valley People in the Jungle of Daggers

Estel is a human ranger and a member of the Avalanche. He has contributed to the survival of the team on aspects ranging from providing the goodberries to tracking down targets.

Estel was born and had lived in the forest around the borderland between the Kingdom of Londar, Gnomehearth, and the Duchy of Davalon. At the age of six, Estel's father was killed by a group of unidentified soldier. The event has become the motivation behind many decisions Estela has made during the adventures, including leaving the forest and joining the Avalanche.

## Early life

Estel was born in the forest around the borderland between the Kingdom of Londar, Gnomehearth, and the Duchy of Davalon. He was raised by his father, also a ranger and a skillful hunter. The father and the son would trade with peoples living around the forest from time to time, and the necessity to communicate in the local languages has made Estel fluent in both Elvish and Gnomish languages. For the same reason, Estel is literate in Common, Elvish, and Gnomish, to a degree on par with most traders in the land.

The life in the forest has made Estel particularly capable of hunting and handling animals. Estel is also good at covering his own tracks and is known for his hunter patience. He once claimed that he could track and follow an animal for up to two weeks before killing it at a perfect timing and location.

### Death of Estel's father

At the age of six, Estel's father was brutally killed by a group of unidentified soldier. This event has had long lasting impact on Estel's understanding of the world. Since the death of his father, Estel has become constantly haunted by nightmares wherein his father would be killed again and again.

The death of Estel's father also drove him onto a journey out of the forest. It happened when Estel identified an army of soldiers wearing uniforms and insignia similar to the soldiers he saw in nightmares, when Estel was eighteen. The decision eventually leads Estel to Stoneharbor and to joining the Avalanche.

## Adventures with the Avalanche

Estel is a founding member of the Avalanche and has traveled with other members since a Perilous Journey.

### The City of Opportunity

In Stoneharbor, Estel first came to learn about various factions in the world. Besides the several that constantly interact with the party, such as the Roxfort Academy and the Brass Embassy, two particular factions became known to Estel and have proved to raise enormous curiosity in him.

The first is the Golden Lance, where Estel identified uniforms, insignias, and colors strikingly similar to what the soldiers wore in his nightmares. Much to Estel's disappointment, the party was moving in the other direction, and Estel could not investigate the matter further. However, Estel is determined to come back whenever there is a chance.

The other faction that turned out to have a longer-lasting effect on Estel than it originally seemed was the Reds. Estel later learned that the Reds have successfully created the Reaton Republic, the so-called *Peasants' Paradise*. Their idea of creating a realm where even the most underprivileged can enjoy an equal right as the nobles seems quite reasonable in Estel's opinion.

### The Eternal Winter

Although in the several adventures before the one that lead the party to Coppercrag, Estel has already learned about the conflicts between various factions in this world, it was the Eternal Winter that brought Estel to full consciousness about the severe degree to which the conflicts have become and the cruelty these conflicts have enforced upon the people.

Since the bloodshed the party has caused during the escape out of Coppercrag, Estel has reflected upon the purpose of his life as well as others' in this world.

> "I am no idealist as the theorists of the Reds, and I am ready to put my arrows in the heads of the privileged if it comes to that."
>
>

### The Jungle of Daggers

The reflection on the relationship between Estel himself and the world continues. While Estel joined the Avalanche with a moral alignment of a true neutral, he is moving toward the chaotic good out of his anger over the cruelty peoples despite their races have to suffer. Meanwhile, the nightmares have worsened during the campaign, and Estel has become exhausted and sleep deprived.

## Relationship to Factions of Aegeron

Estel did not know many of the following factions before journeying with the Avalanche. He bases his opinions on what he sees during adventures, particularly around Coppercrag and in the Jungle of Daggers.

### Dwarven Dominion

The Dominion's long established heritage of a sovereignty based mostly on the race is not dissimilar to the elven and gnomish kingdoms Estel grew up knowing. However, the Dominion's ambition to expand beyond the dwarven lands and to dominate over the continent has disturbed Estel. Estel believes that such expansions would put the already suppressed, particularly those of races different from the dwarves, in a situation even less favorable to them.

### Reaton Reds

Throughout the adventures, Estel has developed sympathy for the ideas the Reds and the Reaton Republic promote, although the sympathy is based less on political theories but more on his own observation of peoples suffering and being judged and sometimes killed based on their social classes. Estel tends to hold a cautious view toward most factions, and the Reaton Reds is not an exception.