Jorin Helmborn

## Physical Description

Jorin Helmborn is 52 years old, 5'11'' and 165 pounds. His hair is a yellowish blonde, cut short in a military style. He sports a short beard that shares that yellow color. His eyes are obscured by a black headress that conceal his burned and blind eyes. He is typically seen wearing what appears to be common leather and cotton clothes, but is actually carefully concealed chainmail.

## Biography

Jorin spent his formative years as a typical lad native to Stormgate. At the age of 18 Jorin entered the officer's academy at Stormgate. While at the officer's academy Jorin became fast friends with a rural lad that had passed the entrance exams - Mac Halder. The two boys often trained together, and Jorin tutored Mac in difficult scholarly subjects in order to ensure he was able to pass the rigorous coursework the academy demanded. After four years of study at the academy the two friends were each placed at the command of coastal garrisons. The two often cooperated on anti-piracy and anti-smuggling operations

When the Pirate Wars broke out three years after graduation, the two new officers were on the front line of the conflict. They cut their teeth on fending off repeated seaborn assaults and rooting out pirate outposts on the coastal isles. On one fateful day two years into the conflict Halder's garrison was wiped out by a pirate assault and he retired in disgrace and returned to his rural hometown. Jorin was given an immediate battlefield promotion and placed in command of what remained of Halder's garrison, as well as his former unit.  Though he was not beloved of his men, Commander Helmborn distinguished himself during the counter-offensive as an intelligent and daring battlefield commander.

During one of the final battles of the war Jorin sustained a career-ending injury. His eyes were badly burned by Captain Neidyra Thryn - The Banshee -  and despite the efforts of battlefield clerics, he was rendered permanently blind. He was returned to Stormgate and discharged with all the honors befitting his House and his wartime service. Bandaged and embittered, Jorin returned to his ancestral manor to live the life of the newly crippled at the age of 25.

At first he refused the aid of all scholars, clerics, and mages that his father called to aid him in his recovery. All that had mattered in Jorin's life had been his martial prowess and his ability to be a valuable part of the military. For three years Jorin turned away all tutors provided to him by his father until eventually the old man relented and accepted that his son would forever be a shadow of his former self.

At the age of 32 Jorin received a series of dreams that foretold war. The sounds of battle and the screams of dying men, the feel of sturdy steel in his hand and the smell of fire and blood. At first he dismissed the dreams as more nightmares from his time in the Pirate Wars. But over time as the dreams became increasingly vivid he began to doubt. In these dreams he was still blind, the feeling of the headress over his eyes remained. In the dreams he felt somehow older, his beard longer and coarser, his joints protested his movement. Eventually Jorin came to accept that these dreams were not just ordinary dreams, but that they were premonitions of the future. During the fiercest storm of the year Jorin decided that one way or another he would be ready for the coming wars.

The next morning a caller came to Jorin's father's home, uninvited and unannounced. A woman named Sarissa who promised to Jorin and his father that not only would she rehabilitate the former Commander, she would make him more than he ever had been. For two and a half years Sarissa trained Jorin daily. Not only in ways to manage his blindness, but also in the ways of magic. Together they devised a system of maintaining a spellbook that could be read through touch rather than sight. She taught him how to marital elemental energies to augment his swordsmanship.

Most importantly she taught him how to see without sight. Using a combination of enchantment and mundane training Jorin can now discern details in his surroundings equal to a man with perfect vision. In some cases, even greater detail. In exchange for these gifts she insisted that at some future date she would come calling to Jorin's doorstep. This time to exact her price for her services rendered. Two and a half years after her arrival, she left. Jorin was aged 35.

For the next 8 years Jorin kept his abilities mostly secret from general society. His ability to summon and dismiss his weapon, combined with chainmail designed to be hidden under common clothes, he passes as a unthreatening figure. He served as an advisor and bodyguard to many nobleman. On more than one occasion he was called upon to embark on difficult adventuring missions to retrieve artifacts of power, lost heirlooms, and ancient knowledge.

In the previous nine years Jorin has spent his time moving from city to city and taking what adventuring work he could. He has now decided it is time to return to Stormgate to continue his work as an adventurer.