Aisling

*"By taking up her father's sword, Aisling conjured more than just his memory."*

**Aisling** is a playable Hero in Gigantic. Aisling is a melee character that uses her father's sword. Sir Cador's ghost resides inside of the Sword.

## Official Summary

"Aisling promised to make her father proud, and Sir Cador promised to always protect his daughter. Even Cador's death could not break such promises." — Lord Protector Yath, House Aurion

## Official Rating Summary

Fight as a team! Aisling's sword is deadly in its own right, but it also houses the spirit of her father, Sir Cador, who emerges from the sword to fight at his daughter's side.

## Summary

Aisling is a young warrior girl who wields a large sword in battle. While her attacks are fierce in their own right, Aisling can also call on the powers of her late father, Sir Cador, who emerges from her sword to grant her aid. When Cador comes out from the sword, he often lends Aisling a devastating edge, allowing her to cut through swathes of enemies relatively easily. Cador has another added, passive benefit, however, when he is drawn back into the sword - while he is restrained within, he dramatically boosts Aisling's damage output.

Please note: unlike the other heroes, Aisling has two different stats for here Front, Side, and Back armors. The first set, "Special", is when Cador is in her blade, while the second is when he is not.

## Lore

**Lore letter Readings.**

**Aisling lore Excerpt From House Devaedra Letter** Dear Alaurum, Master, your teachings are clear. Vengeful ghosts always haunt their killers, yet I have found an exception and the implications trouble me. A young warrior, Aisling, has been wandering the empire of late dressed in her father’s great coat and wielding his sword. Apparently her father was a military man of some renown. The ghost of Aisling’s father appears and fights at the girl’s side. The ghost is formidable, if you care about such things, but it’s haunting the girl, not the man’s killer. This shouldn’t be possible unless… Master… What if the ghost didn’t know who killed him?

**House Melkior, Transcribed By Evan Songbird**

Governess Quindra, It seems odd to say but my impression of Aisling is she wasn’t flighty enough. So often the girls in my care are always sketching in their notebooks, doing cartwheels on the green, and humming ballads when they should be conjugating verbs. Not Aisling though, she was very serious, very determined. Such grim children are generally rather dull, I find, but Aisling was exceedingly clever, her test scores proved that. For whatever reason I often find she was hiding herself from all of us here at the academy. Her marks were very strong and she’d never had behavioral problems, but I don’t think any of us really got to know her. She seems to pass through her school year to year. Almost like a ghost, really.

**House Tesserus Field Notes** Surreptitious observation of ectoplasm matrix, Sir Cador, controlled by the human female Aisling. Observation occurred during real world battle conditions which accounts for the sparse data. Aisling has the ability to create moving ectoplasm matrix that she forms into the form of a human male knight. For further study: Why always the same shape? Is she limited due to mental trauma? She can move the exoplasm a significant distance away from her and make it appear and disappear seemingly at will. For further study: What is the power source? Can it be tapped for other purposes? The ectoplasm fights a wide array of enemies and seems to act and react independently. This is of course impossible. For further study: Is Aisling controlling each action of the ectoplasm consciously or subconsciously?

**House Aurion Personal File** **Excerpt** Sir Cador insisted on rejoining the column despite his wounds and indeed his troops were unaware of the extent of his injuries, only closed chamber testimony from a squire at the time, Javarius, revealed Sir Cador was unable to don his armor without assistance nor lift his arms above his shoulders. The battle of Redavia Fields was a resounding success with Cador’s soldiers smashing into the enemy flank and routing the entire left wing. Were it not for his decisive action Redavia would have been a bloody battle of attrition not a textbook example of elegant field strategy. Sir Cador’s personal heroics on that day are well known and the inspiration of ballads, but his absence was notable during the consecration of victory ceremony, his daughter had fallen ill and Cador made haste back to the capital.

**House Karakesh Fencing Tournament, List Of Official Protests**

*Gavril:* Expecting a man of my immense muscularity to match swords with a slip of a girl in an insult. I have not trained to fight children, and thus my loss should be expunged from the records.

*Hannorus:* I did not witness any ghost emerging from the girl’s sword, but I must believe she obtained mystical aid in her so called victory.

 *Tinoch*: In future years council should adopt divisions based on the combatants age. Let the youth fight other youth I say.

 *Karia:* Please investigate the banquet staff. The morning after the feast I lost to a white haired girl half my size and I feared my mead was poisoned to dull my reactions.

*Rondel:* I don’t care whose daughter she is, swordplay is for men of action, not unmarriageable girls. I am having my trophy re-engraved to replace the second place with the first place I deserve.

## Skin lore

The Heir: “ASH-ln, not ICE-ling. It’s an old family name.”

Warm Memories: She remembered waking, still on her father’s lap, the big coat draped over her as a blanket.

Cold and Gray: It was a cold, Gray morning the last time Sir Cador rode off to war.

Eternal Master: A knight of Karakesh is taught to honor the Emperor above all. Chivalry is piety.

Noble Squire: “A knight’s bearing must be as powerful as her blade, squire.” -Sir Regius

Noble Page: Aisling convinced her uncle to let her serve Sir Berent for a time. He had been a friend of her father.

Noble's Daughter: Dye returned her hair to its old color,but nothing could return Aisling to her old self.

## Weapon skin lore

Eternal Light: The gifts of the Externals came from the City of Gods Itself. Only the worthy could wield them.

## Fortune Card lore

**[The Heir I]**

[Common] Aisling knew how dear the cost of defeat could be.

[ Rare ] Aisling was ever vigilant, watching for dangers on and off the battlefield.

[Legendary] Her father had been lost on the battlefield. His liege, the Grand Duke, was assassinated in his castle.

**[The Heir II]**

[Common] The ghost of Sir Cador accompanied her in battle, and she did her best to emulate his sword techniques.

[Rare] Others praised Aisling's achievements, but it was her father's approval that she desired.

[Legendary] No matter what she did, the ghost said nothing. The look in his eyes was hollow, focused only on battle.

**[The Heir III]**

[Common] Aisling was young, but she had faced more dangers than knights many times her age.

[Rare] Uncle Regius suggested gruffly that an aspiring knight must spend time as a squire.

[Legendary] Regius taught her well. His greatest lesson: There will always be more to learn.

**[The Heir IV]**

[Common] The brigands did not expect her to be so quick or so relentless.

[Rare] The lone girl was listless and mournful. Until they tried to take her sword.

[ Legendary ] It was only afterwards that Aisling realized Sir Cador really had emerged from the blade to fight by her side.

**[The Heir V]**

[Common] She had no fear. Aisling was never alone.

[Rare] Fighting alongside the ghost taught Aisling how teamwork could overcome power.

[Legendary] In time, Aisling learned to anticipate her living allies' movements as easily as the ghost's.

**[The Heir VI]**

[Common] Sir Cador once told her that a knight's aims must be grander than combat alone.

[Rare] A true knight may feel fear but must never be mastered by that fear.

[Legendary] With Cador by her side, Aisling knew she could face any danger, no matter how great.

**[The Heir VII]**

[Common] In her quiet moments, she was consumed with a single thought, a single word: Revenge.

[Rare] One by one, Aisling sought out her father's old companions. One of them must be the traitor.

[Legendary] There was no lone traitor. Cador's murder had been part of a larger conspiracy against the Grand Duke himself.

## Sir Cador

To understand Aisling, you have to understand her father, Cador. Cador was widely known as a war hero, dedicated to his cause and able to fight through even the darkest battlefields. According to House Aurion, he was, at a time, unable to don his armor or even raise his arms above his shoulders, but he still managed to lead a charge into battle, emerging victorious.

During the consecration of this victory, however, he was nowhere to be found - he had instead departed immediately after the battle to tend to his daughter, Aisling, who had fallen sick in the capital. This demonstrates the other thing Cador was known for, outside of his war prowess - he was (and is) protective over Aisling at all costs, willing to die (and kill) for her safety.

Cador's renown came at a price, however - there were many in his House who did not agree with his methods, and did not honor him. This manifested in his slaughter and betrayal at the hands of an unknown assailant, assumed to be an attack from within his ranks. Because Cador did not know his killer, he was unable to ascend into the afterlife, and instead sealed his soul into his war sword until his murderer can be found.

## Aisling Awakening

What Cador did not anticipate, however, was how alike Aisling was to her father. Her anger and desire to destroy those who had killed her father motivated her, and before her father's body was even buried, she began to plot her revenge. At her father's funeral, she grasped Cador's Sword, preparing to set out on the warpath, only to face his spirit, erupting from within.

While Cador did not want his daughter to fight his battle before, or after, his death, he had little say against the choices of the headstrong Aisling. She was going to enter battle regardless of whether or not he accepted it, and so he realized that the only way to protect his daughter was to fight alongside her.

## Controlling Cador

According to House Tessarus, Aisling has always had a latent ability to control the scientifically identified properties of the spirit world, specifically plasma. After studying Aisling, they noticed that she was controlling the plasma flow of Cador's spirit, and developed the ability to not only throw him a close distance, but to seal him temporarily within the sword at his will.

While she is incredibly young, she has shown great promise since her youth, both in terms of her educational grades and her fighting prowess.

## Seeking Revenge

Aisling is interesting in that she's not actively seeking out war against the other houses for the sake of war. While the Five Houses - House Aurion, House Tesserus, House Melkior, House Devaedra, and House Karkaresh - are constantly in conflict for age-old reasons, Aisling fights to discover her father's killer.

She is singularly motivated, which shows in her determination and aggression.

## Strategy

Aisling is perhaps one of the better heroes for new players to start with, as she is capable in both offensive and defensive capabilities. Calling Cador in tight situations is definitely always a card that can be played, as even the worst situations can at least be mitigated, and at best turned around, when you fight with Cador by your side. Alternately, using Cador's passive damage boost can help with one on one encounters, so long as you watch your six and corners to ensure you're not being pulled into a trap.

Also, Aisling's focus skill has a pretty significant impact on the field if used when enemies are near. This, coupled with some of her other talents and the ability to switch between defensive and offensive positions, is incredibly powerful.

## Skins

**Aisling** has a variety of skins from which to choose. These skins do not change skill sets or abilities, and appear to be strictly cosmetic. This list is based on the open beta, and will be re-visited once the game releases.

* The Heir (Skin)
	+ Warm Memories (Skin)
	+ Cold and Gray (Skin)
* Noble Squire (Skin)
	+ Noble Page (Skin)
	+ Noble's Daughter (Skin)

## Tips

* Cador is your best weapon, but you can't really treat him like that. You can't just start by swinging Cador around like he's replaceable - don't let him die. Your RMB repositions Cador, so use it whenever Cador is in danger.

* Cador is a great damage blocker because he has a huge hitbox, allowing you to get out of the way, but if he dies, you get a huge cooldown. If you have to use Cador to get out of danger, you need to immediately pull him back into your blade so he can survive, otherwise you're basically dead in the water.

* Use your E attack to replenish Cador's shield as often as possible so that Cador is always ready to go.

* Cador can have his damage hugely upgraded by adding burning damage. Using this in group fights is incredibly powerful, and dropping him in a crowded group can deal gigantic damage.

* Use Caddor's Command when in melee range to use Father's Flame as a boost to damage.

* Use your Focus on yourself and Cador - the effect gets stacked, so the more you use it, the better the effect is.