Farcraft

### Aliases

Four of Swords, General of the Arendurian Army, Acting Grand Master of the Illuminated

## Physical description

### Eye color

Brown

*"Peace is not in my vocabulary. There cannot be peace in these times. Strike fast and suddenly. Attack without warning. The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him."*

-Farcraft

## History

*"Has a strong will. Decisive and firm. Often demonstrates initiative and skillfully applies it. Disciplined. Demanding and persistent in his demands. A somewhat ungracious and not sufficiently sympathetic person. Rather stubborn. Painfully proud. In professional terms well trained. Broadly experienced as a military leader... Absolutely cannot be used in staff or teaching jobs because constitutionally he hates them."*

-Assessment by Doctor Curtin

Farcraft was the only son of General Berentin, a military commander and nobleman in the Final Empire. Berentin was the first imperial commander to attack Arendur after its succession. He was killed by Tolumvire of Arendur, and left his noble title and his sword to his son. Three years later at the age of sixteen, Farcraft, who had taken up his father's sword on a quest for revenge, caught up to Tolumvire and his allies. Tolumvire admitted his guilt, and offered Farcraft one chance to strike a blow at him. Cloaking himself in an illusion - still at considerable risk to his person - Tolumvire evaded the blow. Farcraft pledged service to Tolumvire, becoming his apprentice, although he showed no aptitude for magic. When Tolumvire died his first death, Farcraft declared himself the Acting Grand Master of the Illuminated. He met up with his father's old garrison, and secured a company of seventy men. He went next to Arendur, where his claim was backed by Doctor Curtin. He took his men to war with the Paradax who were infesting the area, sacking a fortress that they had been using as a base. There, he encountered the Hand of Fate, which brought everyone in Arendur - including the city itself - into the past. Farcraft, alone in the heart of the fortress, was left behind.

As the Final Empire crumbled around him, Farcraft continued to fight the rebellion, gathering allies determined to overthrow Lord-Emperor Nim Lawfey and seize the dome, and the throne within it. Deliverance for him came in the form of then-adventurer Silvius and the resurrected hero Brennen of Alara. The two mages lent their aid to Farcraft's rebellion, waging war for nearly two decades before finally seizing the capital. Several years after the capture of the Thunderdome, acting on an omen given by Magnus the Immortal, Farcraft and Magnus would undertake a pilgrimage to Ascension Isle, for Magnus had chosen to be sacrificed on Ascension Isle to prevent the prophesied Ritual of Reconciliation - which, if completed in the past, would prevent the unification of the timelines. Farcraft would slay him with his sword, the Human Effigy, an action that rendered the Pillars of Fate inert, brought him to the past, and made it such that two later, when Silvius and Brennan took the twin thrones, they could mend the timelines. Farcraft had been in the dying future for nineteen years, and never saw his herculean efforts to build a new empire pay off.

Upon his return to Arendur, Farcraft was made the General of the Arendurian Army, and spearheaded the Great Crusade. He disappeared in a battle with the forces of the dragonborn king, Valorean Tyrsea, who also perished that day. It was later discovered that the great old one O'Rangus had played a role in his demise. Arendur had not lost a war before his death, and would never win one thereafter.

## Personality

*"I should fear him more than any of their officers I have yet heard of. He is not a man of genius, but he is clear-headed, quick, and daring."*

-Nim Lawfey

A legend even in his own time, Farcraft often disappointed people in person. Short, irascible, and intellectually incurious, he seemed to lack all the makings of a leader. In reality, he was driven and capable commander, able to discern the right course of action and boldly commit to it. He led from the front, impressing his men with his prodigious strength and cool under fire. Though he considered himself a practical and pragmatic military man, he was deeply committed to the ideals of Arendur as he understood them, and willingly gave his life to try and make those ideals a reality.

## The Effigy

Farcraft's greatsword, inherited from his father, is called the Human Effigy - just the Effigy for short. In the dying future, Farcraft convinced the warlock Quas Gena to enchant his sword in a ritual which took place in the Dreamlands and involved binding the spirit of a Dreamlands Cat. The sword became a nine lives stealer, and by the time of Farcraft's death, had claimed eight lives.

* Fazo
* Max
* Alpha
* Harringvel
* Magnus the Immortal
* Sýtýstr-Ot
* Valorean Tyrsea
* Farcraft
* Brennen