Connor Magnuson

This article is on the character ***Connor Magnuson*** *who is the protagonist of the **Wraithblade Saga**. Warning Spoilers ahead:*

## Background - *Wraithblade*

At the beginning of ***The Wraithblade*** Connor is twenty-five years old, living the life of a vagabond. He was originally from Kirkwall but years ago when Connor was only 17 after his family is put to a gruesome death for daring to defy King Henry's edicts, and having been direly injured himself, there seems to be no place in the world for a Magnuson beyond hiding his identity and surviving as a nobody.

A man of few words, tragedy follows Connor Magnuson like a curse. Having spent the past eight years in the Ancient Woods, Connor has seen and survived horrors that few men could comprehend. Living the carefree life of a vagabond has kept him safely from the watchful eyes of law keepers like the **Kings Guard** and the **Lightseers.**

Common sense has taught him to embrace the drifter's life and keep to himself. Yet when the sound of a young girl's scream he is faced with a difficult choice. If the fearsome blightwolves were killing the girl there was very little he could do. The eerily sentient beasts had no mercy- not to man, woman, or child. Yet on the chance something else is filling the girl with terror (the forest sometimes being invaded by bandits, slavers and sometimes rogue soldiers- all dangers he'd rather avoid), Connor finds he could not resist the draw of being a good samaritan.

Against his better judgment, drawn by the screams of the girl, he stumbles across a scene the fills him with self-righteous fury. A stranger is holding the girl captive, furiously demanding that she produce a **Rectivane Potions** (a healing potion), and threatening to kill her and her family if she does not produce it. The small girl tries to fend off the man, lashing out and with a kick temporarily buys her freedom. Although a woman (probably the child's mother) rushes to her aid, the two are still no match for the furious stranger.

Observing the scene he notes a house in the trees bordering an ancient ruin and the struggle happening within the ruins. Hiding his identiity behind the anonymity of a scarf that hides most of his face, Connor makes the decision to intervene.

Connor attacks the threatening stranger, commanding the woman and her daughter to flee back to their treehouse home while he sorts the man out. Engaging the stranger violently, he demands the motives for the stranger's rough treatment of the child. Connor finds the man mortally wounded and raging about things Connor has no knowledge of. In those final moments, the stranger rails against his fate then laughs at Connor issuing a threat and a warning as he dies.

In his periphory Connor witnesses the spectral form of something nightmarish in the treeline. A chilling figure that turns Connor's blood cold. Filled with a terrible clarity he realizes the dying man is none other than the dreaded King Henry, ruler of Oakenglen and master of the free men of Saldia. A man he thoroughly hates, but also a terrible man to be feared. Henry had conquered the ghoul known as the Wraith King and used it to slaughter his enemies and secure his blood soaked throne. Both man and ghoul were monsters of epic proportions.

*"From the moment I die you are a dead man walking,"* Henry had warned before he died.

Watching the ghoul skirt the area, Connor saw the dead King's body briefly glow green. It meant nothing to him when the true threat of the ghoul stalking closer to it's dead master meant certain death for him. Though he braced himself for a losing fight he was ill prepared when the ghoul rushed him, knocking him backwards before he had a chance to retaliate. Trapped in its frigid grasp, the ghoul dragged Connor across the clearing while it clawed his way into his heart and very soul.

Connor endured agony unlike any he had experienced in 25 years of life. Sheer stubborness and wit had served to help his survival in the past. Connor would not let this creature be his end. Yet when he was determined to fight off the ghoul once it stopped manhandling him he discovered he was no longer being attacked. Instead he was alone in the ruins facing the terrified expressions of the woman and her two young daughters, who he wished to tell to run yet could barely wheeze the warning as he recovered.

Hearing the Wraith King's voice in his head, Connor is warned that the danger is not over. Death is still coming for Connor. Mistaking the ghoul's warning he threatens the Wraith King and in doing so, earns both the ghoul's respect and a moment to breath freely. Connor demands to know what the ghoul has done to him. The Wraith King warns that there are men coming to kill them both but if Connor survives the Wraith King will make him "powerful beyond imagination." A truce is called between them, to face the oncoming threat that endangers both man and monster.

When a portal in the ruins flashes green and ten soldiers as well as one nobleman poured from magically opened rift, the severely injured Connor was forced assess the situation which looked very dire for him indeed. Relying on the training a retired soldier of the realm named **Beck Arbor** had taught Connor, he turned to face the men who had betrayed the fallen King Henry. The nobleman demanded to know what had happened and where the ghoul had gone.

With dread Connor realized that King Henry had been the host for the Wraith King who had uncermoniously left the man to die. And now with no options available Connor had become its new host. When the nobleman comes to the same conclusion he demands Connor surrender himself for a quick and painless death, but also demands of his soldiers to leave no witnesses, threatening the small family that Connor had exposed himself to protect.

Connor had not survived so many horrors to be laid out by an entitled nobleman. Though weariness tugged at his body he fought on against impossible odds while sustaining grievous, eye watering injuries. Impossibly Connor managed to kill most of the soldiers. Having taken out eight of the ten soldiers, Connor was shocked to see the Wraith King materialize and terrify the remaining solders.

As the ghoul commanded he get the deadly dagger in the nobleman whom it called **Otmund**'s hand at any cost Connor scoffed and told the ghoul that he did not take orders from it. If it wanted his help the ghoul would have to kill the last two soldiers. Reaching an agreement that the ghoul take on the soldiers while Connor should focus on Otmund, the two came to an agreement. The ghoul violently rammed into one of the soldiers while the other fled with Otmund back into the ruins,

Seeing the writing on the wall the nobleman and remaining soldier fled back towards where the portal had opened. To Connor's shock Otmund slit the surviving soldiers throat to reopen the portal they had come through. Racing after him, Connor tried to kill the nobleman. Unfortunately he missed the swing that should have killed Otmund and instead endured the agony of the twisted dagger's strike. Nearby the ghoul screamed in agony. As Otmund tried to drag him back through the portal the last ditch effort of Connor to survive succeeded. He struck Otmund, and though not enough to mortally injure the man it was enough to make him release Connor and flee back through the rift where an army awaited their return. The rift closed leaving Connor temporarily safe.

With the threat of the rift opening again and the soldiers come back after him as well as the Blightwolves that would consume him where he fell, Connor fled the ruins as his injuries theatened to debilitate him. He didn't make it far beyond the ruins as he face planted into the ground. Though the insistent voice of his father demanded he get up, Connor succumbed to his injuries. He was barely conscious as he heard a woman's gentle voice, followed by sturdy pair of hands rolling him onto his back. Then he lost consciousness.

### A New Wraithblade

Nursed back to health by the family he had rescued Connor must come to terms with the knowledge that he is the new host of the Wraith King, a surly, irreverant ghoul who was just as thrilled to be bound to him as he to *it* even though it had chosen him. His new predicament came with unforseen perks, such as a more muscular form and the strength that came with it as well as improved vision and hearing, enhancing everything about Connor. According to the ballads, the wraith had turned Henry from a mere merchant into the man who had conquered Saldia. It represented unlimited power not just for himself but for those who would pursue him in hunger to take it away from him. He was heir do a legacy of power and death.

## Appearance

* Towering at over 6 and a half feet Connor is generally two inches taller than most people.
* Although very muscular, often the only part of him exposed are Connor's eyes which are only visible as he chooses to don a face mask to hide his identity.
* Connor has a light, scruffy stubble of hair on his jaw.
* Although equiped with twin blades gifted to him my the retired soldier **Beck Arbor** Connor chooses to wield the smokey twin blades granted to him by the **Wraith King**.
* Connor can also be seen wield a spectral shield granted to him the Wraith King.
* Can be seen in the company of the simmering soul he was bonded to, the Wraith King.