Falen

Falen is a son of Torva and the demigod of Betrayal. For the majority of the story he is a reluctant participant in Torva's plans; bound to obedience by a godly tattoo on his right arm. His favourite weapons are darts covered in khastra poison.

## Appearance and Personality

Falen is a young, attractive human man with a straight nose, soft lips, square jaw, chestnut skin and shoulder blade length black hair. There is a large tattoo written in the language of the gods on his right arm. He is usually wearing Torva's colors, a combination of black and purple.

Although at first glance he seems suave and daring, Falen is definitely still a teenager. His rakish exterior is often set aside when confronted with the guardians, revealing a sarcastic but compassionate and conflicted boy with a growing fondness for the main heroes (especially Fran). As his namesake, he repeatedly disobeys his father in order to help the guardians and is determined to keep Maeri from being captured.

## In "Into Avelis"

Falen is found by Laika in the Tower of Wivvil, after he sets the Estran section of the library on fire. He successfully escapes the tower despite Laika's and Corbin's best efforts. Corbin observes him vanishing into grey smoke in the forest.

The next time the guardians see him is deep within Torva's Jaw. He gives Artie his latest find: The Goddess's Diary. Later, Falen discovers the main heroes sneaking around, but rather than fighting them, he reveals that he is Maeri's half brother, and that Torva has been seeking to "bring her home." When questioned as to why he has not betrayed his father - despite being the demigod of betrayal - he explains that the tattoo on his arm binds him to Torva's will. The guardians suggest cutting it off, but he refuses. However, as he does not want his half sister to share in his current circumstances, he offers them a way out of the tower. As the Guardians requests access to his father's vault of trophies instead of taking his offer, he warns the party that they will most likely die. Falen assists the party in accessing the vault, wishing them luck.

## In The Gray Manacle

After being summoned by Fran's prayers, Falen appears at the end of The Gray Manacle in order to take away his sister, Meela(va). When she fights back, he stabs her (non-fatally) and, after wishing the guardians good luck, he vanishes into black smoke. The guardians, once again, encourage him to "cut off [his] arm, [the] coward."

## In the Court of Spears

Falen is discovered hanging around the castle by Slake, but quickly darts off into the night. So the guardians send him a message. After Corbin finds him hanging out with Nguyenian under the guise of Lord Fay Andolen, he decides to visit the party in their rooms. He tells them that he has been undercover in the Court of Madria for the past 2 years but is not the person that they should be concerned about. He suggests that there is something big going on in the North and that it would be advisable to gain the favor of some of the houses to strengthen their own forces. Falen also reveals that his terms of servitude has been altered by Torva, implying his attempt at cutting off his own arm.

On the night of Nguenian's poisoning, Falen answers Fran's prayers (and Corbin's swearing). The demigod rushes to Nguenian's estate. He assists in healing his friend by boosting Maeri's powers with his own. As this act of kindness goes against his father's terms of servitude, a wave of nausea overcomes him as he excuses himself to throw up outside.

When the guardians head on over to Sparrow Island, they learn that Falen had been spreading his father's word amongst the pirates.

### At the Celebration of Life

Once Lorea's true identity is revealed at the Celebration of Life, she outs Falen as a child of Torva as well. With his cover broken, he fights half-heartedly beside his half sister against the Guardians.

## In the " Weeping God"

At the start of the Siege of Ilfra, Falen is in Torva's camp outside of the city. Because of his earlier disobedience, his tattoo at some point is added to, notably an order is added that he will attack the guardians on sight. While Alden is imprisoned at the camp, Falen tells him that the guardians are coming to save him before also torturing him for information (performatively). He then plants monster eggs at a market in Ilfra on Torva's orders to wreak havoc in the city.

Later on, Falen is taken to be sacrificed for his heart but escapes before the sacrifice is completed. Despite his efforts to keep his friends away from the camp he eventually lets slip that he's been seriously injured causing the guardians to go and try to save him. Fran is able to rewrite his tattoo to say he will not betray those who don't deserve to be betrayed.

After being healed and brought back to the city Falen slips into an identity as a lieutenant of the Ilfran army. At the festival he confesses his feelings to Fran (sort of) and gives her a magical dagger, telling her to kill him if she needs to. As the final battle begins, Falen kills General Vespria because of his bad leadership skills. Trying to save them both from being killed by magic blast, he teleports himself and Fran to the void.

## In the "6D Dream Dames Drop Dragons Distance Dinterlude"

Drained of his power, Falen finds himself trapped in the void with Fran. The two of them begin walking before being accosted by demons (Lado the Shadow and Barlgura) who target Falen and almost kill him again. Fran and Falen are then taken to Kai's pocket dimension. While there, Falen gets a prayer from his mother that allows him to bring himself and Fran to Maeri's part of the void where they can later be brought back the the material plane.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Falen is split into two versions of himself in the void. One version, the presumably "good" version, is brought to the material plane while the other, the presumably "evil" version, is left in the void.

## In the "The Beating Earth"

Falen learns from his brother that his mother is set to be sacrificed to Torva as punishment for going against his orders. The guardians go back to the temple she is being held in to stop the sacrifice, collapsing part of the building and escaping. Falen then splits from the party to seek asylum with his mother in The Temple of Iol.

Meanwhile, evil!Falen has escaped the void and is chilling in Esudel. At the guardians' trial Falen sacrifices the king of Esudel as a vessel for Torva, finally summoning his father back to the material plane.