Crushter Stonehammer

## The Stonehammer

Crushter Stonehammer is a deceased NPC, and formerly the Lord of **House Bellator**, before it was renamed. He was a local hero of **Corovon**, and spent years fighting for civilization as a Paladin of Iomedae.

## History

Crushter was born outside of Corovon's borders, in a small, remote, seaside hamlet that mainly traded fish. His father was a great, but primitive Barbarian who had married a woman from Corovon. The man would later become known as The Stonehammer for his use of a massive, Stone hammer - a Hammer that Crushter would later inherit.

Crushter grew up with all the benefits of civilized society - education, proper speech, nobility, weaponry, armor, training - and also the benefits of a primitive, tribal father, who taught him how to survive, how to fight, how to revere the world. Crushter rapidly grew up as a man of dual identities, and became a Paladin of Iomedae, Squiring and ascending the ranks rather quickly.

He spent years fighting off Monsters and Evil beings seeking to claim Corovon's people for their own malicious purposes, and built up his Hamlet with the help of his Mother's Nobility connections. It wasn't long before the Council of Nobles recognized Crushter's contributions to Society, and despite his dislike of it, named him an Earl for his deeds in the Frontierlands.

As he grew, Crushter's father died, and his mother was soon to join him. She insisted he find a good wife, and before she died, he got married to a woman he considered suitable - another Paladin of Iomedae, who soon joined him in his quest to provide more safety and good to the local people of his world.

Together they fought - and loved - for many years. The Stonehammers became a Legendary name in the Northern Frontierlands, rescuing remote villages from the wicked, tracking monsters to their lairs and eliminating them, annihilating Tribes of Goblins.

However, eventually, Crushter's wife became pregnant. But she insisted on continuing to fight, and she did for several months until she started to show, and her armor no longer fit. Crushter insisted they return home at that point, and they began to do so, only to be ambushed by a small coalition of Beastmen, Orcs, and Goblins, made with the intent of killing Stonehammer.

They did not do so. They killed everyone, with the exception of Crushter and a few of his men. His wife, and unborn child, lay dead. He burned them with a pyre, and set to his grim work, falling into self-loathing and hatred, seeking to throw himself into progressively more suicidal situations. Yet, Fate refused to grant him death.

It was good, for he eventually met young **Marcus**, a young man with a bright future. This boy Squired to him, and reignited his love for life, seeing in him the son he never had. Many years of traveling, training, and living with the boy eventually led Crushter to deciding to name him his heir, and on their way to Corovon to do just that - without Marcus' knowledge - they were ambushed, and Crushter was mortally wounded, with no healing available.

He named Marcus his heir on his 'deathbed', so to speak, and went to Iomedae a happy man, ready to see his wife. He knew he would not see his unborn child, but he knew that he did not need to, for Marcus had been all he needed.

## Personality

Crushter was known to be an incredibly happy, jovial man before his wife's death. During the period after her death, he became depressed, quiet, and withdrawn, but remained the imposing commanding force he always was on a battlefield. After meeting Marcus, he returned to that jovial state, constantly joking and teasing his men, ensuring they were as happy as him.

## Appearance

Crushter was a tall man with no hair, and often sported various states of beard. He wore Full Plate Armor, and wielded an enormous Stone Hammer that was enchanted with magic.