Hier Holothern

Hier commands his forces before The Battle of Hyke's Glut

> "*I've yet to meet a quieter maniac*"
> ― Jeiren Brakhan, following the Battle of Tindersticks
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## **Early Life**

Born the second son to a powerful yet reclusive noble family, the life of Hier Holothern was laid out to be unremarkable. Hier himself, a reserved child, seemed to have little desire to change this trajectory until at the age of 16, he shocked his family and the region by fathering a child out of wedlock with Anifar Eldthern, the daughter of his family's most powerful vassal. While this incident could have very well spelled the end of his life given the incredibly strict Holothern tradition of Primogeniture Progen, where only the eldest son was allowed to father children, Hier was spared by intervention of his older brother Avvren, who staked his life on his brother's child's destiny to "carry the line" that House Holothern had preserved for generations. Hier was spared under the promise that he would never return to Hoivern lest his wife and child be put to the sword as well. Holothern was dispatched to Saiik Pass to train the garrison there and be forgotten, yet his penchant for surprise would by no means end there.

## **Drakon War**

19 years after Hier's exile, Logerstadt was plunged into the Drakon War. Hier's orders were simple; to remain sentinel at the pass with a small garrison in accordance to his late father's demands, while his brothers marched north with most of the Holothern troops. Hier's son, Claise, now grown into a man himself, would accompany Avvren to Tivert despite Hier's protestations. Just months after the army's departure, word reached Hier of the coming Orc invasion, lead by Targe Redeye, who seemed to have aligned himself with the Dragonborn Wrynn. Knowing that defeat was imminent if he remained, Hier immediately evacuated the pass, pulling a forced march all the way back to Hoivern, where he was stopped at the gate's by the keep's guards. Upon being met by a retinue of spearmen in phalanx, Holothern walked briskly towards their outstretched weapons without hesitation, forcing the men to relent at the last moment. With the garrison of Hoivern now also under his command, Hier quickly rallied as many horseman as he could, as well as conscripting his young nephew Hannic to help him lead the expedition, and set off for the passes.

#### **Battle of Tindersticks**

Upon reaching the south end of the pass, he dispatched a team of riders to collect barrels of pitch, which he then slathered on the few racers brought with his force. Setting the horses alight, they charged for the orc vanguard camp, starting fires and causing widespread disarray, allowing Hier's smaller force to rout them from the pass. Even with the vanguard in retreat, Holothern quickly realized the sheer enormity of the approaching orc host from scout reports, and resolved to meet them outside the walls of the pass. Before leaving, he ordered every man in his 4,000 strong army to equip a rabest, a traditional Hoivrent fireproof cloak, and bring with them a small barrel of Weren tar, a blackish substance which oozes from the ground across the region. Hier's army departed, moving towards an orc force of around 85,000.

Hier began by ordering a forced evacuation of all villages in the coastal region known as the Tindersticks, due to its dry weather and plentiful forest. As the population was pushed southwards, Holothern troops set fire to their villages, denying the advancing orcs a source of supply and shelter. As the orc host, split into two armies, moved within a few miles of Hier's host, Holothern split his men into four groups. Two, numbering 1,500 each led by Hier and his trusted sword Tyvar Stolece, would be chase groups, luring the two orc armies into two separate valleys in the Tindersticks with only one outlet. The other two groups would serve as "tar groups", applying pitch and Weren tar to select areas, in order to create a flammable umbrella around the two valleys. Hier instructed the tar groups to form as tight a circle as possible so as to conserve supplies, resulting in the chase groups having to carry out a prolonged fighting retreat, losing 1,500 men, although successfully drawing in the orc host.

Once the trap was set, ignition of the halo was begun, quickly creating an inferno. Cut off by an orc flanking attack, Hier himself was nearly lost to the flames, escaping with just 150 of his original 3,000 men in the chase group. His nephew Hannic was among those lost in the flames. However, Hier's plan would prove ultimately successful whatever the cost, with the entire orc host including Tagre Redeye enveloped in a halo of flame, the few burned survivors picked off an harassed by the remaining Holotherns as the Tindersticks burned. Hier would return to the passes with only a quarter of the men he'd set out with, yet the orc threat to Logerstadt would be forever silenced by his destructive campaign in the Tindersticks. It was from this day on that Hier Holothern would be known as Balefire, a nickname often backed with understandable malice for the thousands who lost their homes and livelihoods on his orders.