Balraen

> Most people miss only the shots they don't take. I usually end up missing most of the shots I do take.
>
> Balraen, Numerous Occasions

Balraen is one of the Lords of Kylia. He serves both as the captain of the city guard and as military lieutenant. Balraen resides in the Tower of the Eye along with his forest guard and Terrol Ultevraught.

## Description

### Appearance

Balraen is a human of below-average height, standing around 5 and a half feet tall. He has brown shoulder-length, roughly cut hair which he often wears in a short pony tail to keep it out of his eyes. He also has tanned and roughened skin due to the many years spent in the forested wilderness of south-western Saxor.

During a delve into a mysterious crypt in Iolar, the Lords of Kylia encountered a demilich, which killed Balraen with a disintegration spell. After the fight, he was reincarnated as a lizardfolk by LE-1F, and lived as such for several more adventures. Following the final confrontation with Acererak in his Tomb of Annihilation, Balraen was changed back to a human by the good graces of the Archangel, Uriel.

### Equipment

Balraen can usually be seen dressed in the garb of his occupation, that of a forest ranger. His tunics, vests, and breeches contain many varieties of green and brown colors, which help him blend in with the forest landscape. Balraen also wears a pair of sturdy boots and a hooded cloak. For formal occasions, Balraen owns a set of fine clothes of dwarven fashion, puchased in Urd. Since becoming one of the Lords of Kylia, he how augments his finery with a grey cloak with purple trim, which are the colors of Kylia.

Having trained primarily as an archer, Balraen is never without his bow and a quiver of arrows by his side. However, his primary combat weapon is Heartseeker, a magical sniper claimed from Packel of the Immortal Order. Balraen's other equipment consists of Bookbinder, a magic shortsword, the Bow of Chiron, a magic longbow, and Orion's Quiver, which holds magic arrows, all of which were discovered while on quests. He also wears armor and uses a shield, and always hides a dagger in his left boot to use in an emergency (a useful tip from his mentor).

### Personality

#### Traits

Balraen does his best to act as the positive influence in the group. During most of his formative years, he was taught to be kind and empathetic to people he meets and to help those afflicted by injustice. To better help him do this, Balraen always tries to have a positive outlook on his circumstances. This is not always easy for him to do, considering the trauma of his past and his continual bad luck, but that doesn't stop him from trying.

Balraen finds trust a difficult thing to attain with many of the people he comes in contact with. This is due to his traumatic past, in which many of the people he trusted were taken from him. He does not open up to people easily, but given enough time, and if the people in question can prove that they are trustworthy, he is able to form close bonds with them.

#### Religion

While Balraen is not particularly religious himself, he honors the religion of his deceased mother: the worship of the Saints, which is the state religion of the Empire. Balraen's father was not religious.

#### Bad Luck

Balraen, for some unknown reason, is quite unlucky. He frequently fails at tasks he should be good at, and while his sharpshooting skills enable him to do lots of damage to his foes, he ends up missing more than half of the shots he takes. This frustrates him greatly at times, since he is a very accomplished archer and the only known owner of a sniper rifle in all of Cival Barreth.

## Biography

### Early Life

Balraen was born in 1028 IE. He was the oldest son of Balan, a wealthy farm owner who possessed a large plot of land on the outskirts of Gamelore in southern Saxor. Balan was a shrewd businessman, often spending much of his time worrying over city market prices, cost of farm hands, and other such things, and naturally wanted to bring up Balraen and his two younger siblings to follow in his footsteps. Balraen didn't much care for this, and so he spent lots of time exploring the forest near his home when he wanted to hide from his father.

Balraen's mother, on the other hand, was much more caring than her husband Balan, and so she tried to teach Balraen to do the same, telling him that caring for others was much more important than simply trying to compete your way to success. Unfortunatly, Balraen's mother died when he was 9 years old, leaving him alone with a father who only wanted to turn him into another successful businessman. Balraen spent a lot more time in the forest after this point.

### Factum Invasion

Balraen was 13 years old when his father received word that the forces of the Factum were making for Gamelore. They were reportedly only a few days out, so Balan began making preparations to leave the farm. That was when Factum soldiers crested the hill and began sweeping down towards the city, stopping at other farms along the way.

Balraen returned home from his usual forest wanderings to find a scene of devastation. His house had been burned, the food that they had worked hard to gather and sell had been stolen, and many of the farm staff lay dead, scattered here and there across the fields. Rather than risk being caught and killed by Factum soldiers, Balraen turned and ran far into the forest. He never found out what happened to his father and two siblings.

### The Tribe

Balraen was found wandering in the forest by a group of mysterious men clad in forest colors and carrying weapons. But rather than threatening to kill him or hurt him in any way, as Balraen would have expected, they treated him kindly, offering him a spot by their fire, and asked him to tell them his story. Once Balraen had finished, they revealed that they were members of an organization known simply as the Tribe, a large group of outcasts known by their kind actions towards weary travellers and their relentless fight against injustice throughout south-western Saxor. They extended to Balraen an offer to join their numbers, and while Balraen wasn't quite sure he could trust them, he decided to accept as he had nowhere else to go.

Balraen spent the next several years training as a Tribe member. He learned how to swing a sword, how to track and to hunt, and all about the forest wilderness. He took special interest in the bow, and refined his shooting technique over the many years spent in the wild.

As the years progressed, the Factum's influence over Saxor only increased, slowly forcing Balraen and the other members of the Tribe westward towards Glantry and the Praelian peninsula.

### Mission to Prael

Though the Tribe's influence extended primarily over Saxor and eastern Glantry, the Tribe had also shown interest in entering Prael. Prael had, at that point, been enemies of the Factum for 50 years, and if the Tribe could find a way to get into Prael, that would provide some security for their dwindling numbers. Additionally, according to early reports, there had been remnants of a few Tribe members active in Prael, and the Tribe leaders wanted to send a few men to investigate.

The difficult part of that plan was that Prael had sealed itself off from the Empire all along the Argendale-Glantry border, and the Pumpkin King only infrequently allowed a few people into his land at a time. The Tribe leaders were not confident that multiple Tribe members would be allowed into Argendale at the same time, so they decided to send one member in with the instructions to report back what they found and to try to avoid the Pumkin King's notice. This is how Balraen found himself on a boat headed for Argendale, alongside the other individuals who would later become the Lords of Kylia.

## Abilities

### Physical Ability

Balraen has trained extensively for many years in a forest wilderness environment, which has, over time, greatly improved his athleticism. While not very physically strong, he makes up for it by being lithe, incorporating dodges and acrobatics into his skillset which enable him to survive just as well as a strong man. Balraen is well trained in the art of survival, and is always well aware of any incoming threats, both from assailants and the wilderness. However, spending many years in the forest has not improved his social skill, and so many of Balraen's interactions with others are often rather uncomfortable.

### Martial Prowess

Balraen has trained extensively in the use of all kinds of weaponry as well as proper armor and shield usage. He has learned to swing swords with devastating effects and has improved his stamina and endurance. His speciality is in ranged striking, and has honed this skill to perfection.

### The Tower of the Eye

Balraen's fortress in the Vale of Kylia is the Tower of the Eye, a relic of the Underdark brought to the surface alongside Castle Ferrumguard. It's name derives from the tower's former occupant, an artificial intelligence entity known as Complex, or simply "the AI," which took the form of a large eye floating above the top of the tower. The tower is used as the primary watchpost for the Vale of Kylia, as well as the housing for Balraen's forest guard and military units.