Thadston Andrews
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Sir Thadston Andrews is a knight from North Hendor. Emperor Aurmont in late 5123 declared Thadston the new Northern Sentinel of the Turamzzyrian Empire, taking over that role from Earl Jovery of North Hendor.
Appearance
You see Sir Thadston Andrews. He appears to be a Human from Hendor. He is very tall and appears to be mature. He has bright steel grey eyes and tanned skin. He has short, wavy golden-brown hair. He has a scruffy face and a broken nose. He is in good shape. He is wearing a silver-edged black steel helm, a flowing brown leather cloak, a mithril-bound steel shield emblazoned with the image of a blue phoenix rising on a field of silver, a silver-tooled black cloth pack, a suit of silver chainmail, a stamped mithril ring set with the crest of blue phoenix rising on a field of silver, a mithril mesh scabbard, some soft dark cloth trousers, and a pair of polished black boots.
Alternative Version:
He is wearing a polished black steel greathelm, a crystal amulet, a crisp dark leather cloak emblazoned with a deep blue phoenix on the back, a silver-bound blue steel aegis, a worn black leather pack, some heavy grey and black scalemail, some black enameled steel bracers, a weathered silver wedding band, a heavy black back scabbard, a slender deep blue battle horn, some fitted dark leather pants, and a pair of silver-toed black leather boots.
Background
Thadston was born in 5071. His father owned a small home and farm just outside of Mensyl Keep. His mother had passed from sickness early on. When he was still a small boy, his father was injured on the farm, leaving him with a horrible leg injury that gave him a permanent limp, forcing his father to leave the life of a farmer and eventually he found new work in cobbling. Thadston's father eventually sold his farm, moving him and his son to Lolle, the capitol of North Hendor.
Thadston was placed into Winterkeep Academy, almost an outcast among the children of many elite nobles and knights. Such admittance to the Academy was made possible by Thadston's father's many years of saving, and the somehow surprising successful cobbling business he had begun, which eventually drew the attention of some nobles among the Earl's court. It was during one long winter, that monsterous hordes had attacked a segment of Lolle, somehow surprisingly many of the city defenders, and a brave act by Thadston's father not only felled the lead ogre who had led the rampage, but in doing so also preserved the life of one of the daughter of one of Hendor's most prominent merchants at the time.
Due to his bravery, Earl Kurdin Weirlund V, the Northern Sentinel positioned out of South Hendor at the time, officially knighted Thadston's father, awarding him both title and land near Lolle for his noble deed. While such an action bestowed new wealth and opportunities to Thadston's family, it set to only further tarnish Thadston in the eyes of his fellow classmates, who often mocked him by calling him the son of the Cobbler Knight.
In 5092, the same year that Earl Weirlund of Hendor died, Thadston had officially joined the City Guard of Lolle, where none of those who had ridiculed him years ago were found. Within the guard, Thadston felt more at home, finally among peers who understood hard work, valor and a true sense of duty. He despised the entitled noble children of the Academy he had graduated from. During his time with the City Guard, the shadow of being the son of the "Cobbler Knight" had vanished and he had begun to finally make a name for himself.
For nearly ten years after the death of Earl Weirlund, the Empress Mynal'lyanna had refused to name a new Northern Sentinel, choosing to allow Baron Lerep Hochstib to continue his aggression towards Vornavis and Wehnimer's Landing. Finally, Earl Eddric Jovery of Lolle was named the new Northern Sentinel, as Earl Weirlund had left behind no children of age to rule, so the title was given to the Earl of North Hendor.
In 5103, after the assassination of Empress Myal'lyanna and the ascension of Emperor Aurmont Chandrennin Anodheles, the Northern Sentineil was able to finally dispatch the forces of Hendor and Vornavis to crush the Jantalarian aggression outside of Wehnimer's Landing, ending the rogue activities of Baron Lerep Hochstib.
It was during this crusade against Jantalarians, that Thadston found himself elevated from the Lolle city guard and squired into the Order of Llaestal's Guard, where he was eventually knighted by Earl Jovery for his commanding bravery and skill during the conflict and subsequent battles in restoring order to the northern region.
But while none could question Thadston's loyalty to Hendor and the Earl, he was not without his failings earlier in his path to knighthood. In the final years of his time at Winterkeep Academy, he had met and fell in love with a woman named Saraphene, the daughter of a commoner. She was as common as he felt about himself, and her grace complimented his rough edge. They married as soon as he finished with the Academy, and within the year their son, Disean was born. Previous to their marriage, Thadston had begun chasing away his inner demons with the fiery spirits provided at every tavern in Lolle. The specter of his father's persona as the cobbler knight and the constant ridicule within the Academy had driven him to such liquid comforts. It was a habit he managed well enough, enough shortly after his marriage when he began to take on security or mercenary work in and around Lolle. Eventually his addiction spiraled out of control, and he nearly got one of his clients killed when hired on as a mercenary, which landed him without work, a bad reputation, and a wife who finally ended their marriage, taking with her their very disappointed four year old son.
Many a lesser man at this point in life may have found an end in the bottom of a bottle or the tip of a sword, but Thadston's long dormant sense of pride and duty was awakened at the realization that he had essentially lost all he had held dear. It was then, that Thadston joined the City Guard among the lowest echelons, working himself up through the ranks, eventually gaining a better reputation and catching the attention of the Order of Llaestal's Guard. In time, Thadston would be knighted by Earl Jovery himself and hand-picked to help clean up the chaos in the aftermath of the Jantalarian war, to which Sir Thadston proved his value time and again.
Despite his new path, title and influence, Thadston remained apart from Saraphene, who had been re-married, to a man by the name of Ambrus, a Paladin of Koar in Talador. Ambrus had spent years raising Disean, almost as his own, and the boy who had grown up so much, became an Acoylte in the Church of Koar.
As of 5115, Sir Thadston was dispatched by Earl Jovery to Wehnimer's Landing to build a Northern Outpost near the town to become a bastion of peace and supervision over the area. After years and years of darkness and evil rising up in Wehnimer's Landing and being able to fester, the Northern Sentinel refuses to allow threats to ever gain strength again, and so for the safety of the Turamzzyrian Empire and its people, North Hendor has established a new presence within the grasslands near Wehnimer's. Sir Thadston, due to his experience, skillset and loyalty to the Earl was named the Commander of the outpost and has been tasked with restoring stability to the region north of the Empire, and to severely weaken or eliminate many of the criminal or evil agents still existing in and around Wehnimer's Landing.
Disean had come under the sway of Prelate Chaston Griffin and the Blameless crusaders, and was effectively kidnapped and put under cursed control by the witch Raznel, who had murdered Saraphene and would impersonate her to manipulate Disean. Following the war with Chaston Griffin in 5116, Sir Thadston stepped down from his position as Commander of the outpost in order to go track down his son Disean, who remained abducted. When Thadston returned in 5118 he had a cursed necrotic wound in his side from a cursed blade wielded by Disean. In the Summer of 5118 he was appointed interim Town Marshal of Wehnimer's Landing.
In 5119, Sir Thadston, along with Casiphia, concocted a ruse to lure his son out of hiding. After appearing to attack Casiphia atop Moot Hall, Thadston was able to capture her would-be rescuer, Disean, and place him into a crystalline coffin that temporally freezes people within them. He sent this "bane coffin" away with Erithians. Throughout 5119 as the Marshal of Wehnimer's Landing, Thadston led the hunt to destroy the witch Raznel, which involved finding and destroying her paragons which were similar in purpose to phylacteries.
When Thadston attempted to force shut a portal in the Hendoran Outpost to the Bleaklands, shortly before Raznel was killed, the kroderine gauntlets he was wearing exploded and left him with antimagical shards embedded in his arms. These gauntlets had once belonged to Sir Osment, whose mind was broken because of Quinshon. Thadston was later recovered from the Bleaklands, but had been possessed by a bleakwalker, the transmogrified spirit of a Honey Mine brothel worker. This had healed him and preserved his life in the Bleaklands. His split personality issues which manifested were cause for him to be removed as Marshal, where he had recently taken extreme action against an encampment of Blood Son cultists of Grishom Stone led by Malluch Burdos, and he temporarily slid back into alcoholism. The bleakwalker was removed from him in a ritual, under the pretense of marriage, that transferred it into a bleakstone statue that had been made by Raznel to spread blight.
In the fall of 5121, after mayoral elections had been restored to Wehnimer's Landing following the coup by the Darkstone Bay Consortium, Thadston defeated Amos to become Mayor of Wehnimer's Landing. Amos and Thadston had an ugly history with Amos having been abandoned to slavery and fighting in gladiator pits. Amos was the Steward of the Guilds while Thadston was mayor, until the town council removed him, effectively getting revenge for the coup. Thadston was furious about this because it meant Amos would be under less control and with less oversight. Thadston while in office was notorious for throwing things or people through windows.
In the spring of 5122, Mayor Thadston captured the krolvin warlord Tyrrax, betraying terms with Tyrrax that he had not himself agreed to as Mayor. Thadston had the stewards and town council help him appoint jurors for a tribunal "trial" on the crimes of Tyrrax. Most of these jurors chose to release Tyrrax in advance of the trial, as a strategic potential future ally against Grishom Stone. This was also to have Tyrrax tell the krolvin the "Blue Suffer" poison formula of Praxopius was destroyed, which is not strictly true, as it was his mandate to rule and it would avoid having the krolvin fighting an endless war against the Turamzzyrian Empire. Thadston understood this but was unhappy about it. He and Amos both resisted an insurgent attempt in town to kill Tyrrax, and bringing Tyrrax to the Black Sands, intentionally lost a brawl with Tyrrax so that Tyrrax would save face with the krolvin.
In the spring of 5123, Thadston lost the mayor election to Alendrial DeArchon, and chose to move back to North Hendor. In the winter near the end of 5123, Emperor Aurmont decreed that "Thadston McAndrews" was appointed to be the new Northern Sentinel, under the recommendation of Earl Jovery who was retiring that responsibility. Thadston also had frictions with Sablo, the Commander of the armed forces of the Barony of Darkstone, a post which Earl Jovery had first offered to Thadston but which Thadston had declined.
Additional Details
- Saved posts - A Tale of Thadston by Ambrus - 2016