When one lays too many hopes in one place, the ground can swiftly fall right out from under them.

Born on the streets of the Tooth, the young half-orc Thelwen quickly drew the eye of the Blooded Houses with a knack for basic magics and a tendency to put his nose into other people's trouble. After one too many brawls for 'the right cause', he was brought under the wing of a local magistrate under pain of indenture if he didn't learn the proper way to resolve disputes. He took to the martial and legal training well, supplementing his magic with his own raw strength.

As the Houses moved to consolidate control of the Coast, Thelwen found himself administering justice on the front of a civil war, as local human, halfling, tiefling, and other figures of power struggled to claim true mastery of the region. Thelwen developed a fast reputation for unorthodox judgments and occasionally violent solutions to problems that had room for diplomacy but not for ethics. His 'solve the damn problem right or fight it out' mentality pleased the Houses' leadership, and his talent at surviving such escapades made him into a local celebrity.

By his twenty-fifth year, he was a natural candidate for the planned marriage pacts between Galasteri noble families and the orcish and half-orcish Blooded Houses, a final step to solidify control of the region. Happenstance would see him fighting side-by-side with the then-unknown Kovraza Lohrian, threatened by a fiendish plot of sacrifice. His efforts to defend Kovraza and end the cult earned him the attention of Mansa Savrias himself, who interceded on his behalf when Thelwen refused to marry her on political grounds alone. 'If not a husband, then a son alone will do', said the Mansa, and thus it was so, to Kovraza's chagrin.

Life in the Imperial Capital didn't suit Thelwen - too many games of politics and extravagant wealth at the expense of the common folk. He continued to serve as a magistrate, but his judgments continued to rankle the the privileged and high-born. Even so, his popularity surged among the common people and whispers among the Gbara saw him as a likely heir.

But then Queen Samira passed away and Savrias Lohrian turned to more desperate measures to secure his legacy. Thelwen worked alongside his father as best he could, securing the trust of those Savrias' would later trample over on his path to construct the Throne Arcane. In time, it all came to a head and he demanded that the Mansa stop at once. This so infuriated Kovraza, the Mansa's bodyguard, daughter, and greatest supporter, that the argument came to blows before him. Thelwen won, if narrowly, but rather than claim concessions from such a bitter duel, he left Savrias' camp.

No one expected him to return with an army, wearing a symbolic mask. Aligned with these Masked Knights, he had come to the conclusion that the age of Mansas would only end in tragedy and that the time of common rule by the people must begin. Months of debate, dueling, and outright warfare ensued as Savrias fought bitterly to bring his son back into the fold, but in the end, a surprise attack by Kovraza's arcane guard caused a fissure to open in the ground at the site of the battle, swallowing up Thelwen and many of his allies.

This last act of fratricide spurred on the alliance that would eventually force Savrias into a last stand and the cataclysm that followed. Surely, this was not was Thelwen had been fighting for, to see the land ravaged by the taint of foul magics, but even now, Masked Knights fight on in his name.