Kalmin

Kaldrid Armond was a proud man, but he was proud of his own achievements, not on those of his father, an earl of the Empire of Evadrin. As a last ditch effort to own his own life, and find his own way in the world, Kaldrid asked his father to let him represent the family name in his own way and move to the new nation of Lothlorin, released of all existing ties to his family.   While finding his way in the young nation of Lothlorin with his now very limited amount of power and money Kaldrid met a young woman by the name of Esilla and the 2 fell in love. Esilla was 5 years younger than Kaldrid and she was a woman with a great taste in beauty. The young couple had one important aspect in common that connected them, as they both came to Lothlorin for the same reason. To find a new life, in a new country.   Being from the Theocracy of Dorothel, Esilla was very religious and a devout worshipper of Celios and the Circle of Caretakers above all other gods. The couple married under Celios' name, even though Kaldrid himself didn't very much worship any god. He just wanted to prove his love to his wife. After the marriage, both of them ended up taking Kaldrid's last name of Armond. And Thus, shortly after, Kalmin Armond was born.   Kalmin was always an intelligent child, who saw a light in most people, similar to how his mother could find beauty in anything and everything in life. He also found the concept of disputes as well as people themselves very odd.   Four years after Kalmin came into the world his sister was born, whom he loved very much, perhaps even too much. She found him to be somewhat over-bearing. Realising that caring too much for his sister was pushing her away, the young boy began working on himself and eventually was only putting minimal effort into his family life.   Kalmin’s father had at this point become a proud supporter of Lothlorin and had successfully made his own life and own name like he wanted. Now it was Kalmin’s turn to find his own way, but that proved rather hard. Growing up the boy found himself getting in a lot of fights, mainly 'for the honour' of his family. One day, as a punishment for breaking both arms and the nose of a peer who had been teasing him relentlessly, Kalmin was forced by his father to attend a hearing in which Barnaby Astley, former governor of Lothlorin, was sentencing a murderer. Watching this event was also the first time that the young troublemaker saw the ruling family in all their glory. The result of the hearing was a surprise to many, as the murderer was not put to death, nor was he flogged, tortured, or even imprisoned. Barnaby didn’t consider any of these punishments good or beneficial for the Principality. The man in question was an absolutely phenomenal architect, and thus Barnaby commanded that the man was to help design all the new buildings and architecture in the Principality’s two enormous cities. Of course the man would be watched by two guards the entire time. Should the architect accept, he would eventually be released and be allowed to live his life once more. However, were a situation to turn up afterwards where the man clashed with the law again, there would be no more mercy to be given anymore. Barnaby offered the murderer a second chance, but that would be the only chance he’d ever get. The man agreed, and then Barnaby took the man’s hand, looked him in the eye, and said "You can do better."   Kalmin, was stunned, the words echoing in his head. Even later in life, whenever he faces a difficult situation, Kalmin still thinks of how Barnaby handled the punishment of the murderer.   After the hearing, Kalmin hugged his father and said "I'm going to be a commander for the Principality, one day. I'll make you all proud". Barely three years later he was accepted into the army and quickly gained respect from all of his peers. Life seemed good for Kalmin, as he had finally found his way in life. Then one day he came home, filled with enthusiasm as he wanted to tell his parents that he received the opportunity to become an officer in the army. But then his mother said those soul crushing words. "Your father is sick Kalmin, he's not going to make it."   Kalmin rushed to his father and told him that he would leave the army behind to take care of him. In response his father slapped him weakly and said "You'll do no such thing. You fight for this country, I’m so proud. Don't you dare leave on my sake. Promise me you won't." It was a difficult promise, but one Kalmin made. Later that same year, his father passed away, although his words always stayed with him. "You can do better Kalmin. Don't let anything hold you back, the moment you do, you'll die."   Kalmin’s sister screamed at him many times since their father’s death, saying it was all his fault. The previous months their mother had spent day and night looking after their father, aided by Kalmin’s sister, while he was pushing hard towards his promotion. Kalmin, now a proper officer within the Lothlorian army, stayed strong and kept his emotions in check, as that is what he was trained for. Always a harsh façade, never showing his grief and sadness. Unfortunately, that only made the relationship between the two siblings worse.   During his time of training Kalmin started studying the arcane arts in his spare time, most notably the defensive school of abjuration and the offensive school of evocation.   Another couple of years later, Kalmin was to leave on an urgent mission of the principality. This was his chance to earn that last achievement he needed to become captain. Because of this Kalmin was only able to return home twice a year, and while this was hard for him, he never showed it. His sister never fully forgave him when he agreed to depart for this mission, leaving his family behind.   The year after he left Kalmin’s mother died, but since he still was on this mission he couldn't even be home for the funeral. A few more months later, in the year 483 of the Fifth Age, the young officer was ordered back to the capital to attend a meeting about the new leader of the principality. Wynne Astley, daughter of the previous ruler Renias Astley, and granddaughter of Barnaby who secured independence for Lothlorin, was to become the new leader of the principality. Renias had died, and Wynne Astley would now become the princess of Lothlorin.   Kalmin had first lost his father, then his mother, and now his Prince had died. Kalmin was hit hard. With his mission now complete he stayed home for a while. After a month he was summoned to the royal palace once more. However, there he was offered the role of captain in the army. Hope returned and he accepted the position with open arms.   Unfortunately there was more news as well. Kalmin’s family home had been set aflame, and his sister was missing. Some tracks of her were found, but Kalmin knew his sister. She didn’t want to be found. She probably wanted people to think she was dead.   Kalmin found himself alone in the world. During the ceremony where Wynne Astley made Kalmin a captain, he looked at her, and was processing his entire life. "Most of my family is dead, this is all I have left, the Principality. My father said he was proud, but I couldn't save my mother, and I pushed away my sister. But I'll fight anything that threatens our nation, or die trying.”   Three years after becoming captain, Princess Wynne Astley herself sent word for Kalmin. A great but complicated operation was abroad, and the captain was offered the quest of following this prosperous opportunity as the leader of a small but extremely skilled group of adventurers.   Kalmin accepted, and left in great secret to a place only described as the Wrathful Wasteland.   While the details of Kalmin's quest are highly classified, it is known that as of Lisath of the year 487 of the Fifth Age Kalmin has been granted the title as knight for his accomplishments.

Serving in Lothlorin's military Kalmin has always proven himself as a capable warrior when dealing with trouble in Principality's two giant cities and when taming the wild. The man would however make a name for himself during the years 481-483 of the Fifth Age.   A group of what were initially thought to be hedgemages calling themselves "The Cabal of Tyoss" were causing trouble in Paragon, one of the two great cities in the Principality. While on the surface they appeared little more than charlatans, the city's guard had found evidence linking the Cabal to the criminal underworld, as they were seemingly involved with exortion and kidnapping. Two dozen guards were sent to arrest the mages, but only 5 came back alive, barerly managing to escape the massacre. The town's guard had taken many precautions, but the mages proved far more powerful than anyone expected. When an even larger force returned to the Cabal's headquarters they found a bloodbath. Half of the remaining guards lay dead on the ground, killed by dark magic. The others had seeminly disappeared with the mages.   The Paragon Guard realised they had severly underestimated the threat, and informed the court of what happened. The army was contacted and sent to intervene. Kalmin, at this point a capable Sergeant within the army of Lothlorin, was known for being proficient with magic. He was given command of 4 squads and sent to Paragon to deal with the threat. The army immediately went to work, and after examaning the now abandoned headquarters Kalmin quickly recognised signs that these mages were using obscure but dangerous blood magic. They had indeed been kidnapping people, but not in service of one of the other criminal organisations, but as a way to empower their magic. The threat the Cabal posed quickly became apparent, mere days after the forces of the army arrived they began a full on terror campaign in city of Paragon. Killing members of the authorities while kidnapping innocents. This continued for several weeks, and things were looking dire as nobody had any idea where to look in a city as big as paragon for these mages. However, Kalmin noticed that the mages never struck locations near the soldiers of the army, only the town's guard, and also that there were only certain areas that the mages attacked, so the sergeant came up with the idea to switch armor and equipment with the guards and patrol these areas. It worked. Mere days later, Kalmin and one of the squads were ambushed by a couple of mages from the Cabal, who were quickly overwhelmed by the far more experienced and better trained soldiers, as well as Kalmin's countermagic. A few days later, one of the other disguised military squads was ambushed as well, with the same result. This was the first real victory over the Cabal, as the military had been able to capture 5 mages as well as a dozen of sellswords. The prisoners were unwilling to talk however, so the investigation didn't proceed much. At the same time the attacks of the Cabal died down, as they realised their latest attacks failed.   It remained quiet for few long months, which was unnerving for everyone. The guards and army went from door to door to investigate every house they even slightly suspected of holding members of the Cabal, but other than a couple of lucky breaks this brought little results. Kalmin realised very well that the mages would probably just start taking innocents soon without spilling the blood of guards. He thought it was a better idea to prepare for this event rather than searching every house in the city. Putting himself in the mindset of the Cabal, Kalmin figured the reason they'd been laying low was because they were building a new base of operations and were thinking of a way to easily kidnap their victims while staying away from the guards. Paragon was a big city, but also had a large and capable guard. It wouldn't be very possible to drag multiple bodies over the streets quickly enough without the guards catching up to them. They were probably looking at an alternative, and the one he immediately thought of were the sewers beneath the city. With that in mind, he prepared a plan.   It took another month but eventually the attack everyone had been anticipating happened. The Cabal attacked all over the city, taking dozens of victims with them and disappeared into the sewers. Unbeknownst of the Cabal, the army and the Paragon guard were prepared. Kalmin had filled the reserve tanks in the sewers to their maximum capacity. The moment word of the attack arrived, these tanks were empties, flooding the sewers. Additionally, he had worked out an entire plan to guide the Kabal to one spot. Using the flood control systems parts of the sewers were closed and others were opened, and Cabal only had one way to go. The Sewer Workers executed the plan flawlessly, and two dozen mages as well as twice that amount of sellswords and kidnapped victims were literally flushed out above ground on Barnaby Square, and the army was ready. A massive battle ensued, and spread through the streets of Paragon. It took more than 4 hours before things calmed down again. The entire city smelled horrible as the sewers had flooded, and "The Battle of Barnaby Square", as it would be known as later, was one of the biggest and most devastating battles fought within a Lothlorian city, but it was a victory.   Kalmin's work was far from done however. While the plan had worked, the Cabal's leader and most of his lieutenants still remained. With most of the Cabal captured it wouldn't be long until one of them talked and ratted out the leaders, so they ran. Outside of the city, to one of the small villages. And Kalmin and his squads followed. Every village they set foot in, the army wasn't far behind, and in such a small area it wasn't hard for them to track down the despicable mages. Eventually they would run into the wilderness, but still Kalmin followed. The Cabal wouldn't be fully eliminated until the year 483 of the Fifth Age, where Kalmin finally ended it by killing Tyoss himself.   As a reward for his services Kalmin was awarded the rank of Captain in the year 483 of the Fifth Age.