Arbiter of the Night Mother
Rydel Valwyn is first and foremost a feverent follower of Laianath or the Night Mother as the Order of the Frozen Rose calls her. Not many devote themselves to the Ten and are granted divine blessings to enact their twill. Fewer still can the living dedicate themselves to the concept of death in a living world. Singular are those blessed to such a degree that they are chosen to undergo trials by the Night Mother herself. In this select group Rydel Valwyn still stands above them all, it is he who completed a Soul Pilgrimmage to Laithna at her request, a deadly ritual when performed perfectly. It is he who passed a trial and showed his faith did not falter in the face of death. It is he who was gifted the eye of a Death Elemental, much less the eye of Lialim herself. It is he whoo has been tasked to defeat the very creature that struck a bargin to set him on this very path. In Laithana he finally learned her name, Belcorra the Ghost Queen, an Undying who once served Krathum and made bargins with otherworldly powers on his behalf. Using the Eye of Lialim he now has been set on path that will lead to his victory or his return to the very God whose work he performed.
A Descendent of Death
Rydel is the son of Alros and Darnoa Valwyn a cleric and champion of Laianath respectively. While he knew his parents were devout to the Night Mother and knew they died when his village was attacked by undead, the leading cause for his inital worship of the Night Mother. It was not until he underwent his trial in Laithna in which he lived his parents last night from his father's perspective when he discovered that he was not the first Valwyn to wield the Eyes of Lialim nor was he the strongest. Through Alros' memories Rydel learned that his father was originally tasked with killing a coven of Undying witches and was gifted the Eyes of Lialim to do so with his wife swearing her soul to him in order to share her sight with her husband so that Alros could use Lialim's power in both eyes. To be a Soulsworn to a Soulseer is bind ones soul so wholly that they become one to the point that death is not the end of a Soulsworn's duty to their Soul Seer as they Seer may return their soul to their body for a bried period of time and allow them to fight as the very thing they are sworn against. When Darnoa was brutally killed by Vekktus, a lich in service to the Undying known as Ozul the Collector who struck a bargin with Belcorra and saught the Eyes of Lialim for himself she rose again as an undead though her head had been brutally caved in by Vekktus' hammer. As Alros realized that he would not be able to stop Ozul from destroying his village in the process of their fight he sent Darnoa to take Rydel to safety with a teleportation scroll. After a valiant battle Alros was captured by Ozul who kept him alive in order to extract his eyes, but made an error as Alros used the powers of a death elemental on himself, decaying his face in eyes as he died with his and his wifes soul later becoming another part of Ozul's collection. Before Darnoa's soul was pulled back to Ozul she managed to teleport Rydel to safety though the young boy he was at the time was horrified to see his undead mother grab him in the middle of the night teleport him away from his childhood home and prompty fall dead in front of his eyes in a matter of moments. By what manner of luck or perhaps fate Rydel was teleported to the grounds of the Order of the Frozen Rose where Matriarch Kelran for his health blurred the memories of the night from the young boys mind.

First Follower of the Unnamed
While in Laithna Rydel learned the true nature of his Order. While it may be given its divine power from Laianath it is not She who orginally approved its creation. It was on behalf on her unborn daughter and demigod who has not yet even been named. The Unnamed is the child of Peace and Death or more conventially the child of Syluru and Laianath. She was given life when Celevar Longheart a Warden of Life bearing the Heart of Peace planted a tree in Laithna during a stay he had in the plane. While originally it was meant to be a sign of peace and cooperation between the two sisters of the Ten none knew that a tiny piece of the Heart of Peace was planted alongside the tree. So the Unnamed wishes for the continuation of the cycles of death, but opposite her mother and death elementals, concerns herself with the health of the living and strives to save those from death whenever she can so that they may enjoy some peace before it is their time.
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