Astarius the Unyielding

Hero: Astarius the Unyielding, Brightblade of Rozan, Saint of the First Exalted March Era: Third Era (TA), active during the War of Mer Succession (1–50 TA) Place of Death: Senate House of Rozan, during the Siege of Rozan (c. 27–30 TA)   Born of uncertain lineage, though said to be kissed by divinity, Astarius bore luminous brass eyes and a voice that could still tempests and beasts alike. Raised within the austere halls of the Legion Temple of the Concordant Blade, he became both priest and champion, loved not only for his righteousness, but for the clarity of his vision in times of chaos.   Astarius' rise began during the First Defence of Rozan (c. 3 TA), when the city faced an onslaught of kobold shock-legions and mercenary cult forces. With no full legion present, Astarius, a young Sword-Vicar, rallied the garrison and stood atop the city walls against the red wyrm Indomitus. In a battle burned into fresco and song, he felled the beast and hurled it beyond the Green Sea, saving Rozan.   He became myth at the Second Palusian Battle (17 TA), where, leading a fractured host, he battled Vellex, the Cult Draconis’s most terrifying saint. Their duel scarred the ruins of Old Palusia for six hours, until Astarius split Vellex’s skull and held her head aloft as a beacon to the shattered 22nd Legion.   But it was during the Siege of Rozan (c. 27–30 TA) that his fate was sealed by blade, betrayal, and burning faith. The city was surrounded, and the Senate faltered. Into the chambers strode Gaius Ignus Acerbo, once praetor and closest companion to Astarius, now a traitor enthralled by dark designs. Under the pretense of negotiation, Acerbo struck a mortal wound through Astarius' side with a soul-poisoned blade.   Yet the Brightblade did not fall.   In the heart of the Senate House, surrounded by the echoes of old oaths and the flicker of sacrificial flame, Astarius rose, bleeding, radiant, and wrathful. The two men, once brothers, clashed amidst shattered marble and ancestral banners. Though wounded unto death, Astarius drove his blade through Acerbo’s side, wounding him grievously.   It was later then that General Mallea Tempa Felix, late in arriving with the vanguard of the 9th Legion, broke into the chamber. Finding both heroes fallen, she beheld Acerbo struggling to rise, still clutching a cursed relic. With blade and fury, she did battle with the traitor and rended apart the wound which Astarius had inflicted, striking the traitor dead in the climactic battle around the Senate House; leaving the esteemed general and the disgraced Dictator, as well as the fallen angel, dead or missing.   Astarius died, whispering a benediction lost to history.   His body was never recovered, said to have turned to light, or taken by the gods themselves. His empty tomb stands in the Hall of the Exalted. The Order of the Gleaming Flame, formed in his memory, still bears the sunburst sigil and vows itself against betrayal, even within the heart of empire