Andoran Personas

Though the People’s Revolt is only 40 years old, two of its heroes have already obtained near-legendary status in the country, and many young would-be heroes look to them for inspiration in their own lives.

Alysande Benedict: The woman who would earn the title “Lady Liberty” in Andoran was born to a large family in Augustana in 4606. Ever bright and inquisitive, she abandoned her scribe’s apprenticeship, fleeing to Almas. By age 21, she had founded a library and organized a community of like-minded intellectuals, soon becoming famous for her reformist agitation and her assays on virtue and hard work. Corresponding with many of the great minds of her time, she traveled frequently, sharing knowledge and planting seeds of diplomacy. Even after Cheliax’s capitulation to House Thrune’s control, Alysande campaigned for Andoren peace and freedom. As the imperials’ gripped tightened on Andoran, she skewered their folly in wildly popular satire. The 4667 Red Revolution in Galt horrified her, and she fought with pen and voice for moderation, temperance, and justice in the midst of upheaval. Though equally committed to change, she advocated a break with the militant Galtan screeds, and her voice was prominent when just 2 years later Andoran rose in its own revolt.

Despite her hopes, the People’s Revolt was hardly bloodless; though it lacked the terror of Galt or a direct confrontation with Cheliax, a coalition of aristocrats calling itself the Old Guard refused to cede their power and wealth. Unknown to her compatriots, while continuing her pamphleteering and diplomatic work, Alysande used a magical disguise to adopt the persona of Captain Hawk, masterminding a series of raids against the Old Guard all along Andoran’s western frontier. She led the seizure of the harbor at Augustana, preventing the loss of the city’s ships of war. She later led this squadron at the Battle of Valcour Island; while over half her ships were lost, her cunning tactics and sheer bravado delayed the arrival of a flotilla of pirates and mercenaries for 2 crucial days. Without their aid, the leading houses of the Old Guard were defeated at Freeman’s Field on 19 Rova, 4677. Less than a month later, against the orders of a jealous superior, she led an attack at Bemis Heights east of Alvis. While victorious, she was sorely wounded, losing a leg. His superior ordered Captain Hawk court-martialed, but Alysande fled, abandoned her disguise, and was presumed dead. While “Captain Hawk” ceased to exist, her soldiers created a permanent memorial to him, mounting on it the bronzed empty boot she left on the battlefield.

Alysande healed her wounds and returned to her writing and speaking, traveling repeatedly to Andoran’s neighbors and cultivating fellow intellectuals (and, according to rumor, numerous paramours) until her death in 4690. Shortly thereafter, one of her proteges discovered her diaries and journals of inventions, witticisms, aphorisms, and philosophical observations, and published the contents as The Tales of Lady Liberty, cementing her legend and making her one of Andoran’s most popular figures. A generation after her death, her admirers have begun erecting a grand statue and lighthouse in her likeness on a tiny islet near Almas, a beacon of freedom from Andoran to the world, and many artists paint her on the battlefield, either as Alysande (which historically never happened) or recognizable as herself while pretending to be Captain Hawk.

General Reginald Cormoth: Commander of the Eagle Knights and Lord of the Guardian Tower, General Reginald Cormoth is a career military man. Born in Claes in 4636 and trained in the naval academies of Augustana, Reginald began his career stationed in Carpenden, hunting pirates off the Cape of Hope. His daring actions destroying Taldan slave galleys drew the attention of the local Eagle Knights, who inducted him into their ranks. A string of early successes across Andoran (and even once in the Arcadian colonies) marked him as a rising star. His strategic foresight and tactical puissance brought a rapid ascent to the High Command, where he reestablished ties with the Eagle Knights (wjile rumored to be secretly coordinating operations for the Twilight Talons). In 4689, he was elected Consul, and in 4694, Executive Consul and Lord Captain Commander of the Eagle Knights, serving as the Eagle Knights’ public face and reporting on the actions of the knighthood to the People’s Council. Drawing on his experience in unconventional operations, Reginald pushed the Eagle Knights to diversify their skills, powers, and classes. While a commitment to justice, truth, and the ideals of Andoran are an absolute requirement, he is not above bending the rules if necessary to get a job done. Called “the Old Man” affectionately by some (and fearfully by others), Reginald has a playful side, smoking tobacco leaves rolled thick in the Arcadian style and often travelling disguised, frequently shocking lax underlings when his disguise fades to reveal the silver hair and blue-steel glare (typically accompanied by a withering tirade) of the Old Man.