Alteres Attasi was born to a privileged and pious family of two Aasimar parents, Doven and Bretta Attaasi. With both parents being prestigious officers in the Eagle Knights, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that young Alteres would grow to greatness. Educated from the time he could speak by private tutors, he learned the arts of the world: culture, mathematics, science, art, and music. Though he struggled in the sciences and mathematics, he excelled in the arts, specifically painting. The moment he was old enough to heft a blade, he began his marshal instruction under his father’s close friend and mentor, an elf named Rahmadier. He was a grizzled veteran of the Worldwound and, like Alteres’ parents, a devout worshipper of The Dawnflower. Rahmadier was a strict taskmaster and his disciplined routines honed Alteres into a living weapon. However, when he was not being instructed in the various forms of the sword, Rahmadier was not unlike an uncle to the boy. He often regaled his heroic exploits in the Worldwound to him, of battles against demons and treacherous demon sympathizers. Alteres swore from a young age that one day he would fight at Rahmadier’s side in the Worldwound as a Paladin of Sarenrae.
As a young adult and a newly knighted Paladin, Alteres heard rumors of fey consorting with demons along the northern borders of Andoran and quickly put his childish dreams of fighting at the Worldwound to bed. With dangers much closer to home threatening the fledgling democracy that was Andoran, he set off with Rahmadier to investigate these blasphemous rumors. While traveling to Falcon’s Hollow, Alteres and Rahmadier took a brief respite in the town of Olfden. Alteres was intrigued by the stories of the town militia, which was comprised mostly of retired Eagle Knights. Although, what really drew Alteres’ eye was not the grizzled veterans and their exaggerated war stories, but a young flaxen-haired Cleric of Iomedae who served humbly at a small chapel outside of the town proper.
Her name was Victoria, half-elf daughter of a retired Eagle Knight lieutenant. Her beauty was only matched by her skill with a sword. She and Alteres swiftly became good friends, having similar military upbringings and a strong investment in their faiths. They spent many afternoons together with much to talk about. Alteres found himself quickly becoming enamored by the beautiful woman (much to his disdain, for she had sworn herself to Iomedae with a vow of chastity). On their final night in Olfden, Alteres and Rahmadier sat alone in the tavern, discussing their next move in chasing down the rumors plaguing the north over a pint of ale. It grew late, so each of them retired to their respective rooms with heavy eyes, and Alteres with a heavy heart, for come dawn they would depart. However, upon entering his small room, he found his bed already occupied. There Victoria lay, clad in naught but a thin white slip. Come morning she felt Iomedae’s influence depart her, and she could no longer call upon her divine might. Though the spirit had left, the sun was warm upon her face and she swore a new oath: to stand at Alteres’ side forever with Sarenrae at her other. It was then that The Everlight heard her prayer and gazed into her heart, and there she found that it beat true. From that moment, the sun kissed her flesh and she was among the blessed of Sarenrae.
Over the next several months, the trio hunted and searched for leads to the demonic cult. During their months of searching, Victoria had a wonderful bastard sword crafted to pay homage to The Dawnflower and the goddess that she had forsaken through her love. Unfortunately, she was still haunted by her betrayal to Iomedae and felt that it cheapened the vow she made to Alteres and The Sun Goddess. Though Alteres promised her that she would find peace and redemption through The Healing Light, she took it upon herself to create her own penance. With Alteres’ help, she engraved a delicate golden pattern of beautiful ritualistic tattoos into the flesh of her face for the goddess.
They eventually followed the rumors of the cult to a dark forest north of Falcon’s Hollow. What they found there did not bode well for the triumvirate of holy warriors. The forest was an unholy bastion for the fey and it proved no easy foe with whom to contend. The more powerful fey had deluded themselves into believing they could control the chaotic natures of the demons, and were already binding themselves to them in evil rituals. The most powerful fey of which was known as The Beckoner. He was an ancient and mighty Woodwose, which had bound a Balor and its legions to his command. The forest was swarming with these lesser Abyssal spawn. Patrols of dretch and babau, corrupted satyr and fierce darklings numbering in the hundreds swarmed through the underbrush and trees. It was clear to Alteres that the three of them could do little in the way of a direct assault without the backing of an army. Even then the losses would be severe, and the Supreme Elect could do little in the way of sending a legion of Eagle Knights to the border, what with the threat that Cheliax represented being yet so prevalent.
Early one morning, as Alteres walked and mentally prepared himself for the day ahead, he was ambushed by a group of fey. Outnumbered nearly twenty to one, he was contemplating his options when a brilliant light appeared in the clearing, scorching the earth and several of the satyrs. The unexpected distraction allowed him to lay into the satyrs around him. Several moments passed in bloodshed. Panting and covered in the blood of his enemies, Alteres stood as the last beast fell dead. Standing amongst the dead in a clearing not ten feet from him was a brilliant golden hound Archon, wielding an ornate scimitar and what appeared to be a banner attached to a long spear. Turning its bestial head slowly towards Alteres, it stepped nimbly through the carnage he had wrought and handed the glorious Standard of Sarenrae to the paladin. With but a simple mandate in its gruff oration it commanded, “Raise the Light, swear them to the sun, and your number shall illuminate the Abyss.” When Alteres’ hands closed around the banner, the Archon blinked out of existence. On that same evening, Alteres, Rahmadier, and Victoria were the first to speak the Oath of the Sun and become the first Sunsworn. Over the next several years the recruits flowed in, but there was one that Alteres took particular interest in: a young human named Ghed. The son of a woodcutter, his impressive flourishes with a quarter staff, though unrefined, showed great promise. Alteres took him as a squire and trained him to become a paladin.
During those years, Alteres and the Sunsworn led an effective campaign against the forces of The Beckoner, slowly pushing them back to their master’s lair where a final confrontation with the Balor and The Beckoner would take place. The final battle was a bloody affair, with the four heroes leading the charge against the Balor, while the Sunsworn clashed against the fey and Abyssal spawn. During the battle, Rahmadier willingly took a grievous facial wound that allowed Alteres and Ghed to land their fatal blows against the Balor. Victoria dragged the unconscious Rahmadier to safety to administer healing through her divine magic as a battle priestess. With the Chapter rallied by the sight of the Sunsworn regalia standing brazenly from the corpse of the Balor, they charged into the inner labyrinths of The Beckoner’s fortress. Inside the bowels of the cave, they met fierce resistance while they fought for the inner sanctum. Traps, puzzles, and seemingly endless hordes of demons and fey alike pounded into their ranks and thinned their numbers. The few uninjured that made it into the inner sanctum were weary and worn, including Alteres and his now well-experienced right hand Ghed.
The Beckoner, who was old, gnarled, and more twisted than the most ancient of trees, was a horrifying sight to behold; his magic tore into the exhausted Sunsworn ranks, weakening them further as they engaged him in battle. As Alteres and Ghed drew his wrath away from their comrades, several minotaurs trudged out from the labyrinth and assaulted the remaining ranks in combat. The situation was beginning to look grim as the battle continued to rage. Ghed, in a moment of distraction, was overwhelmed by The Beckoner’s magic and left in a daze with a spell that Alteres was unable to identify. While The Beckoner was focusing on Ghed, Alteres used this to his advantage and struck down the fey lord, removing his head and finally ending his campaign against the cultists.
Over the next few months, word of the Sunsworn’s victory spread throughout the north and into the southern lands of the capitol, drawing in a multitude of new recruits from many faiths. Rahmadier was healed, though he lost all use of his right eye, and Alteres and Victoria were officially married in the Healing Light. All seemed well, with the exception of Ghed. Whatever foul curse that was placed upon him by The Beckoner continued to weaken him the harder he fought. Alteres remained reluctant to leave his bedside, until Ghed suddenly and miraculously seemed to regain his strength one day.
A year had passed, and Alteres constructed his chapter house on the outskirts of Falcon’s Hollow where he and Victoria had made their home. Ghed left several months prior on a journey to Almas and returned shortly after the chapter house had been completed. Alteres hosted a hero’s return for him, with much drinking and feasting. However, it was almost immediately upon his return that Victoria felt something unusual about Ghed and attempted to warn Alteres and Rahmadier; they were both too wrapped up in the celebration to notice her warnings. Alteres woke later that evening, unable to sleep, and went for a walk on the ramparts. He found his friend Rahmadier smoking his pipe in the moonlight. They talked for some time as they looked out over the rolling plains of Andoran. Suddenly, screams broke the silence and an unearthly explosion shattered the earth. The courtyard became a tangle of green flames and the chapter house was set ablaze. Dark forms darted through the night and panicked screams were heard everywhere, abruptly cut off from their source moments later. Alteres rushed down the ramparts and to his bedchamber in time to see Victoria on her knees, her defiant eyes staring up at her assailant, as a blade was plunged into her throat. Alteres screamed in agony and hatred as the assailant turned and he caught site of the sneering face of Ghed in the moonlight, turning to him with bloody blade raised. An uncontrollable rage took him then. Reaching out, he grabbed Victoria’s blade from the stand above their bed. A fiery halo burst into existence above his head, with glowing ethereal wings emerging from his back. His eyes burned with a golden light. In fact, his whole body appeared to shimmer and glow as he swung Victoria’s blade. Catching Ghed’s retaliating swing and nearly shattering his enemy’s sword from the force, a quick and violent series of blows forced the traitor back to the window. With no other course of action left to him, Ghed leapt through. Alteres followed him, bursting through the glass and into the moonlit night. All around him the Chapter house burned, as the unholy-green flames continued to spread and consume everything. Everywhere he looked there was another body of a friend, a comrade, a neophyte covered in blood. Those that still lived, their bodies twisted and broken, he granted a mercy killing. He entered combat with the demonic shadows, and one after another demons fell to his blade, his holy radiance smiting them out of existence.
When dawn finally came, it found Alteres alone among the dead. His courtyard was littered with the bodies of the murdered. In the early morning light, he held his bloodied bride. The Eagle Knights had seen the flames from afar, but reinforcements had arrived too late. The traitorous Ghed was gone, and the only remaining Sunsworn left standing was Rahmadier. The Eagle Knights were busy arranging the bodies of the slaughtered Sunsworn when Rahmadier approached Alteres in an attempt to take Victoria from him. Alteres lashed out in grief, and Rahmadier nearly found himself impaled on Victoria’s bastard sword. Thus began Alteres’ descent into madness. With everything he had fought for and held dear stripped from him, he limped into the evil wilderness where he had slain The Beckoner. More years passed, and his sanity faded with them. Feral and alone, he lived like an animal among the forest brush. His strength and connection to his divine power left him as time passed.
Eventually, he was sought out and found by his only remaining friend. Rahmadier found him sleeping in a cave like an animal, his once powerful physique now completely diminished. With his muscle all but deteriorated, he appeared as a shadow of his former self. Without even acknowledging Rahmadier’s presence, he sat there in a stupor as Rahmadier told him the news of Ghed’s appearance in the Worldwound, and of rumors of his new association with a demonic cult. When he continued to receive no reaction from Alteres, he admonished him for his cowardice and weakness of mind and stormed off in anger and disappointment.
For another few months Alteres continued his pitiful existence, until one day, at the edge of a forest pool, a beam of light as bright as the sun illuminated the clearing and forest pool. Above the water, a flaming wheel began to spin. “Alteres, you will heed my words,” a disembodied voice echoed through the clearing. “Your time is not yet done. No, it has just begun. Rise anew and remember who and what you are. The Sunsworn will live again. You are needed in the far north, in the Worldwound. Fight there, in this final crusade. Your world hangs in the balance. Go now, my son, and avenge the fallen.”
Then, as if the flaming wheel had never been there at all, the clearing became dark and silent once again. However, something had been returned to Alteres. He could once again feel the warmth of Sarenrae in his heart, and for but a moment, he could almost see Victoria’s smiling face on the day of their wedding. Without word or ceremony, Alteres stood… and began to walk.