Arix

Arix was once a knight of the Sacred Order. Young and idealistic, she combined her vigor and fighting skills with an unswerving dedication to the tenets of her faith. She rose quickly through the ranks, but always hungered for greater success, greater glory. She harbored a zealous hatred of the Undead, and sought assignments to hunt them throughout Anhelt and beyond. It wasn’t long before Arix’s fervor saw her overreach. After being promised reinforcements by a senior knight of the Sacred Order, she set out to slay a necromancer by the name of Arkuaz. Her warriors were few, and when she cornered Arkuaz, the expected aid failed to materialize. Arix’s companions fell to Arkuaz’s Undead host. Arix herself barely escaped. When she sought out the knight who’d promised to help her, she discovered that he’d been killed in a battle against another Undead foe. Arix now saw that the forces of the Order were not powerful enough to protect Teleria from the curse of Siroth’s spawn. Many had the advantage of immortality while the warriors of the Order were mere mortals. Arix resolved to find a way to change things: to find the time and strength she needed to tip the scales in the everlasting crusade against the Undead. It was at this point that she crossed paths with the Cult of K’Leth. Members of the Cult of K’Leth showed Arix how, if she proved her worth, her soul could be transmuted – via a soul gem – into a younger body. At first, Arix was suspicious of the dark magics involved, but she was also desperate, and believed her purity of purpose would protect her. After all, she did not seek such immortality for personal power, but so she could make herself an unrelenting enemy of the Undead. And so, Arix was inducted into the Cult of K’Leth, and fell prey to its pervasive teachings. The leaders of the cult, the Knights Revenant, did indeed have their consciousness transferred, to younger, more able bodies, but they had little desire to share such a privilege with the thousands of acolytes who made up their body of servants. Occasionally, however, one would catch their eye. Arix was one such fortunate. Her sword-skill was impressive, and her presence within the Sacred Order made her a useful asset. She was courted by one particular Knight Revenant, Zoriel, who tried to use her to influence the Order. Over the years, Arix became ever more warped by the beliefs of the cult, yearning for immortality and losing sight of her former good intent. It angered her to see how the likes of Zoriel were not willing to share their immortality. Eventually, Arix challenged Zoriel, demanding that she be given a new, younger body, or she would not only slay Zoriel, but shatter his soul gem too, snuffing out his existence forever. Arix defeated Zoriel, and the desperate Knight Revenant granted Arix's wish. Believing she would need to choose the body of someone pure if her own supposedly righteous purpose was to remain unsullied, Arix abducted a squire from the Sacred Order to be her vessel. Once a knight of the Sacred Order, Arix’s soul was now twisted by decades spent with the Cult of K’Leth. Now the dark magics of this rushed ceremony took from her the only good that was left. What Arix had done soon became known to the Order, and she was not only expelled, but declared Undead. When Arix’s former friends came for her, they found her much changed. Finding their zealotry small-minded, Arix slayed them all, deciding that it was the Sacred Order which was in fact misguided. If they could not see that only an immortal could match the Undead, then she would not count herself among their number. In the decades since, Arix’s hatred of the Undead has remained, but her path has long since wandered. She will ally with the Sacred Order, albeit grudgingly, but any amity she once had to it has long ago withered and died. The Knights Revenant now see Arix as an outlier and a danger: to them she is unwelcome proof that despicable, disposable acolytes are not beyond seizing a power of their own. For her own part, Arix cares nothing for her former fellow-cultists. She rose to her current position through her iron will and skill, and any incapable of doing so themselves are not worthy of her assistance. Arix claimed immortality with sword and fist, and she will keep it the same way, whether her fellow Knights Revenant approve or not.