Alexandros

''""I'm doing this to save my people. Your kingdom can burn for all I care."''

Alexandros is an immortal San'lyn elf, who is verbosely eloquent, intelligent, charismatic, and cynical. The youngest Blood Knight in history, he fights with a sword and shield, leading The Exiles on their quest, while personally seeking vengeance on those that forced him to murder his beloved. His dream is to spread the ideals of the First Age - knowledge and hope - to a ever-darkening world.

Origins
Alexandros was born in the year 1109, to a Vanguard father and Acolyte mother - parents that he never knew - towards the beginning of the Elvenhan Golden Age. Like all of the San'lyn, he was raised in seclusion within the Crimson Sanctuary, studying ancient texts and helping to decipher and study artifacts from the Old Empire. Extremely intelligent and charismatic from a young age, he quickly developed into a lithe and handsome young elf, and was one of the finest scholars in the San'lyn's history – he was the noted as being the most prolific Adeptus ever.

At the age of merely 29, Alexandros underwent the Blood Ritual, against the advice of his mentor and the San'lyn's Elder, Leotheras, and was nearly overwhelmed by it's curse. To the surprise all of the San'lyn, his spirit proved a powerful match for the ancient rite, and he survived what had claimed many much older and more experienced Adepti. Doing so, he earned the power of the San'lyn Blood Knights - immortality, agelessness. With such power, however, came a heavy price - in addition to never being able to rear children, his body rejects most forms of magic, and what was considered a blessing by most became quite a curse in the decades to come.

"But what did it matter? My life before that moment', before Avo's touch...was all merely preparation."

Blood Knight and Protector of the Bough
Centuries passed without incident, as Alexandros performed the duties of his sacred charge - guarding the Treeal Shrine, maintaining a vigil over the Sanctuary, and continuing his studies in the Athenaeum with the other Blood Knights. There, by chance, he stumbled across a scroll written in a language he, nor any scribe, could decipher. Bringing it to Leotheras' attention, the Elder was shocked by this discovery. The scroll was, in fact, an incantation written in the Precursor tongue - and though much of it was unintelligible, Leotheras was able to speak aloud a single passage.

____ Alexandros was given the command to stand by as the Bough was raided during the Gathering, and to have the entire population executed. Instead, he disregarded the orders, and personally warned the Daegon'hai of the coming attack, and assisted in it's defence. There, he met a ___ year-old Vengeant, Remembered by the Daegon'hai survivors (and Vengeant) as a great ally.

Return to the San'lyn
Alexandros returned to the Crimson Sanctuary alone, a few weeks after the battle. Upon his arrival, he was greeted coldly by his fellow Blood Knights, for aiding "Dark Elves", and for disobeying Elder Leotheras' orders of isolation. Emmirion denounced Alexandros' actions as traitorous, and he ultimately faced a tribunal for his departure. He stood before Leotheras and the entirety of the San'lyn, and made his case for defending the Daegon'hai.

"We're alone, can't you see it? We're not dying out...we're dying in. We have all of these books, stories of ancient heroes who saved their people - not with swords, but with knowledge...and what do we do? We have books on healing, books on irrigation, how to govern, how to build ships...everything that was lost when the Imperial City fell. Avo wanted us to save it... but not to just hide it in a monastery forever. He wanted us to protect it long enough so that we could spread it, give it to people who need it. The Daegon'hai... say what you want, are a noble people. A Keeper upholds the same honor that any Blood Knight does, and they are no more tainted than we our with our own rituals. Avo left us to protect the ideals of the First Age, not the books, and the Daegon'hai, while not perfect, have their honor. Preserving the Daegon'hai is preserving a Entgallow tree - it's dark and gloomy, but on it grows Lightmist, to guide lost travelers on their way."

Reclusive, he spent most of his time in the Athenaeum, where he learned much about ancient Elvenhan society, and how very different things had become outside. There, he attracted the attention of Lenorah, the beautiful and vivacious Adeptus who had spoken on his behalf, who saw the grief and resentment in his eyes. She brought comfort and solace to his conflicted mind, and the two fell in love. After a few years, they were joined.

''“She always talked…I listened. There was a comfort in her words…she could…make you forget…”''

NON-CANON

Two years passed, during which, the Crimson Sanctuary was in a state of lockdown. With the Elvenhan's _____ decided that a journey to the outside was necessary, to assess the situation, and to decide if it was time for the San'lyn to be known to the outside world. Alex volunteered to lead the expedition, his beloved came with him, leaving only a few dozen arcanists behind to maintain the Crimson Sanctuary.

During the journey, the party saw, firsthand, the damage wrought upon Edvensfall following Ulthanos' fall. With Alkar’are destroyed, the lands surrounding it had turned just as barren and warped as the Forbidden Reaches. Human and Elvenhan bandits stalked the roads and raided small villages. But the worst was yet to come. In Ibelis, what was once a temple-city devoted to Avo, the small Elven party, including Elena, was ambushed - Alexandros, scouting ahead at the time, returned to find the camp ravaged, and many of his San'lyn brothers dead or missing. Deducing that their location had been sold out (as the San’lyn were masters of secrecy) and attacked by a raiding party, he did not find Elena among the dead. He tracked them for weeks in the hopes of rescuing her, finding the bodies of still more of his friends along the way.

Eventually, he caught up to the group that had attacked his party. Atop a high hill overlooking a massive encampment, he recognized a red flag, and, in the midst of a crowd, his wife. While she had survived, she was to be auctioned off along with dozens of other slaves into brutal labor – or worse. For hours he watched and desperately tried to formulate a plan, as more and more of the slaves were subjected to horrific treatment. But, it was him, versus hundreds, or thousands, of savage raiders, and he had only one choice. Rather than allow his beloved (and his unborn child) to be subjected to the horrors of slavery, Alexandros chose to notch his bow and take her life in an act of mercy.

The Fallen Hero
Completely broken, Alexandros was forced to flee the area. Quite alone, he wandered the Shadowlands, the eastern wastelands. But where he hoped to find death, he instead found a purpose. By chance, he saw a crimson banner in the distance – the same as the raiding party. These slavers were part of an entire nation – the newly established Strom. Committing his life to finding the ones responsible for his wife’s capture and people’s betrayal, his personal goal became one of vengeance. He returned to the Crimson Hall, and ordered the doors sealed. With their numbers at an all-time low and with the outside world in such chaos, it was decided that complete isolation would be the only way to preserve the ancient order.

Fueled by hatred at a man he once respected, Alexandros began to train himself for the coming years, when he would finally enact his vengeance. Decades passed, and, in this time, Alexandros, with the vast knowledge of the Athenaeum at his disposal, grew to learn much in the ways of combat, and the arts of war and leadership, along with more peaceable skills, such as diplomacy and herbalism.

On the eve before he was to set out, he and his brothers knelt before the statue of Avo in the Temple of the One, an uttered a single prayer, asking for a sign of grace on Avo’s behalf. He laid his ancient bow on the altar, and promised to return if he could bring justice to those responsible for the San’lyn’s downfall. A shadowy, cloaked figure approached from behind him, and whispered his name. She was Vengeant, the last living member of the Daegon'hai, and she had come to deliver a gift...

Epilogue
Regardless of decisions made, Alexandros will perform the following actions:

Immortality
The agelessness bestowed on Alexandros has truly been

Choices
-He can decide the fate of Strom by choosing to murder:


 * a) King Daelin


 * b) his son


 * c) or both, or he can decide to:


 * d) have Melchior lead the remaining tribes east to an uncertain future at Elena's insistence.

-He can decide the fate of his mentor, Leotheras, by choosing to:


 * a) honorably duel and kill him, or spare him and:


 * b) have him exiled or


 * c) have him lead the San’lyn.

-He, along with all the other exiles, will decide the fate of the Nexus.

-More to come…

Relationships
Alex was married to Elena for 12 years, and during that time they laughed, loved, and learned in the halls of the San'lyn, the happiest years of his life. She soothed and nurtured his wounded soul, and eased his pain of loosing so much during the war. Before leaving for their fateful expedition, she confided that she was pregnant with their child, due within months. With her death, Alex was forever plunged into a maddening depression wrought with guilt and rage.

It is not until after finally coming to terms with Prince Daelin that he will move on, and allow his wife's memory to finally rest. Only then will he be able to pursue romance, with either: He can also participate in the Bloodthistle-induced orgy at the end of the game with several party members, and will spend the final night with whomever he is in a romance with.
 * Vengeant, more favorably if he settles his affairs with violence and remains a Blood Knight.
 * Elena more favorably if he is merciful and returns to his roots as a ranger.

Canonically, the official pairing seems to be with Vengeant, though given her fate at the end of the adventure, this is in question.

Quotes
(upon entering___)
 * -“Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements”

(when leaving Eastwind Quarry for the first time)


 * Vengeant: “How are we supposed to get down?”


 * Alexandros: “Hm. Vengeant, are you pregnant?”


 * Vengeant: “No.”
 * pushes off cliff*

(near Might's Breach)


 * Alexandros: “We’re near Ibelis Ridge…if I see crimson I’m going. Hope that’s not a problem.”


 * ???: “Not a problem. That’s a solution.”


 * Alexandros: “Damn right. Me and you, we’re just a couple of problem solvers.”

(Entering Eastvale Village, to Vengeant)

(Before sparing Prince Daelin) (Before executing Prince Daelin and his son)
 * "I wasn't gawking. I was just...I thought I saw...Oh for Avo's sake, you should at least cover them…
 * "A tyrant always dies alone, Daelin, surrounded by silver-tongued leeches, he is utterly alone. He sows sorrow and reaps death. Remember this..."
 * "What did you think, Daelin? That you could have my people enslaved, my wife murdered...my child, my son...is dead by my hands. Now you can watch yours die..."