Ben

Many years ago, in an island kingdom of Mirr, the deposed dragonborn queen Lucinda gave birth to a pair of twins Svengette (AKA Sven) and Caliben (AKA Ben). Lucinda had no love for her children, seeing them as a burden, especially since she was planning to wage a war against the ones that had overthrown her, including Krislindahl, her shapechanger (former) lover who usurped her as ruler of Mirr and led the army that overthrew her.*

• Krislindahl is not a dragonborn and not the father of the twins; he did pose as a dragonborn during the

affair, though. She put the twins in the care of Gustafar, the adopted adult (dragonborn) son of her dead husband (adopted before Lucinda and the dead king were married, so she had no emotional attachment to him either) and paid for their voyage to the mainland. Gustafar spent Lucinda’s money on beer, gambling, and prostitutes in the coastal town. Eventually, the money ran out and Gustafar got in a fight with a couple lowlifes. Gustafar cast fire on the hut and was too drunk to escape, so all three perished (though Gustafar’s body was never found). Young Sven and Ben were left to fend for themselves and were adopted by a human passerby who happened to be a slayer. This man’s name was Calder. Calder taught Sven and Ben how to be slayers and how to fight. Calder claimed to be a holy man in addition to being a slayer and only killed those who “had it coming” in the eyes of his god. Sven and Ben developed a knack for slaying as they entered their teenage years- Ben had a bit more of bloodlust than Sven, who kept him level-headed. Calder would tout the dragonborn brothers around with him and purge villages of monsters and evil entities that plagued the land. They were very successful and Calder became very rich (Calder claimed that Slayers took a vow of poverty and that he would donate all of his gains to the church once he returned to Schmendelton). One night, while they were camping outside of a village, Ben awoke to see Calder sneak some of the money from their money box and enter the town. Ben followed him to a tavern. Once inside, Ben watched Calder spend the money, get drunk, and flirt with prostitutes. Ben finally confronted him and Calder explained this is the will of the gods for their slayers to enjoy themselves. This is when Ben started indulging in life’s pleasures...a little too much. Sven did not indulge and would constantly cast judgmental glances at Ben for his decisions. A few years later, Calder took Ben and Sven to a castle that was said to house an evil entity. Ben was very hungover from the previous night...he partied harder than Calder, who had enough foresight to go easy on things knowing what was to come the next night… Upon arrival at the castle, they were attacked by undead monsters and, even in his hungover state, Ben was able to kill them easily. But it turned out these were merely pawns. They were being controlled by Gustafar. It turns out that he did not perish in the fire all those years ago; when he was pinned down by debris, too drunk to escape from the flames, an entity appeared to him and promised to save him and grant him immeasurable power if he pledged his soul to him. Gustafar agreed and became an undead lord that had an army of undead and harvested the nearby village night after night. Gustafar engaged Calder, Ben, and Sven in battle. Due to his previous night’s escapades, Ben was sluggish and slower than he would typically be. In the course of the battle, Gustafar mocks Calder, calling him a liar, a hypocrite, and a fraud. When Gustafar finally got bored with the human, he cast a spell that would burn Calder from the inside out. As Calder cried out in pain as his body turned to embers, Gustafar told the brothers that he could teach them how to cast such dark magic and to no longer fear death. He would make them kings in the new world his master promised them. Sven refused outright while Ben wavered. Gustafar touched him and Ben had a vision of a world of fire and debris and was horrified...but he also suddenly felt sick from last night’s carousing. He vomited into Gustafar’s face. Disgusted, Gustafar impaled Ben and threw him across the room. As he slowly lost consciousness, he watched as Sven fought Gustafar. Ben would slip in and out of consciousness for the next several days. He pieced a few things together: Sven managed to slay Gustafar and had burned his body. Sven mentioned that he saw some visions, too, but he did not want to talk about them. They were now traveling somewhere- some moments he was in an inn, others he was in a cart and could hear the sound of galloping hooves, others the splash of water against a boat. One night, Gustafar appeared to him in the darkness, his eyes glowing red in the shadows. “You’re gonna die, you know,” he said. “I gave you my disease and it will hollow you out. When your death finally comes, you will be overcome with joy to meet it!” When Ben awoke and was lucid, he found himself in the infirmary at the church in Schmendleton, Sven sitting at his bedside alongside a friar. The friar announced that “Brother Ben” had indeed been poisoned by Gustafar, but they had treated it and he would make a full recovery. Later, Ben asked Sven why was he was called Brother Ben. Sven explained: In exchange for saving his life, the church demanded that Ben and Sven join the church. They would refuse treatment unless they agreed. Sven readily agreed while Ben accepted in a moment of delirium. Ben was, of course, taken aback but Sven eventually convinced him to give it a try. Years passed in relative peace at the church… Sven and Ben put aside their weapons and learned new skills; Ben found he had a knack for creating music-whenever he felt an urge for violence, he would find an instrument and play. Sven was quite good at weaving. The two studied sacred texts and became priests, though it took Ben a bit longer, since he wasn’t sure he was 100% onboard with the modest living, life of celibacy, and vow of poverty that was expected of him. When the head abbot died, things changed. Corruption within the church seemed more prevalent; bribes were taken, vows were broken, etc. Both Ben and Sven were suspicious, but, being the only dragonborn priests in the church, they felt they were not inclined to say anything (the degrees of the corruption is still an area I’m unsure about). Eventually, the head priest announced that he would send several of the priests on a pilgrimage to spread the word of their god (and to collect money from new followers). Sven was chosen. He was given his sword back as well as a blessing and sent out into the cold world. Before leaving, Sven told Ben to keep prying and root out the corruption and report his findings to the head priest. Ben would do just that. When he gathered enough evidence, he planned to reveal it to the head priest. It took several months. At one point, he had a nightmare and awoke with the thought that something had happened to his brother...he shook the thought off and continued his own investigations. When he finally had enough evidence, he sought an audience with the head priest. The head priest read his report and laughed. He said that the only thing he was mad about was that he was not getting his full share. When Ben called him out on his corruptedness, the priest demanded that Ben be defrocked and excommunicated from the church. Two of the church guards then bodily threw the dragonborn from the church...and that is when we were introduced to him in the story. After learning about his brother’s death, Ben decided he would make his purpose to find out what happened to Sven. A few days into his journey, he began to hear a voice in his head, one that sounded an awful lot like Sven, telling him to help people. The voice was faint at first and he ignored it, but then it became louder, almost as if it was in the same room. He keeps the information to himself. He also plans to find more evidence to expose the corruption of his former brotherhood, since he is beginning to see more and more influence across the world. Things I want to discuss: -the corruption of the church. I see it as a disguised cult. -Would Krislindahl and Lucinda’s war across the world have any bearing in what’s going on with the overall story? -the voice COULD be Sven, but it could also be Gustafar’s voice. -What dark entity could potentially have rescued Gustafar if its an evil entity that could have been introduced earlier or one that could be introduced; whether its tied in to the corruption of the church or something else evil? -I heard more worldbuilding was already done re: Schmendleton. I don’t want to contradict anything that could have been established already.