Aeschere Thal

Race: Elven Male

Age: 47

Aeschere (pronounced ash-hair-uh) Thal was born the crown prince to the Human and Elvish nation of Ethalia. Aeschere was trained in his youth as a Rune Blade and excelled in combat as well as his skills as a military leader. Though Ethalia had mostly known peace throughout its history, Aeschere had a vision of a kingdom that united all races under his banner and spanned the whole of Berla.

However, Aeshere's dreams were not easily obtained as most of the royal army was tied up in defending smaller towns and villages against a large bandit force called the Blood Lilly. The crown prince tried for years to exterminate the Blood Lilly, but unsuccessful. For though he would always beat them in direct battle, the bandit forces had no ground to defend and were able to quickly retreat out of reach.

When Aeschere was finally crowned king at the age of 28, he tried a new tactic to realize his vision of an all encompassing empire. He wrote a letter to flatter the leaders of the Blood Lilly and hire them for their skills. After a hefty sum was paid, the king was able to free up his armies from defending his own lands and turn them toward conquering the neighboring Dwarven kingdom to the west. Bolstered by the newly acquired Blood Lilly mercenaries, the outlying Dwarven towns stood no chance and were quickly conquered. Only their capitol stronghold of Du'Cragolm remained.

Du'Cragolm housed the majority of the Dwarven population and it's walls proved to be impenetrable. Aeschere's only option was to lay siege to the city. After 5 long years of constant siege, as well as multiple bribes to the Blood Lilly to keep them loyal, it was determined that Du'Cragolm could not be sieged, it's walls too strong and it's supply reserves too deep. In this time of apparent defeat, Queen Virzana came up with an alternate plan. She proposed a deal to give the Dwarves a strong place within the Ethalian economy: Control of the merchant trade routes. After a few months of negotiation, the Dwarven leaders accepted the terms and willingly joined under Ethalian rule.

The only remaining nation on Berla was the Kith tribes to the north. The Kith were a strong people, but mostly lived as small tribes outside of a few large city states that make up the Six Talons. Though victory seemed sure at first, the treacherous mountain terrain proved nearly as deadly to Aeschere's armies as did the Kith forces. Eventually, the Kith tribes fell one by one. After nearly 7 more years of war, Aeschere fulfilled his dream of uniting the continent under his own rule.

The king hasn't shown much interest in the discovery of the gateway to the Everglades, but some speculate that the conquering spirit within him was never fully satisfied and that he may someday turn his attention to lands outside of Berla.