Scar
Noble of Altera
Note: This is the backstory of my upcoming faction and it's home.
Honor in Smoke
Part #1 - The rise of NocturnusHonor in Smoke
The day this story began was the day the name Peter von Lillium came to existence, taking the form of an infant. A child of exceptional beauty was given birth on the 7th of Truebirth, 1754. The spectacularly blue eyed child had no idea what his family had to give up for his birth. If he could, he would have felt remorse for being born as his family and he himself had to give up one thing precious to them - his mother. She passed away while giving birth to this infant. He and his two older brothers had to live with their father alone.
Life wasn't exceptionally forgiving to this family. Destiny treated them just the same it did every other family. The Lillium family lived on the brink of poverty, barely managing to survive within the capital. Life was hard for low class citizens like these. While Peter was still a child, his older brothers Brian and Jeffrey alongside their father worked at the local stables, tending to horses and keeping them safe for travelers and the military. It did not bring a fortune for the family, however, it helped them survive.
When Peter reached adolescence, his brothers were already adults, however, they still worked at the stables. The youngest one was also forced against his wishes to work in the stables. However, this wasn't the only place he... worked... After working hours at the stables, Peter would sneak out and go to an illegal brawling event. That was where he learned the art of combat and, with proper knowledge and skill, managed to make extra money for his family.
The word quickly spread around Port Silver of an adolescent boy by the alias of "Nocturnus" and his exceptional fighting skills. No one ever knew where he learned to fight, however, some guessed he had help from one of the Gods. As the word of this brawling event slipped into the open, the military of Port Silver quickly shut it down, arresting and/or killing anyone who participated... Except for Nocturnus. He was given a choice: either get hung for his illegal activity or join the military. According to the head of the military forces of Port Silver, Nocturnus would have been a great addition.
Peter asked for a week to think the offer through and luckily, he was given this right. As he came home to his family, they rejected him. His family felt shame for his wrong deeds, blaming him of sinister activity. They shunned him from their home. He took most of his belongings and without any word to the military, he left home and Port Silver in general, avoiding the punishment.
For ten years he traveled Altera, looking for shelter and food, running from the military. Two times he was caught, however, managed to escape by taking a few lives. These were the worst, but also the best years of his life so far. He was free from his family, free from the law. Peter was never fond of the walls he had to live in. This was the opportunity for him to run away.
Part #2 - Sinister End
Within the inn of one of the bigger towns in Altera, Peter met a person by the name of Blink. There was suspicion that it was but an alias, however, it had not mattered at that time. They talked for hours, they laughed, they drank and in the long run, became traveling partners.
Two more years passed by and the two traveling pals became a whole group of five people who were misfortunate enough to have begun traveling by force, not by will. Except for Rhyla, she was a traveling cartographer. The group consisted of Peter, an exceptionally skilled fighter by both hand and sword, Rhyla, a traveling cartographer who had extremely good precision when it came to bows, Blink, who preferred daggers and silence above all, William, a bastard of a noble exiled to travel around who carried a huge broadsword with him, and Courtney, a medically experienced girl shunned from her home town for practicing the wrong side of alchemy.
This group was now traveling not to survive, but to live. It was their passion. Rhyla provided them directions with her drawn maps and food by hunting animals, William and Peter took shifts in night watch and Blink provided the group with luxurious items by stealing from towns they visited. This was a life all of them loved.
One night during camping in the woods, rustling was heard in the bushes around and voices echoed from the distance. A group of the Port Silver military forces came looking for Peter, however, Blink was also their target. Two birds with one stone. By teamwork and struggle the group tried to fend off the soldiers, however, they were all captured. With a carriage they were all brought to a military fort named Ashview.
There, they were interrogated and prepared to be delivered to the king. Blink, being as sneaky as he was, escaped the ties, freed the rest of the group and together with them killed every single soldier one by one. Fort Ashview fell to the hands of the five.
As they felt the pleasure of bloodshed during the battle of Ashview, the five took over the fort, claiming it as their own and spreading the word around Altera of a new group that grown it's roots in Fort Ashview - Sinister Grace. The group picked Nocturnus as their leader. They had a place to stay and walls to protect them, at last.
The first years of Sinister Grace were extremely difficult for them. They assigned jobs to each other to keep them alive. Rhyla was the one, however, who patrolled the surroundings for incoming attacks. Also, as she would watch for any incoming threat, she drew a plan of the fort, marking every and any possible detail about it.
However, the latter years became easier and easier. They began attacking people that passed by and sometimes even assaulting helpless or weaker towns. Those who did not want to be killed - joined Sinister Grace. Three years later, there were twenty of them. Life became easy. Switching patrol shifts, working to keep them alive, everyone had their own jobs to do.
The military forces were also involved, however, each time they would attack, they'd end up beaten. Until that one day. The king gathered all the forces he had to attack Sinister Grace and with the outnumbering forces of the military, Sinister Grace crumbled. Not only were everyone killed, not only was the thriving guild of bandits destroyed, the fort itself crumbled from the destructive forces of catapults.
Nothing is left now, not even a house. Only the basement of the fort which was untouched by the attack. It currently holds nothing but a ruined basement...