[Medium Sized Model - 25mm Base]
[Presupported in 32mm & 75mm scale]
The great grandson of the last Duke of Tradver, who mysteriously disappeared over sixty years ago while journeying to the capital of Jochenia. His whole family and houseguard disappeared with him, none ever seen again. Arion’s grandfather was a bastard, unrecognised child of the Duke, and when the position lay empty, was not considered for it. Arion has managed to earn the favour of Belfrie’s nobles after unveiling the wicked deeds of Duke Conrad, the usurper of his family’s title. With Duke Conrad slain, King Trendium has promised Arion to legitimise him and grant him the title, though the affairs of the realm have torn Arion from his birthright before he could claim his place as the Duke of Tradver.
Arion grew up in the slums of Tradver, in Copper Fields. One of the nicer slums, owing to its presence on the Tradver Highway, but a slum nonetheless. His father was a smith, often commissioned for basic work for horseshoes and tools, but would get the occasional overflow orders from local militia and mercenary groups for weapons and armour. Watching his father forge longswords and batter cuirasses filled Arion with wonder, and often he would dream of the day he could don such creations himself, fighting dragons and slaying hordes of High Elves.
When the Liturium War began, Arion was excited, hoping to be levied in the war. Many of his friends from the local crafts college were called off to fight for Belfrie, though Arion was only fourteen summers old, and manhood had not yet firmly grasped him. He could not properly lift a shield or wield a sword, and thus was left behind. This weighed heavy on Arion, and seeing his son in sour spirits, his father deemed to raise them. It was here that Arion first learnt he was, in truth, the great grandson of the late Duke Wilman Midrun, who had disappeared mysteriously over sixty years ago. His grandfather was a bastard child born to a commoner woman, and unrecognised by the powers that be after his father’s disappearance.
This knowledge indeed inspired Arion, who spent the next years toiling away at his own armour set in his father’s forge late at night when his father’s works were finished for the day. As rumours of the treachery and nefarious activities of Duke Conrad began to spread, it fuelled the spirit of the young man aiming to blaze a path to nobledom, and out of the waterlogged slums of Tradver. Taking the family name of his late great grandfather, Arion cast down the nefarious half-Elven Duke alongside his comrades, exposing his lies, deceit and virulent place as a High Priest of the dark god Seroca.
For his service to the realm and Tharador at large, Arion was legitimised by King Trendium of Belfrie, with plans of installing the young smith as Duke in place of Conrad’s heirs. Though Conrad’s numerous heirs and the entirety of House Elstein have protested this, decrying the blasphemy of Arion and King Trendium and begetting an insurrection within the city. Tradver’s Gold Tower Keep is now under siege as the Royal Army attempts to de-escalate the situation without being forced to storm their own city. Thus Arion’s installation as Duke of Tradver has been delayed, and he has been called upon to serve the realm once again as news of his feats travels across the continent. Now Druids of Brel Alda have called out to him and his comrades, needing aid in Draksborne’s north.