Meet the Phoenix Blade

While the story of The Phoenix Blade is told primarily through the point of view of its leader, Bolreck. The guild is full of various characters with varying levels of development and involvement in the lives of other Comalanians. So, for our next post, I'd like to talk a little about some of the other members of the Phoenix Blade.

Saayuko Dreadkiller

Once a member of a gang of Heronite bandits, Saayuko fled the country after killing the leader of her gang. This monstrous archer, known as the Dread Arrow, was spoken of in whispers by the people of Heron and Tanis alike. Unable to tolerate the brutality he carried with him for any longer, she led him into a trap that caused him to fall to one of his own arrows. While this feat earned her the gratitude of the various regions their gang once terrorized, her resulting fame made her a target of every bandit in Heron. Branded a killer of the free people, she immigrated to the Desmond Foothills of Resta. There, she learned of this new country and began to travel with the local hunting parties. As she began to grow more confident in her safety within the kingdom's borders, she ranged further and further until she had eventually explored the entirety of Resta. Thus began a mercenary career as a retrieval expert, which would eventually lead her into Bolreck's path. As a senior member of the Phoenix Blade, she is known as The Fetcher for her skills in resource acquisition.

Moruay Rainwalker

As the first employee under Bolreck's business in Resta, Moruay Rainwalker would become a founding member of the Phoenix Blade. She was born on the island of Katrine as the daughter of an emissary who frequently treated with the Restan throne. She lives in frequent fear of the Third Archknight because of the ways her father, Ranin, have fallen afoul of him and his friends. This makes things tense between her and Takaa, a longtime friend of Gyanda's. She is otherwise a friendly face to all of the guild. While the guild all affectionately refers to Bolreck and Saayuko as the parents of the guild, Moruay is considered the older sister-- even by Benedicte, who is measurably older than she is. She offers her skills as a survivalist to the guild in the form of fine leather goods for the customers and delicious food for her friends.

Takaa of Ravager

Takaa was once a gunsmith working out of a solitary workshop in the south of Ravager until he crossed paths with Gyanda Maloran. After aiding the magister who would become the Archknight, Takaa set out for Resta in search of further adventure that went beyond hunting dangerous game on his home island. While he continued to aid Gyanda and his friends on multiple occasions, he found a day job as a member of the craftsman's stable that would become the Phoenix Blade. He has an avid disdain for most magic after watching his own brother become devoured by the seductive influence of dark magic but tends to make an exception for people he especially likes, including Gyanda, Volt, and his best friend Oogura. He is also taken with Tir Apollo--not for her Avatar prestige, but for their mutual fascination with engineering.

Oogura of Sister

Oogura was once a disciple of the Landsworn, a druidic cabal devoted to guarding her island's ecosystem from within. While she excelled at blending into her environment, she eventually grew bored with life on Sister. Thirsting with a desire to see the world beyond her shores, she moved to Resta. She stopped first in the capitol's Royal Library in the hopes of gathering knowledge she would need to proceed.  It was there she learned to read and wield a pen from a patient scholar by the name of Melany Winstrom. But as Madam Winstrom began to fall ill, Oogura desperately took a job under Bolreck to take care of her benefactor. While that illness would take the old woman's life, Oogura would find a new home among the newly-founded Phoenix Blade where she applies her skills as a scribe. She is a friendly soul who, unlike Moruay, bonds easily with strangers and often appears as the face of the guild. Her love for everyone in the guild is intense, but far less so than it is for Takaa. Unfortunately this passion is unrequited due to Takaa's attention toward the Avatar of Crane.

Benedicte Zeringue

Prior to his death, Benedicte, or Bene as he is known more casually, made most of his living conning the citizens of Resta City and trying his best to avoid running afoul of the authorities. This is actually how he came to know Bolreck originally, though they wouldn't reunite and become friends until after they both became sai'mul. Though Bene's death greatly increased his talent for dark magic, he still finds ways to profit off of swindling people in addition to charging for genuine goods and magical services. Personality wise, he fancies himself quite the charmer and prides himself on his charisma. Despite his penchant for moral ambiguity, Bene is friendly with the other members of the Phoenix Blade and and generally avoids grifting his own comrades. He is particularly close with guild leader Bolreck, though also notable was his rather close relationship with Eione Astersong prior to her treason. The nature of the relationship was notoriously ambiguous, but those who know him well would be able to detect how hurt the usually-unflappable sai'mul was by Eione's defection.

Zara of Ravager

Like Takaa, Zara hails from the Midanian island of Ravager. Beyond that, his past is largely unknown. He is most notable for his close friendship with the Avatar of Kerun, Voltairine Maloran, and is said to have been her companion for years before she entered the spotlight. Like the Avatar, Zara is known as a free spirit who eschews authority and comes and goes as he pleases, though his entry into the guild along with his then-lover Eione Astersong provided a home base for him. After Eione's departure left him heartbroken, he bonded strongly with his fellow Ravager Takaa, who he spends much of his time with when he isn't abroad. While he cares for Takaa, he harbors a secret desire to uncover the shy engineer's wild side.

Eione Astersong

Once a respected Theian Priestess of Iris Isle, Eione was raised alongside her brother, the famously pious Avatar of Salica, Atunis Astersong. As a girl, she thirsted for knowledge and adventure, though she wouldn't experience this until she ran away from seminary life, traveling Mortanis and embracing her wild side. She would be inducted into the guild alongside her lover at the time, Zara, and quickly win over the rest of the guild with her witty, outgoing nature. Things seemed rosy until her deep curiosity led her to consort, secretly, with a cabal of dark magicians, starting a chain of events that would lead to the betrayal of her brother and the rest of the guild.

Flint Brokamac

Flint Brokamac is an eccentric blacksmith who is believed to be the last living descendant of the ill-fated Brokamac tribe. He lives among the Restans in the hope of gathering information for a hypothetical revenge plot against the killers of his tribe. With this in mind, he does not get along well with Bolreck, Benedicte, or Eione-- he prefers the company of those who did not originate from Resta. Saayuko looks down on him because she doesn't believe he is truly a Brokamac, who were almost certainly wiped out by the Restans with any survivors surely being abandoned by the other houses of Heron. Despite this, Flint works hard at the Phoenix Blade forge because his plot requires money. Too bad he keeps wasting it on ill-considered sports bets. A long-running joke within the compound is that Flint's greatest ambition is to sneak into the equipment manufacturing team for the Freeform Fencing League so he could influence fights with sabotaged swords and finally build up a nest egg large enough to take over Ridge.

Adar "Lugsbonk" Cogfate

Despite the implications of his name, Adar Cogfate is NOT an engineer. He is descended from a long line of researchers at the Fides Academy of Engineering, but to put a machine into his hands is to invite destruction. This inspired his nickname, Lugsbonk. As a technological illiterate, he doesn't get along well with Takaa, who often has to guard his work from the dangerous mishaps that seem to follow him. He looks up to Benedicte because they have a similar passion for alchemy, but the rest of the guild worries that Bene's greed might rub off on him.

Hu-yin Dreamwalker

Hu-yin couldn't have joined the Phoenix Blade at a worse time-- she entered the guild just two months before a disastrous calamity struck their compound and scattered many of its members to various corners of the continent. Despite this, she has stuck around in the hopes of finding adventure under the company's new leadership. Hailing from the Lost Lands far across the ocean to the south of Mortanis, Hu-yin has had a long journey. She continues to press on through the roughest time in the guild's existence in search of a truly epic tale she can someday take back to her homeland. If you were to ask where she came from, though, she would pretend not to remember. The truth behind this faked amnesia is only known to Saayuko who saw through her lies and pulled the truth out of her at knifepoint. Since then, neither woman has revealed the truth to anyone. She is a monk and a scribe by trade.