Ardyn Flameborn

Ardyn is the child of an unusual pairing: a Red Wizard and a cleric of Kossuth. His mother was Xae Elrinath, a member of the College of Evocation. His Father is Alerion Flameborn, who was a Flamewalker in the church when Ardyn was born, but had risen to the position of Eternal Flame before Ardyn reached his fifth birthday. Their marriage was the public sealing of a political alliance between Alerion Flameborn and Aznar Thrul. Ardyn was raised strongly in the faith, with the principles of order and discipline instilled into him from a young age. Instead of rebelling against this yoke, Ardyn delved into the study of the faith, reading and understanding a great deal of the ancient lore that was enshrined in the Flaming Brazier.

In 1357, during the Salamander war, the Temple of Bezantur was attacked by Salamanders and other fiends, among those who died in the attack was Ardyn's mother. This event is one of the signposts that help to shape Ardyn's understanding of his faith and how the power of Kossuth should be used. He sees the two realms of Flame and Faerun as separate, and the true goal of Kossuth's priesthood is reminding the world that they should never be brought together except under the most dire of circumstances. It was also during this time that Ardyn's natural talent for magic first began to manifest itself.

In 1359 Ardyn left the Flaming Brazier for Eltabbar for the public reason of wanting to step out of his father's shadow. Privately he left to avoid turning the Eternal Flame of Bezantur into a hereditary position due to his father's machinations.

Ardyn entered the church of Eltabbar under an assumed last name, but with the ordination and rank as a member of the Burning Braziers. He became a member of the church's diplomatic corps due to his natural charm and spent five years working to marry the goals of the church and the goals of the ruling classes of Thay.

And he hated it. It was frustrating, limiting, and utterly banal in its scope. As his frustration reached its height, Ardyn discovered evidence of a conspiracy to use fiends to attack a public event where several church leaders would be meeting. Ardyn arranged for a counter-attack against the conspiracy. He and other members of the Burning Braziers waited for the attack to begin, then flanked the enemy's minions while Ardyn dueled the opposing leader, killing him with magical fire during their spell duel. Ardyn also revealed his true name during this battle, giving his name to the enemy heretic as the name that signs him over to Kelemvor.

After this battle and the miraculous talents that Ardyn showed, he became one of the hunters of the enemies of the faith, rising over the next decade to become a well-known inquisitor of Kossuth in all of Thay.

In spite of Ardyn's leaving of the diplomatic arm of the Eltabbar church, he found himself with even more invitations to large gatherings of important people; it would seem that the Flameborn name had weight even in the heart of Thay. At one of these events, a large party held by Flamelord Nath inviting all of the people in Thay who had interests in line with those of Kossuth, Ardyn had his first encounter with the Lady Maja.

Both were at a meeting of the wealthy and powerful in Eltabbar when a young nobleman insulted Maja by saying she had no right to call herself one of the nobility, she was simply a mover of goods, a jumped up caravaner. Ardyn stepped into the conversation and defended her honor by saying, "In Thay, there is little difference between the nobility of riches and the nobility of birth, though some might wager that the title bought with a purse produces a more enduring breed." This comment managed to diffuse the situation enough that the young noble's friends were able to get their compatriot away before the lady decided to insert her own two cents into the equation and the hosts had to clear away the corpse. This intervention was the only interaction that the two shared at the party, but something about Ardyn must have caught her attention because during the night Ardyn was kidnapped by Kals and taken to the lady, who locked him in chains of silver and then transported him back to the City of Brass.

After leaving most of Maja's personal effects in ruins from Ardyn's struggle to free himself and her attempts to convince him of the foolishness of that idea, she agreed to return Ardyn to Eltabbar and never bother him again. This cessation of hostilities lasted for about 1 year before Ardyn received another visit from Kals, this time bothering to knock and present himself, saying that his mistress was intrigued and willing to try playing this game using Thayan rules. For the past several years they have managed a tempestuous, but strangely stable relationship. Maja and Ardyn meet whenever she is in Thay, and the next several weeks is a rollercoaster of head games, sexual relations, and the occasionally fiery argument.

It has been seven years since their first meeting, and neither party has moved on or gotten board with the relationship, a first for both of them. Maja has occasionally threaten Ardyn to remain interesting for her or he would end up enslaved like the rest of her former lovers, but it has always been unclear if she ever had the power to carry out this threat against Ardyn.

"Foc Fibros Ordine Finalis" – The last words heard by many of the Heretics hunted by Ardyn.

"A slave is a servant you can never trust." – Personal opinion regarding slavery.

"The Inquisition is over, let the Jihad begin."