Emperors and kings thought it had been buried long ago: the Order of the Candlestone was defeated, its assassins’ grim deeds forgotten, and its dangerous alchemy shunned. But Arasemis, an eccentric warrior-scholar, is determined to revive the Order and return the continent to its primitive origins—if he can control his apprentices. He seeks recruits from across the world, valuing their diverse skills and insights on how to undermine foreign rulers. Arasemis promises his students a vaunted position in history if they succeed in overturning nations.
Arasemis sleeps little. When not rigorously training his pupils in shroud alchemy, candle alchemy, wall-running, and other unusual skills, he cloisters himself away in his vast library. There, he studies ancient texts for clues to the locations of relics hidden by prior generations of Candlestone, stretching back eight hundred years to the colonial era. He seeks mythical swords, machine armor, and—perhaps—the promise of ships that sail the skies.
Arasemis
Ah-RAZ-sem-iss
Arasemis is the current leader of the Order of the Candlestone, an ancient group of assassins rooted in the Pemonian natives’ resistance to the colonization of the New World. Comprising dangerous young knights, sailors, assassins, and outcasts from across the continent and beyond, the Order’s grand goal of overthrowing modern kings to restore ancient tribal societies became Arasemis’s all-consuming ambition.
The quintessential warrior-scholar, Arasemis was recognized as a prodigy by his grandfather, Erwold, who trained him from a young age to revere Candlestone. This was hidden from Arasemis’s father, who intended for him to become an official in the royal court. While Arasemis became an expert in multiple schools of swordcraft and pursued interests in ancient and foreign weaponry, his studious and curious nature remained fixed on Erwold’s teachings.
Arasemis became a scholar of the arcanae, a master alchemist, a historian, a linguist, and an instructor of ancient tribal martial arts at Bredahade Academy. Neither the death of the aged Erwold nor Arasemis’s loss of his right arm in battle dampened his interest in Candlestone and the possibility of reviving it as his grandfather had wished.
He continued to secretly carry the knowledge of Candlestone with him upon his promotion to professor at the Academy. This position gave him access to potential recruits and important books about hidden arcanae technologies waiting to be discovered and harnessed for his own ends.
Although Arasemis was eventually forced out of the Academy for espousing controversial beliefs about the ancient tribes, he was determined to use his knowledge, family wealth, and underground connections to rebuild Candlestone. His carefully laid plans to begin assassinating kings are ready to unfold, if he can adequately control his headstrong apprentices. These include Garion, Marlan, Bertwil, Morroy, Juhl, Rodel, and Fetzer.
Arasemis sleeps little, consumed by his research and the training of his pupils. Under his watchful eye, they endure his rigorous training methods. He promises them a vaunted position in history if they succeed in overturning nations. But first, they must master shroud alchemy, candle alchemy, wall-running, and many other uncommon skills.
Fetzer
FET-zer
Fetzer is the bastard son of a petty nobleman and a leper, his fading memory of them is overshadowed by his abusive Uncle Laval who raised him. Laval demanded much from Fetzer, but was continuously disappointed. As a result, Fetzer endured a youth laden with violence, rejection, and loss. His failed pursuit of knighthood at Perilune Academy was his final attempt at normalcy.
Self-reliant and impulsive, Fetzer struck out on his own with a dark confidence in his own survival. He stepped into the wider world carrying no expectations, only a deep-seated vengeance that smoldered like a hot coal within him. He imagined one day taking his revenge against all who had harmed him, which he amalgamated in his mind as a faceless entity that had guided his life of misfortune. He assured himself he would find a way to usurp its power for himself.
His disturbed thoughts and bitterness receded somewhat after he stumbles upon the Order of the Candlestone. In Master Arasemis, he initially finds a deep well of learning that could further hone his significant skill with a blade and add some alchemical trickery. In the other Candlestone recruits, he seeks malleable peers that he can manipulate for his own ends. Particularly Marlan, who believes Fetzer’s singular ability is the mark of a prophesied leader of Candlestone.
Although open about his lust for power, Fetzer carefully conceals his darkest beliefs, discreetly scratching his thoughts into a journal that helps him maintain some measure of sanity. Over time, Fetzer’s willingness to elevate himself above the sacred aims of Candlestone draws sharp criticism from Arasemis. Undeterred, Fetzer nurtures a vision far grander than the hermit and his disciples could fathom.
Marlan
MAR-lahn
Marlan, one of Arasemis’s first students, was recruited alongside Garion at Bredahade Academy during Arasemis’s tenure as a professor. Arasemis persuaded them of the unjust rule of modern kings and the superiority of ancient tribal customs, portraying the Order of the Candlestone as humanity’s salvation.
After Arasemis’s expulsion from the Academy for his heretical views, Marlan and Garion followed him to Thorendor Castle. There, Marlan mastered advanced swordcraft, shroud alchemy, and the tribal secrets of stealth and wall-running. Curious, tireless, and obedient, Marlan proved to be Arasemis’s ideal pupil. He became Arasemis’s de facto deputy and top assassin, excelling at increasingly complex and dangerous tasks, and was rewarded with a unique alchemical sword, Banebrand.
Encouraged by Arasemis, Marlan began to see himself as the future leader of the next generation of Candlestone. He envisioned a time when their efforts to overthrow kings would usher in an era of great upheaval, described in Arasemis’s old books as the prophesied War of All Kingdoms.
However, Marlan’s confidence in his future role begins to waver with Fetzer’s arrival. Although Fetzer is arrogant, quick-tempered, and constantly challenges Arasemis’s authority, Marlan starts to see Fetzer as a prophesied uniter who could fuel a more powerful Candlestone. Marlan praises Fetzer’s quick learning and swordsmanship, but Arasemis cautions his young protégé about his hopes for Fetzer. Torn between loyalty to his master and his belief in Fetzer’s destiny, Marlan must tread carefully as they focus on their plot against the king.
Garion
GARE-e-on
Like Marlan, Garion was recruited by Arasemis at Bredahade Academy and followed him to Thorendor Castle to continue his training and indoctrination into Candlestone. Garion quickly demonstrated great skill in spycraft, hand darts, wall-running, and other ancient tribal acrobatics.
Garion impressed Arasemis with his fearless—and sometimes reckless—disposition, as well as his single-minded devotion to his assigned tasks. Together, Garion and Marlan made a formidable pair, which encouraged Arasemis to hasten his recruitment of other pupils and his planning against the nobles and royal family of the Kingdom of Donovan.
Juhl
jull
Juhl, once a princess of a nation of cold mountains and frozen tundra, still carries the chill of her homeland within her heart. Disillusioned by her father’s oppressive rule, she initially found hope in the Order of the Candlestone’s vision of remaking the world when Arasemis first shared it with her.
Driven by the desire to bring revolutionary change to her home, but also learning the lessons of history from Arasemis’s vast libraries, Juhl has grown skeptical about how successful Candlestone can be outside of the Kingdom of Donovan. She develops a secret ambition to change her homeland on her own terms. When the time is right, she intends to rule her people, in defiance of Arasemis’s ideals.
The unexpected arrival of another foreigner, Rodel, stirs a warmth within her that she hasn’t felt since childhood. Although he rarely speaks of overthrowing his emperor, she wonders if he truly believes Arasemis’s promises that it can be done. Nevertheless, Juhl remains steadfast in her commitment to both Candlestone and her secret goals, forcing herself to see Rodel as a rare but fleeting distraction.
Rodel
ROD-uhl
Rodel was an unlikely Candlestone recruit who joined the Order out of necessity but stayed for the sense of community and higher purpose he found there. The son of a timber jackal breeder in Rugenhav, Rodel trained as an elite assassin in a group known as the Wosmoks, controlled by the emperor’s niece, Meliamour. Over time, Rodel grew disillusioned with a dark life of killing, wherein he also became the hunted.
Rodel found freedom from the Wosmoks when one of his missions in the Kingdom of Donovan went awry. Wet and weary under a cold rain but fortunate to be alive, he walked a road where he encountered Arasemis, who was eager to help a sharp-eyed foreigner and potential recruit.
Rodel’s world expanded after joining Candlestone, but he remains distant from the other students, except the beautiful Juhl. Still haunted by his past and wary of his future, Rodel aims to help Candlestone while pondering whether he will ever attain a peaceful life.
Bertwil
BERT-will
Bertwil, the strongest among Arasemis’s recruits, is the calm, clever son of an Almerian maritime merchant whose family was forced into much conflict back in the Old World. His father’s ships and officers, including Bertwil and his siblings, were requisitioned by the Almerian Confederation for a raid against an Arukan port. Bertwil was one of the few survivors, and he used every opportunity to speak out against the Confederation.
Falsely branded a traitor for sabotaging the failed raid and marked for arrest, Bertwil convinced a trader to smuggle him aboard a ship to Pemonia. He eventually made his way to Eglamour, where Nidlade sheltered him and guided him to Thorendor Castle. Bertwil was immediately drawn to the promise of Arasemis’s Candlestone. He yearned to do his part to end the cycles of violence in Almeria that had spread to the New World long ago through Almerian colonists.
Bertwil’s imposing size, strength, and keen intelligence are prized by Arasemis. As the muscle among his disciples, Bertwil has also proven adept at learning alchemy and aerina martial arts. He is a focused leader among the students, second only to Marlan, but has little patience for Fetzer’s arrogance and distracting outbursts.
Morroy
MORE-oy
Morroy is a skilled swordsman but an even more talented fraud, excelling in the arts of impersonation and persuasion. He speaks with the eloquence of a Calbrian nobleman he has never been, yet among his fellow students, he proudly claims to be nothing more than a “right honorable vagabond.” Too finicky and prim for that to be true, Morroy has always declined to share details about his past with his fellow Candlestone students, and Arasemis typically leaves such decisions up to them.
Confident, good-natured, witty, and loud, Morroy becomes serious during tasks like ambushes and assassinations. However, he prefers the subtlety of infiltration and the game of masquerade. Once their mission in Donovan is complete, Arasemis plans for Morroy to establish a Candlestone branch in Morroy’s homeland, as the Calbrian Empire is widely viewed as the greatest power in Pemonia. Arasemis believes overthrowing the emperor there would have far-reaching consequences for the balance of power in the continent’s west and help destabilize fractious nations in the east.
Morroy is prepared to carry the Candlestone torch into Calbria when the time comes, but he’s eager to spend more time mastering the arcanae teachings of Arasemis first. Despite his claims of having enjoyed the solitary life of a vagabond, Morroy cherishes his newfound friends in Candlestone and dreads the loneliness of once again traversing the vast plains and marshlands of Calbria.
Nidlade
NID-layd
Nidlade, referred to by Arasemis as the “watcher of the well,” has been blind since birth. Despite this, he serves as both a guide and safehouse keeper for Candlestone in the slums of Eglamour, the capital city of the Kingdom of Donovan. Cheerful and witty, Nidlade takes great pride in his service to the Order and uses humor to comfort those around him.
Viewing Arasemis as a father figure, Nidlade is completely loyal to the Candlestone cause, even though he doesn’t entirely grasp its depth. Despite not being a full member of the Order, he has experienced firsthand the reality of Arasemis’s alchemical abilities. Nidlade was the first to consume an experimental mixture crafted by Arasemis–a mild version of lesser furywine. This concoction significantly magnified his other senses, particularly scent and sound, allowing him to navigate without a cane.
Although Arasemis has warned him about the potential long-term effects, Nidlade craves the mixture and requests it often from his master. As long as Nidlade remains an effective gateway for those finding their way to Candlestone, Arasemis continues to oblige him.
Anureen
An-oo-REEN
Anureen hails from a minor noble family in Austveeden, a buffer state between the powerful kingdoms of Donovan and Calbria. Her homeland is a hub for the continent’s diplomacy, trade, and organized crime. Like others of her birth, Anureen is gifted for languages and knowledge of foreign customs–talents prized by Arasemis for his recruits.
The circumstances of Anureen’s joining Candlestone remain unknown to Arasemis’s other students, as he has purposefully kept her background a mystery. Marlan and Garion, Arasemis’s longest-serving pupils, seem most unsettled by having never met or heard of her. Despite this, all the students recognize Anureen to be as knowledgeable about Candlestone’s history and goals as they are. Her equal proficiency in alchemy and martial arts further hints at a deeper history with the organization.
Taking their cue from Arasemis, the other students refrain from asking Anureen too many questions. Instead, they tend to stare at her, perhaps due to her color-streaked hair, or the mismatched hues of her eyes. Anureen notices that Marlan stares at her most often, seemingly with interest. She wishes she could find the words to talk more with him, if only Arasemis would allow her open up about her past.
Erwold
ERH-wold
Erwold, the enigmatic grandfather of Arasemis, trained his grandson to revere the Order of the Candlestone from a very young age. A secret member of the Order himself, Erwold lacked the charisma and capability to recruit new members and expand Candlestone’s ranks and influence. He willed the family estate at Thorendor Castle to Arasemis, enabling his grandson to revive the Order.
Erwold was most at home in his library, surrounded by books and scrolls from across every culture and epoch. While he hadn’t expanded Candlestone, Erwold had kept its embers alive. His greatest contribution to Arasemis’s later efforts was his research on what he called “Candlestone relics.” These technologies embodied the arcanae secrets from ancient times to the present: primarily alchemical and mechanical weapons and devices that promised Candlestone advantages over its more numerous and powerful adversaries, the kings and emperors of modern nations.
Erwold devoted his life to researching these secret treasures, intending to guide Arasemis toward finding and using them. However, he died before completing his research, leaving Arasemis to follow in his footsteps. Arasemis now spends many hours in the library and writes to underground arcanists far and wide to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. Around the time he recruits new students for Candlestone, Arasemis discovers hidden writings from Erwold that begins to paint a more complete picture of these relics and where to find them.