Helena. Helena was born in 1051. Her father was the commander of the Esduroy harbor garrison. When she was six years old, she was playing in the courtyard when she noticed a strange man staring at her. The next morning, she was rowed out of the harbor with him on a Marentian trireme. She never saw her father again. He remained loyal to the wizards but was killed as the army revolted in the civil war. Her mother sailed to Balvine before the fighting started  and spent her last years living close to Helena.
Helena herself was trained as a 'fate'. This institution was invented by Autarch Ashanar I, and meant that she would be trained to fight solely using her hands and feet and develop a high resistance to magic. The purpose of a fate is twofold, to protect and to punish. To protect the Kartrians and to punish the renegades. Ashanar I saw that women would be perfect for this. Obeying would come naturally for them, so they could serve well as bodyguards for arch mages. And, in the unlikely event that they would discover a renegade, it would be an extra insult to the renegade that his killer was a woman with no aptitude for magic. The word fate means that the 'fate' and the arch mage share their fates, if he dies, it is customary that she dies. It also means that a renegade will literally meet his fate if he encounters a 'fate'.
As with any other fate, the most of Helena's life was spent training.  In 1085, she went on her first mission along with an 'agent', i.e. a wizard of some ability. Then she trained some more, and gradually spent more time doing missions along with agents. By 1098, she was deemed worthy of being 'fate' for a member of the Supreme Council, but since the members are only replaced in case of death, she was not assigned before 1100. At that time Autarch Castanamir V's original fate Kara was killed by a meteor swarm. The autarch himself was not hit, a fact that made some observers wonder. In any case, Helena was made his new fate, but she had not served for long before Castanamir was taken ill. For two years healers fought, but only to postpone the inevitable. The official explanation was that Castanamir's soul was old, longevity treatments and cure spells could not revive his spirit. Still some questioned this explanation. Foul play or not, Helena now had to await the ruling of the Supreme Council. Well, the death of Castanamir could in no way be seen as a failure on her part. So, she would be free, if she was but to do one last service for Kartria. One last service that would take her eight years to perform.
Omens had predicted major events ahead, especially one omen was interpreted as involving an amazon. Helena would be Kartria's main proponent in what came to be known as the Ring Saga. In 1104 she met with Hippoleia, the amazon destined to kill the renegade Ogonjok. The two developed a mutual friendship that would last five years. Helena might be Hippoleia's friend and act as an adventurer, but she was still a Kartrian fate. So when Finduil was captured by the renegade Brensor Khan in 1106, she rushed to Kirrlar as soon as she was informed of his whereabouts and summarily executed him. But The Lich was a far more powerful enemy. Many had died trying to kill him and more will. In 1106 a Chinloi spy known as "The Silencer" had infiltrated the Tower of Dead and managed to locate Ogonjok's device. But the Silencer himself had fallen silent. Tarqin of Enders was able to retrieve the information by spending an unpleasant stay in the dungeon of the Tower. He too, would have had his stay prolonged indefinitely, had not Helena, Hippoleia and Mathias (a non-Kartrian fire wizard, known as the "Vain") rescued him in 1107. Now the means to kill Ogonjok was at hand, but Ogonjok had been alerted. Helena, Hippoleia and Tarqin waited for two years, but the undying does not forget. At last, they went in, only because they did not dare wait any longer. For the purpose was not to kill Ogonjok, it was to take the Black Ring from his finger, the Black Ring that Finduil would somehow substitute for the Ring of Madness, if that Ring could be found. In the end, Hippoleia destroyed the device and so Ogonjok died, and Helena recovered the Black Ring. But Ogonjok had seen the future and prepared himself. His body died, but not his spirit. And if he could not avert destiny, he could exact vengeance. So Hippoleia died irrecoverably to Helena's deep sorrow.
But a fate never rests if there is danger. And Bandagora itself was endangered. So she continued onwards into the Nightlands of the drow, where the motley crew surrounding Finduil fought along with the superheroes of the continent. The chances of success were slim indeed, but she soldiered on. Little did she appreciate the childish pranks of Finduil's so-called friends. As anyone could see, these small-time adventurers were out of their depths and tried to make the best of it by making adolescent jokes upon each other. One man was different, Kernla the Ontainian. Perhaps he too had chewed off a bigger bite than he could swallow, but as a friend of Finduil he would do whatever he could to help the world. No glib diplomat, that was certain, and more often than any other the butt of some silly practical joke. But this he took in his stride, and he never hesitated in a fight, he would charge into battle with such unflinching courage that Helena could not help admiring his determination. Helena and Kernla did not talk together much, but they gradually drifted together. In the end, neither fought Azemilk in the final confrontation, but that did not matter as long as he was defeated.
In the aftermath, Kernla asked Helena to marry him, to her great surprise. She knew in her mind that magic had halved the sixty years she had almost lived, but even so, she had always been a servant, a tool. Now this man asked her to live by his side, to make a family, to be his equal. She was flattered, and as she realized that she was free to do so, she admitted to herself that she was in love. She gladly accepted, and May 1110, the two were married in Kangrisorn by the Pope himself.
In 1115 Kernla was made the lord of a shire in Hardnit, but life has not yet settled down to the luxurious quiet life of a rich noble. Kernla might be a hero in the eyes of the King Hendrick, but to the local petty nobility, he is a barbarian and a troublemaker. Indeed, Kernla has been new to job of being a ruler, but the odds were stacked against him as prejudice made him the favorite target of local slander. Had it not been for Helena's experience with court politics, the rulership of Kernla might have been short-lived. But she has staved off disaster and salvaged a struggling shire. She has now not only Kernla and herself to take care of, but also their two twin sons.

Kisling. Kisling was born in Enders 1078 CC. He never knew his father, but her mother claims he was a wealthy noble. Unfortunately, his mother had told him, his father died before he had time to divorce his current wife and marry Kisling's mother. But, still according to her story, he left enough money so that she could move her shop to Belharas in Hardnit. Kisling's mother sold scented oils and candles, but he couldn't remember that he had ever seen the shop in Enders, and she never explained why they had to move. As a kid, Kisling used to daydream about returning to Enders. He saw himself as a master thief, living a luxurious life pretending to be a noble in the daytime. So when he was 12, he ran away to Enders, but he didn't get very far, since the carriage driver from which he tried to hitch a ride simply drove him home. When he was 15, he planned his escape somewhat better and left for good. A few days travel from Enders he had dream. It was the goddess Sif calling him to the main temple by the Tirskil in Falandria. Encouraged by this vision, he went on to Enders anyway spending what few belongings he had before going to the Sif temple.
Sif's warriors are called swordsmen. Their role is to roam city and countryside defending freedom and happiness. Armed with a bastard sword, they walk without fear accepting no unjust 'law'. Not knights of any 'order', but of the people. Kisling had never heard of the swordsmen before, but it was in more than one sense a dream come true. He was exceedingly talented with the bastard sword, and was the fastest learner anyone could remember.
He rose through the 'ranks' with cometary speed. There aren't really ranks for swordsmen, but they constantly challenge each other to mock duels to get their relative positions straight. He went on some missions assigned by the priestesses, but by and large he spent his life as a regular adventurer. His most cherished accomplishment came about in 1101, when he and Tarqin discovered a Sun Lands plot to capture the free city of Koira by a 'Trojan Horse' plot to hoist an elite force into the city hidden in a giant crate. After that episode, he ranked an unofficial number two after the veteran Artagel. At that time the Ring Saga began to unfold. The Sif priesthood should play a major role, Kisling argued, and went ahead. But things did not quite go as planned, he had acquired a cloak of protection and other magic items, including his cherished sword, the "Equalizer". And he liked to wear them at all times, even if it meant sweating in the smelly mouse-gray cloak. It hid his sword, he used to argue, perhaps the only one not to understand that a stranger with shifty eyes sitting in the corner having the full room in view with one hand under his cloak did nothing to reassure anybody. The young boy with his head swimming with ideas had become a curt man with an agile body and a rigid mind.
If nothing else, the Ring Saga was a great opportunity to gain friends and foes. At the beginning, the quest was to track down some tiles that had something to do with a demon. Kisling was no great detective, but he knew that the Pandese were looking too, and in October 1102 he followed two Dragon Knights and their squad of kaerl ungar (squires, in this case) to Servan, at that time a lawless city ruled by pirates and street gangs. There, he dueled and killed Green Dragon LXV. At the time, Kisling felt great. But though it was a blow to the face of the Pandese Empire and Emperor Hardaukar "the Terrible", it did not really advance Kisling's cause. Later, in June 1103, he squared off with Kurtzios, a Pellan fighter in the pay of the New Sun Lands, and here Sif's famous head-chopping power failed him, and Kurtzios escaped. Kisling began to feel worried for the first time. He was a formidable opponent, no question, but he couldn't really let go and let Sif guide his arms and hands. At the temple, the priestesses had suggested he drop the cloak and the other stuff (especially the vampiric regeneration device) and put his faith in Sif. He just couldn't.
For a while, he wandered around, sometimes alone, sometimes in a group. The Sif involvement in the Ring Saga was not solely his task anymore. Others, like Artagel and the up-and-coming Faramir did their parts too. Kisling drifted. For a while in 1104, he teamed up with Storm, the chaotic Falandrian lightning wizard. The two suffered the humiliation of being caught in a trap by Morgan, the Koiran who had assisted in the Sun Lands design years before. Since that time Morgan had gotten himself a new job as Yellow Dragon for the Pandese Empire. Well, Tarqin got them out of that one, and a year later Kisling did participate in the finding of the tiles. That event was hardly a happy one, since it meant the start of the Troll War. Kisling decided that he would fight in the war, but he didn't like the prospect of fighting alongside an army. He went to Ilandris to do what he could, and this turned out to be quite satisfying. Then, in December 1105, he met a person he had inadvertently promoted, Green Dragon LXVI, or Yaros, as Kisling preferred to call him. Yaros was born in Karn, a Zagy village, but had been abducted by the Pandese when he was two years old in a punitive mission. He had gone to gladiator school, but was selected for kaerl ungar training because of his extraordinary prowess. As the highest ranking kaerl ungar, he had been field promoted to Dragon Knight after Kisling had killed the last one. Kisling liked Yaros, and saw him as a kindred spirit. However, Yaros was fey. Hardaukar was his emperor, but Hardaukar was also the Grand Master of the Pendragon Order, the Platinum Dragon. After besieging Taunenfels in 1101, Hardaukar had ordered all Pandese to look for swords containing anti-magic enchantment, so that he could personally enter Mordenkainen's Tower and take control of it, which would leave Taunenfels practically defenseless. In 1103, Yaros Karn happened to stop a thief carrying Grimslade "the Wizardbane". He ignored his emperor's command and returned the sword to its rightful owner. That was quite within correct behavior, but he was called home anyway. Again, Yaros ignored the command with the reason that he was on an unfinished mission. This, too, was perfectly 'legal', but the future of the Green Dragon looked bleak. He would be demoted upon return. So he did not return.
In 1106, the Kisling and Yaros fought more or less back to back each day. Until the fall of Ilandris, the two ran supplies into the besieged city. After that they fought on the outer perimeter of the Twin Peaks fortifications. Countless times the trold folk were pushed back, but in September 1106, they were not. As he had done before, Yaros refused to withdraw, and so he died. Because of his magic regeneration, Kisling got out with his friend's body.
Kisling trudged on, and continued to participate in the fighting withdrawal that constituted most of the Troll War. But much to his chagrin, he was not to represent Sif in the final sally into the Nightlands in 1109-10. Hardaukar had insisted on Artagel, and so it came to be. From that time, Kisling has spent much of his time as a regular adventurer, gaining some interesting items, but progressing very slowly as a swordsman. 

Silandis Vega. Silandis was born in 1062 in the holy city of Hardor to the Vega family. The Vega family considers itself the noblest family in the whole of Bandagora. Not because they are one of the ten Imperial families eligible for providing a candidate to the Pandese throne. There has only been two Vegan emperors, and that was five centuries ago, so the Vega family ranks number five in the Imperial succession. No, they are the noblest, because they are the staunch keepers of a tradition dating back to the founding of Hardor. The Vegans hold the office of Pontifex Maximus, the Great Builder of Bridges, and though this title is commonly called 'priest-king' of Hardor, they are not kings because their great-great-great grandfather killed somebody or invaded some land or other. They are priests, because Enki wills it so. Besides, the Vegans are aristocrats, educated men with skills in many fields. The pontifex maximus is a philosopher, the emperor is a general. It is fitting that most emperors have been Pandesan, i.e. western Pandese, whereas the priest-kings are Dacrian. The brawn and the the brain.
In the years following Silandis' birth, things were not well in the Vega family. His father's brother Margos held the office of priest-king, but Margos was acting strangely. Time and again he allowed the heathen Zagy to use the holy river of Belse for obscene purposes. And there was a series of robberies and break-ins that he only reluctantly investigated. The family held meetings, but the uncle just shrugged. As the years passed, they came to the conclusion that Margos was possessed. At this time Silandis was 8 years old, and though he did not understand the exact nature of the situation, he knew that something was wrong. Well, the young Silandis knew that the world was not a perfect place, and sometimes you had to get rough. And the finest family in the world would know what to do. Much to his frustration, they did not. They could not face the scandal that a high priest, supposedly ordained by Enki Himself, had been possessed by some shamanistic Pan-worshipers. They did nothing, except whimper. The let the city suffer. Trade came to a halt because of piracy.  Strange drugs were sold in the market. Obscene figures were floating in the canals. The senators had to hire bodyguards. Finally, in 1072, the Emperor Sardis III challenged Margos to a duel. It was the way of tradition, to let gods decide which one is right. Sardis killed Margos relatively easy, leaving the Vega family shamed. The title of pontifex went to Silandis' father, and he would become a meek servant to the emperor, a mere mouthpiece translating into eloquent Dacrian the harsh Pandesan orders. The emperor would revel in his victory for years, and to remind everybody, he named his third son Hardaukar 8 years later. The name means 'ruler of Hardor', and was hopefully taken by the first Pandese emperor in 517, but considered ill-fated since the fall of Pandesa (and Hardaukar II) in 673. Now the third son might never be emperor, but he would surely sit in the senate sticking out like a sore thumb.
At this time Silandis knew he would be expected to take the mantle of priest-king when his father died, but he wanted none of it. Aristocracy was a sham. He would go away, start from scratch and make his own destiny based on merit, not heritage. So he did, and he did well. As a prospective priest of Enki, he had had some training, but now he wanted to learn sword-fighting. In 1080 he went to Telluria, adventuring and learning Lakedi. In 1084, he bought a house in Vintendra. He continued to make a living as an adventurer, visited the Mnemthosis many times, and taught himself Marentian. Though he liked the rough life, he was sorely tempted by the thought of using his family's wealth to buy himself a hoard of powerful magic items. There had to be another way. That way was the Adventurers' Guild. In 1088 he applied for training as a local guild master. In 1093 he sat in the guild's executive council, and moved to Enders. In 1098 he was elected Grand Guild Master or President of the Adventurers' Guild. By that time he was rated one of the top five warriors in Bandagora. That same year, his father died. Now Silandis had been home from time to time, but the matter of becoming pontifex had not been discussed much during those visits. Silandis was having second thoughts about his decision to refuse the office. He had proven his own worth to himself, and perhaps he could serve both the Adventurers' Guild and the city of Hardor. In the end, he accepted.
In 1099, Hardaukar III ascended the Imperial throne. He too rated as one of the best warriors in the world. There was no love lost between the priest-king and the emperor half his age. In 1102, Silandis had cause to regret his decision to become pontifex. Hardaukar did not want a strong second-in-command, and so used the Adventurers' Guild to challenge Silandis. He had a local guild master framed for some minor offence, outlawed the Guild and raided its offices. Two adventurers resisted one of the raids and were executed. Hardaukar did gain domestic support from his actions, but also made his reputation abroad that of a barbarian with no respect for human lives.
As it happened, Silandis was to learn that Hardaukar had some knack for politics. In 1104, the two privately came to terms, and although the Pandese Empire and the Adventurers' Guild officially reconciled in 1106, the two were able to conduct a "good cop-bad cop" foreign policy for a long time. The ban of the AG made foreign ambassadors go to Silandis rather than the emperor, and then he would "see what he could do". From 1105 to 1110 Silandis took part in the Ring Saga, but in the last few years he has spent more time performing his ceremonial duties in Hardor than brokering power in Enders.