So the Dusk Wardens are led by three sisters called The Weavers. Their most important duty is to safeguard the Embers of Innocence. They use the Embers to weave together dreams. So every single child in Faerun creates an Ember of Innocence. Basically it’s created at the exact moment the harsh reality of the world takes away their childhood innocence. It’s the last echoing piece of that innocence before the child moves on to adulthood. The Dusk Wardens gather each and every Ember for the Weavers and they keep them safe in their sanctuary. They’re not really something physical, more a magical essence if that makes sense. Anyway, when Eylo was just an actual teddy bear he belonged to a little girl who lived in Mirabar. You can likely guess, her Ember was created when Mirabar was destroyed by Zargathax. Ever since then, the Wardens have been losing the war against the followers of Dendar because of the sheer amount of nightmares created by Zargathax - and also because so many children were affected by his reign of terror, there was a huge amount of Embers of Innocence created, which became lost because the Wardens haven’t been able to track them all down and bring them to the sanctuary. The more innocence that’s lost, the harder it is to create dreams (they’re literally running out of the resource) and counteract the epidemic of nightmares. So Dendar has been growing immensely in power. So there’s a little more to this, that I’ll get in a document for you so you have it - but basically Eylo was brought to life with that little girl’s Ember. One of the Weavers infused it inside him and that’s what’s given him life. (This is against the rules and that Weaver was removed from her position for doing that. Again, I’ll elaborate more in the doc and explain why she did it and why she was kicked out for doing it) Eylo can have been around for a while, so this possibly happened before magic started to become very unstable (it can have happened very shortly after the end of Campaign 1. Eylo can have been sentient for 50 or so years by the time we meet him, if that helps at all) - which means the only thing keeping him safe is the fact that his Ember is encased inside the magical “shell” of his body. Obviously this can mean he’s on borrowed time because if magic is failing, then eventually that shell will erode and won’t be able to contain his Ember anymore. Also, it (unfortunately for me) means that if he’s killed in battle and his body is ruptured, that exposes his Ember which would likely flicker out because of the failing magic in the world The thing with Eylo is he has this kinda Buzz Lightyear thing going on where he believes he was this Level 20 paladin who was famous and renowned throughout the land - and he’s been cursed by a witch and trapped in the body of a teddy bear. As far as he’s concerned part of the curse is that nobody recognises his name anymore and all his big heroic deeds have been forgotten. Not to mention he’s lost a bunch of his powers and abilities (knocked back down to Level 5 essentially) So none of that is real. Sir Eylo Warrensworth never actually existed. He was made up by the little girl’s dad and he told her bedtime stories about his adventures every night. So that’s why Eylo believes that he was this famous knight. The little girl’s dreams about these stories are all contained within her Ember and that’s what’s brought Eylo to life so he’s basically personifying this child’s innocent impression of a noble, heroic knight. But he doesn’t know that. He just fully believes he IS this knight Again, I’ll give the full story that ties his actual origin and his believed origin. I just need a chance to type it out for you. It won’t be massively long, there’s just a few small bits I left out there ### What Eylo Believes “There’s no more noble a deed than helping someone in need” - Sir Eylo’s mantra. Elyo believes himself to have formerly been Sir Eylo Warrensworth, a human paladin - both renowned and famous across the land for his many noble deeds. He fondly recalls such daring adventures as slaying Ragaroth the Giant, defeating Enderclaw the Direwolf and laying to rest a vengeful lich known as the Scorned Bride. According to him, such escapades had solidified his name as a champion of the people - loved by the commonfolk and immortalised in the songs and tales of countless bards. Until his first defeat, at the hands of his mortal nemesis - The Dreadknight. Eylo believes his current state is a result of that defeat, having been cursed and humiliated by the evil magics of The Dreadknight. Trapped in the body of a child’s teddy bear, he has come to believe that the curse has wiped all knowledge of his name and deeds from the land. Once received with warm cheers and adoration, the mention of his name now elicits little more than blank expressions and shrugged shoulders. It appears nobody remembers Sir Eylo Warrensworth. Determined to break this curse, Eylo has become convinced he must travel the land and rebuild his former reputation to escape the plushie prison he now resides within. He jumps at the chance to perform a “noble deed”, wishing to spread awareness of his name in an attempt to reach the levels of fame he formerly enjoyed - believing this will restore him to his human body. Moreover, Eylo relentlessly searches for his squire - a young human boy named Edric. Eylo has not seen Edric since before his lost battle with The Dreadknight and fears what may have become of the boy in the years since. When speaking of his squire, Eylo recalls Edric fondly - seeming to have loved the boy as a son. Sir Eylo believes that Edric may have been captured by The Dreadknight - and will stop at nothing to rescue his squire from his detested foe. Sir Eylo is aware of his recruitment into the Dusk Wardens - but remains ignorant of the truth behind his creation. He knows he fights in their name, but believes himself to be simply one of their valued agents - sought out and brought into their fold by The Weavers, who somehow retained knowledge of his great deeds. ### The Truth Sir Eylo Warrensworth never truly existed. Both the knight himself and his renowned deeds were conjured up by Galvan Drost as bedtime stories for his young son, Edric. Galvan, a human tailor living in the city of Mirabar, loved Edric dearly. When he was born, Galvan stitched together a bear for his infant son - a small teddy named Bobbins. Every night, Edric would clutch Bobbins close to his chest as his father recalled yet another of Sir Eylo Warrensworth’s grand adventures. The epic battle with Ragaroth the Giant, the hunting and slaying of Enderclaw the Direwolf, pitting himself against the necromantic grasp of the Scorned Bride - all these stories and more were dreamed up by Galvan to entertain his young son. He hoped to teach Edric the values of morality and helping others - using the stories as a vehicle for these lessons. This is the true reason nobody recognises the name of Sir Eylo Warrensworth. In the stories, no enemy was more fierce, and proved a greater challenge to Sir Eylo, than The Dreadknight. Galvan emphasised this point to his young son by portraying Sir Eylo’s first defeat at the hands of this terrible foe. While Edric was upset, Galvan assured him that the story was not yet over - and the following night, Sir Eylo would return to challenge The Dreadknight once more. Yet another lesson he wished to impart on his young son - the value of rising from defeat. That particular story, however, would remain untold. The following day, doom came to Mirabar. Edric lost both his father, and his own childhood innocence, when Zargathax razed the city. Bobbins was lost amongst the rubble of the city, and Edric was forced to face a cruel and uncertain future alone - whisked away into one of the many makeshift refugee camps that sprang up in the aftermath of the disaster. Without his father’s love and guidance, Edric grew up vengeful - shaped by the dark horrors of the day he lost everything. Determined to avenge himself upon the world, Edric trained himself not only with sword - but with whatever forbidden magics he could uncover. This relentless and vindictive quest would eventually bring him into contact with the followers of Dendar the Night Serpent. Intrigued by the ancient entity, Edric began to fashion himself as the greatest nightmare that could be visited upon the land in her name. Taking the moniker that once terrified him as a child, Edric became The Dreadknight. In the aftermath of Zargathax’s reign of terror, the efforts of the Dusk Wardens were immeasurably destabilised. An epidemic of nightmares spread across the land as displaced children - their lives destroyed and homes in ruin - would tell each other stories of this unstoppable bogeyman. Countless Embers of Innocence were also lost - as the Wardens struggled to keep up with the huge influx in their creation. These efforts were further hampered by the growing power of the followers of Dendar. The Wardens were now losing a war they’d silently fought for generations. Nightmares were claiming the land of Faerûn. Even worse, the numerous cults of Dendar were being united into one by the rise of a new champion among them - a brutal foe calling himself The Dreadknight. Many Wardens would fall in battle against The Dreadknight, forcing The Weavers further into dire desperation. Their numbers dwindling and their purpose failing, one of The Weavers would break from her sisters. Forgoing the ancient laws of Weaving, this single sister searched the sanctuary for an Ember created many years before - The Dreadknight’s Ember. She believed that confronting this adversary head on in open battle was futile - feeling responsible for the large number of Wardens who had lost their lives pursuing this very recourse. Instead, she believed she might be able to appeal to what little innocence remained within Edric’s blackened heart. Breaking the most sacred of her vows, she released the Ember from the sanctuary - sending it forth into Faerûn on a desperate mission to redeem its creator. Unfortunately, far too little remained of the child Edric had once been. The Ember had nothing in the man to latch onto, no trace of innocence to bind itself to. Instead, it drifted to the last remaining bastion of The Dreadknight’s childhood - his formerly beloved teddy bear. Fusing itself inside this small discarded body, the Ember gave life to Bobbins. Having been lost for years in what remained of Mirabar, he knew nothing of the world but the muddled and confused memories of Edric’s dreams. He believed himself to be Edric’s hero - Sir Eylo Warrensworth - awakening in the aftermath of his defeat at the hands of The Dreadknight. The half-remembered vestiges of Edric’s love for his father also enkindled a paternal instinct within Sir Eylo. Desperate to make sense of this feeling, he began to see Edric as a lost squire - a “son” he now had to save. The Weaver appeared to Sir Eylo, granting him armour and a sword and tasking him with once again confronting The Dreadknight and the followers of Dendar. The Ember within him held far too tentatively to the world for her to reveal the truth. Sir Eylo could not simply be told who now wore the helm of The Dreadknight. This would destroy his memories of a young boy named Edric and fracture the innocence now fuelling his sentience. He had to discover this horrid truth for himself - confronting Edric with what remained of his past self and perhaps enkindling some form of the innocence that defined the little boy he once knew. Her crime discovered, The Weaver was cast out and imprisoned by her sisters. With the resource of Embers already so diminished, they were appalled that one would be so carelessly released back into the world. However, the two remaining Weavers remain cautious regarding Sir Eylo. What if there may be even the slightest shred of a chance that their sister’s plan might work? The Wardens are far too depleted, spread far too thin, to oppose Dendar and her followers in battle. The world is slipping slowly into the grip of nightmares and every day more and more Embers are lost. What if the childhood teddy bear of their foe’s greatest champion could somehow turn this tide? A single Warden, a Gnome named Little Red, has been dispatched to keep an eye on Sir Eylo. While the two have briefly interacted a handful of times, Sir Eylo is ignorant of her mission. He knows her to be a Warden, but is dismissive of her owing to the confrontational nature of their interactions. Little Red, for her part, is brusque and abrasive when she speaks with Sir Eylo. She believes him to be a waste of an Ember and an insult to the Wardens she knew who fell in battle against The Dreadknight. She yearns for a chance to prove herself against this terrible foe, believing that The Weaver’s faith in a sentient teddy bear is greatly misplaced. ### Summary - Sir Eylo will essentially start out like Buzz Lightyear in the first Toy Story. He firmly believes he’s a human knight who used to be this lvl 20 Paladin but now he’s cursed and trapped in the body of a teddy bear. So any time we talk about our backstories, that’s what he’ll be talking about - all these deeds and victories he’s had that nobody remembers because of the curse (that he doesn’t realise are all just bedtime stories). - That’s also gonna be my “in” for whatever you put in front of us as the main story/main villain. Basically he thinks “if I rebuild my reputation, the curse will be broken”. So he’ll jump at the chance to be part of whatever the main quest is, thinking it’ll get his name back out there and re-establish his reputation. - The whole reveal of his true nature as Bobbins and the deeper story doesn’t need to happen for a while. We can build to that, I’m happy enough to have him think the simpler story is true for a while and then we slowly build up to the more complicated truth or however you’d like to build to that reveal. - You can think of The Dreadknight as kinda like Batman, with that whole Bruce Wayne travelling the world to learn skills and fighting styles - but this guy is learning them with the goal of using them against the world. He’s kinda evil Batman. He wants vengeance, but against the world as a whole. - I envisioned him as an Oath of Vengeance Paladin (dark reflection of Eylo being an Oath of Devotion) maybe with a few levels of Warlock with Dendar as his patron. Obvs build him however you think works best though. - Sir Eylo is convinced he has to save Edric from The Dreadknight, but obvs the narrative goal is that twist where he learns that Edric is The Dreadknight, and he has to save his former owner from himself.