Shal’rien is one of the most prominent Eternal Defenders in the eastern reaches of the Elven Kingdom. While he is a skilled warrior, the recent years have been calm in his lands and he could enjoy being with his family.

Fact sheet and appearance

• Species: elf
• Age: ca. 2900 years (as of Eternal Defenders #1)
• Affiliation: Eternal Defenders
• Home: Stonefoot
• Family status: married, one child
• Physical skills: Two-handed weapon combat
• Magical skills: none
• Related characters: Raniela (wife), Aleisa (daughter)

Shal’rien, living in the southeast corner of elf-inhabited lands, has darker skin than most elves. He’s a strong, muscular figure of average height, most recognizeable by his maintained goatee.

Origins

The Marshwalker family lived on the foothills of Iron Hand Hills for generations. Shal’rien lives in a village called Stonefoot, with his wife and their daughter. Their home is in a diverse place with the moutains to the southeast, the marshes and eventually jungle to the northeast, and the fertile lowlands to the west.

In his early years, Shal’rien served as a guard and eventually guard-for-hire for the local traders. During this time, he started to prefer a glaive with a spear-like blade on both ends as his weapon of choice, putting the reach to good use both when protecting traders on the paths through those wide lowlands or when fighting the demons at the Tenth Gate.

At some point, Shal’rien was involved in helping to clear a mine of a mixture of overgrown spiders and rats. Eventually, the issue led him to fight rockworms who also infested the mine shafts. For this help, a shaman gave him a windblade, weapon enchanted by the elemental powers of wind. Since then, the blade is cared for but unused, waiting for the time its magical powers will be needed.

Eventually, Shal’rien married Raniela, a common woman from one of the nearby villages. While Raniela is trained in archery and put these skills to use in combat several times, she is mostly known for her skills in herbalism, using these skills to mix local herbs to create pest-repellants for the local farmers. As the times became calmer, Shal’rien and his wife had a daughter, Alesia.

Hints of trouble

Roughly two centuries after Alesia’s initiation, the area around Stonefoot became the place of several skirmishes between the elves and the trolls living in the nearby jungle. While the problems calmed down as winter came, Shal’rien fears it’s far from over. When presented with the chance, he decides to ask the Darkwoods for help…

Shal’rien’s call for help will be answered in the first book, leading Tyr’eshal to travel across the whole kingdom. As the Marshwalkers and Tyr’eshal work to solve the problem and discover its true cause, the base of several unexpected connections is forged. The trilogy will show both Shal’rien’s combat skills and his personality as a caring father who wants to find a way for his daughter’s skills to grow without too much risk.