Grismwold Blood

Background[]

Grandmaster Grismwold, one of the original three.. Commander of the Blood Legion in the Order Of Dragons, bringing two halves to a whole.. Slayer of Dal'Shak Dragon of Terror from beyond the skys, Swordmaster of

Moonshae and Champion to the coastal tribes.. A lifetime order member through and through.. One of the founding members of the order he has preferred to take a less controlling role in the orders heirarchy settling for command of the Prima or First Legion of the three legions that make up the fighting/exploration/armed forces section of the order...

Wild Child[]

Born to a simple fisherman and his wife on the coast of moonshae grismwold grew up in the world itself, he learnt to fish, to net, to row... He learnt to survive on islands in the outer moonshaes for months at a time, he lived amongst the brutal beauty of it all during his childhood years and became close friends with elves and halflings..

Father[]

His father Jezath Blood although proffessing to most that he was but a simnple fisherman was in fact one of the chief harpers, close friends with elminster himself! Noble by birth and retired masked lord of waterdeep.. Only neverember would have known his identity but alas... Grismwolds father died long ago... Alone, in the cold.. In the bitter, bitter cold.... Left to rot by a red wizard if thay after having requisitioned his fishing ship (A rather sturdy but medium sized northern sea whaler), but that is another story my friends for another day... Or perhaps later...

Grismwold knew somehow he was destined, yet he did not know what that meant, it was somethign his father just used to keep telling him along with pressing this brooch into his soft hands..

Fathers Change[]

That was before the training, before his father changed.. Something inside snapped as if time was running out and his father trained him hard and fast in the ways of martial combat, by sword, and by axe! His father became nasty and hurtful, pushing grismwold away and showing his mother disrespect.. So hateful of him had grismwold become In those Late teen years that one day he promised his mother he was ready to find out what had possesed his father so, to find out what was wrong.. Or die trying...

The Journey[]

"You are ready my son" This was all his father said to him when he was approached by grismwold and asked where his loyaltys lie.. That very night his father took him aboard his ship.. Little did he know that from then on, his life woul take an immediate and very very real transformation.. that the saftey net of his mother an the moonshae was but a fantasy and there was a war out there to fight... not against a common foe but against evil and chaos itself..

The Legion[]

The three Legions within the section of the order of dragons are known as Blood Legion, Flame Legion, Ash Legion.. This is in honour of the day the order was founded amidst the aftermath of that battle during the dragonrage years...

The Order[]

"The day that was so full of Blood, of Ash, and of Flame.." (As the sermon dictates to the reader in our Librum Dracones - Scripture Of Dragons.. part of the scripture that our order follows..found amidst the dusty pages of the Codex Draconum A ledger showing our orders history and all the mighty ancient legends that come with that status..)

Members of the order all work closely with there dragon counterparts and of all alignments however there faith and dedication to the legion is unquestioned..

The ash legion actually partake in the eating of various parts of the dragons they learn with as a way of uniting with the dragon, the dragons regeneration allows them to provide this token meal of scale and egg but it is a VERY closely kept seceret.. Some say that by the eating of the flesh of dragons they gain some insight into dragonhood and some power is gleaned..

The flame legion actually burn the malted scales from there dragon counterparts and breathe in the smoke and use it as incense in there ceremonys.. These ceremonys can last for days on end however those that partake it is said gain some physical attributesof the scales they burn wheb combibned with the sacred incantations of the order passed down from the dragons themselves..

The blood legion partake of the blood of dragons and of each other.. They are not vampires, not at all, however they do this ceremony once per year to strengthen the ties that bind them into a brotherhood so strong.. Some say that when one drinks the blood of an adult or ancient dragon one gains a longer life and more vitality.. Hence why the leader of the legion grismwold blood has lived for four centurys..

The founding[]

Grismwold was there on that day of horror and bloodshed, when the world was set on a precipice poised for destruction.. The Bloody War against the undead dragons and evil living dragons intent on becoming lichs themselves and the dragon cult behind it all had left its toll upon both himself and the world around him..

The necromantic cult of dragons took full use of the dragonrage eras power and unpredictablility in order to cause a massive massacre near neverwinter in 1300DR in order to create a dread ring..(excerpt from codex draconum, the dragonrage era, sword coast)

He took heart that day and found courage in the face of adversity to pull himself free from this war induced semi mad state, and joined his other party members, the founders of the order...

They swore that day, these atrocities would never again grow to fruition, that they would form a brotherhood, of blood.. A stronger tie than any other, a sacred tryst of the anicent ways.. Those ways now mostly long forgotten amidst the obscuring mists of time..

The Searching Crusade[]

They travelled far and wide after the dragonrage, In those days the land was harsher and more unforgiving, the sun gods were in waning and the ice was encroaching inland from the north. Relentless it was, in its consumption of the old and the poor.. In the north of faerun and entire northern and southern hemispheres of the world of toril itself in fact, the Realm had become a frozen wasteland..

Home[]

Finally in that treachorous freezing sea, past the sword coast and out into the sea of swords.. They found a lonely island chain that went by the name of the Omen Isles.. At once they all knew they had come, to the right place.. The place that was calling them, reaching out for their souls.. This island, said to be the birthing place of the first dragonborn, would become their home, nay their monastary, their citadel.. The headqaurters of the Order of Dragons had been born!

Order Structure[]

The three founders, Edward Ash-Arrow, Dorgroth flame-blade and Grismwold Blood each decided to take a wing of the order.. Those being,

The Flame Legion: whose mainstay of knowledge and training is the area of magic and the ethereal planes, a mysterious section of the order even to order members themselves...

The Ash legion: whose mainstay was the area of the worship of gods and the physical realm, they deal with the dead and nurse the wounded having some of the best physicians in the known worlds..

The Blood Legion: Of course, whose mainstay was the binding of those 2 spheres which rule us all.. For only through blood, ash and flame all three united shall we control ourselves and our destiny and aid others, only through these 3 trials, of blood of ash and of flame as well, shall we truly be able to re-unite the cultures of dragon and man..

Order Hierarchy[]

The commander of the blood legion is grismwold blood himself, having lived for over 4 centurys none know if he is part elf, part dragon or has extended his life through some magic unknown to others..

The high council take care of the day to day activities of the legion and come together for important desicions to vote, however grismwold is there as chair and he always takes the casting vote and although he doesent always interfere in the runnings of the legion, he has been known to cast aside the high councils votes and make the desicion himself.. This is very rare however.. The high council number four of the greatest warriors, scribes and masters of the legion..

Underneath the high council are the knights captains with five of them being slightly elevated above the others, these five are the grandmasters of there chosen path, the class leaders.. They know all there is to know about being a mage... a rogue... a guardian fighter and so on.. Even grismwold blood himself has been known to ask a few questions of these skilled men and women.. Then there are the general kights captains.. those whose job it is to ensure discipline within the legion, those whose job is to ensure the vision of the three founders..

Then come the champions! The greatest men and women our legion has to offer! These people have excelled in there duty and dedication to the cause.. They have drunk of the dragon blood and taken the vows, they have used the special communication devices and know all the history of our great order, especially the history of our legion itself..

The knights are the mainstay of the legion, having passed through squirehood and dubbed knights by the high council themselves, these members are trusted and valued members of the legion..

The newest members are the squires.. some of them remain in squirehood forever, others pass reasonably quickly up through to knighthood, but it all depends on there dedication and trustworthyness.. but to even become a squire they must pass severe entry examinations and get approval from the high council..

Recent History[]

The blood legion had been back at the omen isles training hard and learning the way with an ancient golden dragon that had been visiting the orders HQ recently.. It was caused quite a stir when a message came from neverwinter. A message from neverember himself, grismwolds fathers associate, requesting aid in a battle against undead that were smashing against his walls like the sea of the bow of a ship.. He wasent sure how long he could hold the city.. There was no question about it.. Grismwold met in council with edward ash arrow the drow and dorgoth flameblade the delzoun dwarf and very soon afterwards the legion bloodlegion was setting sail in 5 great 3 masted ships! They brought seige weapons, horses, men, arms and armour.. Enough supplies to let neverwinter last a seige of a hundred years! This was to be a battle like no other.. A battle to place those undead and the red wizards and lich behind them back into the earth where they belong never to rise again~!

They set sail in high spirits, confident of there own wisdom and power, but the gods had other plans for them.. The legion lost 2 ships travelling across the the trackless seas and another ship along the sword coast itself.. Arriving to the sacene of a great battle theyhad little choice but to head for the docks and hope they were not spotted int here vulnerable position.. They had almost made it through when an undead dragon sensed who they were and came swooping down to demolish the remaining two ships to smithereens.. All woulkd havebeen lost there and then if it were not for the strong ties of brotherhood and strength and vitality of the legion itself!! For what was this, but more blood ash and flame to walk or swim through!!

Scattered and split up they came upon neverwinter fields seperatly and fought there way to the city, retaking dragon bridge and saving neverwinter from its previously assured fate..

Now the legion is in neverwinter, no ships to return home, but a willingness to fight and defend neverwinter and wanting to help rebuild it.. Only recently has grismwold been able to contact the other two legion commanders, edward and dargoth, yet he has not spoken of the messages ghe has received in return.... Yet...

But I digress and waffle on in my old years.. We live in the moment not in the past and let us look now to that present and future and decide upon our fates!!