CHARACTER REVEAL : ATONE
CHARACTER REVEAL: ATONE
Hello, friends of Attack Mountain! We’re pleased to reveal a character from Legend of the Time Star today: the stoic and proud leader of the Royal Guard, Atone.
Atone is a fierce warrior of strong convictions who becomes one of the Hero’s strongest allies as the world around them falls apart. He wasn’t always known as Atone, however.
Early Life + The Chance Encounter
Hailing from a small seaside town, Atone grew up different from his friends - while they played and enjoyed their young lives, he often opted to spend his days absorbing the knowledge of his elders, particularly the rough-edged hunters that kept the community alive. It was knowledge that the others - with their abundant energy and all the impatience it brings - had no desire to learn.
It was this knowledge that shaped him more than anything. The realization that the world was alive, a living breathing thing, shook him to his core. One day as he lie in a field of grass - his favorite place to think - he vowed to spend his life protecting all that lived and breathed as he did.
It tortured him as his innocence slipped away, as innocence often does with age. After joining the town guard, Atone realized that in order to protect some lives, he’d have to end others. It was a thought he could not reconcile, and for a long while he was ridiculed for his inability to land a killing blow. That would all change late one night.
In the dark of twilight on the way home from his thinking place, he found himself ambushed by a passing pack of marauders. While he was able to dispatch them despite being outnumbered, one of his assailants rose as he was walking off and slid a knife between his ribs. He knew at that moment that it was either him, or the marauder.
It would mark the first life he ever took.
With one death came others. It threatened to drive him mad, cutting down other living creatures, and one day he simply vanished. He took nothing from his home. He told no one. He was simply gone.
It wasn’t until many years later that he resurfaced, having taken up the name ‘Atone’. A chance encounter had put him in the company of a high-ranking politician in the fortress city of Foghold - the largest and most populous city in all the land. Unrest in the land following ‘The Crash’ that had occurred earlier that year was being dismissed by the inebriated politician; it angered a few patrons to the point that it came to blows. Atone stepped in and very likely saved the man’s life with seemingly little effort. Impressed with his prowess in combat and his ability to dispatch the attackers without doing mortal damage to a single one, the politician revealed his connection to the High King of Foghold and his position in the Royal Court as its military adviser.
Atone was skeptical at first given the man’s demeanor and attitude - hardly royal - but it proved to be valid, as a few days later (after heavy vetting) he found himself welcomed with open arms into the legendary Royal Guard.
Atone and The Royal Guard
The Royal Guard was founded by High King Movgan a century earlier and is widely considered to be the most elite group of knights in the world. To be among them was a dream to Atone - they had order, a code. They were fierce, powerful, but just. Best of all, they didn’t kill unless it was absolutely necessary to their mission, and even then they were respectful of their kills, paying each of them a moment of silence regardless of their alignment in life. He found that he resonated deeply with their values. In return, his comrades resonated deeply with him. It was only a few years into his time with The Royal Guard that Atone found himself kneeling down in front of the High King himself, being formally knighted and crowned as the successor that would take the reigns of the Guard when its current leader stepped down - or in this case, was cut down.
As the current leader of the Royal Guard, Atone serves his people with a single goal in mind. Their safety, and the safety of their leaders is his utmost concern. Even if it means sacrificing everything - which, with each passing day, seems more and more likely - Atone will do so, if it means his people will continue to live.
Have questions about Atone? Ask us!
