Soma Ravengard
I was born as the daughter of quite poor humans that I do not know much about, but my father has told me a few things.
This flaming light that shines within me, it uncontrollably burned my biological parents as my mother gave birth to me. She died from those injuries a short time later, I was told. My own life seemed to be at stake as well. My biological father, confused and shocked in this desperate situation, seeked advice from a paladin order located in the near city Elturgard. There he met the Prior and my father, Lord Georg Ravengard, a relative of the current Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate.
He, I was told, made a generous proposal to my biological father. The Paladin Order of Companion would care for me, but my father would have to fully entrust me to their care. Specifically, he was not allowed to see me for a full lunar cycle, to ensure that I would cause no more harm to him, myself and others. The deal was made and I recovered from the injuries, but my father did not ever show up again to pick me up anyway.
After 5 years of waiting, my father Georg, in his great generosity, decided to adopt me, and his family accepted me as one of their kind, allowing me to live the life of a noble, while also sharpening my body, my mind and my soul at the order.
At first, Georg thought I would someday become a cleric or a priestess, but once he saw how much I enjoyed play-fighting with other Paladin apprentices, he decided that I would be trained as one of them. I was glad to became the first squire of my only and older brother, Knight Harald, whom I slowly developed strange feelings for. I assisted him on his quests, which were mostly slaying minor monsters. I was rarely allowed to use my sword though, only in rather safe situations. So i was mostly in charge of lesser duties, such as maintaining the armory or caring for the horses. Although my life was not particularly safe at that time, I perceived it as carefree, maybe too carefree, as it seems that I became careless after a while.
I began receiving visions in my dreams, means of communicating of an angelic being, my guide, as I later learned. They were about threatened civilians, and an evil Kobold warlock. I felt I had to slay this one, but then the civilians would get murdered by another Kobold, a warrior. If only I had talked to my father about these dreams, or someone else, but I preferred to keep them for myself and to ignore them, hoped they would just fade away, as they did not fit in my happy life.
So it happened as it had to happen. One day, Harald and I and many others were assigned to a mission to get rid of a small Kobold pack, nothing serious as the Paladins thought, but I began developing a bad feeling in my guts. When the action started, it was all there, my dreams again, but real. The warlock, closest to me, but also the warrior, the civilians, and also Harald, who screamed at me to save the civilians while the Paladins charged at the warlock who was obviously the leader of the pack. So I did as he said, happy to receive clear orders in this weird unsettling situation. I killed the Kobold warrior, saved the civilians, and that's where everything went wrong. The Kobold warlock would normally have been no problem for the skilled Paladins, but it was somehow in possession of a powerful artifact that enabled it to summon a demon much stronger than anyone had reckoned with. I had never seen such an abomination before, but I would have been close enough to stop the Kobold from summoning it if I only had charged at him right away, as my dreams had suggested, and nobody else was close enough. Therefore, because I was caring for the civilians instead, the demon was summoned and a fierce battle began. At the end, the Paladins were victorious, but many of them fell that day. They summed up to a much higher number than the civilians that I saved counted. And the worst of all? Harald was among the dead, irrecoverably dead.
It was a great loss for me and even more for my whole family, and I felt that it was my fault, and the dreams I had in the rare nights when I managed to sleep afterwards did not console me at all. I knew I should have spoken about my dreams to some Paladin much earlier, but now I lacked the courage to do so even more. I was not assigned to a new knight for some time and lived the uneventful life of a noble instead, which felt more and more pointless in my grief. However, after some time I started getting weird dreams again, about a special group of Isles in the far west of the sword coast. This lasted some weeks until finally, about half a year after the dramatic accident, I found the courage to talk about it to my father, and I told him everything, including what I thought led to Harald's death, my ignorance and disobedience against what might have been the gods. He said it wasn't my fault at all and that he is not angry at me, that it seems my religious training was lacking, but even though I trust him more than anyone else, I'm not sure about the truth in these words to this day.
Soon after, he said even more. He said that I would have to work on my communication with whatever spoke to me through my dreams. He identified it as an angelic being that wants to guide me. He told me anything he was able to get to know about my race. Also, he reminded me that since I was about to turn 18, it was time for me to prove myself worthy of becoming an Companion-At-Arms of the paladins. To do so, he thought that it would be best for me to leave the noble live behind me for some time, and to answer the call of my destiny for now. So I adventured west, to seek the challenge these Isles have prepared for me. Great anger and a need for justice as well as a strong feeling of guilt still fills me when i think of this dramatic past, which makes me, of all the good gods, sympathize with Tyr the most, with his somehow similar and dramatic backstory.
One day, I will pledge the oath of obedience and become one of his champions, as a Palading of the Order of Companion.
Soma's Paladin Oath
On the Xth of Y Z DR, Soma pledged her sacred Oath of the Crown in River's end in front of Joanne Riverton and her mother, rulers of River's End, Sister Malia of the Clerics of River's End, and also Paladin Hork of Broken Woods. Hork traveled to River's end for this occasion on Soma's request via a letter pidgeon.
It was an closed ceremony, due to the secrecy of Soma's relations with the Rivertons. It was held in the Hall of Gauntlets, a crypt and also a place of prayers devoted to Torm in the Grand Sun Temple of River's End. Here, the right hand gauntlets of the greatest paladins of the area and of the last centuries are exposed. They are often touched by paladin's and warriors more or less devoted to Torm in hope of a blessing against upcoming unlawful obstacles. Soma felt the strong wish to earn a gauntlet worth of beeing displayed in such a manner one day, making people look up to her.
Malia and Hork lead the ceremony, which also had a small audience of trusted paladins and clerics. Malia and Hork explained the circumstances, praised Torm and spoke words of acknowledment of Soma's decision. Then they asked Soma and the Rivertons to conduct the oath with them. The Riverton's spoke a short standard speech appropriate to the occasion, asking Soma to speak the oath if she truly wishes to do so.
Soma then kneeled before them and spoke her oath in the old knight's chant:
I, Soma Ravengard hereby swear mine oath of the crown.
Mine body and mind shall from thereon be no longer mine, yet a tool of the crown, as it conducts the will of Torm, the Triad and all the other lawfull good gods of the realm.
I shall not diverge from the decrees of the crown in these isles, as long as the crown doth not diverge from the callings of these gods and as long as it doth not dismiss mine serving, 'i mine lifetime and beyond.
The crown's law is paramount to me. 'Tis the mortar that bears the stones of civilization together, thus i might not but respect it.
Mine word is mine bond, mine loyality grants this oath and the law i conduct meaning.
I shall be content to try what needs to be done for the sake of decree, desregarding overwhelming odds, since if it is not me to act then, how could i expect it from others.
I might not but deal with the issues of mine actions and take towards the office of mine duties and obligations most truefully.
This i hereby swear 'i the brow of the crown, the gods and the people
After the ceremony, Soma, the Rivertons, Hork and Malia had a feast together, not only discussing Soma's new role but also speaking freely, getting better known to each other. Then, Soma was dismissed to go on with her current mission, filled with a stronger determination than before.