Culdon is the Earl of Centaur, one of the foremost noblemen and military leaders in Ciricen. He is a hard man, born of a hard race. The Lordai are a blood-soaked people, men and women forced to fight unendingly for their survival. In the depths of its history, the Mortals of Ciricen became divided between two tribes whose animosity swiftly descended into a life-and-death struggle for the realm. The Lordai were those who held to their faith in Prélan and affirmed the alliances their ancestors had forged with the other Free Peoples. The Sordai renounced the deity and diplomacy both and aligned themselves rather with the Northmen and the dark powers of Urunmar, adopting their pagan gods and their savagery.
After a long struggle, during which the internal strife of Ciricen became subsumed within a greater conflict waged across all of Astrom, the Lordai were defeated. For several grim centuries the land lay locked under the brutal power of the Sordai. The Lordai were slain, enslaved, cast into exile or forced underground to fight a hopeless guerrilla war. It was not until the second defeat of Kurundar at the beginning of the Fourth Chapter that the Lordai were able to return and liberate their homeland from its torment.
The ensuing centuries were years of slow healing, repair and restoration. Gradually Ciricen recovered its strength and a trace of its ancient glory. Yet Culdon was born at a time when the Sordai had arisen again to trouble their old enemies. As a child Culdon was sent by his father, Earl Rosdon, to be the ward of Countess Danavere in Gilothiel in the far south of the kingdom. This was a happy childhood and the time when he befriended Nardain, who one day would become king. During these years the Sordai were only a vague threat in the north but the days darkened as Culdon and his peers grew into manhood.
Returning to his home at Handur, Culdon continued his education by shadowing his father to learn the skills of a lord. In the year 411 he married the Lady Winnaline of Lorndur and together they had a son who was named Daradon. For a few years this noble young family knew peace.
Culdon was still a young man when calamity struck. After years of raiding and pillaging, the Sordai came out to open battle and inflicted a terrible defeat on the Lordai at the Battle of Pharand in the year 423. King Liotor was slain, and so too was Culdon’s father in another defeat the following year. Like many young men across the country, Culdon mourned a dead parent and was forced to step into a leadership role in this new war…
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