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 hroughout the adventure the player will encounter a variety of personalities within Parmathia. Shadows of
Winter contains many detailed characters to interact with who do not exist to just lecture Callum in
long, drawling speeches. Every member of this richly detailed cast has his or her own motivations and backgrounds.
These characters may offer helpful dialog or tag along with Callum to assist in completing the adventure.
 Callum Elkhardt (The Hero)Callum began his life in the cold and inhospitable reaches of the nordlands. Orphaned by the dreaded "Red Plague", Callum and his twin sister, Illia, were forced into a life of servitude. The two were born with a strange marking that left them both with mismatching eye colors. Some believed the coloration was a divine sign while others dismissed it as a mere birth defect.
The young slaves, impoverished and tired of their maltreatment at the hands of their heartless masters, made a daring escape one dark and wintery night. Believed lost to the blizzards, the children fled their village and nearly perished if it weren't for the mercy of the Cathánites who discovered them nearly frozen and unconscious.
While being cared for outside the temple grounds, a religious knight on a pilgrimage discovered them and adopted Callum as his son and heir.
Callum and Illia were separated at this young age and, as the years passed, Callum's memories of his sister and former life as a low-born slave began to fade.
The knight that took Callum in was the duke of Elkhardt, a decorated veteran of the crusade across the sea. Duke Elkhardt taught his adopted son the ways of knighthood and groomed him to become an honorable defender of Parmathia and inheritor of his lands and title.
Unfortunately, the events following Löwen's insurrection cascaded into a terrible civil war that forced the duke and his son to flee their war-torn lands.
Seeking refuge in the neighboring duchy of Onora, father and son provided their military services to defend the duchy from the advancing forces that had overtook their own lands.
Callum and Duke Onora's half-Kahjini son witnessed Löwen's newly acquired supernatural powers firsthand in a tragic battle that left only a badly wounded Callum alive to tell the tale.
After his return to Onora castle, Callum learned he must return to the lands of his birth with Duke Onora's young daughter to survive the coming onslaught from the evil arch-duke and his bloodthirsty armies.
 Abigail Onora Torn between multiple worlds of contrasting cultures, tradition, and growing up amidst a terrible war, Abigail has known only conflict her entire life.
The half-Kahjini entered this world while her own mother's life ended delivering her and a broken hearted father never granted reprieve for such painful origins.
Precocious, spoiled, and highly impetuous, Abigail spent her early youth tormenting the peasantry. She learned how to manipulate others into doing her bidding and reveled in belittling those she deemed inferior.
Despite such a loathsome existence, the girl was not without merit. Being an outcast that was shunned for her skin color, Abigail took to reading books to pass the days. Under the tutelage of her Kahjini grandfather, Ibrahim, she became well educated in the arts and sciences. Combined with her artistic talents, the young daughter tried desperately to gain her father's affection by painting murals of lands and creatures she saw only in the pages of books.
The artistic expressions had the opposite effect she had hoped for and caused grief for her heart-broken father. Though he shared the same gift of art, he never reached out to the child he blamed for taking his away his true love.
On the day Löwen's army marched on Onora, Abigail was blissfully unaware of the impending doom at the castle gates. High atop the main tower, the young girl continued her studies of classic Parmathian and Kahjini literature in near solitude while the chaos unfolded far below.
If not for a promise made by Duke Elkhardt to his dear friend and cousin years prior and the loyalty of an adopted son for a father's final request, the girl would have perished alongside all the lost souls of the sacked castle.
 Duke Hazen Elkhardt The man that adopted Callum as his own son from the frozen reaches of Kardrak, Duke Hazen Elkhardt is also a heroic veteran from many wars.
His secret devotion to a separatist sect deemed heretical by the Church has made the former crusader a very private man.
Returning from the wars abroad as an honored defender of the kingdom, Hazen found he had lost everything while he was away. His wife and confidante took ill in his absence and died from the Red Plague that swept through Parmathia. The loss was devastating and Hazen sought comfort in his religion.
Beyond his grief, the duke of Elkhardt felt an increasing sense of dread as he was read the ancient prophecies of the Cathánites. One foretold of a coming war on Parmathian soil that would pitch brothers against one another and divide the kingdom.
He tried to warn his allies of the foreboding news but many were noblemen too versed in modern politics to pay any heed. Among his dearest friends, he confided his forbidden religion to and the responses were mixed. Some shunned him for his heathen beliefs while the few that remained close accepted his faith with skepticism. These few remaining friends were: the Duke of Onora, the young Duke of Ahearn and the fiery arch-duke of Löwengrube.
He fought alongside these noblemen in Kahjin and observed a disturbing change in one of them, Salatas Löwen, in the years following the wars' conclusion.
After dismissing the arch-duke's transformation as the impotent rage of a battered veteran, Hazen later realized his former comrade was fulfilling one of the prophecies recited by the Cathánites.
Hazen faced Löwen in a duel to defend the boy-king during a coup attempt and lost his leg to the cruel-edged bite of Löwen's mighty Shamshir. If not for the aid of his cousin's Kahjini in-laws, Hazen would have perished alongside his fellow knights.
Years after that dark day, Hazen faces a life of former glory hindered by handicaps and fulfills his duties as father and lord of Elkhardt by passing his legacy onto Callum.
 Onora Soldier After the slaughter of the remaining Onora regiments at the battle of Nachtheim Glen, the ranks that still fight for the True Heir have dwindled greatly. Their numbers
were slightly replenished as surviving refugees throughout devastated duchies joined their ranks. Many fear these numbers are still inadequate to face the seemingly unstoppable armies of Löwen.
The remaining army has now become
a hodgepodge of seasoned veterans and inexperienced conscripts from different
duchies across the midlands of Parmathia.
These soldiers now stand united under the banners
of Onora, Adler, Waldentraud, and Elkhardt in one final battle to cease The Usurper's dark ambition.
More characters will be revealed in the coming months...
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