Thurian the Just

     Thurian Brandziel, better known by his title Thurian the Just is perhaps the greatest warrior in the history of Kairegorn. The first dragon rider to ever come into being, Thurian was a human lord of the farming and mining village of Het dal van de spin, a village that is no longer existent. 

         A kindly man with long gray hair and a black beard and mustache, Thurian was born into the Dragon-Humanoid war, and was witness to many of its atrocities as a child and teenager and saw many people; elves, humans and dwarves, fall in battle. When he inherited his father’s lands, Thurian took on the burden of protecting those lands from the dragon armies. However, he never faced a dragon in all his life until he came upon the skeletal corpses of two dragons, along with a single multicolored egg. Initially, he intended to destroy the egg, but something, perhaps pity or perhaps curiosity, caused him to stay his hand and take it.  

         Whatever the reason, the egg hatched for him in his study and Thurian raised the dragon as his own, naming her Luminos for her brilliant rainbow scales. After discovering her intelligence was equal to his own, Thurian began teaching the hatchling many things, from how to speak, to understanding honor and moral choices. As Luminos grew, it became clear Thurian could not keep her locked away and so instead used a spell of his own invention that bound her heart to his so he could be alerted if she was harmed, effectively joining them forever as partners. 

         Upon realizing they had the power through this bond to end the Dragon-Humanoid war, Luminos and Thurian travelled to the forefront of the war, where in the midst of a great and bloody battle, they stopped the opposing sides from annihilating each other. Both sides were astounded at what caused them to stop; here for the first time ever, was proof that humanoids and dragons could live in peace. Taking this as a sign of ending war, the four races, elf, human, dwarf and dragon all helped to forge a great and binding contract of stone upon the mountain overlooking the Belemnite Sea. With Thurian’s spells upon it, the stone contract bound all four races together for eternity, ensuring Kairegorn would have protectors for its people. Unexpectedly for Thurian, the magic was so powerful that when the contract was completed, it made dragon riders and their bonded counterparts immortal, giving both humanoids and dragons equal power over one another once joined at the hearts. After several years of training the first new dragon riders to serve at his side, including Adrianna and Shogun, Thurian ended up marrying an elf named Lidia, a woman who would become a great advocate for the dragon riders in the fight against evil.

        For the next millennium Thurian and Luminos would train thousands of dragon riders and would watch as technology and generations grew around them. They also were present when the orcs first arrived, and immediately declared war when the orcs attacked innocents to turn into slaves.  They fought with honor and integrity, and thanks to Luminos’ visions, they managed to remain alert to enemy plans. But the one thing they did not see coming was that one of their own, Deltthion and his dragon Sauros, would betray them by siding with the orcs and creating his own legion of dragon riders called the Dark Corps. When Deltthion attacked Castle Draco with his new army, Thurian personally fought his onetime ally. However, Deltthion soon proved to be the stronger of the two combatants and ran Thurian through, enraging Luminos and giving the Order of the Dragon riders the reason to win the battle. After the battle ended, Thurian was given a hero’s funeral and was buried in a tomb at the very top of the mountain where Castle Draco was built. Even after a thousand years, Thurian’s influence as the very first dragon rider remains and thousands aspire to uphold his ideals of peace, freedom and honor. A statue of Thurian also resides in Castle Draco’s gardens where it stands watch over Kairegorn and all its inhabitants, reminding of the time when the great human sorcerer bonded with a rainbow dragon and brought about a lasting peace.