The Heroes

Eryn

At the beginning of the story, Eryn is still a youth growing up in the mountains among the Clans of the Fenn. Here, the gods of nature are worshiped, with magic simply being dismissed as the work of the devil and partly even rejected. The mountain world in which the Fenn live is unhaer, which means it is free of magic and avoided by the mages.

Eryn’s parents, Bron and Lyesell, raise their son with love and understanding. He grows up to be a courageous and excellent hunter, who masters the bow skillfully. He's also an expert at surviving in the forests, knowing which plants can be eaten, being able to read tracks and hunt animals, protecting himself from the elements and making weapons and tools. 
Eryn has problems with the female sex, approaching the matter rather clumsily, in stark contrast to Ravenor later on …

Eryn experiences his first deep feelings for Aileen, the love of his younger years. She is the sister of his best friend, Arun. The story begins with Eryn attempting to approach Aileen, which he does with all the awkwardness of an inexperienced youth …

Raiden

Sorry: Prince Raiden of Ardeen, Protector of the North and Lord of Naganor. He is the second son of King Tarn of Ardeen. King Tarn has suffered from dementia for many years, and in his place, the first-born, Crown Prince Danian now takes care of the affairs of the kingdom, while Prince Raiden has successfully evaded almost all duties. His interest lies more in the art of magic … and women.
Prince Raiden considers himself to be the centre of the world and sometimes tends to ‘entirely appropriate’ self-pity – especially when he has to suffer the incompetence of his inferiors.
He appreciates exclusive clothing and is always concerned with his appearance. Apart from this, he tends to be thrifty and conducts himself with great discipline when it comes to indulging immoderately in food and alcoholic beverages. As he himself is a brilliant mage and excellent warrior, he likes to look down on other people, although there is scarcely anyone who can hold a candle to him.
 The curse of his life is the soulban, which the first mage of the Brotherhood, Master Elderon, cast upon him years earlier. Prince Raiden attempts everything in his power to break this humiliating bond.

Prince Raiden’s marriage with Lady Chrystell of Gelderon is purely one of convenience, carried out for political reasons. The old King Tarn did not permit his son any freedom of choice in this affair and insisted vehemently on the liaison; not least because Raiden’s reputation concerning the world of ladies was pretty bad even in those days and the King hoped for a certain improvement. Raiden, however, would not think of renouncing his love affairs and continues to take his pleasure with countless fair maidens. Most of the time, Prince Raiden and Lady Chrystell keep out of each other’s way. Nevertheless, together, they have two children – the girls Estell and Ariel. In addition, he has fathered numerous illegitimate children, all of whom he does not acknowledge officially. For the good of the realm, no basis is to be created for unjustified claims. 

Prince Raiden himself does not want to give up his dissolute lifestyle and accordingly, his reputation is as to be expected. Who, however, would dare to criticize such a powerful and often very temperamental man in this matter? For this reason, his subordinates tolerate His Highness’s tiny weaknesses, turning a blind eye to them.

Some of his illegitimate children who appear in the story:

Argon und Ravenor: Their mother is Myrne, a simple serving maid who lives in the village around Naganor.
Argon (unmagical): Ravenor’s older brother was the first to join the Guard and was killed in action.
Ravenor (unmagical): Followed his brother into the Guard (see below).
Lysander (unmagical): The son of landed gentry, serving in the Guard.
Hartwig (unmagical): The son of landed gentry, serving in the Guard.
Rhyenna (magical): Is still a young girl, the daughter of Visalla, who died giving birth to Rhyenna. Visalla was a princess of the horse people of Danenland.
Torag (unmagical): Descended from the Darkir line, he attends the school for administrators in Arvon.
Asran Is the result of a very interesting connection from Volume III.

Apart from Rhyenna und Asran all Prince Raiden’s bastards are unmagical, not having inherited the very great magical abilities of their father.

Ravenor

Officially, he is the son of Baras the blacksmith, and Myrne, a simple maidservant. Inofficially, everyone knows he is the bastard son of the Prince. Although his brother Argon died in action, Ravenor also joins the Guard, which troubles his mother Myrne deeply.

He has little contact with his half brothers and sister, Marinja, Dargast and Ragan. Neither does he have many ties with their father, his stepfather Baras. He may have learned the work of a blacksmith from him, but Ravenor feels he is intended for a much greater calling. He had his first sword practice with his older brother Argon when he came home on leave, which meant the young Ravenor had mastered handling the sword quite passably before entering the Guard.

As a bastard, he enjoys no more rights than any other commoner. The only privilege that Prince Raiden grants his bastard sons is the chance to join the Black Guard without having to go through the selection process. In this way, His most just Highness enables his offspring to fight for their own social advancement. This is well-known throughout the whole country and is the source of many a secretly whispered bad joke.

The young Ravenor is ambitious and feels called to something higher, not least because he is acutely aware of his true origins. He suffers from the disdain of his biological father, in particular because other noblemen look down on him as he is no more than a normal commoner. This hurts his pride, and Ravenor is determined not to stagnate as a simple subordinate but to make something of his life. Nevertheless, this doesn’t prevent Ravenor, an inveterate trouble-maker, from devising all sorts of plans to circumvent the senselessness of the strict military regulations, behavior that does not go down at all well with his superiors. By nature, Ravenor is irascible and daring; on the other hand he can also be very sincere. His charm in combination with his good looks ensure his popularity with the ladies, which he – just like his father – exploits shamelessly.