Cronides
Cronides, Teacher of Resilience and Trinity Knight
His face is squared with stubble accenting some friendly features with a slight hint of wrinkled skin. His hair is a dusty grey and his tall stature hunches a bit. Despite his seasoned look a youthful spark of emerald resilience can be seen from his eyes occasionally. He carries many bags about him that look well worn. He wears an armored uniform of abyss that has signs of battle; a single emerald green wing adorns his chest. He has some soft soled leather work boots that look oddly new.
Awakened 10/20/2007
Cronides
Shardic History
Cronides is a widower with two teenage children. He has mourned his wife's passing from illness for more than 10 years and has grown bitter in that time, refusing to let go of the past. He has served his lord's vassal for decades as a pig farmer. He was always revered as a wise man despite his limiting lineage and humble occupation. During his years of morning, he sought to quell his pain with introspection and prayer. His efforts led him to be awakened into the land of dreams. Despite attaining this higher level of the mind, his own memories and focus seems to slip from him as senility seems to take hold.
The 2nd Great Awakening
Cronides was one of the first dreamers to find the city of dreams during the 2nd Great Awakening (The first Great Awakening was 1000s of years before). As many have, he entered with wonderment and confusion, surrounded by dozens of people he did not know and in places he did not recognize. Soon he would learn, as did they all, that this place was a creation of their minds and through their dreams they could come together.
A Rebellion: The Emancipators of Men
It did not take long for the newly awakened dreamers to realize that political agendas were at work. Soon, they began to choose sides. Some fell in line with a powerful gatekeeper, Igteus, who claimed to be the student of a great man, Idoaclese. This mentor had been murdered sadly, but Igteus claimed to carry out his good work and bring perfection to the city. His methods however, led many to revere him as a twisted soul who sought power at the expense of others and in the name of a man greater than himself. From this realization formed a rebellion against the only great house, the Sect of the Prudent, from which Igteus claimed power. Led by Gharod and Zar'Tenya, Cronides would join with many freedom fighters in the cause against the Sect's oppression.
The new faction needed a home and it was learned that fragments of a great powerful tablet were lost through the lands of the Trinities. Cronides would help in the effort to gather these pieces along with his new brethren. Together they were able to forge the Tablet of Freedom anew and gained strength from its power. Cronides, along with the other, would proudly be branded with the crest of the Trinity stronghold and they would call themselves, The Emancipators of Men.
The Ordained
The city had many powers from which dreamers could draw, and Cronides was a fascinated student from the start. He learned that he was attune to the element of Resilience and was known as a Soulmaster. He would learn his path from the Master of Resilience, Lynus Xebseluur. She was an incredible influence on him and he was driven to learn all he could of the path. His mentor would take notice, and in time offered him a place among the Teaching Order of Idoaclese, he would be ordained. His mentor was hasty however, and in an emotional moment following the betrayal of Zar'tenya and the death of Delosian she would grant her student an apprentice's halo. The rest of the Teaching Order was not approving of the quick move, but withheld their judgement to observe his ability. Tragedy struck when Cronides learned that his mentor had betrayed the Teaching Order and was exiled. Determined to finish what he had started, Cronides, along with his fellow apprentices, Lock and Jack would apprentice under Master's Hoyt and Zennan. Taking every opportunity presented to observe and teach classes, his efforts were rewarded as he was recognized, along with his peers, as the first to be ordained following the 2nd Great Awakening.
Under the Rule of Kira Windveil
As a teacher, Cronides was valued for his council not only to his students, but to his first ruler, Kira Windveil. They were close in council and on the battlefield. When it came time that Kira would marry Amara, it was Cronides who presided over the ceremony. Kira's rule was marked by much conflict and loss. During the wars with the Sect, betrayal led to the loss of one of their most dear, the guardian, Delosian. Cronides had sought to learn who was responsible for the death of Idoaclese. The trail led him from the real assassin and he was too late to prepare for what was to come. The assassin, Zar'tenya, thought dead herself, would return and admit the crime while seeking to reclaim her blades from Delosian, who loved her. He would submit to her and was dreamstruck. Cronides bears a terrible resentment of Zar'tenya for her crimes. Xiarasya, who had been accused of the murder of Idoclese, would be exonerated. The Sect of the Prudent's strength would wane and the Emancipators seemed to have brought peace at last, when Xiarasya would commit a terrible act.
In an effort to find peace and freedom for all, the rule of Kira Windveil knew mostly war. To focus on the battles, he would establish the Trinity Knights, a warrior group of the Emancipators marked by abyss armor. Cronides wears the armor still. In time, and in answer to the rising threat of the bloodcrests that held the art of Dreamstrike, Cronides would be ascended to Guardian of the Emancipators of Men to oversee the meeting of the bloodcrests in the Chimeric Plane.
The demon, Bashir
Cronides, despite a gruff personality, has always been a moral man. He abhors evil and all who would rally to its banner. His disgust of it is driven to some degree by fear and he was, in his early dreams, terrified of the dark places of the city, seen gripping fire alterors in dark caverns. So, when the Barrows started attracting warped souls claiming a God required them to sacrifice souls to empower him, Cronides was quickly upon them condemning their vile actions. Pink mists and terrible tendrils of energy would make their way through the Barrow stronghold. At first, much of the city would stare in wonderment. It was then that Xiarasya would make a grave error with an experiment, offering her ability to transfer energies of the dream on the formless beast that awaited. Bashir was born into the city and took many forms of beast and woman. Cronides and the Emancipators, led by Kira Windveil, would wage incredible battles to purge the evil from the land.
The Adepts and the Teaching Guild
Under the rulership of Sand, a research division of the Emancipators would be formed. Marked by an emerald green wing, the "Adepts", as they were called, would endeavor to take the Emancipators in a scholarly direction and divert some of their focus from their warring past. It was during this enlightenment, that Cronides would seek to create a Teaching Guild in the Library of Idoaclese. He could be found most days in the Library, welcoming all who would attend to the "Teaching Guild" for lessons, field trips, and the acquisition of arts. In time the Library would transform to accommodate only those wearing a halo to enter the Teaching Hall in the Library.
The Fall of the Emancipators
Not only did the demon, Bashir bring its own curse to the city but that of its eternal foe, the Yissen and the Etchen Knights. Incredible battles took place between the Shards of Bashir and the Etchen Knights, with some of the city picking sides and the Emancipators of Men caught in the middle in efforts to protect the innocent. These days as a guardian of the Emancipators would wear on the old man, but he stood in the face of adversity, bleeding to the end of the great house.
The Rise of the Emancipators
The old man lost sight of his dreams for some time before being able to return and rejoin the Emancipators, a new house born from the ashes of the old. His determination still holds even as his mind and body slowly fade. He is still seen from time to time, patting the dust from his legs and offering a story or two of the history of his dreams.
