Aleksandr the Sharpshooter Champion Lore
Many of the High Elves’ great scholars, warriors, and tradesmen cultivate an air of mystery to enhance their prestige, but the notorious Aravian sniper Aleksandr the Sharpshooter is one of the rare few whose secrets are protected by the state itself. Within the vast and meticulous census and immigration archives of Aravia there is no Elf bearing that name. In the corridors of power his name is never spoken, and his orders are given through layers of masque and cryptology. When the Aravian state is pressed on the matter by an unusually persistent inquirer, a wall of complex legal procedures and endless redirection ensures the long-lived Elves can most probably wait the problem out. If feeding the seeker into their bureaucratic machinery is not feasible, other options to silence them are deployed.
Classified though his details are, the name of the Sharpshooter strikes fear around Teleria. Anyone who has ever traveled anywhere near Aravian lands, or listened to an Elven bard in a tavern elsewhere, has heard tales of his incomparable aim. He is undoubtedly among the greatest snipers ever to walk Teleria, tested in many well—documented high-stakes battles. His arrows seem to travel at the speed of lighting and strike with a frosty, agonizing force. Massive brutes, nimble skulkers, and the most skilled enemy bowmen seeking to test their nerve against the best: all are easy prey for Aleksandr’s extraordinary twitch reflexes, sensory alertness, and tactical awareness. He assesses and visualizes the terrain of the battlefield to use every angle, corner, distraction, and element of cover to full advantage. He serves the Kingdom of Aravia both in the field and as an instructor of the most elite High Elf archers, individuals kept in the same void of secrecy as he.
Some of the secret details of Aleksandr’s life are concealed not because they are compromising, or truly disgraceful, but because they are inconsistent, stumbling, sometimes painful and imperfect – unacceptable for public knowledge, if Aleksandr the Sharpshooter is to remain an unimpeachable symbol of fear and respect. Yet the enriching details would let so many empathize all the more with the person behind the legend, if only the information could be disseminated successfully.
Aleksandr learned rime-shot magics in his youth in the ice-bound Winterlands, where the only residents were the Norr diehards of Port Wraith and scattered unaffiliated groups of raiders and sellswords. Among these itinerant marauders there were many small, tightly-knit bands who fought and plundered together, competing for spoils. Aleksandr, one of few High Elves to spend any considerable time there, bounced between various gangs. They helped him develop his talent, but he found it all but impossible to find a place among them, and often felt exploited.
Through sheer tenacity Aleksandr eventually found a crew with whom he formed a thriving partnership, and was poised to become a famous reaver. But this did not give him the fulfillment he sought. Worse, with his skill on their side in battle, his shipmates became brazen, ruthless, and ambitious. When they proposed not just robbery but slaving, targeting civilian vessels indiscriminately, Aleksandr quietly fled at their next port of call and betrayed the covenant he had with them. Another heavily repressed fact about Aleksandr is that despite his troubled past and supremely lethal stock-in-trade, he is a good-hearted and clear-headed soul.
Nonetheless Aleksandr could not deny that his talent and his future lay in battle and blood, in the twang of sinewy bowstring and lethally whistling arrows. He returned to Aravian shores alone and brooding, and was quickly detained and questioned. When found to be an undocumented High Elf of unsavory extraction, he was not turned away, for the High Elves accept new arrivals so long as they are put in their proper place. Thus he was given a choice between status as a second-class citizen or a chance to prove himself via military service. It was that, or outlawry, and a return to statelessness. With some regret at the loss of his autonomy but faint hope that he might finally feel a sense of belonging, he agreed. The imperious government Elves could scarcely have imagined at that moment what they had gained.
Many years passed, and Aleksandr grew from a prodigy with huge potential into a genuine master. There are now thousands of veterans of battles all across Anhelt who live in lingering fear of long corridors, wide-open spaces, unconstrained sightlines, and the dread sound of a bowstring’s recoil — all thanks to Aleksandr and his disciples.
Aleksandr Storyline
The man Aravia knows today as Aleksandr the Sharpshooter was not born a legend. None would have imagined the only child of humble merchants to be destined for heroic deeds, but fate had many cruel trials in store. And where hardship would have broken a lesser mortal, Aleksandr faced those challenges head-on and was forged into something far greater than he was meant to be.
As a babe, he saw his family slaughtered before his very eyes by savage Orc raiders who had descended upon their trade caravan like vultures. They spared none in their bloodthirsty fury, and had Aleksandr’s mother not hidden him under an upturned wagon, he too would have perished by the blade. By a stroke of luck, local farmers found the trembling child amid the carnage when they investigated the attack and took him in as their own.
Named Aleksandr by his foster father, the young elf spent his early years in relative peace. He learned the peasant’s craft and worked the land, helping his new family eke a living in the harsh hinterlands of Kaerok. Alas, that would not last for long. The Dark Elves of Durham learned that an elven child had been adopted by humans and brought up as a peasant – an insult to their noble race. One of their cohorts invaded the farmstead and demanded the boy be surrendered to them. Otherwise, everyone’s life would have been forfeit. Though it pained him greatly to abandon home, Aleksandr went with the Dark Elves willingly in exchange for sparing the peasants’ lives.
Thus began the most harrowing period of his life. His new masters sought to purge the “taint of human weakness” from him and reforge Aleksandr into a weapon to serve their will. He went through arduous, downright sadistic training until he excelled with the bow, learned to hunt and kill without remorse. The Dark Elves were canny and stoked the flames of hatred in Aleksandr’s heart, directing his fury at the Orсs and Ogryns who had deprived him of his true kin. Fortunately, those savages bred like rats, and Aleksandr had no lack of prey. He took no small amount of pleasure in honing his skill and hunting Gaellen Pact raiding parties.
However, one final twist of fate was yet in store for the Sharpshooter. A twist that took him back to the path he never thought to tread again. One night, Aleksandr cleared out an Orc encampment in the forest and found a prisoner the raiders had held – a priest of Lumaya. Intrigued, Aleksandr chose to free him, but he could not imagine that talking to the old man would resonate so profoundly with half-forgotten memories in his heart.
After that meeting, Aleksandr fled his previous life and sought acceptance in the kingdom of the High Elves. Many adventures and perils awaited him, but his skill and determination never wavered. The ruthless assassin was dead, and in his place, Aleksandr the Sharpshooter, captain of the Aravian Rangers and protector of the weak was born. To this day, he keeps his vigil, ever-ready to battle evil no matter what form it takes.