Andoren trained to combat Qadiran slavers using their own
methods. Or assigned to spy on Qadiran Pathfinders and oppose their aims.
Balthazar is a young Andoren man of average height and build with a long face and pale green eyes, little of his distant elven ancestry is marked in his features. His countenance presents a serious disposition and suggests little sense of humor. Only the latter of these is completely accurate, however.
Balthazar is gifted in both mind and body, having a keen intellect and equally keen reflexes. When he was a young boy, these traits brought him to the attention of the Eagle Knights and they convinced his parents that he would make an ideal candidate for their order. His parents were overjoyed at the prospect that young Balthazar would grow to be a scourge of the slavers in Qadira one day.
The Eagle Knights sponsored Balthazar's education at the Acadamae* in Korvosa and also arranged for the lad to have a private instructor in arms there as well. The hope was that Balthazar would master the arcane arts while becoming adept at swordsmanship, as befits a gentleman. Unfortunately, Balthazar spent as much time practicing fencing as he did with his magical studies. Predictably, he fell behind his classmates and ultimately failed to graduate from the Acadamae. To compound his shame, Balthazar never exhibited any fervor to become an Eagle Knight.
Even worse than Balthazar's dereliction of his responsibilities was the fact that he never exhibited any true dedication to the cause ending slavery that is the Eagle Knights' raison d'etre. The 'Knights publicly denounced Balthazar for this and his family's shame knew no limit. They, in turn, sent word to their son that he was no longer welcome in his own home. Furthermore, they stated, if he were to return to Andoren, it would compound their dishonor. They said that it would be better for him to die in a foreign land than to ever cast his shadow in Andoren again.
The rebuke from his parents was devastating to Balthazar. His every decision for the last years brought pain to him. The only thing he could do now, he felt, was to regain his honor and restore the honor that he cost his family. The only means open to him is to take up the cause of freedom and to fight slavery wherever he finds it. If this should lead to his death then he will die with honor and come home to fill a grave.
