Aramelia Crescentria

When the Theocracy of Lescatie was flourishing as an anti-monster state, three heroes stood out among even the many the nation boasted for their outstanding skill and wondrous feats: the Three Musketeers of Lescatie. Aramelia, a beautiful hero in her own right, is one of these revered three.

Her hometown leveled in a battle-blaze not long after she was born, Aramelia was rescued by the Order and taken in by the orphanage in Lescatie. The sight of her parents, still deep in her memories. Their faces, forever seared into her mind, overflowing with sadness. The final moments inside the burning mansion where she was torn from them. That tragic tableau before her eyes, unfolding as she was fished out of the blaze by an unknown hand, still haunted Aramelia’s nightmares.

Raised in an orphanage, she had been an ardent follower of the Chief God[1] for as long as she could remember. One day, Aramelia heard Her voice call her name; it drove her to hound the orphanage’s tight-lipped abbot for answers— it was then that she first heard the assault on her hometown was “borne from the presence of monsters”, and that she held within her the makings of a hero.

“Nobody should ever have to be born with the same sadness I have.”

Intense rage towards the abominable monsters who tore her from her mother and father burned within her, as did an inextinguishable wish to see her beloved parents again, if they yet breathed somewhere in this world.

When an invitation came from House Noscrim, asking her to join the Knights of the Holy Ice Flower that had only just been established, Aramelia, fueled by these hidden passions that still smoldered in her breast, did not hesitate for a moment to take up her sword in the name of the Order. After enlisting and gaining the significant backing of the Noscrim family, she received the hero’s blessing and performed remarkably in her duties, coming to eventually be known as one of the Three Musketeers of Lescatie, considered some of the Order’s most prominent heroes.

Of course, Aramelia knew all too well that the almost excessive praises sung about her, and even the title of “one of the Three Musketeers” itself was a deliberate construct of Father Noscrim, keeping talented heroes in his employ in the hopes of elevating his position within the Order, but it wasn’t as if she was uncomfortable in the Holy Ice Flower. The loneliness in her heart born from her childhood tragedy never truly faded with time, and even in the orphanage, she felt as if she were an outsider, struggling to fit in with the children around her. However, she had many friends who she could place her trust in among her fellow knights and heroes. There was another who grew to be an increasingly important presence in her life— you, the first squire she ever received upon becoming a hero, who was never far from her side.

As one of the representative heroes of the Holy Ice Flower, Aramelia seemed to always be putting on a flamboyant performance. She treated everyone with the same warm charisma, at times even breaking out into impromptu passionate speeches, and before long, many found themselves captivated by her, men and women alike. Her popularity was such that she even received the occasional joking remark from her comrades that “it’s as if you’re one of those monsters yourself, the way you cast your charm!”

While wielding one’s sword as a hero brought pain as well as glory, Aramelia had long accepted such matters as the fate of the powerful. If she had any real worries, they were such trifling matters as detaining her trusty squire, you, until the wee hours, conversing at such lengths with you that it would even interfere with the next day’s duties, tasking you with waking her up every morning, and otherwise meddling with your life more than she perhaps needed to. All things considered, one could say that at least among Lescatie’s heroes, Aramelia’s days were particularly fulfilling— or at least, until that day.

That day, when she was accused of being a monster without any chance to defend herself. That day, when she was set for execution.