Nightstalker 

Required: Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion

The first Stalkers were an order of Ardani warrior-monks who fought against the undead in the War of Darkness. Forgotten for two ages, new Nightstalkers have emerged to combat the hordes of Oblivion.

The War of Shadows raged across the Realm of Ardan more than 5,000 years ago. The fall of that blessed realm - and all the cataclysms that have wracked the face of Aerynth since - have destroyed nearly all traces of that conflict. Only a few fragmentary, moldering records, carefully preserved by the Holy Church, have offered any hint of that dark time, and the desperate battle the Ardani fought against the Unholy Legions … until now.

But even as the Isle of Oblivion broods in the seas of every fragment and the agents of the Lich-Queen strike terror throughout all lands, a new hope has arisen, a firebrand raised to defy the Dark. The Nightstalkers have returned.

The Stalkers were an ancient order, devotees of Arnomus the Rogue, trained by that Titan to serve the armies of Ardan as scouts and spies. The rising of the dead hordes gave them a new purpose. At the height of the War of Shadows, the Thirteen heretics who first devised Necromancy called forth the first Vampires, giving Oblivion its most powerful weapon. Packs of the Nightborn swept through Ardan by night, falling upon the armies of the blessed realm and spreading terror into even the strongest cities and fortresses. On the fateful night the blood-drinkers fell upon the Carhane Legion, decimating it, there was one man who stood his ground and knew no fear.

His name was Colshak, one of the Stalkers, and he quickly learned that a dozen dagger strokes could rend a Vampire's undead flesh when the strongest swing of a flamberge failed. Colshak escaped the slaughter of his legion, saving a dozen of his fellow soldiers. The tale he brought back gave the Men of Ardan hope. After long consultation with the Nameless Titan, Coleshak devised a new style of fighting, and armed himself with new spells and techniques to fight the darkness. Hundreds followed his example, and a new order, the Nightstalkers, was born.

There are those who say Colshak learned his art while serving on the desert frontier, from watching the dreaded Blade Dervishes of the Devil Men. Their speed and ferocity were coupled with a range of blessings, holy teachings, and exercises that could dispel the dark power of the Void, protect the Nightstalker from the powers of the dreaded Vampires, or send hordes of mindless dead fleeing from the light. Colshak, himself scarred by the fangs of a Vampire, embarked on an obsessed crusade, devoting his life to the destruction of all undead. In time the fame of the Nightstalkers spread far and wide, and the very Irekei who had served as their inspiration adopted the arts of the Nightstalkers, using them in their own Blood Wars.

When the spells of the Nameless Titan ended the War of Shadows at last, Colshak was not content. He feared that the Soulstones and the Web might not endure forever, and that someday Oblivion might ravage Aerynth again. No vault, no book could be entrusted to last forever, and so the thirteenth Titan wove a mighty spell, placing Colshak and 11 of the mightiest Nightstalkers into a magical slumber and removing them from the world, to some hidden realm born of magic. If ever Oblivion should breach the barriers the Ardani raised, the Nightstalkers would rise again and resume Colshak's crusade.

When the Isle of Oblivion appeared, Colshak and his brothers awoke. Daunted by the scope of the undead invasion, the Nightstalkers have decided that their greatest weapon is not their blessed stakes, but their knowledge. The original Nightstalkers scattered, journeying to every land to serve as teachers and trainers, in the hope that every realm can raise armies of new Nightstalkers and drive the unholy shadow from Aerynth once and for all.

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