The Gates of Arstelem (Classic)

Character Profile: Haniel

Haniel is the main character of The Gates of Arstelem, even if Berrand gets a pretty equivalent amount of screen time.

Haniel's Origin

Haniel was born in Noraan, which makes it a logical place for her to return to. Although Noraan is run by the Kingdom of Twelve, a tight-knit coalition of twelve tribal groups, Haniel belongs to one of the two distinctive peoples not part of the Kingdom of Twelve, the Vekunites.

The Vekunites are primarily elven, though as with most tribes in the north there is some racial diversity among them. Haniel comes from what would be considered a relatively elite family among the Vekunites, with her father being a temple servant at the temple of Yevet in Arstelem, a position that carried with it honor and privilege.

Although the role of temple servant is limited to men, Haniel was raised in conditions that would be closer to nobility than peasantry, and her family was among a landed group considered eligible for feudal trappings, carrying weapons and having servants who swore fealty to them.

Haniel's childhood was, generally, carefree. Although she had a fighting spirit and pursued athletic activities, she was not particularly well-trained in martial arts or acumen. She was trained primarily to manage a household, and while she had the acumen to serve in such a position she was dissatisfied with the notion of entering an arranged marriage, and was well past ordinary marrying age (a fact of little concern for an elf) before she had to leave home due to an increasingly turbulent political climate.

King Salen's purge of the Vekunites affected Haniel's family and other elite Vekunites the most, as they either gave up their privileges and fled to obscure corners of the kingdom to weather his capricious malice or were executed, some quite publicly. Haniel escaped her family's fate in part through physical strength and cunning and in part by the fact that the executions primarily targeted men like her father who wielded political influence prior to Salen's rise.

Vekunite

Vekunites are not one of the recognized tribes of the Kingdom of Twelve (which recognizes fourteen distinct tribes), and as such are relegated to second-class citizenship. The Vekunites maintain their own culture, though it has been heavily influenced by Noraanite traditions and much of the old identifying marks have been lost.

Although the Vekunites are not considered to be part of Noraan, their nobility has enjoyed the right to carry weapons and play a role in the kingdom's governing affairs. Haniel actually has some Noraanite blood in her (although both the Vekunites and Noraanites would be recognized as Northerners in the south, the Vekunites are identified by the name of their mythical founder, Vekun, and the Noraanites by their self-determined identity as "Northerners"), though it is a small portion and would not be recognizable to outsiders.

Although Vekunites are allowed to hold positions in the Yevet temple otherwise only open to the Levål, and they are respected in this context, Vekunites who choose a life outside of the temple are met with distrust and discrimination. Even though Haniel is an agent of the king (or, perhaps more correctly an agent of the king's agent), she is distrusted by much of the population. The cruelty of King Salen and the war with the Kithik has brought up the factional divides between Noraanite and Vekunite, and as a result she faces at the very least distrust.

The South

Haniel fled south after the purges, linking with the forces of the commander Ielen. One of four particularly famous generals, Ielen was also the one most famous for making a concerted effort to preserve the lives of her troops, even if it meant allowing the Kithik hordes to gain ground.

As a result of the cataclysmic war, she hardened herself and developed a distinctive fighting style. Using a sword she had taken from her home, and later weapons produced for Ielen's army, she developed a two-handed sword style, which was particularly effective against the Kithik's relatively frail forms.