by Kris Kramer
On the Wind Riders…
The Wind Riders story starts with a small group of Clerics from the Anzarin city of Elbasa. Around the time the White Horsemen began showing up in Irsay, these noble Clerics, tired of the corruption and the brutality, had been secretly meeting to overthrow the current Cleric-Justicier of the city. Unfortunately, they were discovered, and forced to flee the city. They went into hiding in the foothills south of the city of Tyr, where they made a discovery that would allow them to create objects that could fly through the air.
The discovery led to the creation of ships that these former Clerics could use to soar over the mountains and foothills, easily out of reach of their enemies. They decided to use this discovery to change things in the foothills, attacking Anzarin mining caravans and outposts and freeing hundreds of the slaves used to mine the crystals. A number of these slaves came back with them and joined the Clerics, who named their new following the Wind Riders.
For almost fifteen years the Wind Riders owned the skies and wreaked havoc with Anzarin mining and slave trading. They constantly moved around, making themselves impossible to find, and when they attacked, they hit hard and fast, with Clerics-in-training, now called Pilots, flying the ships or attacking slavers and guards from above, while soldiers, called Landers, dropped from the vessels on ropes to fight on the ground, free the slaves, and capture crystals and other equipment. They were denounced as evil pirates in the Anzarin cities, where they were called Wind Raiders, but in reality the Wind Riders became a source of hope for all subjugated Anzarins.
The tides of battle changed abruptly, however, and the Wind Riders were woefully unprepared for it. Tyr, who bore most of the brunt of Wind Rider attacks, was rumored to have captured a Wind Rider Pilot. A year later Tyr built a massive airship and sent it out into the Lore Mountains to find the Wind Riders, which they ultimately did. The Tyrans found the Wind Rider camp and attacked immediately, destroying more than half the Wind Rider ships and killing or capturing dozens of people. Only a handful managed to escape on a few ships, and the current leader or Pilot-Captain of the Wind Riders, Idaris, was killed in the attack, along with most of their capable Pilots. The surviving Wind Riders were beaten and wounded, with little hope of continuing on...