14. Sartauvoir Quo Soranus
Of Steel and Flame (14, 18)Duel: And the Flames Went Higher
Age: 61
Birthplace: Mannatheihwo, Landis
An influential centurion of the IVth Imperial Legion, Sartauvoir quo Soranus does not originally hail from the Empire. After the successful invasion of Bozja, the IVth was ordered by Emperor Solus to proceed to their next target, the Kingdom of Dalmasca. Legatus Basch van Gabranth secretly feared Dalmasca's war mages and─seeking to fight fire with fire, as it were─hatched a plan to form his own contingent of powerful sorcerers. To accomplish this, he set his eyes on the subjugated former Republic of Landis─in particular, Mannatheihwo, the only city in the republic to boast its own company of mage-knights. Though it was common practice for the Garleans to disband the knight companies of the nations it conquered and absorb them into the imperial army, their hatred of all things magical compelled them to quash the mage-knights of Mannatheihwo entirely. Fearing for their lives, these sorcerers had fled their homes and scattered across once-proud Landis. Knowing this, Legatus Gabranth set out in search of them.
One such mage was Sartauvoir, who had taken up residence in a small farming hamlet a stone's throw from the city where he concealed his identity, posing as a local tutor and academic. Discovered and approached by the IVth, the proud mage initially rebuffed their advances, but began to take an interest in their offer upon hearing of Legatus Gabranth's vision, similar and yet fundamentally different from that of the Empire he so despised. Realizing what Sartauvoir could offer them, the IVth─patiently, yet persistently─reached out to him on multiple occasions, trusting the mage would have a change of heart. One day, Sartauvoir was greeted at his place of learning by a soldier unfamiliar to him. Though the soldier stood alone, was advanced in years, and carried not even a dagger in his hand, Sartauvoir knew in an instant that even his most potent incantations would be no match for this man. So it was that he exchanged words face-to-face for the first time with Basch van Gabranth, and so it was that the mage─struck to his very core by the legatus's words─did swear to him his undying loyalty.
In the nigh thirty years since, Sartauvoir has served the IVth well and true. Though he has honed his already-potent skills to greater heights of power under the tutelage of Sadr rem Albeleo, his pride as a mage-knight of Mannatheihwo still burns within him as fierce as the blazing infernos he wreaks upon his foes. And yet he wields his magicks not in the name of wanton destruction, but rather in the hope of realizing the long-held dream of Noah van Gabranth─the same dream once held by his father...