"It's time to put an end to this game, here and now! No more deception, no more intrigue! I will challenge that bastard! I will pursue him, even if I have to go to the bottom of Barga Gor! That much, I owe Sartarius."
―Phoenix Bearer to Urias
The Phoenix Bearer is the protagonist of SpellForce: Order of Dawn and a possible protagonist in SpellForce: Shadow of the Phoenix. She is a legendary Rune Warrior who, together with the Shadow Warrior, destroyed The Circle and put an end to the Rune Wars in the year 15 after the Convocation. She got her name Phoenix Bearer through owning the Phoenix Stone and is canonically female.
Background[]
Early Days[]
Rohen Tahir, the bearer's former master
The rune warrior who would be known as the Phoenix Bearer served, like other Rune Warriors, The Circle during the Convocation. Her master was the Circle mage of elements, Rohen Tahir. Sometime during the war she was defeated and her rune was acquired by an orc chieftain called Krong.
Liberation[]
8 years after the Convocation Rohen discovered krong's tribe in the Ruins of Ankbrand and as fate would have the island was also home to his former servant Tahira. He hired a group of mercenaries to recover the bearer's rune who together with tahira's help were successful in their endeavor.
The Order of Dawn[]
Awakening[]
| “ | "I'm....free?" | ” |
— Phoenix Bearer to Rohen
| ||
Reawakening in Greyfell's monument
Because the invasion of the Blades was imminent, the Phoenix Bearer was reawakened in Fiara by Rohen. However, the magician also gave her her rune, and thus the rune warrior was the master of her own decisions. A messenger was supposed to take her to Greyfell, however, this messenger was a traitor and guided her to a mysterious man who was supposedly another surviving circle mage. The mage gave the messenger a casket, which allegedly contained vital plans, and a task; to kill the Rune Warrior. The messenger failed, whereupon the Phoenix Bearer took the casket and brought it to Sartarius, leader of the order of dawn.
Search for Rohen[]
The Black Fist at the WildlandPass
Sartarius made the Rune Warrior a member of The Order of Dawn and sent her after Rohen. During her search the rune warrior stood against the armies of the Black Fist and killed its leader Brannigan. She was finally able to catch up to Rohen at Icegate Marsh.
Deception[]
The rune warrior told Rohen about the plans of the mage. Rohen told the rune warrior that this Circle mage wants to open a portal back in time, and gave her the task to look for Hokan Ashir, another circle mage, so that she could stop the blades with his help. However, moments later the Dark One appeared and froze her before killing Rohen. He mocked the rune warrior and disappeared soon after. The Phoenix Bearer went on her way to find Hokan Ashir.
Devil's Bargain[]
the most powerful necromancer ever
Her journey took her to the Darklands which were covered by Hokan's undead who were searching after the Mask of Belial. With the help of a paladin called Urias, she destroyed the legions of the undead and found the mask, which she brought to Hokan in Whisper, who in turn gave her the knowledge how to stop the Blades. He told her of a Soul Forger which had to be killed in order to beat them. To kill the circle mage, however, the rune warrior had to find the Phoenix Stone which laid hidden in Mulandir.
Exodus[]
In Mulandir, the rune warrior was confronted by the guardian of the stone, who asked of her to bring him the four pieces of a magical masterpiece. After completing the task at hand, she came into possession of the Phoenix stone and went back to the Greyfell. There she was told by Gabar that sartarius alongside every single member of the order of dawn had left for the Icegate marsh to battle the Iron Ones. She then headed for the island and found the entire order massacred. Along the way she came upon Urias and a dark elf called Craig Un'Shallach. Urias told her about the plan the Order had to make a way for her, about their failure and the capturing of Sartarius. Together, they fought their way through the armies of the Blades until they reached the Master of the Order. Sartarius told the Rune Warrior that the Blades are coming from Urgath, whereupon the Dark One showed up and killed Sartarius. He stole away the Phoenix stone from the Phoenix Bearer and disappeared.
Endgame[]
Enraged, the Rune Warrior followed the Dark One to Urgath. With the help of her Rune army, the Phoenix Bearer obliterated the Blades and the Soul Forger. She faced the Dark One who had already opened a portal that leads back through time. Before he stepped through the portal, he revealed himself to be a young Rohen. He claimed that with the help of the Book of the Convocation he could reveal it's secrets and thus, turn it in his favor. After stepping through the portal, he left the Rune Warrior astonished. However, the rune warrior understood what had happened and if she were to follow and kill Rohen, the future would change severely change. Through reading the book, Rohen would come to reason, If he were to die, he would have never created the portals which hold the world after the Convocation. The Rune Warrior took the Phoenix stone out of the portal, and the portal crumbled. She then decided not to go back to Nortander, since she feared that someone could misuse the Phoenix stone and create more chaos. She disappeared into faraway lands, and was from there on forth known as the Phoenix Bearer.
Shadow of the Phoenix[]
"I will rescue Darius and finally rid the world of the Circle !!"
―Phoenix Bearer to the Dryad
Reunion[]
Seven years later she received a letter from Darius, telling her to go to the Blackwater Coast and she did so. But she found no one there, only a knight of the Order of Dawn in distress as well as a small detachment that had created a safe heaven for their Order and free traders. She saved Urias from the undead and together they returned to the haven. Urias stated he too was looking for Darius. They defeated the undead that had been plaguing the land and while investigating a desecrated graveyard found one of darius's books. In the book darius had expressed his concern over the fact that a magician known as Masked One was collecting the corpses of the circle mages, one of which was Ianna who was buried in the blackwater cost. Darius had set out to seek help from "woman under the tree" in Empyria to find the masked one. Thus darius's old friends decided to look for him there.
Bandits[]
the Hazim
Urias and the rune warrior pursued the "creature" who was the leader of the undead through the portal. While fighting through the Onyx shores against the murderess bandit company called the Hazim, the rune warrior slaughtered them all and continued forth onto Empyria.
City of the Blind[]
Alyah Arias
There she met with Alyah Arias – a master thief, gang leader, princess of the empire, daughter to Magnus Arias the Emperor of Empyria. She helped the Phoenix Bearer in infiltrating the imperial Palace to enter the Dryad Cove through a portal.
Greater Evil[]
woman under the tree
In there The rune warrior came face to pincer with an old friend, the Spider Master, who had come to kill the dryad on hokan's behalf. After that she met and received quite the revelation from the Dryad. the masked one was in fact Hokan Ashir who had come to life after receiving the Mask of Belial, he had captured a god and was using his blood to resurrect the Circle and bind them to his will and with their power he would summon Belial himself into Eo. To make matters worse drayd also told her that darius had left for the Dark Jungle to stop hokan, which confused the rune warrior since she believed that he was merely a lonely writer. After the revelation she swore to save darius and destroy the circle. Dryad also instructed her how to proceed, she had to meet with Uru, the spiritual leader of the Kathai, for she only had the knowledge on how to enter the dark jungle.
Blood and Sand[]
an opportunist
when the phoenix bearer returned to empyria she was forced to flee from the city alongside Urias and Alyah through the portal because emperor magnus, who was a servant of hokan, had ordered their immediate capture and execution. they arrived at the Red Wastes where they faced the hazim but they did not prove a challenge thanks to the help of a merchant known as Bario.
Battle of the Raven Pass[]
"free at last"
Later they arrived at the Raven Pass, once a mighty Norcaine fortress now a ruin, and battled the undead forces of hokan who were being led by the undead Rohen. With the help of a rune army and kathai reinforcement they were able to defeat the undead horde and bring the peace that Rohen desperately needed. Before departing to the river of souls Rohen thanked his old friends for freeing him and gave them some advice and information to defeat hokan.
Tyrant's Folly[]
"Kaira...."
Later they arrived at the kathai and met with Jenquai, a battlemage and an old friend of alyah, who informed them of the undead invasion of kathai. They managed to free the city from undead but a kathai warrior known as Xalabar still did not trust them and accused them of being spies. To settle the matter they dueled according to kathai tradition, xalabar lost the duel and retreated his protests. Not long after the Golden Army of xu appeared, being led personally by emperor magnus himself. The rune army and monument of the phoenix bearer were destroyed and the city was put under siege. An ambassador appeared and demanded that alyah, the rune warrior and Khal, the military leader of kathai to meet with the emperor. they attended the meeting but urias also came with them and was able to save alyah's life when the meeting was revealed to be a trap and the emperor's bodyguard the Bronze Giant attacked her. Phoenix bearer took shelter in the city alongside others and approached uru on what to do. Uru revealed that there was an ancient dwarven monument in the forbidden section of the city and advised her to use it. Phoenix bearer did so and managed to defeat the golden army and avenge urias by destroying the bronze giant. Afterwards alyah dueled her father in his tent and managed to defeat him.
After the battle phoenix bearer met with uru and asked for her knowledge. She told her that the only to the black jungle and the Darkwind Keep was through the Clockwork Crypts, a Zerbite Fortress. Suddenly a projection of the dryad appeared and revealed vital information to defeat hokan. The god that was captured was Ereon and Darius was in fact the said god. The only way to defeat the circle was through the power of the Phoenix, a legendary creature made of pure Archfire, the creature resided inside the Phoenix Stone and the only to break the stone was by using the Shadowblade, a sword not of Eo. The shadowblade was in possession of a rune warrior known as The Shadow Warrior.
Through the Dead Halls[]
Treason
Phoenix bearer continued her journey in the clockwork crypts and with the help of uru was able to avoid the deadly traps of the order of zerbites. During her time there she was forced to kill xalabar who had grown mad with ambition and had intended to become the sole ruler of the kathai. Fortunately some of his warriors sanity was intact and helped the rune warrior in defeating him.
Captain Ishtar wishes to escort Alyah home.
Comrade[]
Hokan Ashir had made improvements to the Blades
Afterwards she arrived in the darkwind keep and was able to defeat the Iron ones of hokan ashir that were stationed there with the help of her friends and allies. After the battle alyah's brother commander Ishtar appeared and asked alyah to return to empyria and become the empress, she was reluctant at first but phoenix bearer encouraged her and she accepted. Jenquai and his warriors told the rune warrior to move forward while they guard the rear.
Craig must deal with "the outsiders"
The bearer pushed deeper to the black jungle and came upon a prison which housed not only the Shadow Warrior but also Craig Un'shallach, she freed both. when the two legendary rune warriors met they discussed their goal, to destroy the circle and stop hokan. they were even more determined when they realized that the dryad had arranged for the two to meet and fulfil their destiny. Before they moved on to the Gorge Phoenix helped craig to return to his people.
Power of Unity[]
"these creatures were my end but now they obey me like dogs"
At the gorge they were faced with a massive army of blades and Sha warriors but they were no match for them. Former circle mage Uram the red was briefly present at the battle. Afterwards they entered the portal and arrived at the Bone Temple of Zarach.
Rescuing a God[]
In the bone temple with a bit of help from the "locals" they completely annihilated Hokan's forces and freed Ereon (Daruis in the language of the Shapers).
a god in bondage
Ereon urged them to hurry and defeat Belial. The rune warriors claimed this to be impossible since no mere mortal could battle a god or a demi-god for that matter. Ereon claimed that since the ritual is not yet complete Belial is not at full strength, although he admitted that this did not make the task any easier.
Final Battle[]
The rune warriors moved on and challenged the demi-god. The battle was extremely hard, although the circle mages were focused on the ritual, whenever Belial was seriously injured he would absorb the body and power of the mages. In the end, however, Belial was defeated and the circle was destroyed, there remained only one more person to die, Hokan Ashir.
Phoenix Bearer holds the Phoenix stone for The Shadow Warrior
Hokan was infuriated and tried to summon the arch-fire to destroy those who had foiled his grand plan. The Phoenix bearer held out the phoenix stone and the Shadow Warrior broke it with the shadow blade, freeing the Phoenix and the celestial creature destroyed the mad mage.
The circle's madness finally came to an end, Ereon and the Dryad were forgiven by the guardian gods. Ereon returned to his brethren and the dryad began to fully heal Xu and return it to its former glory, her work was made easier with Alyah succeeding her evil and mad father and claiming the throne of the Empire of Xu and reforming it. The rune warriors bid each other farewell and parted ways.
A New Dawn[]
After the battle at the bone temple the bearer returned to Empyria and worked to rebuild the order of dawn. Her efforts payed off and the order was successfully rebuilt by the Shadow Wars but she did not serve as its master instead a mage called Matricus did.
Later Life[]
The following information is part of Hokan Ashir's vision and didn't take place in reality
After the circle's destruction both she and the shadow warrior lost their powers and immortality. They fell in love and traveled around Eo for a while before the shadow warrior's condition drove them apart. Afterwards the bearer became a Free Trader before settling down in a rebuilt Mulandir while also staying in touch with Darius through letters. Sometime before the battle of Malangar Greens she met a man called Elif and sold him a robe even though he neither believed who she was or the fact that the robe had been woven by Tanara.
Trivia[]
- In SpellForce 1 both the gender and looks of the Phoenix Bearer can be chosen by the player, but in the Shadow of the Phoenix expansion when the player chooses to play from the perspective of shadow warrior, the Phoenix Bearer's gender is fixed to female.
- Many people believed that the Messenger from the Freetraders camp in 'Gate of Swords' from SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars was the Phoenix Bearer, but in fact, this is not true. The Messenger is another Rune Warrior – the protagonist from Free Game Mode.
- The armor seen on the many promotional art works of the Phoenix bearer such as the one seen in the loading screen for order of dawn. It never appears in any of the original spellforce games but it appears as wearable armor in Spellforce 2.
- Early in the development the bearer was meant to be canonically an elemental mage.
Gallery[]
Male heads and starting gear for each character specialization
Female heads and starting gear for each character specialization
In the trailers
The predefined hero options from shadow of the phoenix expansion campaign. The equipment on this predefined options will be the starting gear on your character and depending on the class will also affect the rune warriors you gain from it