Branik Stonebarrow was not born to chains, but to the soil. A farmer’s son, raised in the shadow of furrows and the breath of cattle, he learned early the patient rhythm of seed and harvest. Yet his blood carried an ancient secret.

The raiders came with fire and steel, burning his quiet village to ash. Branik fought bravely, but a farmer’s strength is little against 50 armed men. Captured amid the smoke, he was sold into slavery, his family’s fate lost to the flames.

Now, sold to a cruel master, he is dragged from dungeon to dungeon into the spectacle of the gauntlets— endless districts of unground arenas where bloodsport feeds the empire's soul. Other gauntlet runners see only a brute with a rage filled glare, but even Branik knows not the truth: each trial chips away at the man he was, bringing the beast within closer to the surface.

The farmers of Stonebarrow are gone. Only Branik remains—bound in chains, fighting for survival, one mistake away from unleashing the curse that will turn him into a monster.

You grew up close to the land. Years tending animals and cultivating the earth rewarded you with patience and good health. You have a keen appreciation for nature’s bounty alongside a healthy respect for nature’s wrath.