The Thorn
Lyana Glacefall

7th Sun, 3rd Astral Moon, 1552 of the Sixth Astral Era (20 Before Calamity): Lyana is born in the sun-beaten scrublands east of Highbridge. Raised by a stonemason and a healer, she grows up on tales of Paladins and Sultansworn glory - dreams that take deeper root than her parents expect.

1559: At seven, she begins "training" with discarded swords and makeshift shields, leading other children through drills and fantasy battles. Her resolve starts young: she wants to protect people, and she’s willing to fight to learn how.

1567: She takes work as a runner and caravan hand between Camp Drybone and the city proper, slowly building both strength and coin. On rare days off, she studies the Sultansworn from afar, watching them drill in the Royal Promenade with quiet determination.

1570: At eighteen, Lyana applies to the Sultansworn - and is rejected. Lacking noble blood, sponsorship, or political weight, she’s dismissed without ceremony. With nowhere to turn and unwilling to go home, she begins working as a companion to Ul’dah’s elite. It’s a different kind of armor, but it teaches her how to navigate the gilded underbelly of the city she still swears to protect.

1571: She tries again - and is accepted. Her triumph is short-lived: during a live training drill, she takes a blast of ice-aspected aether full to the head. Though she recovers, her hair grows back streaked white in jagged patches. A visible scar, but not one she hides.

1572/Year 0 (The Calamity): Still in training when the sky breaks open, Lyana throws herself into the chaos - coordinating aid, shielding civilians, and proving herself far beyond her station. The dream is no longer about glory. It’s about standing fast when no one else will.

Year 1: Lyana throws herself into post-Calamity rebuilding efforts with relentless focus. Her discipline and composure under pressure earn her rapid promotion within the Sultansworn ranks. She also takes to the Bloodsands - not for fame, but to sharpen her skill under real pressure. It’s there she first crosses paths with The Emberstorm, a rising star with a brutal, wordless intensity. Their styles clash, but something about Mina’s presence sticks. The friendship that forms is unlikely, but steady.

Year 2: Now recognized as one of the Sultansworn’s most promising young Paladins, Lyana balances field work, city patrols, and training sessions with fights in the arena. Her record isn’t spotless - she takes her share of hard hits - but her resolve never cracks. Each fight, win or lose, is treated as a lesson. She begins building a reputation among Bloodsands fans for clean technique, resilience, and the kind of earnest grit that can’t be faked.

Year 3: Experience tempers her idealism into conviction. She no longer idolizes the Paladin’s path - she understands it. The late nights, the political friction, the burden of watching good people fall through cracks in the system. Lyana doesn’t falter. She adapts. She leads. And she starts to train others unofficially on the side, catching the attention of her superiors.

Year 4: Recruitment surges, and the Sultansworn Training Corps needs structure and strength. Lyana is offered a formal commission - her own squad of recruits, her own application of the curriculum. She accepts. The battlefield shifts from sand to stone, from blood to sweat, but her fire doesn’t fade. She sees herself in every wide-eyed trainee and shoulders the responsibility with a quiet, fierce pride.

Year 5: With her reputation as a trainer solidifying, Lyana begins introducing unorthodox methods to the Sultansworn training regimen. Rather than keep her recruits confined to drills within Ul’dah’s walls, she takes them afield - clashing against Bloodsands fighters, staging mock patrols in La Noscea and the Shroud, and exposing them to the kinds of threats no textbook could prepare them for. Veterans grumble, but results speak louder than tradition. Her units come back sharper, smarter, and more adaptable.

Year 6: Her bond with Mina deepens, with Lyana regularly bringing recruits to spar against the Emberstorm herself. The experience humbles many - and teaches them more than any lecture could. Meanwhile, Lyana’s own arena record climbs. Wins outpace losses. Her style, once purely defensive, evolves into a measured aggression that dazzles the crowd. She begins drawing larger and larger audiences, her name called alongside the greats. That same year, her steady rise earns her the title of Captain, and she’s asked to contribute directly to the Sultansworn training curriculum.

Year 7: In theory, the new rank means stepping back from daily drills. In practice, Lyana takes on more. She oversees new instructors, leads advanced training rotations, and personally guides the units she sees the most promise in. Her fights in the Bloodsands are now officially sanctioned as Sultansworn recruitment outreach - a public show of the Order’s strength, carried on the back of one of its brightest stars. She plays the role well, even if she hates the speeches.

Year 8: Lyana now sits at the top card of the Bloodsands, her name headlining with or without the belt. Her presence is both spectacle and symbol: a rose-gilded sword, born of the desert and hardened in its heat. Despite her fame, she keeps close to the barracks, the recruits, and the quiet places where no one is watching. She doesn’t talk about it much, but she never forgets where she came from - and what she had to do to get here.

Year 9: After nearly a decade of service and a full command record to her name, Lyana is offered the highest possible honor within the Training Corps: a promotion to High Captain, and with it, the title of Commandant of the Sultansworn Training Corps. She accepts - not with ceremony, but with quiet pride. The work continues. The recruits keep coming. The desert keeps burning. And Lyana Glacefall remains its shield.

Year 10: Now ten years into her Sultansworn service, Lyana travels frequently to scout new training grounds across Aldenard and Vylbrand. By coincidence, many of the venues she visits are places her longtime friend Mina Angura often frequents - truly a small world, though their paths rarely cross these days. Lyana’s movements draw the attention of Oros Teneb, a former Bloodsands fighter turned Syndicate investigator, who suspects a Garlean infiltration connected to Mina’s absence from the arena. With little to go on beyond a suspicious clerk named Eline, Lyana quietly pursues her own investigation to aid Oros, even as the trail runs cold.

At one of these familiar venues, Lyana meets Argilenne Terrechant - born Sarnai Orl, one of the last survivors of a Xaela tribe nearly wiped out during the Dragonsong War. The two quickly bond over shared histories of service and hardship. Their relationship is new but promising, built on mutual understanding and a hopeful desire for something steadier than the battles they’ve fought. After difficult experiences in Ul’dah’s dating scene, Lyana finally feels a cautious optimism growing.

Despite the growing complexities of love and intrigue, Lyana remains focused on her true calling. She continues to train the next generation of Sultansworn with unyielding dedication, preparing them for the challenges beyond the battlefield - in the shadows and in the heart of Ul’dah itself. She watches, listens, and waits, ready for whatever comes next...

The Shield That Watches: As Commandant of the Sultansworn Recruit Corps, Lyana Glacefall doesn’t believe in soft training or city-bound soldiers. She leads drills across Aldenard and Vylbrand — from the Shroud’s dense woods to the peaks of Coerthas. If she’s passing through your region, she’s likely training the next generation to continue the martial traditions she once romanticized. Whether you're a curious local, a hopeful candidate, or someone with a bone to pick with the Sultansworn, crossing her path means you're on her radar - for better or worse.

The Shining Star of the Bloodsands: A top-card fighter in Ul'dah's hallowed martial arena, “The Thorn” is a regular name on the lips of pit fans and bookmakers alike. Maybe you want to challenge her, learn from her, or just gawk at her from across the bar. No matter what, Lyana has a presence that’s hard to ignore. And if you’ve got dirt on the arena’s shadier dealings, she’ll want to hear it… even if it’s not what she wants to believe.

Earned in Gilded Shadows: Lyana didn’t rise through Ul’dah’s ranks without learning how to navigate its politics, secrets, and shadows. She remembers what it was like to be broke, overlooked, and underestimated - and she hasn’t forgotten the people who live in those margins still. She's more than willing to use her connections to help out others, though she may expect something in return.