Brother Kaelen — The Smiling Martyr Miniature Set • 3 Poses, STLs, Hero Card

Name: Brother Kaelen, The Smiling Martyr

Kaelen was once the gentle, pacifist counterpoint to his sister Vesper’s fiery, rebellious nature. While Vesper roamed the forests honing her connection to nature, Kaelen remained in their clan’s temple, mastering the Way of the Iron Soul—a discipline meant to harden the body against all feeling.

On the Night of Ash, when a rival warlord’s assassins infiltrated the temple to hunt down the royal bloodline—Vesper and Kaelen. To buy his sister time to escape, Kaelen stood alone at the temple gates unarmed. He was cut, stabbed, and beaten for hours, but he refused to fall. In that agony, his mind snapped. He didn't find peace in the discipline; he found power in the pain.

He discovered that by embracing the suffering rather than blocking it, he could channel his own life force into devastating kinetic energy (hence the glowing fists). He slaughtered the assassins with his bare hands, laughing hysterically as their blades pierced him, because every new wound only made him stronger.

Current State: Kaelen now wanders the realm as a broken guardian. He smiles constantly—a chilling, frozen expression—because the pain never actually stops, and he has learned to welcome it as an old friend. He follows Lady Vesper from the shadows, throwing himself into the most suicidal battles to protect her, believing that he must suffer so she doesn't have to. Vesper is terrified of him, seeing the monster her gentle brother has become, but she knows she cannot survive without his brutality.