Good day to you all! Some years ago, I made a character by the name Azoriel Stormseeker, whose backstory has seen considerable evolution since he was first devised. If you care to, I'd like you to evaluate the quality of said backstory. (The summary of this backstory is below - just to warn you, despite being a summary, it's pretty extensive.)
The long and short of it is that pretty much wanted my character to be a knight of some famous order, and ended up settling on the Knights of the Hart. However, I also wanted him participating in Osson's chevauchée into Aerdy. (This was specifically to separate him from his daughter, thus allowing her to do her thing and him to do his thing without them interfering with each other's development.) Now I'm worried I may have made things a bit too convoluted…
The story (as of its last iteration):
Quote:
Azoriel grows up in Pontylver, the son of a landless knight who's also a Naelax prince. Ivid V has only reigned for a few years when he reignites the war with Nyrond, and Azoriel's father brings Azoriel out west to squire for him. Having been told the fighting was to overthrow dictatorial Rax tyrants who usurped imperial rule, Azoriel beholds the sack of a Nyrondese town and is completely shocked. He ends up killing a Aerdian princeling who was in the process of murdering a peasant woman; disappointed, his father tells him to leave and never return. Guilt-stricken for his own contribution to the atrocities, he makes for Almor, where a Pholtean cleric encourages him to take heart and continue on with life.
He takes a boat sailing west, and, after having spent time in Hardby and Greyhawk, joins a mercenary company in Dyvers. They're preparing for action in Furyondy, which is having troubles with the Horned Society. He gets badly mauled in one of the fights, and is placed in a hospital tent, where he's healed by a lay sister of Pelor. He's unable to talk when he first sees her (he's barely alive), but is immediately smitten and does everything he can to find out who she is. He discovers that she is Elethi Fennor, daughter to Lord Axim Fennor, a Heironean (cleric?) of mixed Furyondian/Velunese descent. Remaining in Furyondy even after his company deems the war no longer profitable, he becomes a freeriding man-at-arms. Elethi is abducted by some Horned Society thugs, and Azoriel ends up rescuing her (finally getting an opportunity to make an introduction).
Two years later, the conflict with the Horned Society comes to a close (though this ends up having more to do with Iuz than any decisive action on the part of Furyondy). Azoriel acquits himself well in the final battles, and is invited to join the Knights of the Hart. Now a man of position (and not wanting to reveal his past as a prince of Naelax), he proposes to Elethi, who accepts, and they live happily ever after… For the next ten years, anyway.
Elethi gives birth to a daughter (Arith). Azoriel is frequently away from home, seeing to matters of importance to the crown, leaving him concerned that he's neglecting his wife and child. By way of an information exchange with Dagon, Iuz learns that a woman of the name Stormseeker will one day become a powerful champion of Pelor and a thorn in his side - his agents send out goons who nab Elethi. The goons are found and killed in short order, but their sponsors (and Elethi's whereabouts) are never revealed. (Still haven't decided what her fate would be, save that it needs to be something that a simple resurrection spell can't fix.) Now saddled with the guilt of having let his MacGuffin be put into a refrigerator, Azoriel goes on a rampage for the better part of a year, hunting down and killing former agents of the Horned Society. (Because who else could it be, really? Iuz is still busy pacifying the Bandit Kingdoms, and hasn't started on the Shield Lands just yet.) He's stopped by Lord Axim, who confronts the knight and reminds him that he still has a daughter. Realizing that he's become even more neglectful now than he was before, Azoriel seeks an audience with King Belvor, requesting leave to put aside his duties to raise his daughter. Belvor grants him this release, and Azoriel departs with his daughter in tow… Returning to Almor, the last place he found solace when he was lost.
Azoriel finds the cleric that once consoled him, whose since become Prelate in the intervening years. Kevont grants the knight and his daughter stay to remain in Almor, and he appoints Azoriel his master-at-arms. He settles into a relatively quiet lifestyle. While there's some concern over the Great Kingdom, Azoriel knows they'll never sweep through Almor without taking and securing Sunndi first. However, Sunndi falls in half a decade, and there's rumors that, even before Nyrond, Almor will be next to go. The prelate himself appeals to Azoriel to assist - he is loathe to abandon his daughter, but, recalling the sack of the town in Nyrond, agrees to fight alongside the Almorians. Acting as one of Osson's captains, he serves the younger general well, both in the vanguard and in providing him an insider's understanding of Aerdy, particularly when they strike into Medegia. (When Osson's diviner suggests they avoid Pontylver completely, Azoriel is much relieved.)
(While Azoriel is away, Lord Axim arrives via pegusus to retrieve his son-in-law; Iuz has begun to invade from the north, and Belvor is calling on all his knights to aid in the fight. Discussing matters with the Peloran priest watching over his granddaughter, Axim comes to realize that he won't be able to get in touch with Azoriel, and the situation here is even graver than Furyondy's. With the caretaker's agreement in the matter, he takes his granddaughter with him and returns home. To ensure there's no misunderstanding, Lord Axim leaves a scroll for Azoriel to find. Alas, much like wooden houses, scrolls burn…)
When the genius general falls, Azoriel is one of the few surviving captains left to rally what remains of Osson's forces. Months are lost as they evade imperial forces and attempt to locate more of their men. Finally, they manage to secure a base-camp near the Glorioles. Azoriel and those well enough to fight ride west to provide what assistance they can to their beleaguered countrymen; not knowing that Ivid has already crushed Almor and moved on to Nyrond, Azoriel and his men are ill-prepared for what they find.
Azoriel finds his home burned to the ground, the bones of the priest who watched over his daughter among the ashes; of his daughter, there is no sign. His men manage to find a few survivors - those coherent enough to speak provide first hand accounts of the utter destruction of Chathold. Many were slaughtered, they say, but some were taken east, as slaves and spoils of war. Azoriel and his men bury their dead (to include those men who couldn't take the strain of discovery and killed themselves that very day), and return to their wounded in the Glorioles. Azoriel swears an oath of unending war with the Great Kingdom, many in his company joining in - "until (their) missing are recovered… And (their) dead avenged."
(Meanwhile, Arith grows up in southern Furyondy. News of Osson's death and the fall of Almor reaches her, and she grieves for some time, knowing her father would surely be among the dead. She later becomes a paladin of Mayaheine, and participates in the Great Northern Crusade, much to Dagon's delight - Fishy knew Pruneface would bungle things up if fed the right info…)
Even over a decade after the signing of the Treaty of Greyhawk, they continue the fight. ("We signed no treaty.") They fight a bitter wars from the shadows, striking out in the cover of night, slaying princes and noblemen who participated in the wars, freeing what slaves they find. Azoriel is no leader of men, but he is one of the most fearsome warriors in eastern Flanaess, and even the hardened generals of Aerdy are ill-at-ease with tales of how the avenging knight appears in castles and strongholds seemingly out of nowhere, and strikes down his victims in the most brutal fashion. The problem is particularly bad in Ahlissa, nearest to the Glorioles. But Xavener, the new Overking of the Darmen line, is none too worried, as he already has a man working on the problem: an animus knight of the Naelax line, said to be a veteran of the wars with Nyrond…
Things I'm wondering about:
Is repeatedly skipping past Nyrond in the fashion that I've written plausible? (Does the excuse I have for his aversion to the country seem believable?) Is he doing too much? (I suspect the Marty Stu effect will be limited so long as he only participates in major events as opposed to guiding them.)
My first question is, 'What level is Azoriel by this time?'
Have you written this backstory to agree with the adventures your PC participated in during his life, or did you make this up without any real world adventuring to back it up? If this is all just made up, I suggest you limit the geographical scope to the eastern Flanaess. If it represents real adventures Azoriel participated in, however, I say keep it all. Sir Xaris travelled the length and breadth of the western Flanaess in his lifetime and there's no reason for me to leave out any of his history. I think what you have written is good as a framework. Now, you seem to have quite a bit of explaining to do as far as detail is concerned.
. . . when they strike into Medegia. (When Osson's diviner suggests they avoid Pontylver completely, Azoriel is much relieved.)
Hmm. The only "Pontlyver" I am aware of is in the Duchy of Urnst. Why would Pontlyver -- far to the west of Almor -- need to be 'avoided' on their trek into Medegia -- far to the southeast of Almor?
Weird . . . and hard to follow. Are there two Pontlyvers?
To answer your first question: Azoriel was played to level 18 (in Greyhawk). Given that he started at 16 in that particular campaign, however, I don't know if that really counts. (He was also a Knight Protector of the Great Kingdom at the time, on the lamb from Aerdy for Osson's Ride. None of this was RP'ed before hand, nor did it come into play during the campaign.) My group unfortunately sees very few continuous campaigns, with new campaigns being seen every 10-20 adventures. (These campaigns have nothing to do with each other.) If I’m inclined to play Azoriel again and end up with a campaign that starts at a lower level, I simply ratchet back his history to a point where it would make sense. (If I get thrown a 1st level campaign, he becomes a remarkably well-mannered sellsword who claims to be a man of common birth. If I get a 10th level campaign, he becomes a heroic albeit somewhat roguish knight. At 15, he's a largely retired warrior grieving the loss of his wife, etc...) This character has been around for roughly a decade and a half now, and has had many different incarnations in different D&D campaigns (as well as several non-D&D games).
To answer your bigger question: I must confess many of the specifics I put into that backstory are more-or-less just inventions of mine. I’ve managed to convince my group to play "Greyhawk" on many an occasion, but I’m the only one who really cares about major historical events, so fighting the Horned Society and participating in Osson's ride are strictly fictional injects of mine. Azoriel did technically see the fall of the Shield Lands during Iuz’s invasion, progressing two levels in the process (8-10), though I’m not currently counting that as part of my “canon”. (Him being a survivor of Osson's Ride is something frequently accepted in my higher level campaigns, and he's not going to be fighting Iuz in the Shield Lands if he was dodging the Great Kingdom in Medegia that same year.)
Azoriel has done comparable things in other worlds. He's gone from being a lowly outcast from Carn Dûm (northern end of the known world) to becoming a knight of Dol Amroth (southern end of the known world), won over the girl of his dreams and lost her to violence while he was busy elsewhere, fought against impossible odds that literally wiped out many of his companions (approx. 2/3’s player attrition rate – meaning they were so frustrated they quit gaming altogether) and didn’t get anywhere close to prevailing but survived, worshiped an extremely strict sun god (pretty much Pholtus under a different name) but later shifted to a more benevolent one (Pelor by another name) after a period of being wishy-washy about gods in general, and defeated a Zhentarim army invading the Dalelands. One might ask, why not just make this character’s backstory for Terris/Middle-Earth/Forgotten Realms/Random Worlds X, Y, and Z? But I’ve loved Greyhawk for the longest time (even if I couldn’t convince anyone else in my group to take the setting seriously as I did), and Azoriel was always meant to be there, even when I adapted him for play in other worlds (throughout the past decade and a half). Every time I do something in one of these other worlds, I try to figure out how it translates into what I consider the “real” Azoriel.
Of course, my intent here isn’t fraud – anyone who asks will receive the truth of the matter, i.e. all “achievements” given are fictional in the strictest of senses, adaptions of other events at best.
Many times, when my group wants to run a higher level campaign, I’ll often come up with backstories as to how said character reached that level. Nobody else in my group really cares about these backstories I make up, so they’re usually just accepted by hand-wave (“Yeah, sure, fine, your guy is a Knight of Hart”). However, I'm rather OCD about this (not sure if it shows) and wished to present my work to the big kids’ table, to ensure it doesn’t offend more serious Greyhawkers and does justice to the setting. (“Your character did what? Seriously man?”)
What I use will ultimately be what I use... But I did want a sanity check from someone else who actually cares about the setting – which I thank you for, btw. I could just as easily say he was a knight of Nyrond, which requires far less travel. (On the flipside, however, I don’t get to utilize Iuz or the Horned Society, or put Arith in the Great Northern Crusade. And it makes it much easier for him to reunite with his daughter, which I was an event I wanted to make EXTREMELY difficult… And I also felt Furyondy was a much closer translation to Dol Amroth. But maybe it’s all too “Forrest Gump meets Oerth” to be acceptable. These are all things for me to weigh.)
PS: My apologies if that was longer than you hoped for. And, again/also, thanks for taking the time to read this as well.
Hmm. The only "Pontlyver" I am aware of is in the Duchy of Urnst. Why would Pontlyver -- far to the west of Almor -- need to be 'avoided' on their trek into Medegia -- far to the southeast of Almor?
Weird . . . and hard to follow. Are there two Pontlyvers?
But maybe it's just me.
Um, uh, well, uh, no doubt Osson needed to be far away from Ulek, um, to ensure he, uh, maintain the threat of his armies on Aerdian soil! (Yes, that's it!)
*checks his copy of Ivid the Undying* No, actually I'm quite sure Pontylver is in Medegia. Canonfire's Wiki puts the city in Medegia as well - though it's a bit shy on details. (Major port city in Medegia, got sacked by Ivid's armies after Osson passed it up, a haunted ruin now.) *opens his copy of Living Greyhawk Gazetteer* Are you thinking of "Pontyrel"?
Your goal of providing a full backstory for a beloved character in the World of Greyhawk is as noble as they come on these boards. Nothing in what you've written is likely to come across as offensive (e.g. Sir Xaris killed Iggwilv and Iuz single-handedly when he was a novice 1st level adventuring paladin...). Try to pass something like <----- that off, and you'll get a tongue lashing, for sure. You haven't, however, so all is well.
...Nothing in what you've written is likely to come across as offensive (e.g. Sir Xaris killed Iggwilv and Iuz single-handedly when he was a novice 1st level adventuring paladin...)...
-Maybe Sir X did kill Iuz & Iggwilv when he was a first level paladin. Unfortunatley, since you can only rise one level per adventure, that means that he's 1 xp shy of 3rd level, unless he killed a mouse for the xps...
Quote:
Azoriel grows up in Pontylver, the son of a landless knight who's also a Naelax prince. Ivid V has only reigned for a few years when he reignites the war with Nyrond, and Azoriel's father brings Azoriel out west to squire for him. Having been told the fighting was to overthrow dictatorial Rax tyrants who usurped imperial rule, Azoriel beholds the sack of a Nyrondese town and is completely shocked. He ends up killing a Aerdian princeling who was in the process of murdering a peasant woman; disappointed, his father tells him to leave and never return. Guilt-stricken for his own contribution to the atrocities, he makes for Almor, where a Pholtean cleric encourages him to take heart and continue on with life.
He takes a boat sailing west, and, after having spent time in Hardby and Greyhawk, joins a mercenary company in Dyvers. They're preparing for action in Furyondy, which is having troubles with the Horned Society. He gets badly mauled in one of the fights, and is placed in a hospital tent, where he's healed by a lay sister of Pelor. He's unable to talk when he first sees her (he's barely alive), but is immediately smitten and does everything he can to find out who she is. He discovers that she is Elethi Fennor, daughter to Lord Axim Fennor, a Heironean (cleric?) of mixed Furyondian/Velunese descent. Remaining in Furyondy even after his company deems the war no longer profitable, he becomes a freeriding man-at-arms. Elethi is abducted by some Horned Society thugs, and Azoriel ends up rescuing her (finally getting an opportunity to make an introduction).
Two years later, the conflict with the Horned Society comes to a close (though this ends up having more to do with Iuz than any decisive action on the part of Furyondy). Azoriel acquits himself well in the final battles, and is invited to join the Knights of the Hart. Now a man of position (and not wanting to reveal his past as a prince of Naelax), he proposes to Elethi, who accepts, and they live happily ever after… For the next ten years, anyway.
Elethi gives birth to a daughter (Arith). Azoriel is frequently away from home, seeing to matters of importance to the crown, leaving him concerned that he's neglecting his wife and child. By way of an information exchange with Dagon, Iuz learns that a woman of the name Stormseeker will one day become a powerful champion of Pelor and a thorn in his side - his agents send out goons who nab Elethi. The goons are found and killed in short order, but their sponsors (and Elethi's whereabouts) are never revealed. (Still haven't decided what her fate would be, save that it needs to be something that a simple resurrection spell can't fix.) Now saddled with the guilt of having let his MacGuffin be put into a refrigerator, Azoriel goes on a rampage for the better part of a year, hunting down and killing former agents of the Horned Society. (Because who else could it be, really? Iuz is still busy pacifying the Bandit Kingdoms, and hasn't started on the Shield Lands just yet.) He's stopped by Lord Axim, who confronts the knight and reminds him that he still has a daughter. Realizing that he's become even more neglectful now than he was before, Azoriel seeks an audience with King Belvor, requesting leave to put aside his duties to raise his daughter. Belvor grants him this release, and Azoriel departs with his daughter in tow… Returning to Almor, the last place he found solace when he was lost.
Azoriel finds the cleric that once consoled him, whose since become Prelate in the intervening years. Kevont grants the knight and his daughter stay to remain in Almor, and he appoints Azoriel his master-at-arms. He settles into a relatively quiet lifestyle. While there's some concern over the Great Kingdom, Azoriel knows they'll never sweep through Almor without taking and securing Sunndi first. However, Sunndi falls in half a decade, and there's rumors that, even before Nyrond, Almor will be next to go. The prelate himself appeals to Azoriel to assist - he is loathe to abandon his daughter, but, recalling the sack of the town in Nyrond, agrees to fight alongside the Almorians. Acting as one of Osson's captains, he serves the younger general well, both in the vanguard and in providing him an insider's understanding of Aerdy, particularly when they strike into Medegia. (When Osson's diviner suggests they avoid Pontylver completely, Azoriel is much relieved.)
(While Azoriel is away, Lord Axim arrives via pegusus to retrieve his son-in-law; Iuz has begun to invade from the north, and Belvor is calling on all his knights to aid in the fight. Discussing matters with the Peloran priest watching over his granddaughter, Axim comes to realize that he won't be able to get in touch with Azoriel, and the situation here is even graver than Furyondy's. With the caretaker's agreement in the matter, he takes his granddaughter with him and returns home. To ensure there's no misunderstanding, Lord Axim leaves a scroll for Azoriel to find. Alas, much like wooden houses, scrolls burn…)
When the genius general falls, Azoriel is one of the few surviving captains left to rally what remains of Osson's forces. Months are lost as they evade imperial forces and attempt to locate more of their men. Finally, they manage to secure a base-camp near the Glorioles. Azoriel and those well enough to fight ride west to provide what assistance they can to their beleaguered countrymen; not knowing that Ivid has already crushed Almor and moved on to Nyrond, Azoriel and his men are ill-prepared for what they find.
Azoriel finds his home burned to the ground, the bones of the priest who watched over his daughter among the ashes; of his daughter, there is no sign. His men manage to find a few survivors - those coherent enough to speak provide first hand accounts of the utter destruction of Chathold. Many were slaughtered, they say, but some were taken east, as slaves and spoils of war. Azoriel and his men bury their dead (to include those men who couldn't take the strain of discovery and killed themselves that very day), and return to their wounded in the Glorioles. Azoriel swears an oath of unending war with the Great Kingdom, many in his company joining in - "until (their) missing are recovered… And (their) dead avenged."
(Meanwhile, Arith grows up in southern Furyondy. News of Osson's death and the fall of Almor reaches her, and she grieves for some time, knowing her father would surely be among the dead. She later becomes a paladin of Mayaheine, and participates in the Great Northern Crusade, much to Dagon's delight - Fishy knew Pruneface would bungle things up if fed the right info…)
Even over a decade after the signing of the Treaty of Greyhawk, they continue the fight. ("We signed no treaty.") They fight a bitter wars from the shadows, striking out in the cover of night, slaying princes and noblemen who participated in the wars, freeing what slaves they find. Azoriel is no leader of men, but he is one of the most fearsome warriors in eastern Flanaess, and even the hardened generals of Aerdy are ill-at-ease with tales of how the avenging knight appears in castles and strongholds seemingly out of nowhere, and strikes down his victims in the most brutal fashion. The problem is particularly bad in Ahlissa, nearest to the Glorioles. But Xavener, the new Overking of the Darmen line, is none too worried, as he already has a man working on the problem: an animus knight of the Naelax line, said to be a veteran of the wars with Nyrond…
-Heh, heh, heh. You asked!
I love detailed (and appropriate) backstories for PCs and NPCs.
First, if this is the background which gets Azoriel to 16th level, it would take a lot to overdo it anyway. You could argue that he hasn't done enough to make it to 16th level, although he couldm get a lot of xps as a commander.
Which Nyrondese town did Azoriel help sack? When? Circumstances? BY my reckoning, this would have had to have occurred befor CY 570 during a border skirmish.
Actually, I never said anything about Ulek; be it Duchy, County, or Principality. I said Duchy of Urnst
Doh! I even looked up the right country in my LGCS (but still typed in the wrong one). I do appreciate the kudos, though!
SirXaris wrote:
You haven't, however, so all is well.
Excellent! As I said, primary worry was things not adding up. Nobody in my home group would care if I made Knight-Protector of the Great Kingdom who also joined the Knights of the Watch (or anything along those lines), but the inconsistency RP-wise would irk me to no end.
jamesdglick wrote:
I love detailed (and appropriate) backstories for PCs and NPCs.
Thanks! I'm something of a stickler for details. Simple characterizations of events don't necessarily bother me- "My 5th level ranger has spent his whole life defending Furyondy's border with Iuz." -but it bugs the hell out of me if it doesn't jive RP-wise. "My character is a prince who was cast out as a child, because he was born with this birthmark that makes everyone think he's cursed. But he's got max starting money because he's royalty, you know, so his people would do everything they could to take care of him."
(Looking things over again, I think I'm going to have to make my guy of the Rax line rather than Naelax. I liked the Naelaxes because they're cursed, kinda like Hurin and Turin from the Tolkien books. However, I can't really see any Naelax family members being devout worshipers of Pholtus, the LN aspect or otherwise. I was going to use Rax before, but the idea of Rax family members going to war against Rax-Nyrond seemed questionable. But, as long as they're a different branch of the family, Rax-Pengrave in this case, I think I can get away with them seeing the other side as traitors.)
jamesdglick wrote:
First, if this is the background which gets Azoriel to 16th level, it would take a lot to overdo it anyway. You could argue that he hasn't done enough to make it to 16th level, although he couldm get a lot of xps as a commander.
Truth be told, the 16th level version was a bit shorter - he survived Osson's Ride on his own (without rallying the other survivors), and then spends all his time wandering around, looking for clues as to what happened to his daughter. I did this to make the character more open to follow any adventure hooks the DM used, as opposed to writing myself out of the party (or breaking RP to stay in it). It's a very modular storyline. (And I didn't really want Azoriel fighting his animus father until he's closer to level 20; I've seen "Arvelain" scaled down for a 10th-level encounter, and the result was "less than climactic".)
jamesdglick wrote:
Which Nyrondese town did Azoriel help sack? When? Circumstances? BY my reckoning, this would have had to have occurred befor CY 570 during a border skirmish.
The event takes place in CY 559; this means Ivid V would have been sitting on the Malachite Throne for approximately 3 years. It was strictly a backstory item, so it never got RPed - ergo, no particular town was ever named. At the time, Nyrond was (probably) already braced for an attack, but the Aerdians mustered a force much larger than anticipated. (Or maybe Nyrond hoped Ivid V would ignore them while he consolidated his strength.) The Nyrondese garrison was annihilated, and the Aerdians have a couple days of "fun" while Nyrond organized their response.
Looking at a map, I'm probably going to go with Pelleur Keep (which is abandoned at some point before CY 591). There's no description of a surrounding town, though, if it's been mostly abandoned for 30+ years and the wall and other buildings were all burnt down, perhaps that would explain why. Cordrend is another potential candidate - I was a bit worried it was too fortified and small to be worth the trouble of sacking, but they only "just recently" (in CY 591) added a second wall, and the town described as previously having 2,000 inhabitants (they've since all left and been replaced with soldiers), which may further support the sacking story. (I'd once thought about making a small castle-town at the foot of the Flinty Hills somewhere - but I don't like the idea of having known fortifications that aren't marked on the maps, especially when abandoned ones like Pelleur Keep are.)
...(Looking things over again, I think I'm going to have to make my guy of the Rax line rather than Naelax. I liked the Naelaxes because they're cursed, kinda like Hurin and Turin from the Tolkien books. However, I can't really see any Naelax family members being devout worshipers of Pholtus, the LN aspect or otherwise...
-From your description, it looks like he didn't have his "come to Pholtus" moment until after his change of perspective during the sacking of the town. Obvioulsy he reevaluated a few things in his life. It seems psychologically consistent (or at least, it's not psychologically implausible).
Azoriel wrote:
...The event takes place in CY 559; this means Ivid V would have been sitting on the Malachite Throne for approximately 3 years. It was strictly a backstory item, so it never got RPed - ergo, no particular town was ever named. At the time, Nyrond was (probably) already braced for an attack, but the Aerdians mustered a force much larger than anticipated. (Or maybe Nyrond hoped Ivid V would ignore them while he consolidated his strength.) The Nyrondese garrison was annihilated, and the Aerdians have a couple days of "fun" while Nyrond organized their response.
Looking at a map, I'm probably going to go with Pelleur Keep (which is abandoned at some point before CY 591). There's no description of a surrounding town, though, if it's been mostly abandoned for 30+ years and the wall and other buildings were all burnt down, perhaps that would explain why. Cordrend is another potential candidate - I was a bit worried it was too fortified and small to be worth the trouble of sacking, but they only "just recently" (in CY 591) added a second wall, and the town described as previously having 2,000 inhabitants (they've since all left and been replaced with soldiers), which may further support the sacking story. (I'd once thought about making a small castle-town at the foot of the Flinty Hills somewhere - but I don't like the idea of having known fortifications that aren't marked on the maps, especially when abandoned ones like Pelleur Keep are.)
-It wouldn't neccesarily have to be a big town. Since this is obvioulsy an ongoing work, you could scale it down to walled village. Pelleur Keep, with a nearby walled village could work.
-From your description, it looks like he didn't have his "come to Pholtus" moment until after his change of perspective during the sacking of the town. Obvioulsy he reevaluated a few things in his life. It seems psychologically consistent (or at least, it's not psychologically implausible).
Having him start as a Pholtan from birth (LN aspect) was actually a part of the story. I had an alignment progression for the character as well (though I omitted that part to avoid clutter).
Lawful Neutral: To start out with, he's supposed to be raised a proud son of the greatest empire on the face of Flanaess. Sure, not everything works perfectly, but it's a good deal better than anarchy, and he's looking forward to being an enforcer (a knight) when he gets older. Bear in mind that the See of Medegia is a semi-autonomous state right now; the destruction of Pholtan churches didn't take place there, and they're free of the humanoid mercenaries that are roaming the other parts of the Great Kingdom. Their proximity to the Solnor Compact presumably lets them enjoy some of that lucrative sea trade as well. As such, Azoriel lives in a fairly prosperious region, enjoying an upscale upbringing, so it's easy for him to believe that this is the way it should be, and anyone who believes otherwise is clearly in the wrong. (He knows other parts of the Great Kingdom are considerably less pleasant, but the paradise that is Pontylver is all he really cares about.)
True Neutral: His first taste of war is a sobering event that causes him to question everything he was raised to believe. He loved the idea of being part of the bigger system, but it never occurred to him that "the system" caused others so much pain. At this point, he has difficulty putting his faith into big organizations anymore (or at least has difficulty doing so blindly). He tries to drown his sorrows with drink and the rush of battle, but his underlying feelings of guilt and loss never quite leaves him. Secretly, he wants to be able to see himself as a hero again, but he can see no way to realize this wish.
Neutral Good: His love interest is big into helping other people out (volunteering to help the wounded), and so he takes interest in helping people out, too. Strangely enough, it actually feels pretty good. (And, to think, his father warned him against blind handouts, as it would only encourage people to take advantage of him. Probably sound advice for dealing with the nobles of the Great Kingdom, though not quite so much for a place where people are more charitable.) His mercenary company discovers that their guys are being sacrificed to the archdevils when they get captured; they decide this fight isn't worth the trouble anymore and go back to Dyvers. Azoriel simply laughs it off, saying, if his soul is devoured by some fiend, he likely won't be around to care about it after the fact. (This is a sellsword's bravado, tinged with guilt.) Being around his future wife and in Furyondy gives him faith in humanity again, and restores his faith in himself in turn. He gives up his freedom (which he really didn't want anyway), accepts the honor of knighthood, re-investing himself in life.
Sliding towards chaos (and evil?): With his wife's abduction, he comes to realize he may have given up too much freedom. ("Surely, if I was there, she would not have been taken.") When he can't find her, his daughter is all he has left of his wife. He gives everything for her, casts aside duty and glory, is ready to throw away his own life if need be - and it still isn't enough, because the armies of the Great Kingdom obliterate Almor. He knows he'd have found her skeleton if she died in the house, and he knows that anyone who wasn't killed was brought out east as a slave. And he knows how slaves get treated in most of the Great Kingdom. The gaiety of his mercenary years, which masked graver thoughts, is no longer there. He's become grim and dark, more fearsome than charismatic. He's less a knight in shining armor, not a simple soldier, not even a faithless sellsword. He's on his way to becoming a ruthless killer, where the end goal (getting his daughter back) is worth any price in blood that he must extract.
[In contrast, his father was a firm believer in law and justice, one who accepted the imperfections of the existing system (Lawful Neutral); the man's internment to Ivid's dungeons and finally transformation into an animus has preserved his sense of duty, but he's fully embraced the idea that these "imperfections in the system" aren't imperfections at all - they're necessary parts of life, and others should be forced to acknowledge that for their own good (Lawful Evil). Thus, the two sides of moral corruption are represented - Arvelain being that of order and Azoriel being that of chaos.]
As firm believers in natural order, both he and his father would be perfect worshipers of Pholtus. Alternately, I could make Arvelain (the dad) a Hextoran, and Azoriel a wishy-washy Hextoran who later turns to Zilchus during his True Neutral phase. (Zilchus' pragmatic outlook on warfare would be a match for Azoriel's.) But I like Pholtus. I like the corruption of Pholtus' One True Path that Arvelain is forced to undergo, and I like Azoriel being a True Neutral who still just barely clings to Pholtus' dogma. He doesn't live it, doesn't practice it, knows his views are WAY out of line with any Pholtan church's, but he still wears a silver sun (holy symbol) around his neck, and may even blaspheme in Pholtus' name when the occasion arises. Because he wishes, in his heart of hearts, to be a good person, to be able to see himself as a moral man again... But he doesn't know how anymore.
Later, he's introduced to Pelor by his wife, a gentler aspect of the sun, much more appealing to Azoriel than blind adherence to order. They're both sun gods, he thinks - it's pretty much the same thing, right? (Any Pholtan would view this as utter blasphemy, but Azoriel has been away from the Pholtan church for so long, he's grown much more "flexible" in that regard.) So he takes up with Pelor - he's not looking to be some kind of paladin or templar for Pelor (which he did for Pholtus), but gives honest worship to the Shining One all the same. (Of course, there's a LG aspect to Pholtus as well, which is why he's friendly with Kevont and other worshipers of Pholtus he encounters. But Pholtus was introduced to him in the LN aspect as a child, and this will always be the way he sees that church.)
This will be particularly ugly later - Arvelain, having never left the Pholtan faith (even in undeath), will have even more reason to despise his traitor son, having abandoned the true sun god for a false one. Of course, Pholtus would likely view that kind of heresy in the same vein as worship from some undead monster, but that hasn't troubled Arvelain at all since the animus transformation took place.
Going back to the alternative take on things, Azoriel could've taken to worshipping Heironeous instead, finding the Invincible One's teachings to be everything he's wanted to believe in this whole time. In this version of events, Arvelain, becoming an even more diehard Hextoran in undeath, would be furious.
But one of the earliest incarnations of Azoriel worshipped Alvogyl, god of the sun and harsh justice. And that incarnation tried very hard to live up to the strictest of paladin ideals, but eventually realized that strict laws aren't always the best. So, in keeping with that, I feel having him grow up as a worshiper of Pholtus would be truest to the character's roots.
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You haven't, however, so all is well. 
I do appreciate the kudos, though!
As I said, primary worry was things not adding up. Nobody in my home group would care if I made Knight-Protector of the Great Kingdom who also joined the Knights of the Watch (or anything along those lines), but the inconsistency RP-wise would irk me to no end.
