‘ 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 a legendary former rune warrior and protagonist of SpellForce: The Order of Dawn and SpellForce: Shadow of the Phoenix who played a pivotal role in saving the realms of Eo in the Battle for Fiara and, subsequently, the Rune Wars in the years following the Convocation. She is skilled fighter and leader, as well as an important figure within the Order of Dawn.
Biography
Early Years
Not much is known of the Phoenix Bearer's early years, at some point in her youth, her soul got bound to a Rune Stone by one of the Circle Mages, however, both when this happened and who is responsible for it is unknown. It is possible that, like most rune warriors, she was once a mercenary. Based on the fact that Rohen Tahir is the one seeking her rune after the Convocation and even refers to her as "old friend", it is most likely that the rune belonged to him in the years prior. Eight years before the Convocation, at the height of the Convocation Wars, she was defeated and her rune was lost and unsummoned.
Battle For Fiara
Messenger of the Order
In the year 8 following the Convocation, a free rune warrior named Tahira, together with her friends Caele, Lev, and Joshua, is tasked by her former master the Circle Mage Rohen Tahir with retrieving the rune containing the Phoenix Bearer's soul from the orc chieftain Krong in the ruins of Ankbrand. Not long after, Rohen summons the Phoenix Bearer in the mountains of the Shadow Pass and hands her her own rune, thus granting her freedom and allowing her to be the master of her own will.
Though her memories had faded due to her 8-year-long slumber, Rohen urges her to seek out Sartarius, the master of the Order of Dawn, residing in the city of Greyfell. On her way, she is ambushed by the Dark One, a mysterious hooded figure plotting to kill Rohen. After a failed attempt at her life, she collects a sealed chest the Dark One had left for his messenger and reaches Sartarius in hopes of opening it. They discover that the chest is protected by a powerful seal, only breakable by a Circle Mage, and thus, the Phoenix Bearer is tasked with bringing it to Rohen, who has since departed for the Wildland Pass.
Her journey first takes her to Darius Servil, a local scribe in Liannon whom Rohen often visits on his travels. He tells her more about Rohen's whereabouts, after which she continues through the islands of Eloni, Leafshade and the Shiel before finally reaching the Wildland Pass, meanwhile pushing back the hordes of the Black Fist, a mercenary group led by Brannigan and loyal to the Dark One. With the help of her rune armies, she manages to push through their defences and the Dark One's Blades, finally crossing the portal to the Frost Marshes and catching up to Rohen.
Their reunion is short-lived, however, for the seal on the chest, she brought him was a trap, encasing them both in ice as they attempted to remove it. The Dark One appears once again, mocking them and killing Rohen, but not before Rohen could advise the Phoenix Bearer on what to do next. She is to seek out Hokan's Legacy and a a way to stop a Circle Mage.
Defeated and directionless, she returns to Greyfell to bring them the news of Rohen's passing as the forces of light and darkness prepare for war.
In Search of the Phoenix
After discussing Rohen's last words with Sartarius, the Phoenix Bearer learns that she must venture into the Darklands to find the means necessary to stop Rohen's killer. She is advised to first meet with Marcia, an ambassador of the Order in Stonewell, home of the royal house Hallit, to acquire more leads on Hokan. This trail eventually leads her to Greydusk Vale, a border fortress of the Order under the command of Urias. It is then revealed that while Hokan's body may have perished during the Convocation, his spirit still roams the ruins of Whisper from whence he commands his Undead hordes, restlessly searching for the Mask of Belial that had been stolen from his grave. He tasked one of his most powerful servants, Korshar, with finding it
Despite knowing the dangers involved in dealing with a former mage of the Circle, the Phoenix Bearer has no choice but to find the two parts of the mask as leverage for her demands. She retrieves the part hidden in the fortress by a necromancer by the name of Malicor, before making her way to Korshar who already had one part in his possession. After defeating his forces inside the ruins of the old Falcon fortress in the Howling Mounds, the Phoenix Bearer traded both parts for a fraction of Hokan's wisdom: to defeat the Dark One's Blades, she must slay the Soulforger, and to find the Phoenix, she must rummage the ruins of Mulandir, the former seat of the Circle.
Arriving in the once greatest pool of knowledge on Eo, she made her way North to where the Archives of the Circle once stood. Amongst them, a former servant of the Circle stood guard over their remaining riches. He could give her the Phoenix, but first, she must pass a trial put before her: to bring back an old artefact of the Shapers that had been broken and stolen during the turmoil of the Convocation - the four time shards - and that now lay scattered across the surrounding lands.
Having collected the pieces, the Phoenix Bearer was handed the Phoenix and now had a weapon powerful enough to defeat a mage of the Circle. Armed, she made her way back to Greyfell to discuss the Order's next steps with Sartarius.
Counterattack
While she was searching for the Phoenix, the Order made plans to bring the fight to their enemy. Sartarius, together with every combatant of the Order of Dawn, set out to break the enemy's blockade in the Frost Marshes. With haste, the Phoenix Bearer followed suit, but upon her arrival, she found that the Order had paid greatly for this ordeal. They had indeed broken the blockade but at the cost of their lives. Only two of their members survived: Urias, who had been saved by the dark elf Craig Un'Shallach, and Sartarius, whom the enemy has taken prisoner. Short on options and time, the Phoenix Bearer pushed forward into the Southern Godmark where Sartarius was being kept, freeing the master of the Order, yet by doing so, walking into another of the Dark One's traps. Sartarius, too, dies by his hand, while the Phoenix Stone, the ace up their sleeve, gets stolen.
The Circle Closes
The Phoenix Bearer nearly escapes her death through the help of Urias and Craig, yet she now finds herself in a desperate position. Filled with anger for the Dark One and the Circle, she nonetheless makes her way to Nightwhisper Dale where she crosses the great portal to Urgath to stop the Dark One once and for all. Atop the obsidian mountain in Sharrowdale, she slays the Soulforger and faces her foe for the final time, only to discover that the hooded figure she had been fighting is none other than Rohen himself, albeit a younger version, poised to traveling through time and deciding the outcome of the Convocation for himself.
In shock, she can do nought but watch as Rohen steps through his Time Portal. At this moment, even though her strife for the Circle burns strong, she realises that she mustn't follow him through, for if she were to stop him now, he would have never been their saviour come the Convocation. She removed the Phoenix Stone from the portal, its frame collapsed, and she disappeared into the unknown knowing that, had she returned it, the people would have only quarrelled to get their hands on such a powerful artefact.
Rune Wars
A Masked Threat
In the year 15 after the Convocation, 7 years after she had last been seen, the Phoenix Bearer had been beckoned by her old friend, Darius Servil, to meet him at the Blackwater Coast. However, upon her arrival, instead of Darius, all she found was a land ravaged by the undead and a small group of Order troops, led by the ever-vigilant Urias who has tried rebuilding the Order of Dawn in the years following the Battle for Fiara.
Together, they discovered that Darius was tracking down the graves of the deceased Circle Mages, for someone had been desecrating them and stealing their lifeless bodies. The hints the scribe left behind pointed towards the gold city of Xu, Empyria, where they were to search for the Dryad of the Life Tree, as only her assistance could help them face a new danger on the horizon - though reaching her would be no small feat. In their search for ways into her garden, the duo met Alyah Arias, daughter of the ruling emperor, Magnus Arias, once crown princess, now degraded to a thief in the slums of the city.
With Alyah's help, the Phoenix Bearer made her way to the Dryad Cove and rescued the Dryad from the foul ploys of a masked figure to rid her of this world. Grateful for their help, she unveiled many secrets to the Phoenix Bearer: she revealed the true identity of Darius to be the Guardian Ereon, unmasked the new threat as the Circle Mage Hokan Ashir, and told of how the latter captured the former in the depths of Zarach's Bone Temple, using his divine blood to resurrect the mages of the Circle under his will. Though Hokan had once died himself, it was the Mask of Belial, brought to him by the Phoenix Bearer herself, that reformed his body and gave him new life.
An Old Friend
Taking the Dryad's advice, the Phoenix Bearer set her sights on reaching the Uru, a wise woman of the Kathai people, a journey that would take her through the deadly land of the Hazim, and the undead-infested fortresses of the Raven Pass. There, atop the highest peaks of the mountains, the Phoenix Bearer and Urias would face the brunt of Hokan's undead forces, sent out to halt their advance. To make matters worse, these forces were spearheaded by none other than Rohen Tahir, the old man murdered at the Frost Marshes, brought back to life under Hokan's sinister will.
Following numerous hard-fought battles and aided by the Kathai, the Phoenix Bearer's forces succeeded in breaking through their ranks. With his soul set free once more, Rohen managed to escape Hokan's grasp, and before being taken to his earned rest at the River of Souls, he revealed how to break the stone harbouring the Phoenix, still in possession of the Phoenix Bearer, to set the being within free and put an end to the Circle for good.
Shadow Warrior
Having finally reached the Uru and her people, the Phoenix Bearer was quick to break the ring of besiegers around them - both the Undead and the Imperial troops, led by Emperor Magnus Arias in person. The Uru was saved, though the victory came at a grave cost, for while fighting the Imperials, Urias sacrificed his life to save Alyah from the clutches of the Bronze Giant, yet there was little time to mourn.
While conferring with the Uru, the Dryad sent out her ghost to aid them. Her birds had discovered the blade Rohen spoke of, wielded by a damned rune warrior whom Hokan held captive. With their efforts combined, they could release the Phoenix, save Ereon, and rid this world of Hokan's evil. The Phoenix Bearer was granted access into the ancient halls of the Zerbites, through which she could cross the Darkwind Mountains and enter the rotten belly of the Black Jungle in the south of Xu. Descending the Mountains to the South, she came face to face with Hokan's elite - Blades of unimaginable strength and fervour, fueled by countless Soulforgers at his beck and call. Against the odds and greatly helped by the Uru's people, she freed the Shadow Warrior and Craig Un'Shallach. Exchanging but a few words and united in their hate for what the Circle had done, the Phoenix Bearer and Shadow Warrior joined forces and crossed the threshold into Hokan's lands, determined to cull his scourge from Eo.
In the Shadow of the Phoenix
Passing through the Gorge and defences of the Sha, the Rune Warrior Duo crossed the portal into Zarach's Bone Temple, a place so unholy even the mighty Guardians hold no power on its grounds. For one final time, they summoned their rune armies and pushed onward, through the hordes of Undead, through the deadly blades of the Iron Ones, until reaching the depths of the temple where Ereon had been held.
They freed the God from his chains, uncovering a bitter truth in the process: Hokan wished to use the Circle to merge with Belial, a demi-god servant of Zarach. Should that succeed, releasing the Phoenix would be for nought, for he wouldn't recognise the ones who had captured him centuries prior. The rune warriors made haste. They entered Zarach's throne room and faced the abomination Hokan had become. They could not kill the demi-god, but they managed to interrupt Hokan's transformation. As soon as he returned, they unleashed the Phoenix from its prison. It soared from the skies and destroyed the Circle before disappearing over the horizon.
The Rune Warriors' task had been done - after countless lives and deaths, they had been freed from the tyranny of The Circle.
After the Rune
Following the defeat of Hokan and the Circle, the Phoenix Bearer returned to Empyria, now ruled by Alyah after the death of her father, to reestablish the Order of Dawn in Urias' memory. It is unknown how long after she retained a leading position within the organization, but we know that the helped spread the Order's reach and influence once more, as evident by its presence across Fiara in the years to follow.
After the power of the rune had dissipated following the Circle's defeat, the Phoenix Bearer wished to live out the remainder of her life in peace, getting rid of all that reminded her of the rune and her servitude under the Circle.
Her current whereabouts are unknown.
Trivia
- The Phoenix Bearer was originally depicted as a mage in early trailers of the game. This was changed in SpellForce: Shadow of the Phoenix, when she appeared as a fighter.
- Promotional art of SpellForce: The Order of Dawn depicts what appears to be the Phoenix bearer in a set of armour not available in-game. This armour would later become accessible in SpellForce 2.