Arnisant

Arnisant

(Person)

Titles

General

Alignment

Lawful good

Ancestry/Species

Human (Taldan)

Class

Cavalier 20

Gender

Male

Homeland

Ridonport, Taldor

Died

3827 AR

Source: Inner Sea Combat, pg(s). 6

This is an article on General Arnisant. For information on the dog of the same name, see Arnisant (dog).

Arnisant was a Taldan general who commanded the forces of the Shining Crusade against the Whispering Tyrant and sacrificed himself to weaken the powerful lich enough to imprison him beneath his fortress of Gallowspire.

The Shining Crusade

General Arnisant was commander of the Taldan forces allied against the armies of the Whispering Tyrant during the decades-long conflict known as the Shining Crusade.

One of his earliest actions occurred during the preparation stages of Taldor's assault on the Whispering Tyrant. In secret, General Arnisant sought the aid of the Knights of Ozem and visited the knights' leader, the mortal Iomedae, begging her to join the crusade. To prove his noble convictions, Arnisant offered the Taldan relic Taldaris's Bequeathal to Iomedae, claiming that the armor represented the soul of Taldor. So impressed was Iomedae by Arnisant's sincerity and sacrifice, she lent her aid to the crusade and wore the armor into battle against the Whispering Tyrant's forces. This action on Arnisant's part very nearly had him executed by the Grand Prince at the time, though his actions were later regarded as more than justified.

General Arnisant played a pivotal role in the crusade's conclusion when he personally faced Tar-Baphon on the field of battle in 3827 AR. In this conflict, the lich attempted to summon Arnisant's beating heart directly into his waiting claws, but the spell was blocked by the Shield of Aroden—a powerful relic that had been wielded by the god Aroden himself. The shield shattered, and in place of Arnisant's heart, the Whispering Tyrant found himself holding a sliver of the shattered artifact, which melded with his flesh and burned him in holy fire, weakening him enough for the Arodenite priest Narthoc to seal the undead warlord beneath his unholy tower.

Legacy

Arnisant's legacy is likely strongest in the nations of Taldor and Lastwall, both of whom hold him and his ultimate sacrifice in great esteem and claim some degree of ownership over his memory. Even centuries after his death, Arnisant's name is held high by the faltering empire of Taldor as an example of the empire's glory. In Lastwall, which was founded a year after Arnisant's death, the symbol of office of the nation's reigning Watcher-Lord was Aroden's shattered shield—now called the Shattered Shield of Arnisant and considered to be among the holiest relics of the Shining Crusade.

Monuments to General Arnisant's legacy can be found throughout the Inner Sea region. In Arnisant's hometown of Ridonport, a 200-foot-tall, ornately carved marble obelisk stands as a major landmark in the city's main square. In the Taldan capital of Oppara, a memorial called the Shining Obelisk rises 100 feet above the city's Memorial Park district, its brass surface shining brightly in the sun.

Noted Pathfinder Society member Venture-Captain Varian Jeggare has an Ustalavic hound named Arnisant whom he acquired while in the land of Arnisant's sacrifice.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.