Heralds of the Cycle

Heralds of the Cycle
Kind	Independent adventuring party
Seat	None; the party moves with the war
Goal	Defending the weak and the common people
Status	Active
Enemies	Winter Elves, Blackice
GM canon
first cited: [heralds-b#1]

The Heralds of the Cycle are an independent party dedicated to defending the weak and the common people. ^{[heralds-b#1]} They give their name to the sub-campaign run inside the campaign project Aenarch: Last Winter, and this page is that sub-campaign's main page. ^{[heralds-b#1]}

Overview

The party formed amid the Winter War, in which the Winter Elves have been conquering the other elven domains, and it has taken up the fight against that invasion. ^{[heralds-b#3]}

The campaign

Heralds of the Cycle is the sub-campaign played inside Aenarch: Last Winter, which is the wider campaign project and the frame the party's story is run in. ^{[heralds-b#1]} The war that frame is built on is the Winter War: the Winter Elves' campaign of conquest against the other elven domains, fought on the ground of the Velfald Regency by House Ursa out of Oavenia. ^{[heralds-b#3 · last-winter#643]} Where Last Winter follows the collapse of a Regency, this sub-campaign follows what that collapse does to ordinary people: the party rises not as generals or kings, but as defenders of the weak and of the common folk against the invasion. ^{[heralds-b#3]} The record of play itself is kept at Campaign Log; the events of the war in order are at Timeline of Aenarch. ^{[heralds-a#5 · heralds-b#27]}

The Cycle and the name

The party is named for The Cycle, the divine or cosmic principle of death and rebirth tied to nature and to the balance of the world. ^{[heralds-b#1 · heralds-b#4]} The same principle gives the arc its title, and it is the concept the party is held to stand for against the Winter Elves' war. ^{[heralds-b#1 · heralds-b#3]} Within the world, the Cycle is also a contested religious claim: Kardinal Severan Malvayn, the Legion's spiritual commander in Timbermire, holds that it is divine truth hidden by the Aenarch Church, and reads the curse of Timbermire as its first awakening. ^{[heralds-b#8]}

Needs a decision: What "Heralds" means in the party's name — whether the members are held to announce the Cycle's return, to resist it, or only to be named after it. The sources tie the name to the Cycle but never define the word.^{[heralds-b#1 · heralds-b#4]}

Themes

Editorial note. The lines below are the theme and tone notes the opening conversation of this arc records for the campaign, not in-world facts. They describe what the campaign is about at the table.

• The conversation that opens the arc sets its themes as rebirth and decay, divine cycles of life, death and the seasons, forgotten prophecies, and ancient powers awakening. ^{[heralds-b#2]}
• Its tone is given as grim fantasy but mystical — a world on the edge of transformation rather than of simple ruin — with play turning on prophecy, corruption, divine omens and ritual choice. ^{[heralds-b#2]}
• Alongside those, the campaign's own framing names the cost of war, a faltering Cycle, moral conflict and sacrifice as what the party is made to carry. ^{[heralds-b#4]}

The party

The Heralds of the Cycle are made up of four player characters and one character run by the game master. ^{[owner-form-2026-09-17]} The table below is game information rather than lore: it records who plays each character, and the class each one is built on under the campaign's system, D&D 5e (2014). ^{[owner-form-2026-09-17]}

Character	Player	Class	Status
Lucerion	Tolunay	Ex-Paladin	Alive
Elnaril	Cankut	Ranger (Hunter)	Alive
Nycoris	Alp	Fighter (Scofflaw)	Alive
Scuto	Yalçın	Monk (Way of the Long Death)	Alive
Mila	NPC	Sorcerer (Wild Magic)	Alive

Mila is not a player character; she is run by the game master. ^{[owner-form-2026-09-17]} The transcripts call Nycoris "Nico"; they are the same person. ^{[owner-form-2026-09-17]}

Who the members are

• Lucerion — a dragonborn who was a paladin of the Aziz until his divine bond was severed at Deadreach, and who answers to the High Priest as well as to the party. ^{[heralds-a#146 · heralds-b#453]}
• Elnaril — the elf field leader of the party, called Broodkiller by the goblins for the killing done in the hunt for Grizzleflame. ^{[heralds-b#27 · heralds-a#13]}
• Nycoris — the party's fighter, whose own demon is the thread that sets the group's course after Deadreach. ^{[heralds-a#146 · heralds-a#149]}
• Scuto — the monk who chose the power of death over the power of life, which opened him to the visions of the Rakshasa Virsakha. ^{[heralds-b#19 · heralds-b#27]}
• Mila — the party's wild-magic sorcerer, run by the game master, who died at Deadreach and was brought back by the Golden Flower. ^{[heralds-a#107 · heralds-a#144]}

Adversaries and lines

The party's story runs along several lines, each with its own opposing power.

The Winter Elves

The Winter Elves are the war the campaign is set in: an elven people conquering the other elven domains for power, whose invasion of the Velfald Regency is led by House Ursa. ^{[heralds-b#3 · last-winter#643]} They avoid open battle where they can, fighting instead by raiding, propaganda and the deliberate collapse of their enemies' legitimacy. ^{[heralds-a#3 · heralds-a#6]}

Blackice, at Iceverf

Blackice is the secret organization that guards Iceverf's ancient history from the Empire and works the city from its sewers and cellars. ^{[last-winter#134 · last-winter#141]} Its hidden architect is Godwin "Pale" White, and beneath him the organization runs in three arms: the City Hand under Crowcoin, the Deep Hand under Vaelis, and the White Veil under Aurelian. ^{[heralds-b#396 · heralds-b#398]} The party broke bandits acting in Blackice's name outside the walls, raided the organization's abandoned inn, and found there the concealed door onto a man-made tunnel running to Old Iceverf, where Pale's phylactery lies. ^{[heralds-b#361 · heralds-b#444]} Blackice was purged in the end, and Pale withdrew into silence so as to be forgotten, waiting for the Winter Elves to win and to take losses in winning. ^{[heralds-a#5]}

Draven

Draven is the grey elf who founded and leads the guild Dark Crescent out of Moonward while searching for the dark power he lost. ^{[last-winter#382]} Kaelen pursued him to the portal he had opened to the Shadow realm from the forbidden section beneath Graymond Library, took Draven's right arm, and was left stranded when Draven escaped — which is how Kaelen's rescue became the first mission the players chose. ^{[heralds-b#255 · heralds-b#263]} After the Shadow Rescue succeeded, Kaelen was back in Moonward, where Draven was also present and a coup was being prepared; Dark Crescent had by then become known as Moonless Night. ^{[heralds-a#5]}

The Deadreach line

Deadreach is what became of the port county of Rosereach after Naevys Duskbloom's modified cloudkill ritual killed the invading army and raised its dead beyond her control. ^{[heralds-a#51]} The party closed that line by killing the Reminder, after which the Remains network collapsed, Elnaril released a high-realm cold over the city, and the survivors were evacuated by ship. ^{[heralds-a#146 · heralds-a#149]} Naevys herself survived and turned on the party at the end of that arc, which leaves her an adversary rather than a closed account. ^{[heralds-a#146 · heralds-a#149]}

The Snakecross line

Snakecross is the barony of rose gardens and volcanic mountains that faced an undead threat while its baroness, Bella Worthmore, gave up on it and prepared to cross into her own realm with the god-splinter. ^{[heralds-a#5 · last-winter#300]} The party went with the Snowshield Count into the artificial tunnel north of Snakecross, reached the burial ground, found Legion remains and a cleric's notes, and fought there the being called a splinter of a god. ^{[heralds-b#446]}

What has happened so far

A short summary. The full record, with its own editorial note on how the entries are ordered, is at Campaign Log.

• The party held Rosereach while an assassination team, sent over the death of a member of the Ursa family, locked onto Elnaril on the wall and waited in the sewers. ^{[heralds-b#27 · heralds-b#34]}
• It staged a false assassination attempt to get the Count out of danger; Naevys Duskbloom used that pretext to evacuate him, the palace servants were killed on suspicion of being changelings, and Naevys was granted the title of Arcane Protector of Rosereach. ^{[heralds-b#43 · heralds-b#49]}
• At Hollowbridge the party came into the middle of a gnoll ambush on the Snowshield Count's camp and intervened. ^{[heralds-b#67 · heralds-b#71]}
• The players chose Kaelen's rescue as their first mission, and the Shadow Rescue succeeded: Kaelen was brought out of the Shadow Annex to Moonward. ^{[heralds-b#263 · heralds-a#5]}
• At Iceverf the party worked against Blackice — beating its bandits outside the walls, questioning its agents, and finding the tunnel from the abandoned inn to Old Iceverf — and the organization was purged. ^{[heralds-b#361 · heralds-b#444 · heralds-a#5]}
• North of Snakecross the party took the artificial tunnel to the burial ground and fought the being called a splinter of a god. ^{[heralds-b#446]}
• Beyond Scuto's village the party found the floating glacial fragment connected to Kelruun, where Mila had a vision, and fought a six-armed creature that fled and was destroyed in its own realm. ^{[heralds-b#446]}
• At Deadreach the party reached the Flower Goddess temple beneath the dead city and killed the Reminder; Naevys's people attacked as that fight ended. ^{[heralds-a#138 · heralds-a#146]}
• The arc cost the party dearly: Mila died and was returned by the Golden Flower, Lucerion lost his divine bond and is no longer a paladin, Elnaril loosed the cold that left Deadreach a frozen quarantine wound, and Scuto lost one of his souls. ^{[heralds-a#144 · heralds-a#146]}
• The survivors were evacuated and settled near Heartpoint, the High Priest took Lucerion off the city assignment, and the party set out for the place connected to Nycoris's demon. ^{[heralds-a#149 · heralds-b#453 · heralds-a#146]}

Where the party stands

The party has investigated the unrest around Snakecross and its tunnels, which it has tied to the secret society Blackice. ^{[heralds-b#446]} At the end of one such tunnel, the party fought a being described as "a splinter of a god". ^{[heralds-b#446]} After the Iceverf work the game master expects the party not to press that affair further, leaving the local Magnus Arcanum and the priests of the faith to hold the line against Pale and to keep the prisoners in custody so that Blackice cannot rise again. ^{[heralds-b#453]}

The party's next steps regarding the Iceverf affair are not yet settled.

Players, stop here. What is hidden behind this point is game-master material. The full detail is on GM:Heralds of the Cycle.

Related pages

• Aenarch: Last Winter — the campaign project this sub-campaign is run inside
• Winter War — the war the campaign is set in
• Campaign Log — the running record of play, session by session
• The Cycle — the cosmic concept the party is named for
• Winter Elves — the invading power the Heralds resist
• House Ursa — the house leading the invasion
• Snakecross — site of the tunnels at the center of the party's investigation
• Blackice — the secret society tied to the unrest the party uncovered there
• Iceverf — the city whose Blackice-linked unrest concerns the party
• Deadreach — the dead city whose arc the party closed
• Draven — the grey elf whose escape stranded Kaelen in the Shadow realm
• Naevys Duskbloom — the Arcanum officer whose ritual made Deadreach
• Magnus Arcanum — regional arcane authority active in the Iceverf area
• Timeline of Aenarch — the events of the war in order

Unconfirmed ideas

The source conversations contain proposals for Heralds of the Cycle that the campaign owner never confirmed. They are collected on Idea:Heralds of the Cycle so they cannot be mistaken for canon.