Miltiades

Miltiades was an ancient and legendary death knight who was punished by his deity, Tyr, into the undead existence, until the paladin redeemed himself circa 1372 DR in service of the Church of Tyr and was restored to life as the reward.

"Well, Miltiades, I don't understand what Tyr may have set aside for you, but you've been a good friend to all of us. If we have anything to say about your fate, I know we'd all agree that you've served with faith and honor."

- Ren o' the Blade

Description
He was a tall man. As an undead, Miltiades appeared armored in brilliant heavy plate mail the color of quicksilver, its design was distinctly ancient from the era he originally lived in, and a closed helmet that hid his skeletal form, empty eye sockets, and withered skin. His undead form radiated unsettling cold chill and had a dusty aroma reminiscent of a cemetery.

Personality
Zealous in his beliefs and morals, Miltiades was a stoic man with a keen battle sense, intelligence, and discipline. The paladin spoke seldomly but welcomed conversation when it was offered. He as a courteous man who followed etiquette and chivalry. Miltiades was always ready to walk first towards danger if it meant defeating evil or protecting his allies.

Abilities
As a death knight and later as a regular paladin, Miltiades had the ability to see auras of creatures that revealed their true nature to the paladin. The ability was not tied to sight; even in complete magical darkness the auras were visible. After being restored to life, Miltiades retained some magical properties of his undead form. According to Elminster Aumar, the paladin could deflect magic like a trained fighter could deflect blows. Miltiades was protected from death magic and could not be turned into an undead nor controlled via necromancy.

Possessions
Miltiades' enchanted equipment included the holy shield of Tyr, adorned with the holy symbol of the deity and glowed with commanding blue radiance, while the god's symbol glowed with gold. His magical war helm hummed with protective magics. The paladin's enormous runic sword of Tyr was enticed end to end with magical runes and glyphs and was the size of a two-handed blade that Miltiades wielded with ease with a single hand. Each strike of the massive sword created a shower of blue sparks. During his excursion into the Utter East, Miltiades was armed with a massive and deadly warhammer.

The paladin owned a figurine of wondrous power dated back to his mortal days. The item was an ivory-carved steed that turned into a noble snow-white creature, Eritophenes, with a mere command word. The steed was not a living creature and did not need to breathe, allowing its undead rider to travel underwater as if on dry land.

"Fair sorceress" Evaine gifted Miltiades an enchanted brooch of her own making. The magical trinket, effectively a variant of sending stones, let her communicate with the paladin across any distance. It was a small gold item with a single diamond-clear crystal at its center. Later, after the couple wed, she created a ring of detect poison for Miltiades.

History
"In all honor, I must tell you my story first. When I take off my helm, do you all promise to let me finish my tale?"

- Miltiades, the Death Knight of Tyr

Death & Undeath
Miltiades grew up in the city of Turell on the Moonsea North. He was one of the first to worship and follow Tyr's calling. The paladin was venerated as Turell's steward and champion. Due to his service to the Church of Tyr,, he was given the holy shield of Tyr, a magical war helm, and a runic sword of Tyr. For fifty years, he faithfully guarded the city until the warrior-wizard Zarl attacked. Turell was besieged for a year, during which he personally slew many of Zarl's greatest warriors. Zarl never challenged Miltiades and continued to exhaust Turell's resources and more. Desperate, as the city was facing ruination, Miltiades snuck into Zarl's camp under cover of night and murdered him, the act considered dishonorable by the Maimed God. Miltiades did not survive as he was swarmed and slain by Zarl's troops. The outrage drove the surviving army of the battlemage to push into Turell, ransacking and destroying the city left without its protector. Tyr Grimjaws refused to let Miltiades die and bound his spirit to his slain body, transforming the disgraced paladin into a death knight as punishment. Miltiades' body was buried at the cemetery several miles south of destroyed Turell, surrounded by the most powerful and loyal servants of the warlord. Even though Zarl's body was returned to his homeland, the warlord's spirit lingered by Miltiades's own body.

A thousand years later, in the, the city of Phlan, along with several other cities of the Moonsea, disappeared, taken by minions of Bane, Lord of Darkness. While the cities were taken from the Prime Material plane, Phlan was captured by the Red Wizard Marcus of Thay and the pit fiend Tanetal and placed into a massive cavern underneath his tower. Phlan became besieged by Tanetal's demonic creatures, corrupted servants of the god of rot Moander and other dire creatures.

Miltiades was summoned by Tyr and tasked with Phlan's recovery. Despite his undead existence, Miltiades still served his god and obeyed. The death knight found himself surrounded by the undead, risen out of their graves by the evil magics of Bane. The heavily armored knight faced the undead in battle and serendipitously, Heroes of Phlan, Ren o' the Blade, Evaine, her powerful feline familiar Gamaliel, and the druid cousins Androlson and Talenthia. came across the scene of battle. The paladin came face-to-face with the ghost of the man he slew ages ago, battlemage Zarl, who commanded his army of undead. The heroes joined forces and helped Miltiades to end Zarl once again, but the holy shield of Tyr was destroyed in the process.

Miltiades and his new companions eventually returned Phlan to its place on the northern shores of the Moonsea. Along the way, Miltiades defended his allies against two werewolves who took on the guise of innocent travelers and a pack of their wolfweres. One of the lycanthropes, Artur, was killed by the death knight's hand. It was revealed that the creatures were servants of the group's evil target – Lord Marcus, Red Wizard of Thay. In the process, Miltiades and mage Evaine bonded over their prolonged lives and developed respect, and later feelings towards each other. For a brief period of time, Miltiades and his allies stroke a bargain with a cunning succubus Lunlaa, collector of men, who wanted to see her enemy, Tanetal, fail. She advised the group of the Red Wizard's weaknesses. Soon after, the group faced a gang of shapeshifter abishai that served Tanetal. The undead paladin also bonded with his fellow Heroes of Phlan, and along with Evaine, helped pregnant Shal Bal deliver her child who was later named Kern Miltiades Desanea, after their strange new friend and ally. Miltiades entered a peaceful slumber, but not before sharing a prophecy from Tyr that Kern the Hammerseeker would retrieve the relic Hammer of Tyr, retiring Phlan to prosperity after a period of strife and darkness. Still undead, the paladin was content with fulfilling his deity's decree.

Two decades later, in the, a new threat revealed itself to Phlan, and she wanted to use the pool of twilight to get revenge for her father's death, the infamous Red Wizard. Shal used powerful divination magics to uncover the villain's identity but received near-death arcane feedback. Contemplating the prophecy, Kern Desanea ventured into the Valhingen Graveyard to meditate in vigil in the shrine dedicated to the legendary hero Miltiades. That was when Tyr once again raised Miltiades to help Shal's and Tarl Desanea's son to find the legendary artifact of the temple of Tyr in Phlan, claimed by Bane a decade earlier – the Hammer of Tyr. If successful, Miltiades was promised eternal rest and a well-deserved afterlife. Along the way, Miltiades guided young Kern. He dispensed the prophecy bestowed onto him by Tyr and led Kern to assemble the new Heroes of Phlan, including the living spell in the form of an elf Listle Onopordum, ranger Daile Redfletching, her father – old ally Ren o' the Blade, and sorceress Sirana who secretly was the threat to Phlan and Marcus' daughter. As the quest continued, Miltiades reunited with Evaine reigniting their affections for each other.

With time, Sirana the wild mage started to unnerve Miltiades through her words and the fact that she did not radiate an aura of any sort visible to paladins and the death knight of Tyr. Instead of a color, Sirana radiated nothing. Miltiades was right not to trust the sorceress; her end goal was to claim the powerful Hammer of Tyr and she needed Kern to retrieve it. Recognizing Miltiades as a major obstacle, Sirana tasked her hamatula servant Hoag with the death knight's destruction. Eventually, Sirana revealed her true fiendish nature and used the pool of twilight to power her hellish magics. In a fierce battle, the half-fiend villain was defeated and sank into the pool of pure magic that in turn, was destroyed by Evaine.

Second Chances
At the end of the successful journey, on Hammer 11, a fellow paladin of Tyr named Trooper the group met along the way, willingly gave his soul to his patron deity, restoring Miltiades to life. Soon after, Miltiades and Evaine consummated their platonic affections and became wed.

Later the same year, Miltiades, along with Kern Desanea, both new heroes of some renown, were invited to the lavish wedding of the Open Lord of Waterdeep. The wedding was swarmed with plots and intrigues. During the event, an assassination attempt orchestrated by the Master Mariner's Guild was thwarted, but the bride – Eidola Boareskyr of Neverwinter was spirited away through a portal to the far away Utter East. With Piergeiron Paladinson falling mysteriously ill as his bride was taken, Khelben Arunsun and the Open Lord's daughter Aleena Paladinstar assembled a group of paladins to helm the rescue operation. Miltiades and Kern eagerly agreed to venture to the exotic Utter East.

The quickest way to get there was through the gate within the dreaded dungeon of Undermountain, atop a pyramid in its Sargauth Leve. Aleena, Kern, and Miltiades were joined by Trandon, a secret War Wizard ally of the Blackstaff, Tyr's paladins Jacob, Harloon, Able, and lastly, a rebellious young nobleman Kastonoph Nesher who fancied the Open Lord's daughter. Miltiades bid farewell to his wife Evaine who was angered she would not make it to Waterdeep in time to accompany the paladin on his adventure. The group was forced to pass through the hive of scum and villainy known as Skullport. The city of monsters and criminals tempted Miltiades' resolve and commitment to law and all things good. However, young Kern landed the group in hot water after destroying one of the Skulls of Skullport. The paladins were sentenced to committing acts of aid to Skullport as punishment. Miltiades attempted to lend aid to a skeleton warrior but ended up destroying the undead creature with Tyr's holy symbol – the only way he knew how to "help" such a creature.

Subsequently, the paladins reached the gate where they confronted a small army of dretchs and barlguras commanded by vroks Rejik and Morbaat who sought to claim the portal and through it the legendary bloodforge of utter east that called to their kin like a siren's song. After a grand battle, the surviving paladins walked through the gate, emerging in Eldrinpar in the Utter East as Aleena Paladinstar collapsed the ceiling onto the pyramid, blocking the portal.

On the other side of the gate, Miltiades and paladins were greeted by Ikavi Garkim of Doegan, the right hand of Emperor Aetheric III who, unbeknownst to most, orchestrated the abduction in hopes Waterdeep would send an army to recover the bride. Ikavi informed the newcomers that the woman they were searching for was taken by the Fallen Temple – the group that once was the Church of Tyr in the Utter East but lost the favor of their god and over the centuries turned to worship of dark creatures and cannibalism. Miltiades and Kern decided that in order to recover the Lady of Neverwinter, they had to destroy the Fallen Temple.

Serendipitously, the paladins encountered a group of mercenaries, led by Artemis Entreri, hired to assassinate Lady Eidola before she was rescued. Miltiades and Kern recognized the notorious villain, and the groups clashed in Eldrinpar's plaza. After the clash, the mercenaries managed to slip away as the paladins resumed investigation of the Fallen Temple's cult activities in the city. Miltiades followed a cent he incorrectly identified as roasting human flesh into a poor Mar household. His senses, his mind, all became shrouded by a bride fit of madness, likely caused by the manipulative telepath emperor. The paladin perceived a peaceful household as a center of cult activities and saw an illusory Eidola being sacrificed on an altar. Militated flew into a rage, attacking the commoners, but with the aid of his fellow men, he was stopped before he caused more than simple property damage.

Meanwhile, Artemis Entreri, blinded by the lust for power, led his band of miscreants to the Royal Palace of Doegan to assassinate the EmperorEmperor and claim his bloodfroge. The group witnessed the creature that was EmperorEmperor transformed by the foul magics of the forge into a massive aquatic squid-like abomination. Entreri seemingly killed the creature, and with the Emperor's perceived death, magical barriers that protected Doegan from fiends were broken. Hordes of fiendish creatures poured into the city, sowing destruction, forcing the paladins to fight for their lives and slowly make their way to the royal palace. As the chaos raged on, the two opposing groups joined forces to survive and discovered that the adducted Lady was a greater doppelganger who attempted to take over Waterdeep, however, she was discovered and magically bound to its Eidola shape. The paladins and mercenaries had a common target while the assassin lusted for the bloodforge.

The two groups broke down into two mixed squads. One went after Doegan's bloodforge and eventually confronted cultists of the Fallen Temple, the maddened aquatic aberrant Emperor, and changed the country's landscape, while Miltiades and the rest chased the escaping doppelganger. They pursued it through an ancient Netherese tomb atop which the palace of Eldrinpar was built. The chase left the group stranded in the depths of Anauroch, within a long-dead enclave of Ularith, guarded by an extremely powerful lich-lord. Miltiades confronted the ancient Netherese lich, daring the undead to claim his soul. To the group's terror, the finger of death spell blackened Miltiades' armor and withered his flesh to the appearance of a death knight. The paladin was ordered to kill his companions, but Miltiades refused. He revealed his unusual history with death to the lich-lord as his body and armor returned to the normal mortal state. Out of fear or respect, the lich-lord allowed the group time to the next day to conclude their business in the forbidden Netherese complex.

Miltiades' group continued on, pursuing Eidola doppelganger through portals back to Skullport, where they ran across Aleena Paladinstar, who was investigating the Unseen on behest of Khelben Arunson, Mage of Waterdeep. She revealed how Eidola was replaced by a greater doppelganger who somehow bound her father's soul to a diamond, making the dire situation much more complex. The shapeshifter's identity was known to both wizards, and they worked on a plan of how to save the Opel Lord's life. Along with Aleena, Miltiades, and other survivors confronted an agent of the Unseen, thief Marks, the proprietor of the Broken Pike tavern. With that information, Miltiades and Aleena guided the group to a safe house of the Unseen, where they battled against the villainous shapeshifter, eventually confronting Eidola. Miltiades became the target of the greater doppelganger's magic, threatening to trap his soul within the same gem that enthralled the Open Lord, but the creature was slain by Belgin Dree, one of the mercenaries, just in time to fail the shapeshifter's spell and trap her own soul within the gem.

Finally, the long and oragious journey was at an end. Miltiades and the survivors returned to Waterdeep just in time to interrupt the rushed funeral for seemingly dead Piergeiron Paladinson, alongside his long-dead love Shaleen, both encased in glass caskets. With the return of the gem, the Open Lord was freed from death-like stasis, and to everyone's shock, so did Shaleen, whose soul was used by the Unseen to shape Eidola.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Pools of Darkness &bull; Pool of Twilight &bull; The Abduction &bull; The Paladins &bull; Errand of Mercy &bull; Conspiracy &bull; Uneasy Alliances &bull; Easy Betrayals &bull; The Diamond
 * Realms of the Dead
 * Realms of the Dead