LEONA

THE RADIANT DAWN

Among the Rakkor tribes that dwell upon Mount Targon, the sun is sacred, and none

venerate it more than the Solari. Children are raised from birth to honor it, and even

to shed blood for it, until its Aspect returns, heralding a grave threat they all must

face.

Leona was one such child. She took to the Solari faith as naturally as breathing, finding

solace and warmth within its rigid structure. This manifested through her rapid

achievement of excellence, her peers envious of her capability, willpower, and

devotion. None doubted she would one day become one of the Ra’Horak, the holy

warriors of the Solari.

Though Leona flourished, she could not help but see her masters struggle with their

most exasperating student, an orphan named Diana. Her curiosity was welcomed at

first, but soon the teachers began to perceive Diana’s questions as challenging the

Solari ways. Leona watched Diana suffer punishment and isolation—but where others

saw insolence, she saw a lost soul devoted to a search for meaning.

Leona found her purpose in the Solari teachings, and resolved to share it with Diana as

even the most dutiful teachers forsook her. The two would debate late into the night,

with Leona hoping to persuade Diana that everything she could ever want was there in

the faith, waiting for her to accept it. Though she failed to win Diana over, Leona did

find a friend.

One night, Diana confided a secret to Leona. She spoke of discovering a hidden alcove

in the mountain, an ancient place where the walls were etched with depictions of
strange symbols and forgotten societies. When Diana mentioned climbing the summit

of Mount Targon to learn more, Leona urged her to stop. Seeking to protect her from

the ire of the other Solari, Leona made Diana promise to abandon this search.

Reluctantly, Diana agreed.

Time passed, and the two never spoke of Diana’s discovery again. Leona believed her

friend had finally come to her senses.

Her belief was shattered late one night, when she glimpsed Diana slipping out of the

temple. While her first instinct was to tell the elders, Leona thought instead of

protecting her friend, wresting her back from the edge. Resolved, Leona set off after

Diana…

To the summit of Mount Targon.

The ascent was a trial unlike any Leona had ever endured, straining every fiber of her

being to its limit, and beyond. Her training, willpower, and concern for Diana was all

that drove her on. The unblinking eyes of bodies frozen into the mountain's slopes

watched her climb, their own journeys forever incomplete, but not even they could

deter her.

After what seemed an eternity—and much to her own amazement—Leona reached the

peak.

Exhausted, she beheld an uncanny landscape, and found Diana engulfed in a

coruscating column of silver light. Leona saw her friend’s silhouette writhing in agony,

the air rippling with her screams. Horrified, Leona rushed to her aid, when a golden

radiance slashed down from the heavens to envelop her.

The sensation was indescribable, but rather than incinerating Leona, the illumination

coursed into her, suffusing her with incredible power. She clung to her consciousness,

fighting the current seeking to sear away her very being.

Ultimately, her indomitable will triumphed—and with that control came

understanding.

Leona was forever changed, imbued by the Aspect of the Sun. Destiny had

selected her, and it was her duty to protect the Solari in the times to come.

It was then that Leona saw Diana, clad in gleaming silver war-plate, a strange

reflection of the golden armor she discovered herself now wearing. Diana begged

Leona to join her, to seek out answers the Solari could not offer. Leona demanded

they return home, and present themselves for the priests’ judgment. Neither

conceded, and they finally felt the weight of the weapons in their hands.

Their combat was swift, a blistering clash between sun and moon, ending with Diana’s

crescent blade at Leona’s throat. But, rather than delivering the killing blow, Diana

fled. Devastated, Leona descended Targon and hurried to her elders.

When she arrived, she found slaughter. Many Solari priests and their Ra’Horak

guardians were dead, seemingly slain by Diana’s hand. The survivors were awed by the

presence of two Aspects now in their midst, and Leona was committed to helping them

navigate this new reality—the guiding light to her people, just as the sun had always

been.

She has sworn to find Diana, to preserve the dominance of the Solari... but also to help

her old friend control the Moon Aspect’s power before it destroys her.