The True King of the Hills

Rainer Herzeloyde, a true arch-hero, ranks among the Wildlanders staunchest allies. He was the first Bahar Dar NPC encountered by the Wildlanders, shortly after the Battle of the Cleft Cave. Later, he fought alongside the Wildlanders in the epic battles at Zazamanc, Makdazadok, and the Caverns of Azulerum. In the end, he earned the ire of Sylthraxis before venturing into the creche of Yared Mengistu.

The initial conception of Rainer Herzeloyde was fairly simple: I wanted to create a good guy who was an outlaw of a malevolent regime. As it happened, this character also had an ethos that dovetailed with the Wildlanders' love of the natural world (and affinity for it). When he first encountered the Wildlanders, he was significantly more powerful than they were, so he was in a position to advise and aid the Wilanders without giving them direct armed assistance. Over time, the Wildlanders looked to Rainer as a both a leader of and a liason to the local human population that primarily resides in Bahar Dar.


As can be seen in his story page, Rainer had several allies among the good-aligned NPCs of Bahar Dar. However, the evil powers-that-be had a knack for preventing these allies from forming a unified front. Only the Wildlanders, by systematically destroying the regimes of Governor Czarno and Malkizedek, were able to pave the way for Rainer, Kaleb, Diantha, and other to live in peace, security, and freedom in Bahar Dar.

Needless to say, several factoids about Rainer Herzeloyde will prove interesting to readers of the blog. First, Rainer was hand-selected by the Wildlanders to wield the fabled blade Akhoring after it was wrested from Malkizedek's possession. Second, Rainer currently leads a cadre of human Rangers from his co-opted stronghold of the Huts of Narud (formerly the Huts of ther Hill Giants), which sits at the very center of the Corridor. Third, although was expediency's sake he is called Rainer, I always personally preferred to think of him as "Herzeloyde." This is probably because the evil smarmbags of Bahar Dar and Makdazadok would spend hours brooding over his fate, blurting the name out loud to themselves, "Herzeloydeeeee..."


Also of interest on the story page are the two drawings. One is clearly labeled as the glacial plateau home of Thrym in wintertime. The other drawing was never labeled. However, it closely resembles many of the "lunar landscape" and "lunar structure" drawings that are found throughout the Big Red Book. It was not until this morning that I determined the drawing to be a depiction of the humble lunar abode of Wildlander ally Laughing Moon Water.


Here's Rainer Herzeloyde as the Wildlanders first encountered him: