Sara Dunstan (326 AC - 398 AC) was the adoptive mother to the hero Steel Brightblade, and the founder of Legion of Steel. In her youth, she was considered pretty with long brown hair, a firm, melodious voice, and cold gray eyes. During her time with the Dark Knights she learned a bit of the Goblin Language. She also liked to travel without a group of people.
Even in her fifties, she was still looked youthful and beautiful. She was still very strong, but her reflexes were slowing, knees ached, and eyes were not as sharp as they once were. He once light brown hair had turned silver which she kept in a long braid.
Early Life[]
Sara grew up in a small village in Solamnia, near the Lordcity of Palanthas. She lived with her mother and father before they both died of the plague sometime before she turned twenty. Sara made her living as a weaver, and never married having never found a suitable spouse.
In 346 AC, a woman banged on her door, and when Sara answered the person fainted. This woman would later identify herself as Kitiara Uth Matar. Through the combined efforts of Sara and a local druidess, they were able to able to bring Kitiara to term, and she had a healthy baby boy she named Steel Brightblade in a joke towards his father Sturm Brightblade. Kitiara allowed for Sara to keep Steel since she had no use for him then, but promised to return for him.
In the hope to avoid being found by Kitiara during the War of the Lance, Sara moved Steel and herself to Palanthas. This was a hope to get him away from bad influences and teach him about honor. There they stayed through the rest of the war.
Post War of the Lance[]
Together Steel and Sara lived in Palanthas, but the peace would be shattered. During the Blue Lady's War in 357 AC, Sara again feared that Kit had come to take Steel away from her. That did not happen, and with the death of Kit, Sara felt some sense of relief. During the battle though, their home was burned to the ground. During this time together, Sara knew that she could find Steel at the Temple of Paladine where he would sit on a bench under an aspen tree.
When Steel was twelve, Ariakan, son of the great Duulket Ariakas, approached Steel with the offer he could not refuse, the chance to be a warrior. As much tears shed by his mother, Steel was unmoving and told her to leave as she wished. Saddened but forgiving, she joined along side her son, still hoping to save him from the darkness and turn him from these Dark Knights. She served as Ariakan's mistress and servant in order to stay close to Steel, for many years before she grew too old. During this time she grew to really hate Goblins.
Sara and Steel got a two-story home on Storm's Keep, and she became a Dragon trainer for the newly formed Knights of Takhisis. Two Blue Dragons that she trained were Flare and Cobalt. Three days before Steel would give himself to the Dark Queen in the fall of 378 AC, Sara went before Caramon Majere and his wife Tika Majere to ask them to save her son, Sturm's son. After they got over their shock, Caramon and Tanis Half-Elven agreed to try to save his soul from darkness.
Sara helped them kidnap Steel from Storm's Keep, and they took him to the High Clerist's Tower. Sara stayed behind while the two Heroes of the Lance took Steel in to finally meet his father. Sturm had been buried there at the Tower during the War of the lance. Upon Steel's return, he told his mother he was still returning to become a Dark Knight, and that she could not return with him. Much as this saddened Sara, she knew this was true.
Age of Mortals[]
She wandered until she arrived in the small village of Connersby. She gained a reputation of having healing skills, and helped deliver the local horses, cows, and village babies. She heard the news about Steel's sacrifice during the Chaos War, and even though she was saddened, she was extremely proud of him.
Since Sara arrived in Connersby and took the name Sara Conby. She had practiced in secret every day with her sword, honing her skills she learned under the Dark Knights. He life went on like this for seven years until Deepkolt, 385 AC. She felt a call, and when she went in search she found Cobalt injured. She nursed him back to health, and in exchanged helped her with her sword practice.
She got word of the Dark Knights gathering in Neraka, so together with Cobalt they traveled to the gathering. She finally cut her long hair short, to better disguise herself as a Knight of the Lily. The Dark Knights were happy to see her return with a dragon, and for her experience she was made Lord Guiyar Massard's second-in-command of the Sixth Talon. She began to train the knights under his command, and earned their respect.
During this time she also saved Lord-Governor Mirielle Abrena's life from an assassin's dagger, and while spying on Lord Guiyar she was hit over the head and thrown into the pit of the Temple of Darkness with a few Horaxes. She killed one with just her dagger, before Lord Morham Targonne dropped down on a rope and pulled her to safety.
Sara then returned to her camp and challenged Lord Guiyar to a duel. Having served with Sara before, he knew of her past. Before the duel began, Morham Targonne gave Sara a new sword, and with this new sword Sara killed Lord Guiyar in single combat. She not only gained command of the Sixth Talon, she also gained the respects of all the Knights of Takhisis for winning the duel and getting out of the pit.
She continued the training of the Sixth Talon, but eventually took Derrick Yaufre out training. She revealed her true past to him, but was rejected. He runs off near Solace, and Sara went to the Tomb of the Last Heroes that was near. There she was given the Starjewel that was owned by her son and his father. She receives a vision that the Dark Knights and Solamnic Knights will never be able to work together, and that a third knightly order was needed for the common people.
Sara finds Derrick, and he apologizes and accepts Sara. Together, along with Cobalt, they would be the first defectors of the group. They form the first of the Legion of Steel, which Derrick named in Steel's honor. Upon returning to Neraka, she was arrested and charged with treason. She fought Mirielle Abrena in single combat on dragonback, and defeated the Lord of the Night.
Sara then took the Lord of the Night as her hostage, and had her other troops under her released. Besides Derrick, Saunder, Marika Windor, Argathon, and Kelena Athelen all joined the Legion, but Kazar returned back to the Dark Knights. They set up the Legion's headquarters in Solace, while sitting around a table at the Inn of the Last Home.
Legion of Steel[]
With the forming of the Legion, Sara kept herself busy with expansion, limiting it to first just Abanasinia, and then extending it beyond. Just two years after the Legion was created, a crisis arose in Teyr. Sara ordered that the Legion must do anything it could from the Dark Knights gaining the fledgling Draconian nation as an ally.
The Legion fed Governor Kang information that a Legion spy was gaining from the Dark Knights. The draconians were able to defeat the Dark Knights in battle, and Kang was grateful for the Legion assistance.
Sara spent all her time with making the Legion grow and better itself, but time would eventually catch up to her. Fifteen years after the Chaos War, Sara fell ill in 398 AC. Most of her friends and companions knew that this was a terminal illness, and came from all over Ansalon to be at her bedside. They urged her to dictate a code of behavior for the Legion, which Sara had kept putting off. She finally agreed, and on her deathbed, she whispered and wheezed out the words that would be known as The Legacy to her fellow Legionnaires. Not long after delivering The Legacy, Sara passed away peacefully during the night.
Post Death[]
Her story would later become clouded with mystery, with most Legionnaires believing she had either been a great warrior, or a wise woman that could play politics. Dark Knights would forever deny she had ever been a member of their knighthood, and instead saying she was simply a spy.
Kender Tales[]
Legacy of Steel has Sara at 51 years old, but this would be too young. It would mean Sara was only 12 at the time she adopted Steel, while The Second Generation states she was 20.
References[]
- Knightly Orders of Ansalon (Sourcebook), p. 119
- Legacy of Steel
- Kitiara's Son (The Second Generation), p. 9, 11, 14-16, 18, 24, 28, 33, 37, 40-41, 43, 50