Sarwell Family/Alna
Alna Sarwell is a member of the Maroccidental branch of the Sarwell family and the cousin of Rosnan. She began her career as a knight of Larur in the republic of Terran. Soon she joined her compatriots in the war against Aurvandil, though she was oblivious to the full nature of the war - initially it was a matter of "us and them", and as far as Alna was concerned a distant and low-priority conflict. Her career took off when she was elected Senator of Gretchew, a position she would hold as long as she lived in Terran. Unlike her cash-strapped relative, she amassed a small fortune selling surplus grain from the fertile rural region, then regarded as the breadbasket of Terran. But all was not well; behind Alna's back the army of Aurvandil pushed successfully northward into the heart of Terran, and the corrupt and ineffectual leaders of the realm were doing nothing to stop them.
Reports of the enemy sacking her precious region were the final straw; she ran off to join the newly-seceded realm of Phantaria, where peace with Aurvandil was made a priority. Several days later, she became the new realm's first Commandant at Arms. She oversaw the first campaign against the remnant of Terran, with the intent of reunifying the realm. This attempt hit a standstill when Terran's leader, Hireshmont II Vellos, made it clear that he intended to transform the tiny realm, then reduced to a single city, into a theocracy of Sanguis Astroism. This prompted the Church to announce a controversial crusade to defend the new theocracy. The combined might of all the theocratic realms was too large for Phantaria to disobey, and the Grand Prince of Phantaria, Kale Perth, was coerced into a highly-concessive peace agreement with the old realm.
Phantaria's, and Alna's, hopes of expanding the realm were given new life when Niselur split from the Church and caused another war, in which Phantaria allied with that realm, Asylon, and the Farronite Republic against the hardline theocracies, including Terran. The first Phantarian attack was, despite the careful planning of Alna and the marshal of the army, a loss, but Alna remained confident as she returned to the front. Eventually, Terran crumbled from within and Phantaria finally succeeded in capturing Saffalore, and Alna was appointed as its first lord under the new leadership. The region was steadily repaired in the following weeks, before the realm's army headed off to new conflicts. Phantaria's membership in the Véinsørmoot was confirmed shortly thereafter, and Alna became one of the elders representing her expanding realm within the 'moot.
