Aksel

Aksel Alabaster is a gnome cleric of the Soldenar and, early in Ruins on Stone Hill, the companions' de facto leader. Gentle, copper-haired, and far wiser than his years, he has a healer's touch, a keen mind for assessing every angle of a problem, and a gift for calming the friction between the impulsive Seth and the easily irritated Glolindir. Where Glo reaches for a spell and Seth for a knife, Aksel reaches for the plan that keeps everyone standing.

An orphan raised by the Church of Caprizon, Aksel lost his family young, and that loss drives him. His vow, in effect, is never to lose another loved one — which makes his newfound companions both his strength and his vulnerability. He did not set out to lead heroes; he set out to protect people, and leadership is what that requires when orcs attack a caravan, golems patrol a ruin, or a friend lies badly hurt. His healing saves lives across Book 1, and his judgement about when to fight, talk, or withdraw earns the others' trust.

Aksel's faith is practical rather than preachy. The Soldenar, Lady of Gnomes, grants divine power that shows up as mended wounds, steadied nerves, and, through Ravenford's temple, even the restoration of the dead at great cost. Aksel treats that power as a responsibility to people in front of him, not as an argument. It is one reason a town like Ravenford, and companions as different as Seth and Lloyd, can all rely on the same small cleric.

In Book 1, Aksel helps turn four strangers into a party: organising the Stone Hill expedition, guiding the orc hunt, and keeping the group focused when older and darker powers come into view. This page stops at Book 1. The archive's filed note for Aksel ranges across later volumes, so none of that material is used here, and readers should discover his later trials in publication order.

See Glolindir, Seth, and Lloyd for the family he is determined not to lose.