Born to a noble family in the North dedicated to the worship of a god of knowledge, Kormak grew up as both an accomplished warrior and as a student of tradition and history. Kormak adventured occasionally, but it wasn't until the death of his younger brother when Kormak, now in his mid-forties, took up shield and armor to venture beyond the borders of his lands.

Now, as darkness rises in the North, Kormak has returned home with a party of adventurers to find his mother old, his father ailing from a disease of the mind, and his older brother stretched thin by the stress of it all. With enemies rising to surround his family's home, Kormak will fight to the death to defend his family from the gathering shadow.