It is both necessary and proper that the deeds of the Collective's
heroes be recorded and remembered. Their stories have the potential to
place children on the path of virtue and to restore faith in the
Collective to those who have lost it. Furthermore, the mere act of
recording the glory of those heroes, those paragons of the Collective,
drives others to great deeds in the hope of earning similar remembrance.

With that in mind, I publish this account of the life of my illustrious
ancestor, Ilesa Windwhisper. She lived and died some time before the
Taint Wars ravaged the land, and most details of her life were lost to
our records during those wars and the following years. It is with great
difficulty that I searched through the old records and found the
information to reconstruct her tale. Some facts of her life seem to have
been lost to the ages. I can assign no accurate dates, nor place names,
and the more minor details of her life known to me. By necessity, I have
taken the liberty of making certain deductions as necessary when the
evidence was lacking.

As such, let it be known that this is a fallible account. It is as
excellent a historical account of her life as can reasonably be
constructed at present, but I make no claim to perfection. Take it both
as an inspirational and as a factual account.

The illustrious Ilesa, paragon of the Collective, was born long before
the Taint Wars into the ancient house of Windwhisper. Her father was a
respectable if apparently unexceptional scientist specialising in planar
mechanics by the name of Lilho, who had been born a Sablewing. Her
mother, who had been born a Windwhisper, was an officer of the Sentinel
Company who had attained some renown defending villages which had sworn
themselves to the Collective against the raiding expeditions of
Gaudiguch. She had retired from active service outside the Collective
and employed herself in training new recruits for several years before
Ilesa was born.

It was from these parents that Ilesa received her early education. She
was given a broad education in the natural sciences by her father, while
her mother saw to Ilesa's physical conditioning and trained her in the
profession of arms. Ilesa excelled in her studies, both the academic and
physical, earning a reputation for intellect at an early age.

It was when she was eight years old that Ilesa first showed her true
genius. Her father had taken her on a flight through Hallifax to observe
the many different breeds of pigeons and to learn to identify each when
they came upon a building that was being constructed. Ilesa, being keen
of eye and even keener of mind, noticed several flaws in the building's
construction and remarked that it would surely collapse if they were not
remedied. Her father, seeing an opportunity to teach Ilesa of her own
fallibility by proving her wrong in this, took her to meet the architect
in charge of the project. Ilesa told this architect what she had seen
and deduced and so impressed him with her assessment that the architect
immediately ordered construction to cease until the design could be
improved.

From that point on no effort or expense was spared in Ilesa's education.
She had earned, and she received, the finest tutoring that could be
found in the Collective and its allies. She excelled in the noble arts
of mathematics and geometry in particular, while also earning accolades
in botany and zoology. Even as she proved to be a prodigy in the
sciences, her martial training was not neglected. She practiced the art
of swordplay until she could rightly be called a master.

It was often remarked by people of her time that Ilesa had, from a young
age, seemed to excel in all things, and also that it seemed as though
she never ceased to work or practice. Such was her life until she came
of age, having earned a reputation for excellence in the skills of both
the scientific and bloody castes.

In those days, the position of field researcher was amongst the most
dangerous in the Collective. Agents of Gaudiguch, particularly the
Illuminati, took a perverse pleasure in cruelly exterminating our
expeditions. Ilesa's scientific expertise and skill and arms made her a
perfect candidate for such a dangerous and honourable position.

On her first expedition, she was set out under the guidance of Senior
Researcher Iolekex Shevat to catalogue all toxic plants and fungi found
in the Skarch Desert, so that the Collective could better learn to
identify and treat those poisons likely to be employed by the Illuminati
and their ilk. On this expedition, the two of them were ambushed by a
band of Gaudiguchi brigands under the command of a senior Illuminatus.
Ilesa, having mastered the Hallifaxian arts of battle, engaged and
destroyed all of the brigands, who relied on the much inferior
Gaudiguchi methods of combat. She then captured the Illuminatus and
bound him for transportation to the Collective. Upon the expedition's
successful return, he was given over to the lawful authorities, who
extracted a great deal of useful information from him during
interrogation.

Ilesa's heroism earned her the right to command expeditions for the
Collective's benefit, a right which she ceaselessly employed. Over the
next three years she led no less than seven such expeditions. Each of
them were attacked by Gaudiguchi savages. Each of them returned to
Hallifax without losses. She won great fame for her success in these
missions, and even greater fame for the scientific advances that they
enabled. For these services to the Collective, she was granted a
peerage.

This peerage made Ilesa a highly desirable mate, especially when
combined with her high birth. She had many suitors, the majority of whom
were people of great birth and essentially no competence who wished to
ennoble themselves by being attached to such a woman. She denied each of
these suitors in turn, but allowed herself, at her parents' insistence,
to attend a long sequence of balls and tea parties in the hope of
finding an acceptable mate.

In time, she grew frustrated with the process. While there were very
many useless people who would have been happy to marry her, she could
find no one who seemed to be worthy of that honour. Nonetheless, she was
duty-bound to find a mate and ensure the continuation of her family's
name. She resolved to do so in such a way as to be of great benefit to
the Collective.

Ilesa announced her intention to lead a colonial expedition to expand
the influence of the Collective within the Basin of Life. Such a thing
was far from unusual in those days, although Hallifax launched far fewer
such expeditions than other powers. It was a dangerous mission, but the
potential benefit to Hallifax was enormous.

When she announced her intentions, Ilesa also announced that when the
colony had become self-sustaining she would consent to marry whichever
of her comrades had most distinguished himself in the colonial effort.
Many people flocked to her, and soon the expedition was prepared. The
vastly wealthy Clarramore family, hoping both to arrange a match between
their house and the house of Windwhisper, and to expand their house's
business holdings, offered to fund the expedition in its entirety if
Ilesa would permit one of their number, a certain Naeleoh Clarramore, to
join the expedition as one of her officers. Ilesa consented to this, and
along with nearly one hundred other colonists who were chosen with great
care, set out to found a new village for Hallifax.

The expedition set out from Hallifax with great ceremony. An assortment
of high ranking bureaucratic functionaries gave their formal approval of
the mission in front of representatives of every case, and presented
Ilesa with a formal order to found a colony for the glory of the
Collective. Ilesa was likewise presented with a sword, to serve as her
badge of office as leader of the expedition. It was newly forged from
the finest steel, and engraved with a poem exalting the Collective. She
accepted both the order and the gift with great humility before leaving
the city.

When the colonists reached their destination, they set about
establishing their new home with admirable efficiency. Naeleoh proved to
be of great use in this, organising and leading work crews in order to
erect buildings of Ilesa's design. Ilesa herself contributed to the
heavy labour of constructing the colony, having recognised the necessity
of doing so, although such work was below her caste.

It did not take long for the new colony to attract the attention of
certain natives, several uncivilised nomadic cultures which were
composed of a mixture of Aslaran and Loboshigaru people. These tribes
had been in a state of perpetual hostility for longer than any of their
number could remember, which had prevented them from developing any
manner of civilised culture. Ilesa determined that it would be of great
benefit to all for these people to be inducted into the Collective, and
arranged to meet with their leaders.

It is an unfortunate truth that savages rarely listen to reason, even
when it is presented to them. Although Ilesa sought to win over each of
the tribes by means of diplomacy and reason, as was customary, it was
not to be. She met with, and was rejected by, each of the leaders that
she met among the savages. She returned to the colony with a heavy
heart.

However, the brutes did not give her any time to grieve over their
refusal to see reason. One of the tribes, under the command of a
chieftain whose name has been lost to history, launched a raid on the
budding colony in the hopes of stealing its supplies and carrying off
its people into slavery. Ilesa led the colonists in a valiant defence of
the colony, fending off the raiders and striking down their leader in
single combat.

From that point on, Ilesa knew the threat that was posed by these
savages. It was necessary and proper to compel them to join the
Collective by force of arms, or else to put them to the sword. Rather
than risk the lives of her comrades, each of whom was of vital
importance to the colonial effort, Ilesa resolved to settle the matter
with her own hands. She went forth to each of the tribes, and set forth
her demands. The first of them refused her, and threatened to put her in
chains if she ever set foot on their land again. She struck down their
leader and several of his warriors before offering them the chance to
surrender themselves to her mercy, which they accepted.

Ilesa had similar experiences with each of the other tribes. Each
rejected her demands, and each was made to bend their knees to Hallifax.
Ilesa was merciful, and allowed the savages to be made into indentured
servants rather than putting them to the sword. Thus were the native
peoples brought under Hallifaxian law, as was right and proper.

With its enemies eliminated, the colony prospered. Soon a year had
passed and it was time for Ilesa to choose her husband. Naeleoh had
proven to be an excellent administrator, and had taken over Ilesa's
duties as a leader while she dealt with the savages. As such, it was
only natural that they be wed. Three years past, and a child was born to
the pair.

Over those three years the colony grew, to the Collective's material and
political gain. It quickly began to produce a surplus of food, which it
paid as a tax to the city of Hallifax, reducing the need for foreign
imports. The colony's increasing wealth, however, also drew the
attention of the burning city.

The first blow came from the Illuminati. They infiltrated the village by
means of their foul tricks, spreading discord among the servants in
preparation for an invasion. When the village's militia was distracted
in dealing with those servants, a band of the more militant Gaudiguchis
marched on the colony.

The village's militia was mustered to defend against the threat, and a
message was sent to Hallifax to call for reinforcements. The militia,
under Ilesa's command, managed to fend off the army, although it cost a
great deal of Collectivist blood.

During the fighting, Ilesa executed no small number of the Gaudiguchi
filth before being disarmed and captured. The whole village mourned for
her, thinking she had died in the fighting.

The remnants of the Gaudiguchi army retreated, carrying Ilesa and
several other captives with them. Their captain, if such a word can
apply to the scum of Gaudiguch, feared that they would attempt to
escape. As such, he thought it best to execute his captives as soon as
they were certain that they were not being pursued.

It was a black day for the Collective when the that army of glorified
vandals built a pyre for Ilesa and her comrades. They were soaked in oil
and bound to stakes, each upon a heap of wood. The Gaudiguchi leader
himself set each of the pyres alight in turn.

Faced with her death, Ilesa neither screamed in pain nor showed any sign
of fear. She sang a song that she had learned as a girl, a song
dedicated to the glory of Hallifax, a song promising the inevitable
triumph of Collectivism over all the savagery of the outside world.
Ilesa burned with the name of her home on her lips.

Such was the death of Ilesa Windwhisper, a paragon of Hallifax.