Appellation: The Ethernaut
Forebear: None
Progeny: Vallius Bayle (Assumed)
Time of Rule: n/a (Qeynos not yet founded; famed for activities at the end of The Age of Blood.)
Bayle the Ethernaut
History: Bayle is a Halasian male human member of The Ethernauts who defended Norrath against the Void approximately 1,000 years ago. He is the progenitor of the renowned Bayle lineage.[1]
Born Bayle Shiverfist, he dropped his clan name as was the convention at the time for descendants of Halas Barbarians when settling in new lands, in this case Antonica. He settled in the village of Oceangreen, on the site of modern day Qeynos. There he became romantically involved with a woman named Danaria, despite the disapproval of her father.
Bayle and Danaria gave birth to at least one son, likely Vallius Bayle.
The fate of the Ethernauts is unknown; they traversed into the Void and were never seen or heard from again. It is assumed their mission was successful, as subsequently attacks from The Void discontinued until the recent past.
Speculation regarding Birth Year[]
If Bayle Shiverfist was the father of Vallius, as could be inferred given the expected lifespan of his progeny and time information throughout the study of the House of Bayle, this man - Bayle the Ethernaut - likely lived during The Age of Blood. It is difficult to assume his time of birth, but if we assume he fathered his children at approximately the same age as his descendants and had a similar chronological distance in that regard, he may have been born circa 2700.
This would be some 240 years after the rise of the Combine Empire about 2460. The recent suggestion that the Combine Empire rose in response to the original Void invasion against which this very Bayle fought has not been substantiated in-game; indeed, as Kithicor lore historian Ouka points out[2], this would be a retcon of the entire Combine storyline.