Difference between revisions of "The Warmage"

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PERSONAL DATA:

FULL NAME:

Iovar son of Chlodric.

ALIASES:

The Magician - during his early heroic career in Arkham.
The Warmage - at present.

IDENTITY:

OCCUPATION:

BACKGROUND:

Before his exile:

Iovar is a second, younger son of king Chlodric of Avern. While he was born as a prince of royal blood, he had no chance of inheriting the throne. On the other hand, he was more resourceful, handsome, and most important - much more loved by common people, than his brother. And he knew it.

He was also closer with commoners. While his brother assisted father with ruling the kingdom, Iovar was charged with more mundane, but also more flashy duties - like checking borders, repelling pillagers, or dealing with refugees from neighbouring country. It made him concerned more with welfare of ordinary people than with kingdom as a whole. Even his beloved ones were common women.

It was also the time, when Chlodric was preparing his kingdom for a confrontation with the Empire of Midium. Midiumite emperor, Petrus the First, had enough of barbaric kingdoms carved from former imperial provinces and it was no secret for anyone, that he intends to invade western countries with all the might of imperial army. War is expensive and Chlodric did what every ruler would do in his situation - in order to pay for more troops he had to raise the taxes. It was a significant raise and, along with poor harvests this year, it put a great strain on commoners, forcing many of them into poverty.

In the end, invasion never happened, courtesy of shahanshah of Farazshahr*) who decided to start yet another war with Midium, assaulting their eastern territories - which forced Petrus to relocate military recources to this new theatre of war. It probably saved Kingdom of Avern and there is a fair chance that it was a result of Chlodric's diplomacy.

Yet Chlodric was adamant. Now he intended to attack Midium on his own and still needed more money. Iovar rejected this policy. In his eyes, kingdom was safe and there was no longer reason for people misery. Even if Chlodric was right and attacking Midiumites could end any future threat from them, it was still not enough to justify people living on the verge of starvation.

After his objections were rejected and he was publicly humiliated and called to behave by Chlodric, Iovar, driven by pride and anger, did the least reasonable thing he could do. He rallied all of his vassals and started a war againts his father, determined to replace him on the throne. If the old man didn't want to listen, he had to be forced to see the thruth.

Initially war went good for Iovar. He won a few battles and captured few strongholds. Finally, he managed to defeat an army led by his older brother - and even to kill him in the duel performed on the battlefield. With every passing month Iovar grew more determined and fierce. It was no longer about proving his father wrong. Now he was the only heir to the throne and had every right to do as he see fit. Unfortunately, Chlodric shared exactly the same attitude.

There was no longer a chance for a peace between warring factions and kingdom was weaker with every month of the civil war.

Unable to face his son on the battlefield, with both factions locked in a stalemate, Chlodric started to ravage lands of rebellious nobles. And it was an act of razing to the ground one of the Iovar's personal fiefdoms, which finally ended this war.

The sack of Sangramunt.

It was where Iovar finally collapsed, faced directly with consequences of his actions. With whole city burned to the ground, littered with corpses of all citizen executed by royal soldiers. Innocent people of all ages were put on the sword because of him - some of them known to him, some of them loved by him. And now all were dead because of his pride and foolishness. It was when Iovar realised how wrong he was all of this time. He wanted to help people, but his actions only costed their lifes. Winter was coming, and with kingdom ravaged and farms pillaged, there was even more famine ensured. And it was all because of him. All those dead faces seemed to look at him, accusing him with their unliving stares, whispering in his imagination.

"Look what have you done, prince...

We loved you.

And now we are dead.

Because of you.

You wanted to help us. How?

Look, how you helped.

It's all because of you...

You did it. You are as guilty as are royal troopers.

Murderer.

Kinslayer.

Sinner.

Do you think we love you NOW?

What have you done?

Fool..."

There was no other choice but to end this war immediately, but negotiations seemed to be impossible with Chlodric being as fierce as Iovar was before.

In the end Iovar chose the only possible way and made a proposition to Chlodric - he will disband all troops and surrender himself to the royal vassals. In the return he will be the only man judged for rebellion and all his vassals shall swear loyalty to his father.**) No other person in the kingdom, only Iovar, had to be punished. Chlodric agreed to this, which led to the Iovar's imprisonement and finally ended with him being exiled.

MVNDVM - IOVAR'S HOMEWORLD:

Name:

Mvndvm (spelled as "Mundum", but most common form of native script is very similar to the old Latin one, with "v" used for writing "u").

Location:

Mvndvm is a local name for parallel Earth from an alternate universe.

This is an early medieval world, with land masses and history roughly equivalent to that of Champion's Earth. Though an ongoing presence of magic, sentient inhuman species, and an absence of anything comparable with the Ban, made it quite different from Champion's planet. Also, there were no equivalents for Mu, Lemuria, Turakians or Atlantis there. Should be also noted, that Mvndvm isn't a parallel Earth from the past - time on this world is flowing exactly like on the Champion's Earth. It's simply that somehow this universe was started a bit later, so timeframe from 1900 to 2000 A.D. in Champion's world is almost exact equivalent to the period from 500 to 600 A.D. on Mvndvm.

Historical age:

Mvndvm is in its Dark Age period, VI century A.D.
Less than century ago western part of the mighty Empire of Midium crumbled into dust. West of the central continent is divided betwen warring kingdoms carved from former provinces of the empire, while eastern part is still under imperial rule. It's a world in its aesthetics very similar to that depicted in the Dragonheart movie, or in the Thorgal comic books. It's also a relatively dark and unwelcoming place, forests are still dense and filled with beasts and monsters, and bigger cities are few and far between.

Civilisation level:

Steel isn't known yet, most metalwork is done in iron. Same goes for platemail armor - it isn't invented yet. Most common form of government is a hereditary monarchy, but feudalism in his mature form doesn't exist yet, same goes for chivalry. Masonry is limited only to the greatest and richest cities - even fortresses are mostly made from wood, save for the strongest and most important strongholds. Literacy is really limited, mostly to the nobility, priests and wizards. Eastern part of central continent is however a bit more advanced, majority of middle and higher social classes are literate, and most cities are built from brick, or stone.

Major political powers:

Empire of Midium

Roughly equivalent to the Eastern Roman Empire, but in this world it managed to reclaim its central provinces and now is preparing to reclaiming of the rest of its former belongings.

Kingdom of Avern

Equivalent of the early Frankish kingdom, few years ago it was weakened by bloody civil war. Though it's still the greatest and most powerful of all western kingdoms and a major rival of the Midium on the West.

Farazshahr

Equivalent to the Sassanid Kingdom, major political power of the East and also another major rival of the Midium.

The Iron Kingdom

It's a dwarven fledling empire, initiated in the central mountain range in the political void left by Western Midium Empire. It's smallest of all empires, but no less agressive.

The Feyland

Remnants of the vast elven empire. Centuries ago elves were dominant, but their kingdom was weakened by Midium and now is limited only to the most western peninsula of the central continent. It's still stronger than majority of human kingdoms. Right now it's an ally of Avern but there is a lot of distrust between allies.

The Caliphates

In this world equivalent of early Islamic jihad was halted on the East by undead remnants of one of the elder empires, centuries ago crushed by elven armies. Albeit undead were finally defeated, jihad was weakened to the point where it was no longer possible to conquer, then weakened, Farazshahr. It's one of the main differences between Mvndvm and Earth - Caliphates are limited only to the northern parts of the southern continent.

Magic:

Magic is very common on Mvndvm, but spellcasters aren't. Being a mage requires an expensive education and training, both are limited only to the upper (and literate) classes. There is little inherited sorcery in this world, having an innate magic abilities is very rare and still requires such training - otherwise it's dangerous for everyone, including such spellcasters. Mages are also supervised by Church, nobility and the Mage's Guilds. There is a damn good reason for such precaution - a single rogue mage can be a really bad news in this world, especially if he's playing with necromancy or demonology.

In general, magic is considered not an art, but either a science or craftmanship. Many people can afford a basic protection talismans and enchanted gear. Such items aren't cheap, but also aren't shockingly expensive, and are accessible for everyone with enough money. Even common people doesn't fear mages - yes, they know that wizards are dangerous, as people on Champion's Earth know that man with a gun is dangerous, but that's all.

No form of resurrection magic works on Mvndvm, no matter if it's of divine origin or not. Even if spellcaster is from another universe, his or her resurrection supernatural powers have no effect in this world - unless they are of technological origin. It's a good habit to not die there.
Only one man on Mvndvm was resurrected, ever, it was done by the higher power, and he's considered a Messiah.

There are of course magical beast, including dragons, demons, spirits and other similar creatures. In civilised regions they are usually attacked and killed as soon, as it's possible.

How to get there:

Any means of extraplanar travel, if they are allowing for reaching from one alternate dimension to the another. Doesn't matter if such power is of technological, or supernatural origin.

THEME SONGS:

Higher Power.

Rainbow in the Dark.

FOOTNOTES:

*) - Try not to break your tongue trying to spell 'shahanshah of Farazshahr', it may sounds weird but it's not a fictional fantasy language. It's derived from real world middle Persian. Shahanshah translates to 'king of kings', 'king above kings', or less literally to 'great king' and it's an Iranian equivalent of the 'emperor' title. 'Farazshahr' could be roughly translated as 'high kingdom' or 'kingdom above kingdoms'. In my opinion both suits perfectly to the fantasy equivalent of Sassanids.

**) - It's the one part of Iovar's background which probably doesn't make sense to the people not concerned with historical similarities. But in some of the feudal countries there was a rule which could be called 'a vassal of my vassal is not my vassal' - which makes no sense for us, modern people, but was in use.

It means that technically Iovar's vassals were obliged to obey him, but not his father, though as a Chlodric's vassal Iovar was obliged to obey him. So, in theory, Iovar was the only person guilty of rebellion and breaking his feudal duties. This is what made his proposition passable for Chlodric, as he could accept it without weakening of royal authority by not punishing other nobles. Especially since after they would swear to him, they would be now his direct vassals.

Also, medieval rite of feudal oath was performed in the name of God. Technically, by rebelling against Chlodric, Iovar was not only a criminal, but also a blasphemer. And let's not start about gravity of killing his own brother, not only a man of royal blood, but also a kinsman.

In short, Iovar screwed everything what he could, and then more.