Argan, the Blazing

the first Light, the Desert Flare, the Brightest Will Argan of Karusha (a.k.a. Argan, the Blazing)

Art Credit: "Quivixia", found in the Pathfinder Pawns, Giantslayer Collection document, copyright Paizo Inc. 2015

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Undeniably the most important individual in the history of The Smokeless, Argan the Blazing was a tremendous figure. So vast was their legacy that it elevated them to the realm of mythology, commonly believed to be a demi-god or a primordial elemental spirit, Argan was so powerful and strong, yet so gentle and nurturing, that they, alongside Koruk Greene, are credited with ending the Dranéan incursion.
But that was the end of Argan's life, at the beginning, they were born as many Smokeless are, in their ancestral home of Karusha. Born of brimstone and smoke, Argan came into the world covered in a strange gray, ash-like substance. The young Argan was cold to the touch and thought to be born deformed or sick. Peeling dry “skin” would crumble at a touch and flake away from their young body, and their parents feared Argan would perish. They set the young babe on a stone at the heel of a volcanic lake and prayed, taking alternating three-day shifts for a month until the young emberling suddenly erupted in flames and cries. The baby was not dying or sick, they were covered head to toe in Firemoss so dense the epidermal layer had to be shed before it could alight.
A baby so bright had never been born in Karusha, and from that moment it was believed that Argan was destined for greatness. Early in their life they took on the role of a solo adventurer, traveling all over Spirix. Memoirs and diaries recovered by archaeologists indicate that Argan was looking for something, the Argent Flame, a silver fire that suffused all creation. Argan believed the Argent Flame had a physical manifestation, and that it was somewhere within Spirix, and spent most of their life in search of it beneath the shifting dunes and among the sweltering winds. During these adventures, on a pilgrimage to The Scar to pay respects to fallen ancestors, they first encountered Koruk Greene, an Orc nomad that quickly became friends with the young Argan. The two spent three days and nights together, becoming so close that, by the time they parted, they had sworn oaths of fealty and camaraderie to each other.
Argan continued adventuring for over two-hundred years, spreading their name throughout the desert. It would take almost a full millennia for Argan’s name to become well known outside of Spirix, but within their home, especially within Karusha, the Brightest Will has been one of history's most important figures. Chief among all Argan's accomplishments was repelling the Dranéan Invasion, a feat which many attribute solely to Argan, or split evenly between them and Koruk Greene. In 988 Y.E., Elves clad in emerald armor and bearing fine magical armaments began invading the areas that neighbored Aldrané. Then they continued further, south, and southeast. By 986, they reached the borders of the Firelands and Sharizudr. Each nation was strong in its own right, and the Elves made sure not to underestimate their enemies just short of the finish line. They used half of their forces to create a solid wall between the Orcs and Smokeless, a blockade fit with artillery and enough ammunition to last half a year. Argan, as crafty as they were strong, ventured further east, beyond Colum, through the Vastwood, and over the northern stretch of the Green Line, arriving in the Orc homeland by 985. The Orcs and Smokeless had a history of conflict between each other, nothing that ever boiled over into outright war, but their relationship was nowhere near good enough for what Argan was about to request of them. As a representative of Karusha, they implored Sharizdur in a speech that is now one of the most famous in the world:

My northern blood, my fire of the coast, please, you must forget the wounds of the past and cast away our history of unloving. There is now an opportunity that must be seized today, or be forever lost. There is now a chance to repel a demon at the gate that seeks to swallow all of us whole and regurgitate only emerald waste. We should have mended our friendship long ago, but now we have only the choice to come together under one flag and one home, under one name and one creed. If you would not do it for me, or for my comrades behind the veil of steel and smoke, if you would not do it for yourself for you are too prideful to forgive shed blood and unturned soil, then you must do it that you may find a future where the sins of our past may be undone. The greatest ill of all is our common enemy now, that would take all we are, strip it of its essence, and consign it to a bygone saga of the races of old Spirix.

Despite Argan's eloquence and earnestness, they were nearly laughed out of the council, but a single voice championed the cause, Koruk Greene. The two friends embraced each other passionately before the council, Koruk himself had been begging his clansmen and brethren for months to form an alliance. Legend says that only together were the two able to convince their homelands to bury the past and move together into the future. They formed a great pact and, by 983, had destroyed the blockade and united their forces completely. Even then, they were outnumbered four to one, in desperate need of a hail mary. In 982, such a scheme was made and, in the final battle of the war, Argan led a charge directly into the Elvish forces, drawing them out from their defenses while the smaller Orc army encircled the entire battlefield. It took several hours, but victory was delivered to the coalition that day at great cost, including Argan's life. They are now remembered as a great warrior, strategist, politician, adventurer, and a reminder of the ever-burning friendship between Sharizdur and Karusha. To forever honor Argan's memory, their homeland remembers them with the Light Bearer title, the head of state that represents all their people.

Gender Identity

Classically, there was much debate among historians about Argan’s identity and location on the gender spectrum. For many, it was bizarre to conceive of such a larger-than-life figure as a woman, and for others it was unlikely that a character with a reputation for endless kindness and nurturing was a man. Archaeologists recovered armor from the battle site of Argan's Final Flame and found a breastplate that matched the Brightest Will’s physical description very closely, a set of armor that had additional protection and padding across the chest. It was reasoned from this evidence that Argan must have been a woman, but Smokeless metallurgists contextualized the find with the presence of their Sternid, a plate-like bone mass around the shoulder and clavicle that protects their internal organs from the extreme heat produced by Firemoss. Similar finds went back in forth in the same manner.
A modern understanding, or at least a more modern understanding, proposes that Argan belonged to neither end of the spectrum and fell somewhere in between. Entries in their personal journals and diaries show that Argan always referred to themselves using “I” or “myself”, even where it could be more grammatically accurate—within the Ignan language—to use other pronouns. These diary entries became vitally important to understanding the mind of Argan as history went on. The Brightest Will was a natural poet with a strong inner voice and an artistic flair for dramatic, dynamic exaggeration in prose. Very few entries ever mention the gender of any person, even Koruk Greene is called “the green hill, and the mound of tusks” during their first encounter. It is now commonly understood that Argan considered themself neither man nor woman and perhaps a life of solitary adventuring was one of the ways they escaped expectations associated with their gender, whatever it may have been.

Sexuality

Another topic of much historical debate is whether or not Argan was romantically involved with long-time friend and political partner Koruk Greene. Many diary entries embellish the small details of Koruk’s physique and personality, going to great, painstaking detail to render him as an artist would describe a beautiful landscape or a breathtaking vista. This appreciation was certainly not limited to Koruk, in fact many people and places were given the same kind of honorific and beautiful treatment in Argan’s writing. Some have elected to read between the lines of what was written and infer some kind of relationship, romantic or otherwise, between Argan, Koruk, and a number of other honorable and powerful historical figures that were prevalent in their era.

Current Status

Deceased

Age

Between 317 and 382

Date of Birth

Sometime before the late 600s Y.E.

Date of Death

The Final Flame, Greengrass 24th of 982

Circumstances of Death

Sacrificed themselves in a cunning ploy to break the elvish invasion, a ploy that was successful

Birthplace

Karusha

Place of Death

Bladestain

Pronouns

They/Them

Sex

Undetermined

Gender

Nonbinary

Presentation

Masculine

Eyes

Triumphant Gold

Hair

White Hot

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Sculpted Bronze

Height

7'2"

Weight

In excess of 400 lbs