Holy Emperor Jorda Anguin

Jorda Anguin's first appearance in official records date back to approximately 82 atG. The records mention a young, elegant man of undisputed glory and honour, who came to aid the city of Chwała during its siege from the Rogue nation of Kanpur.
With his army of mercenary followers he drove the besiegers against the city walls and joined forces with the Chwałan Army and defeated the intruders.
After this success he is being granted the Title "Hand of the King" and master of arms by the reigning Monarch Albertus II.
Henceforth Albertus and Jorda built a strong bond, described by some as a father-son-like relationship which withstood the test of time until the death of Albertus in 94 atG.
The year after Albertus' death were politically difficult as Albertus did not bless the country with a direct heir. It was publicly known that Albertus saw Jorda as the worthy successor to the throne, yet from heraldry, the next successor to the throne was Albertus nephew Vigrin Mordheim, Archduke of Wioska.
Just before his passing, the former king decreed that the next king was not be crowned, but elected, well knowing that Jorda was beloved by the population and would easily win a public election. In his anger and to oppose this last move from his uncle, Vigrin took legal action in the high court, accusing Jorda of manipulating an old, confused passing man on his deathbed.
It was generally expected that this feud in court would drag on for a long period of time, leaving the lands leaderless and weak, provoking hostile actions from the surrounding countries, but to the surprise of many, after only 4 days in the process, the case had been concluded in Jorda's favour. The reports of the court trial have never been made public which left ample ground for wild speculations among the population.
While alive, Albertus II. displayed a distaste of "Magical" or "Arcane natured" species, a mindset he had seemingly passed on to Jorda who furthered this view to start hostile actions after he claimed the throne. First it was proclaimed that the Arcane forces were driving factors in the divine wars of the past and the people furthering the arcane arts without the guidance of the gods lead to chaos and soil the soul and species with natural talents in these arts were prone for ruin. In addition to this, only three gods were accepted as gods with "ideals standing in line with the aspects of the realm", namely Bhaal, Bane and Iuz, rendering the worship of any other gods illegal.
These aspects came more and more to the fore until people that did not match the ideal were actively prosecuted and thrown into prison or executed, at times even without trial.
Jorda spent many of his years in reign pushing this agenda into the population, radicalizing the people and driving them towards hostility against Elves, Drow, Tieflings and feral or animalistic races. Especially Half-Elves and Half-Orcs were considered despicable as they were born from unholy unions.
His next point of order was the unification of the continent of Vangard under an united banner, an undertaking which took more than 20 years to accomplish. After the doctrines were established as well as law and order in accordance to the mindset of the Chwałan, there was piece, at least for a time.
By that time there appeared rumours, as Jorda seemingly withstood the test of time. His hair was not greying and his appearance did not change, which did not go unnoticed among the populace. In the year 116 atG it is being reported that Jorda stepped outside on the balcony of his estate and spoke to his people, claiming that his devotion to Bhaal, Bane and Iuz has granted him their blessing, resulting in an unusually long life span.

True Heritage

Jorda Anguin, born truly as Reyvan du Sange, son of Orrin and Merle du Sange in the year 2.428 DW, during the last days of the second divine war. His father Orrin was an indoctrinated Cleric of Pelor and his mother a paramedic, both celebrated as war heroes The divine wars were ages of utter hopelessness to the point when mothers did not even name their children anymore. Children had no more tears left in them to cry for their fallen fathers and demons, devils and the undead roamed the lands freely.
As the days of the war were to come to an end, Orrin and Merle wanted to set a beacon of hope and called their son Reyvan " The new dawn" to bring back hope to their homeland of Vandrheim .
This also meant that Reyvan had a very unusual childhood for that time - peaceful, if not without difficulties. People were so used to war that barely anybody knew how to plough a field or forage for a proper meal, let alone build a proper home. Yet, they managed to proceed and a community started to build up around them. Everybody was helping each other where they could and rather sooner than later, Reyvan had friends to play with.
Once he was old enough, his father Orrin, himself a proud champion of Pelor, started educating him in Martial Arts, Weapon fighting and Battle strategies and tactics to prepare him for the future.
With 18, Reyvan was in his first skirmish, as Mountain trolls came down the mountains and attacked their village in the hopes for easy prey. Reyvan fought bravely among his friends and they came out victorious.
The peace was brittle and only 5 years later, the third divine war was upon them.
Pelor rallied his forces and also called Reyvan to arms, making his father proud. Together they faced their first battle against an invading band of Demonspawn, sent by one of Asmodeus Generals to conquer the lands and enslave the population.
Reyvan fought side by side with his father but they got surrounded by an overwhelming force. His father, at the brink of exhaustion pressed Pelors holy symbol in his sons hands who called out for Pelors help and it was granted. Infused with the gods divine might he released a wave of light that singed the enemies around them and drove the remaining beasts away and healed his comrades nearby from their wounds.
Pelor shined his blessed light on Reyvan and passed his fathers championship on to him.
It did not take long until Reyvan also climbed through the ranks of the military forces of Pelors' troops which he joined soon after in the hopes to protect his homeland and drive the evil away.
The years went by and Reyvan, now an immortal Champion, returned home only a few times. One time he returned home, he found his parents had died of old age, peacefully in their sleep.
More years went by and Reyvan continued to fight in Pelors army, admired by many and loved by others.
Yet the war did not seem to end. For more than 600 years went by without any signs of peace drawing closer and Ethrea was once again at the brink of annihilation. During the endless battles Reyvan was reasonably sure that he had lost his mind at least a few times yet he drove on, guided by Pelors radiant light.
It took another 300 years, when once again, Reyvan had lost his closest latest friends and most of his soldiers in a raging battle together with the dwarf army to defend the gates of their divine city Gomhìrr against the combined forces of Maglubiyet, Lord of all the goblin races and an army of Soulflayers.
Reyvan was forced to flee the battlefield after two Soulflayers severely wounded him and his troop had gotten ground into dust.
He managed to escape into a cave where encountered a young woman, apparently seeking shelter from the fights still rampaging nearby and the winter storm. The young elven woman went by the name of Melian and claimed to be of the house of Thanhelm. Reyvan was suspicious of her and when she fell asleep, he cast the circle of truth on her, questioning her in her sleep to discover that she was actually of the fallen house of Syndareîn whose land was claimed by the forces of Maglubiyet. Apparently she served them as guide to find a path through the mountains deep into the heartland and to the gates of Gomhìrr .
Melian broke free from the spell and a fight among them started. Wounded as Reyvan was, he was rather unceremoniously bested by Melian but instead of killing her opponent she bound him. While doing so, she discovered that Reyvan was wounded, but instead of using this to her advantage and finishing him, she ceased the fighting and instead started treating his wounds.
So they talked, reluctantly at first and they shared their stories and their thoughts on the war and the story of the world and the sadness of living. Weirdly, both had a feeling the other parts understood each other and a thought sparked in their minds.
They decided the divine war was futile, without hope to ever truly end unless all people on Ethrea perished and only the gods remained to begin anew and repeat the history again.
Their conclusion was, that the people had to come together and actually stop the gods from fighting, although this seemed an impossible task. Yet, the idea seemed the only logical solution. So they created a bond between each other, allowing them to communicate through means of magic wherever they were in the world.
They first needed allies, people sharing their vision, though they had to be ultimately careful. On the other hand, with Reyvan being immortal as long as he remained the champion of Pelor and Melian being a long living elf, time was not their imminent problem.
They spent nearly 300 years, fighting the war and at least on the surface, following their official goals, Reyvan to fight for Pelors forces and protecting his homeland and Melian, rebuild her house and return it to glory within the ranks of elf society.
In secret though, they were looking for trustworthy people, disappointed and fed up from the war raging in the world, causing nothing but pain and suffering, but the people had to fight for the greater good and not for their own agenda.
Over the year, they acquired such people and once they had a steady number of supporters and members joining their ranks, they formed a secret society, called henceforth the order of the Red Earth, a memento to the people all of them lost and the blood spilled on the grounds all around the globe.
At the same time, they were studying the history of the gods and the arcane natures, divine, nature, arcana, the eldritch and the source in the hopes to find the means to put an end to the madness of their times.
After 300 years after their first meeting in the cave, Melian and Reyvan and compatriots have worked out the details of their plan and started to set the wheels into motion.
First, they had to make sure that the gods were participating in the war themselves, to divide their attention and drain their power, which was more common in the first divine war but less so in the third war.
Reyvan, Istru and Faer, a Drow champion of Lolth and an Orc champion of Gruumsh, which they acquired after long lasting battles were in charge of this task. Together they staged battles which lasted for days, causing hundreds of lives on the already stretched forces on all sides. The battle grew so fierce, that the gods intervened directly and more and more gods had to join, to keep the balance.
For the next step, Reyvan, Istru and Faer had to disappear, not even visible for their gods. The only way of doing so they had to abandon their faith irrevocably, a task especially horrifying for Reyvan. Lolth had already abandoned the Drow and the Drow turned away from her already during the second divine war, Gruumsh was a god of war who was worshipped by spilling blood but with only few other rites to follow.
For the next task they had to accomplish what has not been done before, they had to slay a god, which has never been done before, in order for one of their group to get elevated to godhood themselves. It was known from the old texts that it was possible to rise from being a mortal to godhood, although it had only been done once before when the Raven Queen was elevated by the other gods, although the details remained a mystery.
Reyvan was chosen from the group to become the new god once their task was completed, he would then deplete all his divine power to create the divine gate to shut out the other deities from the material plane.
For this they waited close by whenever the gods were fighting among each other, waiting until a golden opportunity when one god got severely wounded or was heavily drained and had to retreat to replenish his powers. In advance, two Dwarf master craftsmen created powerful weapon and armour secretly using the The Soulforge.
Alchemists brew potions for the heroes as well a concoctions and an explosive powder which would obscure large areas. Powerful arcanists stayed with them close by for a quick intrusion, disguise and exit should it be necessary and at a significant amount of firepower. Orcs, Elves, Gnomes, Humans and Drow were working side by side, ready to throw themselves at the other deities to muster as much time as possible for the assault group to best the wounded deity.
Luckily, such a chance provided itself, when Bane, Bhaal, Cyric and Maglubiyet were fighting with Pelor, Bahamut and Moradin and Pelors spear glanced off Banes gauntlet and by chance penetrated Cyric instead.
Cyric, already exhausted from the battle retreated and the wizards pointed him out via a scrying spell to locate his hideout Xael'thas, a ruined city in the Underdark. Reyvan and his troops chased after him, while the wizards created a magical barrier, strong enough to withhold supporters of Cynic for a short amount of time.
Cyric found himself confronted with a head on assault, using his remaining power to cast decoys and bewitching the minds of his foes to turn them against each other, yet in the end, Melian, who was a capable Archdruid by that time and master ranger herself, together with Reyvan and Orwin, a fighter from the far lands of Scirna, managed to corner Cyric.
The fight was short but intense, causing large parts of the ruins to collapse but Reyvan embedded his blade into Cyric's chest and as life left Cyric's body, power swelled within Reyvan. With a last vicious attempt, Cyric ripped off his own teeth and flung them into Reyvan's throat, rendering him incapable of speaking the needed incantations and giving Cyric the chance to reclaim his power.
Before faltering, Reyvan stretched out his hand to reach for Melian and bestowed the power on her. She spoke the incantation and ascended, burning Cyric's body to ashes in the process. While the magical barrier faltered and fiends and demons, sent by Bane to protect Cyric and kill the enemy, Melian executed the ritual to create the divine gate, as Reyvan and Orwin fought off anything that got too close, may it bear fangs or horns or fire.
Once the ritual was complete, Melian teleported them to Kalpasi, to a place of power within a shrine of the raven queen, sought her out and bound herself to her, as the ritual to be completed required the essence of her power, the domain of life and the domain of death.
In return Melian offered her power to her once the spell had been cast. The raven queen as a purely neutral entity and from mortal heritage understood their desire and agreed to their pleading and let it happen.
The spell erupted from within Melians body, a golden pillar that split the sky and turned the night sky into broad daylight. Waves of arcane energy erupted and all over the world natural phenomena were recorded, volcanoes erupted, earthquakes shook the grounds, sandstorm came out of nothing, stars fell from the sky and islands were born from beneath the sea.
The grounds around the plain started to shimmer in white light and a shimmering white curtain lifted from the grounds around Ethrea, pushing all the deities off the world. The deities were confused, some afraid other shaking in anger. For a moment time stood still and the gods travelled to the source of the phenomena and found the band of Reyvan, Melian and the Raven queen. They explained the situation of the gods and after some thinking, Pelor, Moradin, Bahamut, Ioun, Serenrae, Oberon and Kord found themselves agreeing with the plans of the mortals. Together they kept the other gods disagreeing with the plan at bay, giving the other gods opportunities to speak to their worshippers, create last items and artefacts, communicate guidelines and cause a last true miracle here and there.
Pelor for example healed all his people from diseases and made them more fertile, other create remnants to be remembered by or stepped on the toe of an enemy before they were all thrown off the material plane.
The final eruption was enormous and tangible on all of Ethrea, space and time within the raven queens shrine warped and twisted to the brink of breaking, throwing Reyvan and Orwin into the chaos mass itself and thrifting through the planes as the deities started to build them.
With his last glance he saw Melian being pierced with golden chains, anchoring her into the ground and life fading from her, as she too was hurled into the twisting planes.
Reyvan awoke, as he learned 9 years after these events, in the middle of the desert of Scirna, it was the year 9 after the divine gate. As much as he was astonished to find himself alive, he was jittering with excitement to see what they had achieved and if the world has found its peace after the deities were driven off the plane.
He found his body still held a divine spark from the battle with Cyric and his stride was fast and steady, until he climbed a dune and his view fell on a city aflame, burned by a neighbouring territory over some minor frivolity.
Reyvan was crushed, to say the least, especially as he learned how pitiful the reasons were that the mortal needed to quarrel with each other. To convince himself the world was not worse off than he found it, he set off to travel for 73 years to decide what needed to happen next.

Alignment

True Neutral

Current Status

Residing in Chwała , sending his forces into the world

Species

Human

Age

307

Date of Birth

21st Janguary, 57 atG

Current Residence

Chwała

Gender

male

Eyes

Grey, normal

Hair

shoulder long, grey, wavy, well taken care off

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

yellow-white skin, faintly scarred in many places

Height

1.8m

Weight

80 kg