Aegrus Occisor
Aegrus Occisor
The land trembled, and the walls of Aldera broke beneath the onslaught. The Aegrus Occisor strode forward over the bodies of the dead, his armies surging in waves around him. The screams of their victims rolled across the plain, and the Occisor drank their pain.
With each step, he defiled the land. The verdant fields turned to ash, their life taken to fuel the assault. With a wave of his blackened hand, fiery explosions tore apart dirt and flesh alike. With a look, turned a legion to stone.
The last defenders of Aldera faced him, and were struck down. They bought time for their fellows to flee, north across the Fecund Fields, to the cliffs of Uborum. The Aegrus Occisor, lord of the Three Continents, allowed them to go. His troops would eat well - the city was large, and not all could flee. And when they had sucked the marrow from the bones of the city, and the land had swallowed the former capital, the Occisor again rallied his armies, took hold of the coins, and marched on the City of the Gods, and the last to stand against him. As he left the city behind, the sky fell, wiping the troublesome city from the face of the Terrene.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Body Features
Facial Features
Identifying Characteristics
Special abilities
His equipment was the key to his powers, although was not the total of them. It is unclear what was his own, and what was granted by the Coins or other items. This relates back to the lack of knowledge of who was under the suit.
Specialized Equipment
- Armor of Diabolus - his full plate armor was powered by captured souls. When charged, it was nigh invulnerable. The armor was detailed with a fire motif, and parts of it were blackened as though burned
- Malignom's Shroud - his ring, which recharged when bathed in blood, allowed him to turn invisible at will. The ring's shape is a stylized comet, with the tail making the band and the body being the stone.
- The Vorax Helm - his helmet, which allows him to locate the objects of his desire. It has a narrow slit through which he could see, and had the fangs of Vorax etched into the metal
- The Occisor Coins - contributed by Oditio, whose symbol is the coin, although required the power of all the Devils to create. Each of the twenty coins holds the essence of a powerful being, ranging from mortals who had risen to the highest ranks, to monsters and demons. The Aegrus Occisor could call upon the powers of the trapped beings, unleashing them upon his enemies
Mental characteristics
Personal history
The Aegrus Occisor was once a mortal being, although little is known about him before his assumption of the title. Multiple, contradictory stories of who he once was exist. The stories converge, however, at the point where he was chosen as the weapon of the Devils and unleashed up the world.
There are far too many rumors as to who he was before to list. Three of the rumors have endured the most - repeated during his reign and for the centuries after, and it is assumed by most scholars that one of them is the truth. However, contact with entities from the Empyrean have never been able to get a solid answer, and so they remain just rumors.
The Warlord
A plurality, though not majority, of researchers have settled on this being the correct history. At the time, Hellonde was known, but not explored, by the peoples of Helion. They continent had warring tribes of humans and Izibankwa (the lizardfolk), and not much else to offer the settlements of Helion. As the armies first appeared in Hellonde, and were made up of both humans and izibankwa, it is believed that the Aegrus was a warlord of one of the tribes. The tale goes that he was a warlord of one of the tribes, and set forth to conquer the other tribes and rule the continent as a whole. Once he had done so, he attracted the attention of the Devils, who chose him as their instrument.
The Fallen Knight
A dozen years before the rise of the Aegrus Occisor, a paladin of Adalci was brought to trial on charges of treason. He claimed that he was loyal, and that he was the victim of an attack by the Devils, particularly Oditio. Witnesses were called, and subjected to questioning under the watchful eyes of the Gods. Contradictory stories were entered into evidence, all confirmed true by clerical spells that ensured only the truth could be spoken. Priests of Iuris participated, and ultimately brought about greater confusion, until there was too much conflicting information to decide without a direct intervention from Adalci himself. The high priest of Adalci, and Justicar of Uborum, implored that the God pass judgement. A booming voice broke over the crowd, saying one word - guilty.
The paladin continued to claim his innocence, charging the high priest with lying and serving the Devils. His followers helped him to escape, and he broke his vows, swearing a new one to bring justice to those who denied it to him. He was last seen boarding a ship in a small port town. It is believed that he made a pact with the Devils to serve them, in exchange for the power to destroy Uborum and those who wronged him. It is noted by many that by the end of the war, none of those in leadership in Uborum from the time of the trial remained, This is countered by those pointing out that Uborum itself still did, and the Devils would surely have wanted it destroyed.
The Nobleman's Son
In the years leading up to the Shattering, various kingdoms, empires, and other entities went through a state of upheaval. Kingdoms fell, absorbed by empires, or splitting into independent city states. In one kingdom, lost to history, there was an uprising among the Dukes. They attempted to overthrow the king, dissolve the kingdom, and split up the country for each to rule their own demense. The king got wind of their plans, possibly from the son of one of the Dukes. The son betrayed his father in retaliation for perceived slights towards him in favor of his older brothers.
After the Duchy was absorbed by the crown, the traitorous son was left penniless. He swore vengeance on the king and everyone associated with the rebellion. He also sought out power from any source, eventually working with the cults of the various Devils. In this telling, he was not gifted the coins, but rather stole them, adding to his power as he increased the total number in his possession.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Sometime near 12 Be., an army arose on the continent of Hellonde. By the time it was known by anyone outside of Hellonde, he had completed his conquest, and bent the tribes of the continent to his will.
He next built a fleet, with the intention of sailing to Tethys to expand his empire. He suffered his first major setback at this time, but ended overcoming it and eventually conquering the entirety of Tethys, and The Children.
From there, he crossed The Children on the way to Helion. He was victorious in battle after battle, and his empire grew. When faced with the armies of Abregado Rae, he crushed the hobgoblins and bugbears, driving them back to their walled city. It was then that he brought a piece of the sky crashing down, leaving a massive crater behind, covering the sun with dust for an entire year, and leading to changes in the shape of the continents. The hobgoblins and bugbears were effectively wiped off the face of the continent, while the goblins continued due to their quick breeding.
His last great victory was the fall of Aldera. Aldera was the last kingdom to fall, leaving behind only Uborum and the various armies that had fled there to regroup and plan a last stand. When Aldera fell, and he found that most of the people had fled before the walls came down, he was angered and used the coins together to raze the land. This left the Badlands behind, and may have drained some of the power from the coins.
Failures & Embarrassments
His first major failure was the initial invasion of Tethys. His armies were not prepared for the jungles of Tethys, and were often fighting a losing battle through the overgrown lands. They were driven back, and several kingdoms of Tethys banded together to counter strike against his camps on Hellonde. A massive battle ensued, with powerful magic being employed by both sides. In the end, both armies were nearly destroyed, and the land where they battled was left broken and wasted. He was forced to rebuild his armies, almost from scratch, and relied more and more on his own powers and equipment from there forward.
His final failure led to the end of his life. He pressed forward towards Uborum, and lost much of his army attempting to make it up the cliffs to make the assault. In the end, he and his armies made it to the gates of Uborum, and seemed to be ready to conquer it and become the only power in the hemisphere. He was met on the field of battle by the Aureum Vigil, the champion of the Gods, who was able to fend him off and eventually kill him.
Social
Reign
In 24 Be., he completed his lightning assault on the leaders of the tribes of Hellonde, solidifying his rule over them. With both the human nomads and the lizard people following his banner, he began to build a fleet. With the help of powerful magics, he had completed the fleet by the end of 23 Be., and proceeded to expand.
He consolidated his hold on Tethys in 18 Be., and moved across The Children to begin his assault on Helion.
His armies marched across Helion consolidating his hold, and breaking much of the land. Most of the opposing armies fled before them, although the Hobgoblins and Bugbears of Abregado Rae fought to the last, and the Occisor called down a piece of the firmament, crushing the city itself.
The armies continued to conquer, driving the peoples of Helion before them. He crossed the Spine in 6 Be., with the eastern half of the continent fully under his control. He consolidated his rule over Mirundun with the fall of Aldera in 1 Be. His assault on Uborum, and death at the hands of the Aureum Vigil, marked the end of his rule and the change in era.
Religious Views
The Aegrus Occisor was the culmination of the works of the Devils. He paid tribute to them all equally, drawing strength from each of them.
Wealth & Financial state
The wealth of three continents was under his control by the end of his reign. While conquering, he gathered the treasure of his subjugated kingdoms, concentrating them in the treasuries of the cities he chose as his major bases. When he fell, and the empire crumbled, most of the wealth was looted by his underlings, disappearing from the world. This greatly contributed to the collapse of civilization - with the incredibly amount of death and destruction, and nothing to rebuild with, most land started over from nothing.
It is rumored that the city he built on Hellonde remained intact, including the treasury. Knowledge of the location of this city has long been lost.
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