Zannon Carter: The Legacy (SC'20)

Written by Steve Tremblay

Zannon Carter: Priest. Mayor. King. Martyr?

From a young age, Zannon was drawn to the church. Hope, light, healing and leading.
As he worked his way up from basic positions and helping clean the church while learning its tenets, Zannon became a skilled healer and gained the trust of many in the scattered towns that would one day become Overdale.
When Overdale was formed and had a unified system of rule, a string of Mayor's (some good, some bad) held the office but always accepted input from the church elders.
In the 1240s, a man by the name of Lucius Meridian held the office and ran the town in an increasingly inefficient manner, enriching himself first, worrying about the townspeople second.
Following a large Tournament of Champions turnout, a group of mostly non-human adventurers actually won the games and an invitation was sent to join the Mayor for dinner and collect their prize.
During the dinner, an argument, or disagreement happened between the Mayor and one Malchus Grimnas after which Lucius Meridian stood from his chair (the first time in years possibly) and died almost instantly from a heart attack.
With the Captain of the Guard Ian Serverus having been rushed out of town due to injuries sustained during the tournament, Zannon Carter, now head of the church became the defacto Mayor for Overdale.
His time was meant to be temporary but after a confrontation with the group went poorly, Zannon became increasingly xenophobic and began solidifying his power. He believed that Malchus and his group would return shortly and wreak all manor of havoc. He began rounding up non-humans at first to question them about the groups whereabouts but within months those question sessions became interrogations and then executions.
The next decade was filled with heinous crimes committed at the direction of now self-proclaimed King Carter. Overdale was renamed Overwatch so the 'heathens' would know he was always watching.
The following years only saw Carter's paranoia grow. His zealotry and single obsession cleared the entire southwest of Ellara of non-humans with plans to conquer the continent in the name of Amaunator's holy light. As "king" and head of the largest temple to his faith on the continent, his ideas, as twisted and inconsistent with his beliefs as they were, brought many to his side.
On the 8th of Amada, 1263 the adventuring group Carter feared so much arrived on his doorstep, crashed into his throne room and removed him from power.
With Carter dead, Overwatch overthrown and the city reclaimed and slowly re-establishing itself as a non-hostile power, race integration could begin again.
Now almost 3 years later, Overdale has been renamed back to its original name, a new ruler, Queen Liara Bryos was voted into place against her better judgement and the continent is still struggling with groups who believe that the racism and overzealous furor may have been the right way to go.
Carter's legacy is slowly being erased and corrected with many people of the region vowing to never let this sort of thing happen again.

Image by Xavier Trudeau-Deschênes
From the NOW AVAILABLE! book The Adventurers Guide to Theria vol. 1: Ellara

Life

1200 1263 63 years old

Circumstances of Death

Killed by the same group of adventurers whom Carter ran out of town nearly 20 years earlier.

Eyes

Hazel

Hair

none

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

6'1"

Weight

180