Emeliat Reis (e-MEL-ee-at RAY-iss)
Invincible Archwarrior of the Insurgent Gods
Emeliat Reis was an ancient Ghent warrior, adventurer and weapon master from the plane of Lorgain, who would eventually become the ascendant goddess of strength, earth, protection and mentorship on the faraway plane of Materia. Whether Reis is still "alive" in some sense within this solemn deity is a matter of theological debate.
In mortal life, Reis was a knight-commander and warlord of great stature, considered by her followers to be a wise, compassionate leader who never delegated the most dangerous duties to others.Appearance & Heraldry
See also: Image Gallery - Emeliat Reis (External)Reis was known to be exceptionally tall (even for a Ghent) and powerfully-built, with standard grey skin and hair, which was usually worn long and in a massive braid. She was not known to be especially beautiful or charismatic, and her deep hatred of braggadocio meant even her followers were fearful of portraying her too reverently or flatteringly.
History
The Lady of the Mountain's is a long and storied history. Her church on Materia is small but stable, filled with humble but brave adventurers happy to tell stories of her heroics.Lorgain: The Early Years
Emeliat Reis was born milennia ago, on a plane called Lorgain. Hers was a mountainous, northern people called the Ghent: hardy humanoids with thick grey hair, pale skin and curved, ram-like horns, who lived in the far northeastern reaches of the plane, in the Whalebone Mountains. The strongest and most willful of her father's progeny, Reis was chosen as the scion of her clan in her seventeenth year, and joined her father in rebellion against the ruling clan of the region, dissatisfied at their reclusiveness in the face of increasing hegemony on the borders of their lands. Nonetheless her clan was defeated. While most of them were assimilated, Reis and her immediate family became Shorn: their horns were removed and they were extradited from the Whalebones.Lorgain: The Storied Years
Fate would eventually bring the young warrior to the Weapon Masters of Khara'ad Dúm, an ancient and austere school who, as the name implies, aim to master the concept of the weapon itself, rather than a particular type or style. Exceedingly strict and uncompromising, graduation rates were low. And Reis indeed failed, albeit on grounds of discipline as opposed to skill (in fact her talent was such that one instructor would later ask her to return, and she did for a while, but her relationship with the school soured again, and she did not return a third time).
It was around this time she met and befriended the eccentric hedge wizard Merlinkainen, thus beginning a friendship that would last millennia and change the fate of worlds. They became adventurers of great renown over the following decade, seeking especially to counter and undo the nautical hegemony of the "Reiver King" Inum'indiron'aravaut, god-emperor of the Ula'thau'la, often called Ina'ut for short. Thanks largely to Reis and Merlinkainen's efforts, enough of the northern Egwithian nations put aside their own differences long enough to turn their collective faces on the Reiver King, and his forces, opposed also by Reis's tactical genius and Merlinkainen's illusions and divinings, faced a devastating string of defeats. The Ula'thau'la retreated to their homelands and peace was restored... for a while.Lorgain: The Later Years
Though the easy-going Merlinkainen considered life a day-by-day thing, Reis did not know how to live in peace when she had only ever known conflict. She worked as a mercenary for a while, and in this she was extremely successful: combining the hardiness of the Ghent with the training of the Khara'ad Dúm, her skill in combat was second-to-none by this point. But mercenary work was unfulfilling, and unlike fighting warlords, some of the jobs weighed heavily on her conscience. She even returned to the Ghent for a brief period, but quickly realized the outside world had transformed her, that she was no longer fully Ghent or fully Heartlander, and that her presence was sowing more confusion than counsel among her people. She left, even more lost than when she arrived. Only the friendship of Merlinkainen kept her going during this difficult period.
But quiet times come and go, and the duo eventually heard through the grapevine some devastating news: The Reiver King, accompanied by one fifth of his entire nation, had left the plane of Egwain to colonize a fresh world. What he and his Ula'thau'la hordes could do to an advanced and established civilization like Egwain was only a taste of what they could do to a more primitive, unsuspecting one. Ina'ut needed to be stopped yet again.The Void
It took another two years of tireless searching, but Merlinkainen was eventually able to recover the secrets to Voidwalking in a dream-memory of Ina'ut's library, and so the two adventurer's set off.
But planar tracking is much more than merely Voidwalking; finding the Reiver King among thousands of planes is like sailing to a tiny island across a vast ocean with no navigation experience. But with a great deal of wits and some luck, the two eventually made contact with the Sagasingers: a loosely-associated group of planar guides, mercenaries, eco-warriors and anthropologists. In fact, two of the founding members of the Sagasingers, the human spellsword V'Shaat al-Avra and the dwarven skald Galadnock mac-Kenzie, were so charmed by the Lorganite duo that they joined their cause.
And thus, the four Insurgent Heroes, eventually to be the Insurgent Gods, arrived on Waking Materia. This would mark the year of approximately ~40 I.M. (Intra-Merantha) on Materia's Yasnan Calendar, that many years after the arrival of their foes.Materia: Early First Age
The First Age was, at least in part, a series of wars between the Insurgent Gods and Lichlord Ina'ut's diaspora, now known as the Kelpeater Empire. Reis was the strongest of the four heroes in direct combat, mostly acting as a trump card where possible in clashes between insurgent soldiers and Ina'ut's armies. She and a squadron of elite proto-Wardens were responsible for the crushing of a new colonial nation under Ina'ut's defected lieutenant, Lichlord Io'a.Materia: Late First Age
Nearing the close of the First Age, Reis had grown tired; not of swinging a sword, but of being forced to choose, constantly, between multiple bad options at the expense of lives. Lives not just of insurgent soldiers but of the now-demigod's own worshippers. When Lichlord Kozu'e sussed out a major Warden settlement and nearly wiped it out with a biomantic contagion, it was more than Reis could bear. She secluded herself for centuries, during which she became known as The Lady of the Mountain (Ninurišalga, lit: "Mountain Lady") by the peoples who lived around her nameless mountain citadel.
The Lady would only to be drawn out a few centuries later, by the hero who would become Materia's second Ascendant God, Solonn.
Emeliat Reis
Race
Ghent
Born
Whalebone Mountains, Lorgain
Birthdate
Unknown; Pre-First Age
Roles
Shorn exile of the Ghent
Weapon Master of Khara'ad Dúm
Insurgent God of Waking Materia
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