Carnifex

> *"Do not mistake my kindness for a change of heart. I want a rematch."* - Carnifex, to General Ozark
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With his birth name having been lost to time, **Carnifex** is only known by his title; he is the Bloody Butcher, and a warlord once revered because of his many conquests and victories. Due to a dark deal made to bring back his dead wife, Carnifex was forced into slumber for 2,287 years; when he eventually awoke, he found himself in a land that was no longer familiar to him. Now, he fights to seek out his wife, hoping to earn some answers and fill in the gaps of his millenia-long rest.

## Biography

### Birth of the Butcher

In ages long past, Carnifex had been born to a simple family in a simple town; Midrun was a place like any other of the era, and nothing special to speak of it. As Carnifex grew up, he learned many useful trades: blacksmithing and bladesmithing being among them. They were important as the current era was a tumultuous period; war was common, and innocent villages were often caught in the crossfire. Warlords often fought for control over the southern territories, and Midrun was among them. Of course, at the time, there was no one in Midrun who would be able to fight back, but that was bound to change eventually.

As Carnifex grew up, he became stronger and wiser. He earned scars from exploits in mercenary work, and run-ins with other war bands that skirted along the fringe of the southern borders. As with any and all conflicts, hostilities grew as the years pressed on; tensions rose until inevitably reaching a breaking point. A warlord from the north set their sights on the south, and all hell broke loose after that. It was clear that the warlord's intentions were meant to unite all the scattered factions under one banner, but not everyone wanted to follow so willingly. Those who did not abide were slain, strung out for everyone to see. From this grand war to unite the lands, the tale of Carnifex truly began.

With his skills and his talents, Carnifex took to the battlefield with a legendary vigor some might call demonic. When Carnifex and the Northern Warlord met on the field, it was a duel from which bards would sing praise for decades to come. Unfortunately, the warlord's claims were true and in his death, the resulting power struggle caused more harm than good. Still, Carnifex's aptitude for killing earned him his namesake, among others. He became a feared warlord as well, For years to come after that, Carnifex would become known for his brutal efficiency in combat, and his kill count; though often embellished in tall tales, the real number was still something to be feared.

### Led to Ruin

Sometime after the rise of the Butcher, Carnifex found himself wed with a rather curious woman named Scarlet. She had no prowess in battle, so it was common that she would see Carnifex come and go, off on some great conquest in a distant land. Figuring that his new life would see him in constant battles, Carnifex sought out the blessing of a priest. Little would Carnifex know, the priest was powerful; Carnifex was granted immortality, with the exception being that he could only die in battle. Being a great warrior, it was something that Carnifex had always dreamed of; he would not die until the fight was worthy enough to deem it. On his return to Midrun, Carnifex was horrified to discover that the village had been attacked by bandits. Scarlet had been killed in the attack, leaving Carnifex stricken with grief.

Unable to accept the loss of his wife, Carnifex exhumed her body just days after her funeral. Disappearing into the depths of the forests surrounding Midrun, he intended to make a dark deal to resurrect his wife. Occultism was growing ever popular in the four territories, and with it, Carnifex hoped to be successful in his endeavors. With a drop of his blessed blood, Carnifex completed the ritual and summoned forth the demon Liderk; a demon of heresy. Liderk's knowledge of the dark arts were vast, but she was a fickle creature. She had no interest in bringing back Carnifex's beloved, but saw an opportunity to walk among the mortals for once. Liderk took over Scarlet's body and made it her own. No longer having any use for Carnifex, Liderk intended to kill the man; however, as Liderk controlled Scarlet's body, Carnifex refused to fight his wife. By denying the battle, Carnifex could not be killed whatsoever, thus causing Liderk to seek other means of dealing with him.

Through trickery, Liderk placed a spell of suspended animation upon Carnifex; if she could not kill him, then he would sleep forever. Liderk left to parts unknown, likely to take advantage of her new mortal form. With Carnifex in this state, it appeared as though he was dead, and his subjects believed it. Overcome with grief over the loss of their great leader, the people of Midrun created a great tomb in honor of the Butcher. It was here that Carnifex was laid to rest, never to awaken again until almost two thousand years later.

### Another Time

It was inevitable that the spell's effects wore off, though they lasted for almost two millenia. Carnifex rested in suspended animation for that long, unaging and unaffected by the passage of time. The effect seemed to extend to the tomb surrounding him, keeping it intact. When Carnifex finally awoke, he was confused to where he was at; the area was unfamiliar, and his memory was hazy at best. Escaping the tomb landed Carnifex in the middle of a frozen tundra, and his confusion became even worse. Almost immediately, Carnifex was ambushed by the viciously territorial dire bear. His warrior reflexes kicked in quick, and Carnifex was able to slay the beast with minimum effort. Easing into this new land, he thought to himself how the bear would taste.

After fighting off some wolves who sought a meal out of him and his fresh kill, Carnifex set off into the wilderness to seek out civilization. Out of the blue, a bullet pierced through his lung and knocked the wind out of him; Carnifex was immobilized, met with the grinning face of a stranger. Tied up, the stranger dragged him off to an abandoned shed out in the midst of the wilderness. The man called himself Billy Samson; a slave trader who found an easy mark in this man who wandered aimless. Billy commented on how Carnifex would fetch a good price in the markets, and that the buyers were already on their way. Coming from a different era entirely, Carnifex begged to know why the man was doing this, with his only answer being that Billy just wanted a decent meal.

Once the buyers arrived, they sized up Carnifex and gave a going price. Just as Billy handed Carnifex off, the Butcher turned on his captors and slew them with a clean motion. Turning his weapon on Billy, the man quivered with fear and began to sob. Feeling some sense of sympathy for the poor sod and his delicate predicament, Carnifex forgave him, with the condition that if he were ever to do it again, Carnifex would not be so merciful the next time. After being directed towards the nearest town, Carnifex went along his way.

### The Fateweaver

A few months came to pass following Carnifex's awakening, and he soon learned that the world he awoke to was nothing like the one he remembered. As if it were fate itself, Carnifex managed to come into contact with the person responsible for his slumber; Liderk. The old demon witch had only grown more powerful in the span of Carnifex's coma, but given his functional immortality, he still could not be killed by her. Begrudgingly, she would agree to accompany him, at least for the time being. Their mutual venture brought them to the far off island of Devoratrix, a refuge full of former inmates and criminals who had long since escaped their imprisonment. It seemed like the perfect place for a rogue like Liderk, but their stay was brief. Carnifex and Liderk would come to meet with the leader of the island, an old man who was called Arbiter. Arbiter told a brief tale of the island's history, as well as giving warnings for the potential future that Carnifex had yet to face.

Before Arbiter could elaborate on what he meant, the island came under attack from a bizarre and unexpected foe; the island itself. As it turned out, the entire island was in fact a massive, mountainous dragon which had been slumbering since the days of the Divide. Carnifex's arrival seemed to awake the beast, and it soon began to terrorize those who had taken up residence upon it. Carnifex and Liderk quickly sprung to action, using their combined might and magic to try and subdue the creature, despite how colossal it was. Given its age, the dragon seemed incapable of flight, but was able to angle its neck and spew fire across its own back to burn down anything that had been built upon it. Realizing this, Carnifex instead decided to attempt to hack straight into the ground, hopefully breaking through the dragon's skin in the process. After what felt like an hour of avoiding the dragon's attacks, Carnifex fell through the ground and into what appeared to be another world.

Given the dragon's size, veins were more akin to tunnels; cobwebs had formed from the centuries that it had slumbered. Carnifex and Liderk followed the twisting paths until they happened upon the dragon's heart chamber, stumbling upon yet another unexpected find. The cobwebs were no coincidence, as the dragon was occupied by the spider goddess, Textrix; someone who watched over the stability of all realms and universes. Calling herself the fateweaver, Textrix claimed to be able to see the collective existences of many different lives across the multiverse. She had explained that she inhabited this dragon vessel for an untold amount of years, with her spiderlings acting like blood and antibodies to keep it alive. Textrix then warned that dark days were soon to come. Her words very much mirrored that of Arbiter, though it was hard to tell if it was more or less cryptic compared to the old man's ramblings. Textrix would leave Carnifex with a boon; armor made from the same dragon she inhabited. She was quick to send the two on their way, but Carnifex couldn't help but wonder what her visions of the future truly entailed.

### Path to Power

In his various travels, an absolute chance encounter caused Carnifex to run into Callum Grant, a local entrepreneur and CEO of Yggdrasil Corporation. With Carnifex seeking to strengthen himself, Callum would not have even given him the time of day had it not been for a single detail that caught his eye. Carnifex's armor had pieces of dragon scale grafted upon it, and given his interest in such materials, Callum made Carnifex an offer; for a mere piece of dragon scale, Callum would give Carnifex the means to empower himself. However, since Callum was off for parts unknown, Carnifex was to enter tutelage under another. The two shared a brief farewell before Carnifex journeyed to Yggdrasil's headquarters, deep in the heart of the Spiral Isles' capital.

It was there that Carnifex would come to meet Edgar Vulkain, Callum's right-hand man. With Callum's departure, Vulkain was left in charge of the company, and was more than happy to assist Carnifex with his endeavor. Yggdrasil in specific specialized in robotics, and the next month that followed involved teaching Carnifex the craft in detail. Despite being raised in the Dark Ages, Carnifex was a fast learner and took to his teachings quickly. With the use of robotics, Carnifex was able to upgrade his armor and lighten its weight through motor-assisted limbs. After his training had concluded, Carnifex gave thanks to his teachers, before offering a spike off his armor as the agreed payment. Parting ways with Yggdrasil, Carnifex set off to look for a viable medium to test his new gear.

### Spiral Campaign

Some weeks after his meeting with Yggdrasil, Carnifex managed to commandeer a sky ship from a band of sky pirates; flying ships had become increasingly common in the decades following the Divide, given how hostile the remaining terrain could be. With almost zero effort, Carnifex managed to kill the previous captain in single combat, after which the sky pirates accepted Carnifex as their new boss. With his new pirate crew, Carnifex set off for an area previously left unexplored to him; the island nation of Rubidia. He had heard tales that a war was ongoing between the two major superpowers of the world, and saw it as an opportunity to test his skills and make some money. With his sky pirate crew, they set off for the capital of Rubidia; the sky city of Eisenclast.

Due to some mishap or another, Carnifex managed to fall off his ship and landed straight into the throne room of Eisenclast's Castle Mammon. Breaking through the roof entirely, it left the local occupant rather bitter; said occupant being none other than Jasper, the physical god in charge of Rubidia and mastermind behind the war effort against the Spiral Isles. However bitter he was, Jasper saw opportunity in the situation, as all too lately his own minions failed him time and time again. So Jasper offered Carnifex a tidy sum of money in exchange for securing a vital asset from the Spiral Isles. The identity of the asset was left unknown; Carnifex was only told that one of Jasper's own agents was already in place, and would guide him where he needed to be. With that, Carnifex agreed to the deal and departed from Rubidia, returning to the Spiral Isles once again.

## Appearance

Carnifex appears as a man in his prime, resting at six feet in height with an impressive musculature cultivated from years of intense combat. One more noteworthy feature is his eyes, which display a form of heterochromia; the irises of Carnifex's eyes are green, with a ring of gold around the pupils. It is also worthy of note that it is very uncommon to see Carnifex out of his warlord armor. The armor is a uniform black, with many tooth-like ridges covering various edges. The material is likely some sort of plated steel, allowing maximum protection and minimum penalty to mobility. There exists a gap in his helmet where about the mouth would be; with teeth at the end and teeth at the front of his collar, this creates the illusion of a monster's maw, further solidifying his threatening presence. Horns protrude from the top of his helmet, not too dissimilar from common depictions of the devil.

## Personality

Carnifex is best described for his thoughtful attitude, often caring for those he values and those who work beneath him. When in situations that demand a strict work ethic, Carnifex exudes a rigid professionalism and efficiency that put him years beyond that of his peers. His strategy can be thought of as cautious planning, as he is able to think ahead and stay ahead of his enemies, even in the middle of a battle. He is extremely experienced in different fields, allowing him to view certain situations with a mental clarity that most could not manage to achieve. While Carnifex usually gives strangers the benefit of the doubt, he has trouble trusting most people, considering how his own time was so rife with war and betrayal.

## Relationships

### Scarlet/Liderk

Being his first and only wife, Carnifex held a deep love for Scarlet that couldn't diminish, even past her eventual death. Even as Liderk antagonizes him frequently, he could never bring himself to harm her, due to the fact that Liderk now possesses his dead wife. Carnifex likely protects her, hoping that he might keep her safe just a little while longer; towards Liderk, he likely tolerates her because of this, and never seems to show any aggression towards her.