Quas Gena

*“Fear has always been a very important whistleblower. Our emotion and our history can provoke fear that may arrest us at any time or at any place. Above and beyond, fear might be contagious and its scent, sometimes sensual, sometimes mystical or animal, can exude the musty and arcane smell of destiny.”*

-Quas Gena

## History

Born in the Final Empire, Quas Gena came from a merchant family that lived in Thunderdome. He inherited his father's business at an unusually young age, but entertained scholarly interests that brought him into contact with some of the first Paradax to explore the Prime Material Plane, eventually allowing one to possess him. Quas Gena began to research these creatures and their origin, neglecting his professional responsibilities and spending large sums of money on travel and arcane lore. Eventually, he had to flee the capital from the ire of the anti-mage imperial forces.

During the time of his possession, Quas Gena was immune to the memory-altering powers of Lord Alpha, and began to see the Final Empire as rotten. Nonetheless, he saw Jotunheim's Rebellion as doomed to failure, despite his sympathy for their cause. He continued to devote himself to understanding the Paradax, and gaining control of the being that was possessing him. He acquired many Four-Dimensional Symbols, though he refused Lordship, and upon acquiring twelve he encountered Dax himself, with whom he made a pact for arcane knowledge. He used his symbols to bind the Paradax to him and master it totally, forcing it to inhabit his spirit and submit to his will.

At the time of the Doom, Quas Gena saw a chance to take down the Final Empire, and sought out Farcraft, seeking to be of service. Over the years, he proved valuable as a seer, a warlock, and a logistician who was able to bring some order and structure to the shambolic rebellion against Nim Lawfey. He was well-liked by his fellow revolutionaries, although none felt that they knew him or fully trusted him or understood his motives. He spent the majority of the fighting years by Farcraft's side, only occasionally leaving to relay the General's wishes to his allies and underlings. For a considerable period of time, he was seen as Farcraft's right hand and potential successor.

Upon Farcraft's death, the issue of who should succeed him was temporarily postponed. The victorious rebels, faced with a crumbling world, self-governed with the knowledge that the stakes were of life and death. Nonetheless, various rifts and rivalries, papered over by the Doom, reemerged after the discovery of the Northern Throne and the repair of the Southern Throne. The question over who would claim the two thrones, and implicitly rule of the Final Empire, burst out into the open, along with Quas Gena's ambition to claim one of the thrones for himself. In this he faced stiff opposition from the other mages of the rebellion: Silvius, Brennen, Nim Lawfey, Vitreous Vrinn, San-Janis, Dar Qhoris, and Uristophor. He came close: Former Lord-Emperor Nim Lawfey was quickly ruled out, having just been overthrown. Vitreous Vrinn did not want the responsibility, and San-Janis was morally opposed to taking power. The sinister Dar Qhoris was an unknown quantity, though no one could quite name why they wanted to keep him from the throne. Uristophor allowed that he would take the throne if no one else could, but that he was too elderly and frail to master it for long. What they - Brennen, Vitreous Vrinn, San-Janis, and Uristophor - advocated for, without opposition from anyone else, was that the hero Silvius was mighty and moral enough to sit the Southern Throne. Quas Gena argued hard for claiming the Northern Throne, citing his loyalty to the rebellion and his arcane scholarship. Despite this, Vitreous Vrinn apologetically cited Brennen's knowledge of artifice and magitech, while Uristophor pointed to his power and immortal vigor, and NIm Lawfey characterized him as unambitious and uninterested in power. Over the objections of San-Janis and Quas Gena, Brennen was chosen as the Emperor of the Northern Throne.

Offended and ashamed, Quas Gena considered leaving the new imperial government, but was persuaded by a surprisingly antagonistic source - former Emperor Nim Lawfey - to accept Silvius' offer of Treasurer of the Final Empire. Quas Gena initially saw the offer as insulting, but was made to see how much trust and responsibility he was being entrusted with, to rebuild the broken institutions of the Final Empire.

After the mending of the timelines, Quas Gena found a kindred spirit in the Arendurian warlock Grundelthum Sunder, Master of the Staff in the Illuminated and former member of Jotunheim's Rebellion. The two shared the same view of the Great Old Ones, that a Long War would be inevitable, and that men like them, who took no more than a sip from the cup of knowledge, were the imperiled outriders and scouts in the battle between man and the maddened heavens. This philosophy would find its vessel a half century later in the warlock Hugo Hawkins, companion of the Godhunter.

## Personality

An educated and urbane power, yet the most sinister of the rebels. Farcraft's seer was a talented logistician, but no one knows what makes him tick.