Aromir

**Aromir, The First Warden**, also called the **Painter**, was the first warden ever created and the creator of the Painted World.

## Biography

### Early Life & Background

Next to nothing is known about Aromir before he was experimented on. He was born at some point during the Age of Curiosity, the third age of Pydwell's modern history.

#### Experimentation

When the northern kingdoms charged the Misbegotten with creating warriors capable of wielding magic, as the elves did, the mages chose Aromir as a test subject; why he was chosen remains unknown. Whatever the reason, Aromir was taken to Castle Mourn, where the Misbegotten performed agonizing experiments that gave him superhuman strength, reflexes and resilience, as well as incredible eyesight arising from the addition of eight pupils in each eye. Aromir was thus the first warden.

Despite their apparent success, the Misbegotten deemed Aromir to be a failure and planned to dispose of him; using his newfound abilities, Aromir escaped Castle Mourn and fled into the wilderness, where he succumbed to the elements. His pain and fear were so strong that his spirit persevered, creating a refuge for itself called the Painted World.

### The Painted World

#### Making a Refuge

Aromir set out to make his new realm a paradise, separate from the troubles of the mortal world. Over time, lost and frenzied souls made their way into the Painted World; Aromir agreed to let them stay in exchange for their blood, which he would use to rejuvenate the painting.

Aromir's painting began spontaneously appearing in random places, absorbing memories and painting them into the world, thus constantly expanding it. Occasionally, pieces of the painting would erupt back into the mortal world, causing immense magical explosions that only the young could hear. Those that entered the painting and stayed worshipped Aromir as their god, whom they appropriately called "The Painter".

#### Warden Intrusion

By 8:459, around 2000 years after he first created the painting, Aromir's world had begun to rot from the lack of new blood; as a result, Aromir and the other inhabitants had begun to lose their minds. The painting's degeneration resulted in a piece of it, an old tower, erupting into the mortal world near the warden fortress of Caer Blygoch, who dispatched two adepts, Tuny and Dun, to investigate. Upon touching the painting, both were dragged in and eventually brought to Aromir, who wished to use their blood to replenish the painting.

Upon cutting Tuny's hand, Aromir was horrified to see the warden's cursed blood accelerate the painting's decay; realizing that the decay could open a portal home, Tuny dipped his entire hand into Aromir's pot. In his rage, Aromir spilt his paint pot, opening a portal that Tuny and Dun used to escape, leaving Aromir and his followers trapped inside the rotting painting.

#### Cleansing

Decades after his first came to the painting, MacDuff, the man once known as Tuny, returned to the Painted World to face Aromir and release those trapped within. What happened next is unknown; when showing the painting to Minerva, MacDuff claims that his mission was a success, backed up by the absence of Aromir in the painting's scene.

## Powers, Equipment and Abilities

### Powers

* **Enchanced Physiology:** Treated with magic and subjected to intensive training for years, Aromir has been artificially enhanced to the peak of human physical condition.
	+ **Enhanced strength:** Aromir is significantly stronger than the average human.
	+ **Enhanced endurance:** Aromir is able to sustain and recover from wounds that would easily disable or even kill an ordinary man. He can drink a variety of toxic potions with little effort.
	+ **Enhanced athleticism:** Aromir is able to fight and give chase far longer than the average human, allowing him to keep pace with the most agile of people and creatures.
	+ **Enhanced senses:** Aromir's senses of hearing, smell and sight are all dramatically enhanced. He can easily see in the dark; he can smell blood, poisons and strong scents from a considerable distance; and his hearing is so sensitive that he can hear heartbeats. His senses are so sensitive they can sometimes overwhelm him.
	+ **Slowed aging:** While the magical enhancements to his body do not make him immortal, Aromir, like all wardens and other magic-treated individuals, ages at a much slower rate than regular humans.
	+ **Accelerated healing:** Though by no means invulnerable nor in possession of a natural or unnatural healing factor, Aromir's enhanced body is able to heal from cuts and wounds relatively quickly.
* **Beach Perception:** As a result of extensive experiments and magical treatment, Aromir, like all wardens, is able to perceive the Beach when he enters it in his sleep.
* **Omnipotence:** As the creator and ruler of the Painted World, Aromir possesses unlimited power over how his world functions. However, when the painting began to rot from the absence of new blood Aromir's control over the painting dramatically decreased, causing incursions into the mortal world.