Iknyr, the Lord of Red

# Iknyr Anyakatoz, the Lord of Red (Book Cannon)

This article details the entire life of quite possibly the most influential figure in the entirety of Astia. Iknyr, the Lord of Red. It will go through each of the stages of his life, along with providing notable quotes to help expand upon his life, and eventual death. Understanding Iknyr is crucial to understanding Favanu.

### Who was Iknyr?

Iknyr simply enough was an ancient red dracolich who lived from 2,200 P.H. (Pre-History) to 5,142 P.I. (Post Iknyr). Iknyr was originally thought to have been killed in the year 0 P.H. which is why all dates after his supposed death are referred to as "Post Iknyr". Over the course of Iknyr's life he became widely known across the land as the most evil, cruel, and powerful ruler the world has ever seen since Itoth, the Original Tyrant. Iknyr once ruled over all of modern day Favanu as the king of a country named Skraria. Since Iknyr is an ancient dragon, his rule lasted for many hundreds of years, around one thousand eight hundred or so. Many things happened during Skraria’s day. Warning, you might not want to read this section until you finish the Rust trilogy, because there are minor spoilers.

> *"I'll only warn you once of this undeniable fact. My legacy... is eternal."*
> -Iknyr, shortly before regaining his mortality
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## The Rise of Skraria

### Early Life

Iknyr was born an unassuming red dragon in the Blood Stained Peaks. His father, Balhorv, was rude, abusive, and threatened to eat Iknyr multiple times as a child. In red dragon culture, it is not uncommon for red dragons to eat their young, despite the code of Itoth forbidding it. Their rage and animalistic urges can blind them. Some red dragons love their children, while others only raise them to continue the population. Iknyr was born for neither of these reasons. His father was Itoth’s closest relative, being a descendant from many thousands of years. His mother was known for being vicious, but also physically attractive. The two most powerful of their kind came together not out of love, but because they were attracted. Once Iknyr was born, Balhorv was guilt tripped into staying, because his mother, Aenyr (draconic for scarlet) was softened by the burden of motherhood. She wanted to raise Iknyr to be the most powerful dragon, and well… that they did. Aenyr was kind to Iknyr, but even she feared the wrath of Balhorv. Balhorv resented Iknyr, seeing him as a potential threat, as well as an extra burden on his relationship with his wife who he only had sex with because he was lustful.

Iknyr was different. Iknyr was not like either of his parents. Iknyr’s name means “Fierce”. Although he was not very aggressive at a young age, the world he grew up in forced him to be that way. Iknyr, for a red dragon, was actually quite peaceful. He had a grand vision. A vision of unity and of peace. A centralized power that could easily access any of its citizens and give them access to a special kind of care that the town could not provide. The idea to bring together the towns of the mountains into a single group that would help each other. This was a theory of his that he wanted to test.

One day while he was still young and filled with positivity, he took pity upon the kobolds that worked in the mines of his father. They were little more than slaves to his father. He offered them pay for their labour, and soon the effects showed. At first, the productivity increased, but with little regulation or motivation to work, the kobolds grew greedy and lazy, demanding their regular pay despite not having done even half of the work they did before they were paid. This made his father furious. He spoiled his kobolds, and this was the last straw for him. At age 23 Iknyr was chased out of his own home by his father who desperately wanted to kill him. After he got away he heard his father roaring to the heavens and shouting, “If I ever see your goddamn face again I’ll crush your neck like I should have all those years ago!”.

Dragons usually always have a bad relationship with their parents, specifically their fathers. Once a dragon reaches 100 years of age they are considered an adult, and they are strong enough to fight off all of the threats the world has, such as heroes, other monsters, and whatnot. Iknyr was 23. He was left alone in the cold wind and snow. For the rest of his childhood he hid within empty caves, ruined towns, and every nook and cranny his father couldn’t find. His traumatic experience with his father led him to grow to resent all the rest of dragonkind. He saw anything on equal footing or above him as a threat that needed to be dealt with. He never got over the trauma his father inflicted on him, and only once he became a dracolich and sucked all notion of fear out of his soul did he ever feel at peace.

### Formation of Skraria

After Iknyr hid for 41 years he came out of hiding. He fled east down the mountain range to a town far away from his family. He found a small unassuming village named Skraria. Iknyr was tired of not being seen, not being heard, and not having the power to share his ideals with the world. He decided he would see his dreams realized before he died.

He flew over the town of Skraria and conquered it for himself. Skraria, as it was known now, was just a small village in the Blood Stained Peaks. It was a fortified settlement that had control of a river that ran through the mountains. But during the attack not one building was burned to the ground, not one woman or child was killed, and the only casualties were a few of the city guards and the mayor of the town, who Iknyr killed.

The town at first was dreadfully fearful of what their new dragon overlord would do to them. They heard horror stories of draconic dictators, and were expecting the worst. You can imagine their surprise when Iknyr increased wages for the guards, builders, and placed a higher tax on farm goods so the farmers would make more. Additionally he introduced safety nets for the homeless of the city. The people rejoiced, that somehow a red dragon ruled the city with such virtue. The town soon pledged their loyalty to Iknyr, and the legion of guards grew as they trained even more guards. With the steady flow of money through the city, blacksmiths were able to create better weapons and armour, leading to the city guards becoming a small private army.

He quickly made allies with the nobles of the city, who granted him access to vast amounts of wealth he could have only dreamed of, using only his charm and promises of greatness. Some of the nobles, most notably a man named Durin Granitejaw. Durin was uncertain that Iknyr would be able to fulfil his grandiose promises, but out of fear and need to conform he pledged allegiance to the red lord all the same.

With this army Iknyr planned to turn his daydream into a possibility, and soon enough Iknyr’s reach began to spread. He attacked nearby towns and villages, amassing a growing swath of territory under him. Slowly he helped the town grow and prosper through strict laws and fair treatment of the workers. He paid them well and provided the cost for any injuries and gave raises when he felt necessary. Iknyr was notably cruel to the other villages who opposed him fiercely, and most towns who fell to him suffered for their "ignorance". Although Skraria was prospering better than it ever had in it's long life. Skraria soon grew to love their dragon overlord, which scared not just the surrounding villages, but the surrounding dragons as well.

By this point Iknyr is a young adult, being one hundred twenty years old. Soon, he would have rivals, and many of them. The first dragon to contest Iknyr was an adult silver dragon named Nalluer. Nalluer attempted to kill Iknyr, but due to the town’s admiration for their lord, they fought and died willingly for him. Iknyr would have died that day if it weren’t for those brave men and women who helped him kill that silver dragon. This was the spark that soon sent everything spiralling into utter calamity.

Because of this, the surrounding forces saw Iknyr as a threat. Iknyr made only one peace attempt which was a statement the country would soon adopt as its motto, “I shall rest a covering of peace upon this land. Whether it be peace from conflict, or peace in the stillness of death is for you all to decide.”. Everyone took this as a threat. The city of Whitespire came together to attack the city. Iknyr alone fended off the entire army. For this offence Iknyr decided to retaliate, taking the nearby town and conquering it with ease. He put stricter laws on the town, and taxed them heavily. Most citizens of the town would rather have Iknyr been a normal dragon. At least then they would find peace in the stillness of death.

The conquering of whitespire was a massive leap in status for Iknyr. Many adult dragons have tried to conquer the city and failed, yet this nobody who's not even 300 years of age did it so effortlessly. This sent fear shaking through the mountain range. The metallic dragons reacted by fleeing, rather giving up their lives then risk fighting him. The chromatics took the fight response, all getting a lot more aggressive and violent. The ironic part of this story is that if any of them just decided to work together Iknyr could have died, but they never did. The metallic dragons would never ruin their reputation by working with a chromatic dragon. The chromatic dragons refused to work with each other or the metallics, and the metallics were all too frightened of Iknyr to attempt to band together, seeing that he had the backing of all of the nobles from the rich city of Whitespire.

Skraria revelled in their power. The power they held soon began to corrupt not just the town, but Iknyr himself. They then began to conquer more in the name of the red lord. Within 5 years Iknyr claimed a massive chunk of the Blood Stained Peaks. More dragons flocked to kill Iknyr. Some wished to kill him because they viewed him as a threat to the status quo. Others were jealous of Iknyr’s empire and wanted it for themselves. Not one dragon even saw Iknyr face to face before they were killed by the growing army of Skraria.

Iknyr, now a fully adult dragon at the age 307 of was growing sick and tired of all the dragons who opposed him so he enacted a policy that would change the world forever. He passed the Loyalty act. This act stated that all dragons, no matter the color, that refused to serve Iknyr would be exterminated.

### The Loyalty Act

Iknyr got to work, hunting down nearly every single dragon he could find. Even at his young age compared to the rest of dragonkind he mercilessly killed all of them. Most dragons refused to serve him, so he killed them. This would be the first sign of the true power of Iknyr. He killed dragons far older and stronger than him, and the dragons too powerful for him his massive army, with the morale boost of the Raid of Whitespire, easily dealt with. His momentum had built up, and now he properly had the ball rolling. In a matter of a single year all dragons knew the name "The Red Lord" well, and feared the title. The day the loyalty act was passed is commonly considered the day Iknyr officially became the "Red Lord". They all showed him the respect he finally desired, but did they join him? A few did, but most chose to fight to the death than serve him. The metallic dragons knew that serving Iknyr would only make the problem worse, and it would be beneficial for them to die than serve him, meanwhile the chromatics just outright refused to submit to anyone, and they saw death as a better option than the humiliation coming from working under Iknyr.

One day he he met one dragon who would be willing to serve him. This dragon would forever change his life. A female named Sharzadeth. She didn’t join willingly though, it took Iknyr beating her to a bloody pulp before she gave in, but after begging for her life and bringing her to the brink of death, he showed mercy. Actually, upon Sharzadeth swearing loyalty to him, Iknyr got his best clerics to heal her wounds and fix her up. At the time, Sharzadeth was the most powerful of the servants Iknyr had acquired. Sharzadeth was smart and cunning like Iknyr, and it didn't take long to see the value in Sharzadeth. Sharzadeth would soon rise the ranks and eventually in the year 1,872 Iknyr married Sharzadeth, officially pronouncing her Queen of Skraria and his wife. Their relationship was complicated, but the details get explained more later in this article.

The loyalty act was a permanent act that lasted until the end of Skraria itself, but the height of the terror lasted from 1,893 P.H. to 1,855 P.H. By the end of this time period Iknyr had killed or recruited nearly every dragon in the Blood Stained Peaks, and the ones who didn't fled to find shelter in other territories far away from Skraria. The dead counted included his own father, who he resented with all his might. Part of the reason had such a desire for power and respect is that he never saw any of it from his father while he was a child. He hated his father for this, and during the height of the loyalty act he marched upon his father's lair and brutally smashed his skull against a rock until he died. His mother was somewhat horrified, but Iknyr explained that since she was kind to him, she would be spared and given protection by Skraria. Iknyr was actually relieved to know his mother was still alive, and despite him killing his father, she still loved him. They could both mutually agree his father was a horrible person. She reluctantly joined Skraria, but was just happy to see her son was succeeding, even if it was by kickstarting the most notorious and terrible dictatorship in all of known modern history.