Altan the Terror

Born to the chieftain Ugur Stoneskin in 76 SU, Altan was the eighth child of the **Yakmaki** warlord. He grew up on the northern foothills of the **Bleeding Mountain**, just north of **Olm**. In 88 SU, Altan's tribe was eradicated by the soldiers of **Olm** in retaliation for the raids that other Yakmaki clans had perpetrated against rural farmsteads. Though Ugur's tribe had raided before, they were not responsible for the raids for which they were slaughtered, and Altan held a deep hatred for the **Men of the Sea** forevermore. Not much is known of his life for the next eight years, until he returned in 95 SU, having united nearly all of the Yakmaki tribes and tamed a gargantuan dragon, known as Alp Kirmizi. With this army, he sacked the triple duchies of **Olm, Wernbach, and Bressen**, taking their able-bodied as slave soldiers as he burned his way south alongside no less than four other dragonriders. It was said that the Terror who strode into the throne room of the High King of **Idar-Morbach** was no less than eight feet tall, and covered from head to toe in ritual scorch marks and scars. His dragon eclipsed the sun and choked whole regions with ash, and his army glutted upon the spoils of war wherever they went. His cult of influence was so strong that some noblemen bowed to him and submitted their children as slaves, rather than face the wrath of his warhost. Though Yakmaki generally subscribe to the rule of power, by which any person strong enough to take something may do so, Altan did not take concubines, unlike the rest of his commanders and dragonriders. He was fueled by single-minded hatred and ambition, and this obsession drove him as far south as Simmern, where he knocked upon the door of the still-nascent **Alvyrnian Empire** in 97 SU.

Nowadays, Alvyrnian nobles boast of their mighty armies and proud country, which held the line against the great Terror, but nothing could be further from the truth. Though Altan had extended his new empire as far south as Simmern, and as far north as the mouth of the **River Tresse**, he never explored further, for he feared the power of the giants- and for good reason. His dragon, Alp Kirmizi, who had weathered more than a hundred major battles, was shot down over the northern Alvyrnian peninsula by the giant mercenary Tamhas, forever after known as the Dragonslayer. The giant's bow- a massive longbow made from an entire tree sapling- is still on display in the Imperial Palace. It is said that the arrow pierced directly through the eye of the dragon, and that the crash its body made upon hitting the ground was heard as far as **Puchnya**. Altan's body was never recovered, and his empire dissolved into infighting without a legitimate heir. Fractured and broken, his army was defeated within the year, and sent scrambling back to their petty quarrels in the **Lands of Blood**, to tell tales of when their most glorious chief put the world to the sword.

Today, Altan is one of the primary ancestral deities worshipped by the **Faithful of Atesh**, and it is said that one day, he will rise again to conquer the world alongside their god, Atesh Bey. Since his death, many dragonriders have tried to repeat his legacy, but none have been successful, and the world awaits its true conqueror.