Joel Armstrong

Joel Armstrong is the caretaker of Sapphire, Chosen to raise her, and make sure he did not learn of her true identity.

## Personality

Joel Armstrong is a normal boy. one of those people that you can easily forget not long after meeting them,

## History

Joel was born on 4th September 2006, he lived a very normal life, in 2020 he managed to get his own house despite being a minor, he was greeted one night by The Man who gave him Sapphire

## Sapphire

it was May 20th 2018, Joel was in his bed and he heard a knock at the door, when he answered he was greeted by The Man, This "Man" gave him Sapphire, and the Man vanished, so Joel decided to raise Sapphire, however he could tell she was not a normal baby, growing a normal voice at 6 months, whenever Sapphire trancended, Joel's life was filled with fear and sadness

## The New World

He was allowed to escape, and became a wanderer in the Fallen World.

Through this new life he suffered, seeing how much the world had defended in only twenty years. Nowhere was he accepted, nowhere could be find peace.

Living in this world fostered his hatred for his once little friend, Sapphire

### Karl Krafft

He was an aimless wanderer, and for three decades he was powerless, until in 2056 he was met by a strange man. That despite his human form, he had a presence similar to Sapphire. He was not a human.

The Man introduced himself as Karl Krafft, and he offered him great power. The ability to fight against the Mad God.

Joel was thus bequeathed great power, made an Other One.

With this power he was able to fight against the Beasts that were under Sapphire. The Avatars were yet unreachable by his blade. His fangs could not yet reach them. But he could slay those that prowled the land.

### The Freedom Fighters

With his newfound power he created an organization, which he named the Freedom Fighters. Which those who witnessed his strength joined, though many were far too afraid to fight against their captors.

By 2060 they had around 300 members. Those that joined too becoming powerful, Joel bequeathing upon them the power to rend the flesh of the Beasts. They were like cells within his being, sharing in his transcendent power.

The Cult

But, against his own will, the Organization began to become more alike a cult. Worshipping him as a Messiah, as a God. For what else could one think seeing his love and his strength. Though some did reject his divinity, saying he was but a man gifted strength by a God.

These beliefs were strengthened and made more organized by the writings of Arron Bellandi, one of the greatest Freedom Fighters. Who wrote scriptures about Joel, nothing but mad ramblings of a mind addled by drugs and despair, broken by the overexposure to Aether.

He hated being worshipped, though no matter what he said, he could not change the minds of those who convinced themselves of his divinity.

While this was going on, Sapphire and her Avatars were well aware of the growing power of the Freedom Fighters, though were yet to see them as any real threat. Thus, by the Orders of Sapphire, decided to let them be. To see what they do, and crush then when their hope is highest. When their delusion of hope and grandeur is at its greatest, take it all away, and grind it to dust in front of them.

#### The Betrayal

The Freedom Fighters began to fight amongst themselves. Fracturing into three Factions, the Loyalists, the Faithful, and the

The , were created in 2106 when XXX XXX and XXX XXX, who have been slowly losing faith and hope over the years, succumbing to the seductions of Sapphire. Who promised them happiness, comfort, and great power. Taking advantage of their feelings of inadequecy in being the weakest of the Twelve, and in their despair and feelings of hopelessness.

This was named the Great Schism, and the Freedom Fighters were fractured apart, as men choose sides.

A Battle was fought across the Sonoran Desert and the Rockies. Razing the land and leveling much of the mountain range. A significant portion of the group perished in the battle, and blood watered the rocks of the broken Earth.

This was a major blow upon Joel and his followers. Not only did they lose two leaders, and many men, but they also have two new foes, both of great power.

It too effected him emotionally, for he deeply trusted the two men, yet he was nonetheless betrayed. Seeds of paranoia were also sewn, as men feared that any one of them could at any moment go turncoat.

### Psychological Collapse-

The Great Schism led to the start of Joel's collapse into further mental instability. As betrayal gnawed at his heart, and paranoia tainted his every thought. Thus hatred was birthed within him, not just of Sapphire, but too of his own men. Leading to him, sinking into seclusion.

His hatred for Sapphire and her Followers increased trillion-fold, and he became rash. Taking actions not through the decision of a group of delegates, after a process of strategic planning, but out of taking whatever chance he gets. Leading to more deaths of his men due to his rash actions.

This led to a further collapse as the guilt upon his heart was made heavier, creating a cycle of self-perpetuating death and misery.

### The Seal of Osiris

In the year 2143 Joel was gifted the Seal of Osiris. Which granted him great power, enough so that he could defeat the Avatars that made up Slaughtphire's being.

He began to break free of his slavery, no longer held down in shakles. Not having to live his life in fear and torment unending.

Like a phoniex he was reborn from the ashes. He would regain his formal life, he would free the world from the infernal embrace of Slaughtphire. To become mankind's salvation.

Yet in the back of his mind, in the deepest corner, pushed down and denied. He knew that it was hopeless. The Avatars would come back after their bodies are destroyed, and Slaughtphire would eternally remain their God. For who could hope to surpass something so unfathomably powerful.

Despite this he continued to fight, even when all hope is lost. Even if it is pointless, he will fight on. It is either this, or accepting suffering eternal. He would not just give in like that! He fights not in hope of victory, but because it was a purpose. A point to existing.

For over a century he lived without any point, any purpose. He existed just as a plaything, the world is indeed comic, but the joke was on mankind. And who else to be the favourite jester than the most ordinary, mundane, and insignificant man on the planet. His life was a joke, made for the amusement of a higher being. They laugh at his suffering, reveling in schadenfreude.