Ajax

Photograph by Warsmith Painting

**Ajax the Invincible**, also called **Saint Ajax, The Overlord** or **The Iron Saint**, is the human leader of a large empire encompassing Vasloria and many other kingdoms. Ajax seeks to conquer the entire world and gain true Sainthood.

## Description

### Appearance

Ajax has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is described as having a Philip of Macedon look.

Ajax's base miniature is the Celestant-Prime from Games Workshop, with a custom head and weapon. It was customized and painted for MCDM by Warsmithpaint.

## Biography

#### Early History

Ajax is a Phaedran from the Commonwealth. He attended the Imperial University in Capital and graduated from the War College in the same class as the Riojan Duke Prospero Alvaro. They belong to the same fraternity.

During his time at the Imperial University, he met the wizard Mortum, who would later become his closest lieutenant.

After his time at the University, he began a campaign to conquer all of Orden, like the Caelian Empire of the past. His campaign is successful largely due to his possession of the Chrysopolis, the floating sky-elf city that Mortum learned to control and Ajax converted into a flying fortress.

#### The Fall of Vasloria

One of Ajax's earliest conquests was the region of Vasloria. Good King Omund's Dragon Phalanx and wizard Vitae resisted him, but Mortum created the Warbreed to be Ajax' elite fighters and defeated Vitae in single combat, shattering his mind and allowing Ajax to gain considerable ground in the war. In the end, the commander of the Phalanx' Brass Dragonflight, Mandrake, was convinced to join Ajax's side and this betrayal allowed for King Omund to be killed; it is unclear whether it was Mandrake or Ajax himself who slew the king, however.

Ajax also killed the next highest ranking nobles, the dukes, leaving only the smaller barons to defend their baronies. Declaring himself to be a Saint, he proceeded to destroy almost all the churches in Vasloria.

Ajax made deals with the nearby communities of dwarves and elves; the dwarves would provide slaves and the elves would provide him with magical artifacts and in return they were allowed to live mostly as they had before. The Orchid Court was one such elvish community; this surrender enraged the princess Sariel, and she began adventuring to eventually become powerful enough to destroy Ajax.

The Lady of Brass and the Iron Tower of Dis both separately attempted to defeat Ajax while he was focused in Vasloria, and both failed and had their flying fortresses thrown from the skies. The Lady of Brass landed in the barony of Oll, and the Iron Tower of Dis's flying pyramid crashed in the grey wastes.

Ajax's next target was Khemhara in the Infinite Desert to the east of Vasloria, where he waged war for many years.

#### “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1)

“*Rebellions are so tedious... But they must be dealt with seriously.*”
— Ajax
An attempt on Mortum's life by the Chain of Acheron in the Vaslorian city of Blackbottom prompted Ajax to teleport there with the Chrysopolis and lay siege to the town. There he summoned the demon lord Relg, who slew the commander of the Chain and began a demonic invasion of the city. His Hawklords dropped enormous metal spheres onto the town, destroying the last surviving church in Ajax' empire, the Cathedral of St Clement the Journeyman.

The now-vampiric Lady Sariel reappeared there and attempted to kill Ajax with the artifact swords Orion and Scorpius, but Ajax was able to dodge her blows and destroy Orion using an artifact he possessed called the Hand of Kukai. The destruction of the sword released a blast of energy that appeared to kill Lady Sariel but left Ajax unharmed.

## Abilities

Ajax is extremely powerful, having conquered a large portion of Orden, though it's never clear which of those powers are his intrinsically and which come from magical items that he possesses. He has wings that allow him to fly. He possesses the Hand of Kukai, also called the Jade Hand, a green gauntlet that allowed him to summon the demon Relg, destroy Orion, the Master Sword, and apparently kill Lady Sariel.

Ajax has declared himself to be a Saint but it's unclear whether he really receives power from the Gods as saints do, or has simply adopted the title.

## Behind the Scenes

Because no player has ever fought Ajax, Matt hasn't created a statblock for him, nor has he created any firm ideas about what Ajax' powers might actually be.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.squaremans.com/OD%26D.pdf
2. ↑ Miniature Customization and painting by Blue Lights Painting
3. ↑ Handout: “Red Sky At Morning”
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2CFuQ6pcm0#t=5010 “**Character Subplots for The Chain**” (Episode 12) at 5010