Demerian Asa

**Demerian Asa** is the main antagonist of the series, and for the majority of the series, is the overarching antagonist as well. He is the **first of his name**, and the second son of Arryn (I) and Ayanne Asa, the great-great-grandparents of the current generation of Asa. He is the great-granduncle to Arryn Asa (II), and the **First Pope-King** of the Five Nations.

## Appearance

Demerian bears a striking resemblance to his great-grandnephew, Arryn (II), and bears little resemblance to his own father, likely due to the fact that his father had married a woman outside the House of Asa. Demerian's elder sister, Denayer, bore more of a resemblance to Arryn (I), while he took after his mother, Ayanna. Demerian is rather tall, standing around 196 cm (6'5"), with long, flowing black hair and supple, tanned skin which tells a story contrary to his age.

## Background

Demerian was born in the Age of Kings, a period of near-constant wars between the Five Nations. It was during this period where the LaBelles of Ruffield were the puppet rulers of the world, while the Asa ruled from the shadows, and political tensions were at an all-time high. Demerian, born only three years after his elder sister, Denayer, was also put in a precarious position. As a child, he loved reading, and was quite the scholarly boy. He was intelligent, and excellent at most brain games the Asa family developed, a stark contrast to his elder sister, the protective and masculine-minded girl. However, to most children his age, Demerian was an eccentric piece of work with a rich background. Demerian wasn't one for tradition, and enjoyed history books where traditional manners were upturned or abolished. However, the Asa family thrived on tradition, and the increasing steps taken by his father, and his father before him, to change the status quo in the Asa family and in the world, was not working and was giving rise to more and more conflict.

When he turned 13, his father was killed in the Battle of Alkaiser Valley, and the family was in turmoil. When Arryn's preferred heir, Denayer, was nominated for the House Head by Demerian and Ayanne, the clan was in a riot and quickly turned against her. Instead of giving the title to her, and risking further internal conflict, the house members picked Aidan (III), his younger brother, ten years old at the time, and the last of Ayanne's children. However, he liked Denayer much more than his younger brother and despised his brother for taking a position he believed wasn't his. Aidan was then groomed as the head of the House by the kinsmen and Ayanne. While he wasn't happy with the news, he believed he and Denayer could do nothing about it. At the age of fifteen, he and his sister were drafted for the finale of the war with Livia in the Battle at La Merlotte, where his sister's prodigious use of magic, and his innate understanding of war and conflict strategies had them bring their nation total victory and had them hailed as war heroes even as teenagers. A year later, at his brother's thirteen-year-old birthday party and coronation ceremony, Demerian would lash out in anger against his mother and his kinsmen as his younger brother was still named Head of House Asa, even after Denayer's accomplishments. On that day, he killed three House Guards, and destroyed the family banner, before running away with his sister. Having done this, he had officially denounced his royal heritage and therefore was no longer required protection from other houses.

With nowhere to go, and no one to turn to, Demerian and his sister, continued moving from state to state, stowing away on ships and running from kidnappers. When they arrived in Livia, Demerian slept with Denayer, and in a few months, she bore a son, who they would name Riei. However, tragedy struck, as the Livian March would find Denayer, the war hero who crushed them in the previous war and take her custody. Denayer would hold off the warriors long enough for Demerian, the physically weaker of the two, to get away, with their son, Riei. Demerian, determined to get his sister back at all costs, returned home to the family castle, via a warp gate, and entrusted his son with his grieving mother. Knowing fully well the odds of his safety, Demerian returned to Livia to bargain for his sister. However, the King wasn't interested in negotiations, and he was arrested and kept in the same cell with his sister's battered corpse. For five days, Demerian remained shellshocked, driven to insanity with no food or water, watching and guarding Denayer's corpse.

On the day of his execution, a mysterious occurence rendered the castle entirely empty and free of all his captors. Using the opportunity to escape, he took his sister's corpse and fled Livia using the warp gate he had previously used, to return back to Lord's Bay. However, on arriving, he sees his mother and son burnt alive for treason by Aidan's loyalists. The Loyalists attempt to kill him as well, but he quickly flees into The Stones, abandoning his sister's dead body.

At The Stones, Demerian would meet a Fel Lord. The Fel Lord, who escaped to earth to avoid a conflict in his own Circle of The Fel, saw the desperation, anger, sadness and resentment in Demerian and granted him power, as well as the agelessness and immortality that would come with being of a higher existence. For decades after that, Demerian would be declared dead by all officials around the world, and the world would slowly come into the Period of Peace. Until the Day of Unity.