Orion Ernas

**Orion Ernas** is an Archmage and Archduke of the Griffon Kingdom, head of House Ernas (one of the most ancient and richest noble houses, considered a pillar of the Kingdom), a Royal Forgemaster, Spellbreaker, a Captain in the Royal Guard, and Commander of the Knight's Guard. House Ernas embodies the shield protecting the royal family in broad daylight.

## Appearance

Orion is a man in his mid-forties over 1.96 meters (6'5") tall, with black hair and brown eyes. He has a lean but muscular physique and always sports a clean shaven face. Despite his age, between a strict routine schedule and Lith's rejuvenation, Orion has a physique that few Awakened can flaunt.

## Personality

Orion is a kind, caring, and compassionate man and the only thing that surpasses his loyalty to the Kingdom is his love for his family. He is a slightly overprotective father when it comes to his daughters but would stop at nothing to ensure their safety.

He is also a great cook, and takes great pride in his craftsmanship. Orion is the only one capable of forgemastering semi-sentient artifacts like War and Skywarp.

## Abilities

Orion is a talented Forgemaster, the first in his family line, to the extent that even Salaark, the God of Forgemastering, sends letters, invites, and job offers to him from the Blood Desert on a daily basis.

## Background

Orion married Jirni in arranged marriage to bring the two families most loyal to the Crown together and increase their status in the nobility. He became an Archmage at age 25 despite his duty to the Knight's Guard and his children.

### White Griffon Academy

After Yurial Deirus is attacked by Lyam Lukart and other noble students amidst the civil unrest between the old and new noble factions, Orion warns Phloria to stay out of trouble and defend herself as necessary.

Orion visits the Academy before the start of the second exam, gifting Friya and Quylla enchanted weapons. Later, after Orion learns of what had happened to his daughters during the second exam, he comforts them before going to Headmaster Linjos' office and beating him up. Orion meets Lith for the first time visiting Lutia (and in the meantime nearly becomes infatuated with Elina), and is horrified how similar he is to Jirni. He asks Lith's help in comforting Friya and Yurial, as the two have remained traumatized and shut in.

After Lith saves Phloria and enters a critical condition after saving Protector, Orion agrees to make no more objections to their relationship. Orion gifts Lith the Gatekeeper sword for his 13th birthday, and subsequently is relieved of his duties in the Knight's Guard when the Royals find out about it being used to slay Gadorf and order him to make 9 more for them and the Queen's Corpse.

When Lith is ambushed and abducted by Nalear, Orion and Jirni arrive at the academy. Orion investigates the area outside Phloria's room, discovering traces of the brief ambush. He, Jirni, and Phloria meet with the girls and Yurial at the rendezvous point, but Quylla mortally wounds Yurial and Jirni under the effects of a slave ring. Orion manages to disable the slave item, and rushes to stabilize Jirni's condition, though Yurial dies. The three Ernas rush to find Lith.

They find Lith and engage Nalear while Lith recovers. Nalear attempts to stab Phloria, but Lith, having rehearsed the events of his vision repeatedly, manages to kill Nalear. After seeing how happy Lith makes Phloria and how he had risked his life to protect her again and again, Orion comes to respect Lith and accept his relationship with his daughter.

### Kingdom Turmoil

Orion and the rest of the Ernas family and staff occasionally remind Phloria that breaking up with Lith was a mistake. On the day of Jirni's birthday gala, Lith rejuvenates Orion, leading him to revalue Lith's character. He secretly gifts Lith a cloaking ring to hide Solus' existence (though he thinks she's just a rare artifact) as thanks for saving his wife and daughters' lives multiple times in the past, and asks him to become the Ernas family Healer.

After learning that Lith managed to craft an Orichalcum Skinwalker armor, Orion promises to exchange a new weapon to replace the destroyed Gatekeeper in return for Lith sharing his method of handling Orichalcum. Upon returning from the Kulah expedition, Lith learns from Orion about the first Royal Forgemaster, 1st Ruler of the Flames, and inventor of Forgemastering Ripha Menadion. Orion also promises to make a better sword than Gatekeeper after hearing how Lith saved his daughters' lives.

Orion attends the hearing with Constable Tyris Griffon. He refuses to take Lith as an apprentice and expresses to Jirni his distrust of Lith (aside from protecting his daughters) due to his many secrets and inexplicable abilities. Later, during the undead plague crisis and brewing war in Laruel, Kaelan the Vampire lures Jirni and Kamila to Othre's sewers during their search for Manohar's whereabouts. However, Jirni anticipates the ambush and has Orion and several members of the Knight's Guard wearing Royal Fortress Armor kill the undead assailants and subdue the vampire for interrogation.

At Lith's 18th birthday gala in the Ernas mansion, Orion seeks a private audience with LIth where he explains the Royal Court's hesitance in helping Lith due to his shifting loyalties to the beasts, gifts him the bastard sword War that he had crafted in absolute secrecy in his free time using only his methods in indignation for the country's treatment of Phloria. He apologizes for treating Lith so callously in the past but reaffirms his support for him.

Orion escorts Lith along with Marth, Vastor, and Manohar when Lith is promoted to Archmage. He and Jirni are dismayed when Phloria expresses her intent to quit the army due to the politics stagnating her career.

Having put both tracker and alarm spells in his daughters' communication amulets, Orion is alerted when all of them go offline and asks Lith for help. He informs Lith of the Beast Gate network but is unable to go himself due to being on a top secret mission. He later gifts Lith some unrefined violet mana crystals as thanks for saving his daughters.

During Night's attack on Lutia, Orion contacts Quylla while she is on her date with Morok and warns her to safety. However, the Royal Guards as well as the beasts are unable to arrive in Lutia on time, and in the few minutes after they received the call, the Master's Chosen had struck a deal with Baba Yaga and driven Night away. Captain Locrias informs both parties of the six Guardian bloodline Abominations and their strength.

### Balkor Copycat

Orion and Jirni privately invite Lith to the Ernas mansion to discuss the cards sent by a Balkor copycat. Orion suggests that the MO doesn't fit Balkor's MO or Deirus' revenge, as the tags on the cards don't match who they were sent to. He discusses the DoLorean with Friya, as he is the one responsible for determining its production ban. Orion and Jirni conduct the test drive of the DoLorean, simulating smuggling activities and intrusion. At King Meron's order, Orion tries all of his Forgemastering spells on the car during the flight, but fails to unlock its secrets. After stopping at the border between the Kingdom and Empire, Sylpha classifies the DoLorean as Tier 1 Forbidden Magic.

Unbeknownst to Orion, Jirni works with Balkor, Vastor, and Manohar to develop meat puppets for each of her children and herself as insurance against anything Deirus might pull. She quarantines her daughters at home to buy time for the project to be completed and make sure not even Orion can discern the copies from the original.

Orion leads the most successful research team in creating the Featherwalker Armor, earning him the title of god of forge. Later, after Lith evolves to Tiamat following his breakthrough to the violet core at Lightkeep, he contacts Orion regarding Thrud and her development of the Ambrosia. Orion relays the call to the Royals. Following Manohar's near defeat by Dawn, the Royals confine him to Valeron and have Orion teach the god of healing swordsmanship as well as how to use his new equipment.

At the Royal Gala, Orion bets on Lith to win the duel against Archmage Kwart, and collects a small fortune after Lith wins. At the end of the gala "Quylla" insists on showing Lith the Gardens of Saefel despite Jirni's disapproval. Quylla is suddenly struck and killed by an assassin named Tiennon Zavra, one of the Lost Magi. Orion and Lith give chase and Lith manages to kill Zavra despite the capital's arrays. At the funeral, Deirus mocks the grievers and is attacked by Morok in his Tyrant form.

Jirni informs him of her deception, enraging Orion. Two days later he, Manohar, Vastor, and Balkor infiltrate Deirus' mansion with Jirni to obtain a confession for his crimes where they learn he has become a thrall and one of Night's Chosen. The gods subdue and torture Deirus leading Night to shatter her prism from a distance before he can reveal her location, killing the traitorous Archmage.

Jirni explains the full extent of her plan to Orion and how she had replaced their daughters with meat puppets since before the gala, confining them in stasis pods. Furious with Jirni's apathy and lack of remorse for her actions, Orion demands a divorce and leaves. In the following weeks, Orion confines his daughters at home. Marth, Manohar, and Vastor visit to advise him on Jirni, but Orion sends them away in anger. Friya leaves for the Blood Desert, though advises Orion not to let his anger get the best of him and reminds him how much Jirni means to her.

## Trivia

* Orion is named after a 'Orion Pax' , a character from the Transformers franchise.
* Unsavory people usually disappear from the Ernas estate. There are rumors saying that, after amputating their limbs, Orion keeps them alive inside barrels filled with nutrients, condemning them to a lifetime of agony. During quiet nights, sometimes, it is possible to hear groans of pain coming from the walls of house Ernas, making the domestic staff very respectful of their masters and wary of the children. In reality, Orion doesn't like keeping pets and the groans are due to Jirni bringing her work home.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 1118: Dos and Don’ts (Part 2)
2. ↑ Chapter 748: Deep Bonds (Part 2)
3. ↑ Chapter 676: Conflicting Desires (Part 2)
4. ↑ Chapter 635: Davross (Part 1)
5. ↑ Chapter 519: United They Stand (Part 1)
6. ↑ Chapter 256: Crossroads (Part 2)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 170: Second Exam (2)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 1452: Endless Training (Part 2)
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 288: Chisel (Part 2)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 926: Secret Meeting (Part 2)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 1543: Quality Time (Part 1)
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 178: Crucible
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 966: The Arisen (Part 2)
14. ↑ Chapter 95: Family Matters
15. ↑ Chapter 176: End of Trimester
16. ↑ Chapter 218: After the Storm (2)
17. ↑ Chapter 302: Rising Tide (Part2)
18. ↑ Chapter 308: Traitor (Part 2)
19. ↑ Chapter 316: Final Struggle (Part 2)
20. ↑ Chapter 507: The Day After (Part 3)
21. ↑ Chapter 514: Bearer of Gifts (Part 2)
22. ↑ Chapter 521: Unexpected Gift (Part 1)
23. ↑ Chapter 634: A Fair Trade (Part 2)
24. ↑ Chapter 739: Menadion's Legacy (Part 1)
25. ↑ Chapter 750: Hard Truth (Part 2)
26. ↑ Chapter 830: Heartless Monster (Part 2)
27. ↑ Chapter 968: Win Some, Lose Some (Part 2)
28. ↑ Chapter 1025: Dragonspeed (Part 1)
29. ↑ Chapter 1078: Bytra’s Legacy (Part 2)
30. ↑ Chapter 1119: The Calm after the Storm (Part 1)
31. ↑ Chapter 1320: Second Awakening (Part 2)
32. ↑ Chapter 1329: Domination (Part 1)
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Chapter 1486: A Monster’s Plan (Part 2)
34. ↑ Chapter 1392: The Third God (Part 2)
35. ↑ Chapter 1421: Kamila and Solus (Part 1)
36. ↑ Chapter 1469: Award Ceremony (Part 1)
37. ↑ Chapter 1477: Lost Magus (Part 3)
38. ↑ Chapter 1480: Fathers and Son (Part 2)
39. ↑ Chapter 1487: Means and Ends (Part 1)
40. ↑ Chapter 1534: On the Other Side (Part 2)
41. ↑ Legion on Discord
42. ↑ Chapter 1010: Awakening Power (Part 2)