Drest Ranemo

Anarkh (a college title equivalent to chancellor) Drest Ranemo was a major figure in at least the politics and intrigue of the Final War and a close associate of both Kaedran Ronos and Kaedran Kaasïra.

## Early Life

Born to Drest Kindar and Drest Ytaan, both bricklayers, in Northern Tsarak, Ranemo was born during Late Watches on the 24th of Ritual, Year of the Whale, 36th Era, Inspired Epoch, Second Age under the sign of the Beast. The Drests lived and worked for Krept Tarinn Gynduil on their estate.

Ranemo was raised among the small Ultherimi minority known as the *Loshtaijan*, an Ultherimin word meaning "steadfast". These were the descendants of those few Ultherimi who did not move from Tsarak to Greto and regarded themselves as having preserved Ultherimi culture better than anyone else.

They were the fourth of six children, but from early on it was obvious something was different about Ranemo. Eventually a Qïrshar scryer caught wind of this and sent an agent to investigate who found that Ranemo, then only a few years old, was not only a potentiate, but a powerful diviner.

When they were nearing young adulthood and had more or less mastery over their powers, they approached Krept Tarinn and offered their services. The krept laughed in their faces, and for their insolence, had them beaten and whipped. In addition, the krept called Ranemo a freak and a menace and banished Ranemo from their property.

Ranemo was only seventeen years of age.

## Turn to Narkhism

Having been banished, Ranemo set off for Kraeth and the headquarters of the Qïrshar where they hoped they might find work as a scryer or some such thing, but along the way in Greto they happened to stop in a small village where Ekher Aranarkh, an infamous philosopher, potentiate, and poet, was addressing a crowd regarding their philosophy of Narkhism.

Ranemo was utterly enthralled, though already they disagreed with some tenets of the philosophy, but they were utterly outraged when in the middle of their speech, Ekher Aranarkh was arrested.

Seeing the poor young Daeghra so outraged, a companion of Ekher Aranarkh took Ranemo aside and told them how to find others sharing this philosophy by making a certain sign with the hands in front of one's face.

In the city of Anduar in the Bakhramat of Kahnlï in Greto, Ranemo met their first true fellow Narkhists. Quite fortunately, this group of Narkhists, working under the guise of the Chartered College of Divination, shared Ranemo's rather extremist interpretations of Narkhism and had combined it with ancestor spirit worship to form a secret cult.

Ranemo was indoctrinated into it and immediately their talents were put to good use.

## Early Career

### The Conclave

For several years Ranemo was sent by the College to Barnyl to become a member of the Conclave for the sake of infiltration and eventually the "re-acquisition" of some contraband literature. During that time Ranemo did quite well in both the eyes of the College and those of the Conclave, attaining the rank of acolyte before leaving, though still on good terms with the Conclave once their mission was complete.

### The Synod

As chance would have it, shortly after leaving the Conclave, the Ecumenical Synod contacted Ranemo wishing to hire them on as an excise officer (an enforcer and investigator of sorts for the Synod). It turned out that the Synod had discovered the true nature of the College and Ranemo's involvement and wished them to act as a double agent.

Ranemo accepted, but remained loyal to the College, feeding the Synod false information for years until they believed the College was no longer a threat. Shortly thereafter, Ranemo cut ties with the Synod.

### The College

Over the next decade, Ranemo worked directly with the College and quickly rose in rank until they became the Anarkh (a title equal to chancellor), or the leader, of both the College and the cult it hid.

## Death

Ranemo was killed by their long-time lover and partner Kaedran Kaasïra as revenge for using their sire Kaedran Ronos as a dïaematath, thus destroying their soul and effectively killing them, on the 19th of Rainthrall, Year of the Sierma, 3rd Era, Burnished Epoch, Second Age at the age of 59.

It was at this point that their child Kaedran Ghïren inherited Begt Hano as their Bekmyn ward.

## Personal Relationships

### Begt Hano

Ranemo was one of only two of the six Drest children to be paired with a Bekmyn ward, the other being the first child. In this case it was even more unusual as the Begt lineage had for generations paired only with the Tarinn lineage, that of the local krept. Yet the Begts who lived on the estate saw something special early on in Ranemo and paired them with their youngest, Hano. Both children were two years of age. This outraged the Tarinns but Bekmyn protection laws kept them from doing anything about it.

As it turned out, however, Hano was born mute and deaf, and so they and Ranemo developed a personal form of sign and body language that, over the years, became incredibly subtle and sophisticated.

Hano would prove to be an invaluable companion and assistant in all things, though Ranemo did not always treat the Bekmyn with the respect they deserved. Still, Hano proved always loyal and willing and outlived Ranemo by over forty years.

### Kiru-Bael

Ranemo often consorted with the dïaemat spirit Kiru-Bael, starting early on in their time with the Narkhist cult. Kiru-Bael often provided Ranemo great insight and helped them hone their powers of divination. In return, Ranemo made a pact with Kiru-Bael to one day make them into a dïaematath, a revenant of sorts wherein a dïaemat destroys the spirit of a living individual and inhabits their body.

Shortly before, and resulting in, their death, Ranemo made good on this promise using Kaedran Ronos as the vessel.

## Skills & Abilities

Ranemo was a master of language. Despite growing up illiterate in a community speaking almost exclusively Modern Ultherimin and some Trusku, by the time they were in their thirties they were not just fluent but incredibly eloquent when speaking Khaltsh and could read and write it, as well as Poetic Ultherimin, High Ulthwan, The Market Tongue, Younger Trusken. In addition, Ranemo had a keen interest, one that would continue the rest of their life, in the reconstruction of Proto-Daeghral and, by extension, Primordial.