Reakan Ravenwing

**Reakan Ravenwing** was human noble and rebel from the elven kingdom of Elmerdin who rose up against House Ganif in a misguided attempt for independence.

## Reakan Ravenwing

### Aliases

“the Audatious” “the Martyr” (By Adolar Lorgarn)

“the Betrayer” (By Galmir Innatarsh and other elven nobles)

Deus of Tar-Riven

King of “The Crownlands” (Self-proclaimed)

### Relatives

Galdoc Ravenwing (Father)Anoisia Dadris (Mother)

Oster Ravenwing (Brother)

Astira Teivlis (Wife)

Dukat Ravenwing (Ancestor)

King Fanakis Ganif (Rival)

Galmir Innatarsh (Rival)

## Biography:

Reakan was descended from the Rogrezian exile Dukat Ravenwing who had fled north after his defeat at the hands of Conroy Van Vonvolkvan during the first War of Unification. His remaining supporters smuggled him to the elven realm of Elmerdin and he swore fealty to the elven king, being given the buffer region of Tar-Riven in exchange for his defence of the region and him marrying the elven princess Elessa Ganif. Ravenwings would defend the lands from Nordisan raiders and attempted warlord conquests but would prove themselves less the loyal to the elven crown leading them to being mistrusted by many of the elven nobility. This would lead to the infamous quote “Do not trust the words of ravens."

Reakan was born into this family the eldest son and heir of the Deus or "duke" of Tar-Riven. He would be raised in the keep by his family’s tutors learning how to rule and speak the Liraquende dialect of Elvish. He would grow up during the reign of King Fanakis Ganif who after his son’s death at the hands of the warlord Erik Stormfang went mad with grief, blaming all of humanity for his loss and making the lives of humans miserable across his kingdom.

Reakan would rise to prominence during this time, rebelling against this treatment in his writings, though his condemning of the ancient elves and praising of warlords such as Atif Landrin made him unpopular amongst his elven peers.

After the death of his father and acquiring of his family estate, he would begin secretly amassing power.  He would be among the suitors seeking the hand of the Lady Astira Teivlis and through his charisma and his tournament victories gained the hand of the great beauty. He would make deals with powers such as the Vararmae who taught him the alchemical secrets of Valarma’s Flames and the Cult of Tetra who gave him the support of many lords who worshiped the fertility goddess. Though the crown cared little for the human’s affairs, many of the elven nobles would grow weary of this with Galmir Innatarsh himself riding to Reakan’s keep to talk with him.

While the general agreed that the King was mad, he warned Reakan that any rebellion against Elmerdin would be folly. The ambitious Reakan would not heed his warnings and only increased his actions. He would make the first moves sending men dressed as highwaymen to attack the great king’s road harrasing Innatarsh’s forces along the border. The King would trust Galmir more than Reakan, giving his general control of the road and ordering Reakan to allow his forces to secure all holdings along the road. Reakan would agree to these terms at first but as the relief force lead by Galmir’s nephew Gerinis Innatarsh was marching past the Ravin border forts, they encountered a large force of the Revinians who demanded to know who they were and why they were crossing into the lands of the Ravenwing. Gerinis answered calmly that he was here under the king’s orders to secure the road from the brigand problem and they had the permission of Lord Reakan. The commander of this force Jasir Desan insisted that his great Deus could handle any bandits and ordered the elven force to stay out of Ravenwing lands, even offering to bribe the lord to rest upon the isles of Erdis with his focus rather than patrol the lands of Ravenwings.

Being a man of integrity, Gerinis refused this bribe and told the man that he would report this poor conduct to his superiors and demanded he and his “rabble” step aside. Desan would reply by having his crossbowmen open fire upon the elven host and put it to the sword. Only one of the elves survived, a young soldier named Ahyar Thingol who reported this slaughter to the royal court.

It is unknown whether or not Reakan ordered this attack, though he most definitely took advantage of it, remarking in his writings that his forces had defeated an Innatarsh in open battle, even if it was not the lord warden, and giving Jasir Desan both command of the border forts and naming him marshal of his realm. When the elves sent messengers demanding to know why elven forces were slaughtered in his land by many flying his colors, he had all but one of them put to death and would send the survivor back to the elven capital with his declaration of independence and a warning that any elven forces that cross into his lands will suffer the same as Innatarsh’s patrol. He than had himself crowned king of his lands by the Cult of Tetra naming his realm the Crown of Mankind.

The mad elven king however didn’t take the words of this human seriously, sending few forces to crush the rebellion under Galmer Innatarsh’s leadership to bring down the upstart. Innatarsh would quickly attempt to take down Reakan’s rebellion but would be bogged down at Telotos Castle losing much of his forces in the long and bloody siege. Galmir was finally forced to retreat, giving Reakan a second great victory against the house of Innatarsh, this time against Galmir himself. He took great pride in this victory, declaring that this was the beginning of the end for Elmerdin and began planning the destruction of the last elven kingdom in a great invasion with his Tetran allies.

But the invasion would not come, as things began to turn against him. The sea raiders from Clan Tosion invaded and sacked the eastern city of Alberdan, taking the port town as their own. Furious with the pagan-crowned upstart, an alliance of the elf-lord Agrilis Invale and the Hospitalier Order amassed a great army and broke though his northern border and began to march upon the capital of Reakan’s new kingdom as Galmir had regrouped his army and with new arrangements again began to march upon his border forts. This caused his nobles to worry; lead by his brother Oster, a small conspiracy of theirs broke into his chambers and brutally and slowly stabbed him to death before cutting off his limbs.

Since Oster was now the new Deus of Tar-Riven and surrendered, sending Reakan’s severed head to Galmir who was disgusted by the gesture but still accepted the human lord’s surrender. All of the border forts followed suit, save for Telotos Castle whose inhabitants all committed suicide rather than to face the elven retribution.

His actions of rebellion are marked as the beginning of the Elmerdian Troubles, an event that devastated his hated elven rulers and lead to the mad kings’s death but also left his city in ruins, his keep dismantled, his House extinct and his people scattered.

### Legacy:

His writings would live on and later inspired the Rogrezian noble Adolar Lorgarn who used it as the base for his Empire of Atofa and his wars against elves and elf-friends.

## Personality:

He was arrogant and self assorted in all his deeds, holding a great contempt for elvenkind despite his own elven ancestry. He believed wholly that as long as the elves had any sovereign realms they would always oppress humanity and sought the destruction of the elven kingdom of Elmerdin.