Yera McDonald

*“We can't choose our fate, but we can choose others. Be careful in knowing that. We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.”*

-Yera McDonald

## History

Born in the Republic of Namerya, Yera McDonald was an earnest and bookish child whose greatest love was to lose himself in tales of magic and fantasy. In his teens, he began to secretly teach himself magic, until his endeavors were revealed by his brother, Angus, earning the ire of his parents. He left the house of his parents, and traveled, apprenticing himself to different wizards and living a fairly hardscrabble life. He began to specialize in divination magic, and eventually crossed paths with the former consul of Namerya, Angon of Nallval. Yera expressed an interest in learning from him, but was coldly rebuffed by the archmage. Nonetheless, Yera attracted the interest of Angon's friend and ally, Shaarabahn of Al Dijar, who took the boy under his wing. Shaarabahn taught him a great deal about the Spellweave and the history of the arcane, and pinned the nickname Yeromenos upon him when he learned of the boy's love for him. But Shaarabahn had other plans, and wished to make use of Yera in the future. He used his chronomancy to send Yera five centuries years into the future, into the dying land of Aglazdere, where he would play a role in undoing the great arcane storm that was ravaging the land.

## Aglazdere Civil War

Yera became an ally and compatriot of the band that would become known as the Highdark Hall Six, famous for producing the future Padishah and Grand Vizier of Aglazdere, Rick and Annakiya. Yera grated on the nerves of his new companions with his childlike earnestness. In particular, the gear knight Ibn Janah began to regard him with a pathological hatred, though the rivalry was largely one-sided. The sky pirate Rick harbored a thinly-concealed contempt for him, but was content to utilize his talents and play him and Ibn against each other. Yera was able nonetheless to maintain a reserved friendship with Annakiya, working well with her and eventually earning a measure of trust and solidarity from her. As Yera became embroiled in the quest to recover the Philosopher's Stone, he proved himself to be a mighty and cunning wizard, who saw disparate futures and guided himself to the most favorable outcomes. He eventually attracted the attention of the aging and ailing Grand Vizier, Angon, who had once shown him so much contempt. Angon desired a successor, and dreamed of seating a great Philosopher-King on the throne of Aglazdere, someone not consumed by his own brand of remorseless cynicism. Angon signed an Immolean Contract with Yera, promising him the Grand Viziership of Aglazdere as well as his teachings, in return for silence and obedience. He taught Yera far darker magic than he was comfortable with; the secrets of mind control and illusions, of hellfire and unbreakable contracts. When the civil war broke out, Yera fought with distinction in the sky ship battle from the perch of his flying broom, most notably using telekinesis to drag the mutinous captain Orga Gjallarhorn from the rudder of the Barbatos and hurl him to his death, allowing Rick to reclaim his old ship. After the battle, he would accompany Rick and Annakiya into the Wastes, where he would witness Shaarabahn's sacrifice, and claim the Philosopher's Stone for himself. The three would return to Varas, where they would discover that the mad Padishah Savahattin V had finalized his covenant with the djinn of fire, and reduced his own capital to ash. He and his companions faced the Padishah in his throne room, defeating and eventually killing him. Yera used the Philosopher's Stone to bring back from the dead all who had perished in the fire of Varas, sacrificing his humanity to the Maker. At the height of his power, an immortal homunculus possessing the Philosopher's Stone and the whole nation waiting for him to claim the throne as their rightful Philosopher-King, Yera recoiled. He was not prepared to abandon his humanity to rule over his fellow man, and begged Annakiya to cut him down with the Blade of Echoes. Surprised and moved, Annakiya killed him as painlessly as she could, with one determined stroke, running him through to the hilt. She took the Philosopher's Stone from his lifeless hand, and Rick ascended to the throne of Aglazdere, stepping over his corpse to rule as Philosopher-King in his place.

## Personality

Yera was a bright, talented, and earnest young man who put his heart into everything that he did, and grated on others nerves with his naive, boundless optimism, and happy-go-lucky attitude. His time in the wastes of Aglazdere wore away at some of his initial brightness, but not as his core decency and humanity. Yera himself was aware of the changes that were going on inside him, and could discern the future better than any man alive. He foresaw a man that frightened him - Grand Vizier Yera McDonald of Aglazdere - and realized that he could not in good conscience take on that mantle. To keep his innocence, Yera chose to die. Those that heard of his passing scorned him as a coward, and lamented that he was so foolish as to abandon Aglazdere to the grasping hands of a sky pirate. Those that knew better were known to have expressed the sentiment that Yera was far more courageous than anyone ever gave him credit for. His virtue, perverted and turned towards great evil, was a far more frightening future than the petty avarice and cynicism of Padishah Rick. He would sadly fade from living memory, being too obscure a figure, and his deeds would be attributed to others, although Annakiya would not forget his deeds, and went on to establish a memorial and monument to him in Varas.

## The Great Awakening

The Maker appears in the form of Yera in the court of Padishah Shams al-Din Samara.