Trace Iodarian

## Overview

Trace Iodarian was the third son of the late Iotalder Iodarian I who was killed when Armejio laid siege to Crylanor with the backing of Urbs. He is infamous for his blunders, and blamed for complete eradication of the Iodarian line. He was killed by his own men.

## The Fruitless War

Following the death of his brother Iotalder II, who had tried and failed to retake Crylanor from Armejio, but succeeded in ending his life, a young boy named Trace Iodarian, who was seven at the time of his brother’s death began hatching his own plans for vengeance. When he turned 20 he gathered men and stirred enough discontent to raise an army in the southern portion of what was then the kingdom of Crylanor.

Once he had enough men that had joined his cause, he ventured into the Warlands to call upon the support of an ancient sect of people known only as The Great Ones. They were once great warriors, and it was known that the magic they wielded as well as the way in which they fought could bring even an enemy as great as the Armejios to their knees.

He convened with their Chief, Armin, pushing him to act by questioning the state of his people, and the position they held in the world. No longer were they famed and victorious warriors. They swore off the way of the gods which allowed for the magic they had become known for, and aligned themselves with a more pacifist and isolationist doctrine. It took a great deal of convincing on the part of Trace to convince the Chief and his strongest warriors to join him in his crusade against the Armejios.

They brought an army about 50,000 strong against the Armejio forces in Southern Crylanor, and fought their way inland to the middle of the landmass. After a year of fighting when they had enjoyed great success in repelling the Armejios from their newly conquered land, and things seemed to be going well for them, a great souring came to pass thanks to the recklessness of Trace Iodarian.

In the time that he was welcomed into the dominion of the Warlands with the goal of convincing them to join his cause, he bedded a great number of their woman, for even before the Armejios, the ruling family of the Crylian continent were glutinous, greedy, and lustful. In a turn of events beginning with his refusal of a great number of prostitutes that were offered to him upon his arrival, and ending with the tasting of some forbidden fruits of this strange land, it came out that two of Armin’s daughters were pregnant. When pressed further they admitted that it was Trace Iodarian who stole their innocence.

## The Seedless Feast

Word did not reach the fighting forces until they had already taken back a good portion of the kingdom, and these Iodarian bastards had already been born. When Chief Armin found out that Trace had bedded and disgraced not one, but two of his daughters, he called for a feast and invited the man who had disrespected him. All Iodarian soldiers and commanders were invited to join The Great Ones for a feast that they said was to celebrate all the victories they had accumulated thus far. Trace and his men suspected nothing and accepted the invitation. When they arrived they did what they had come there to do. They ate until their hunger was more than eradicated. Both forces drank and joked together with only Chief Armin and his commanders knowing what the meeting was really about.

Near the end of the evening, Armin stood on top of the table and told them all what Trace Iodarian had done to disgrace him and his people. In breaking with their vow to turn away from the Gods and their magic, he placed a curse on Trace and all of the Iodarians. For his transgression no longer would any male seed of the Iodarians be potent. Only through the women would they ever reproduce. After the curse, he gathered his men and parted with the forces of the Iodarians, leaving them to finish their crusade on their own, with only half the kingdom reconquered. Armin and The Great Ones then went back into isolation by using the ancient magic of the Gods one last time to wipe themselves from the face of Lumina. Never again could they be found. Never again would they share their secrets. Never again would they lend their help.

Trace Iodarian tried to apologize and get the Chief to lift the curse and let the Great Ones to stay and help him finish retaking the continent, but the Chief had already set the curse and made up his mind. He and his men departed at once.

## Death

The Iodarian crusade never continued following that day. The curse that hit him and his forces was much more extreme than what had been explained to them. Any Iodarian male directly related to Trace such as being his cousin, brother, uncle, or nephew were never again able to sire children. As for Trace himself, it is said that his testicles shriveled away and fell off after a long ordeal of pain where he was bedridden in a Crylian town for weeks. He was subsequently murdered by one of his cousins for the hardship he brought upon their family line with his recklessness.

## Establishment of the Buluin Sovereignty

A group of soldiers that were unaffected by the curse rose to the occasion to hold their ground and keep the land they had already acquired as well as negotiate a peace treaty with Urbs which gave them a small, but very rich portion of land named Ta’Erion, 10,000 slaves, and a great number of silks. Their terms were accepted and they went about setting up a new government that did not rely on Royals and Kings to rule. Every man ruled himself, and the government was just there to help. This became known as the Buluin Sovereignty.