Bartherious

A
former Molikong who led the Skull Swarms, and a member of the Apex Dozen.

## **History**

### Early Life

Bartherious was born shortly before the Imperian Confederacy took control of the Molikong Khanate. As is traditional in Molikong society, Bartherious was not permitted to know his mother, and it was the duty of his father to raise him in the ways of his people. However, his early education was severely hindered by the crisis involving the Confederacy, and for some time it was believed he would be an unfit heir to Zujarij's leadership.

Despite the impediments posed by the Confederacy, Bartherious strove to learn more about himself, his society, and the people around him. He discovered, from an early age, that he had unnaturally strong talent in the shamanistic powers his people were usually born with, and he spent a good deal of his time practising his magics. He found he was especially talented in manipulating living - and dead - things, and he spent hours killing mice and reanimating them, playing with them as if they were toys. Those around him thought him odd and deranged for using his powers in this way, but the practice was to be of a great boon to him later in life.

### Son of Zujarij

When he was the equivalent of eight human years in age, Zujarij declared now was the time for his rite of passage. Batherious was taken by his father to a desert at the equator of Molikonglia, and told to find water. For a day, Zujarij watched and observed his son try using shamanistic magics to generate water from the vapour in the air, only to find that the intense heat made the water evaporate shortly after. As the day went on, Batherious grew delirious from lack of hydration, and began seeking more and more desperate methods of finding water, walking many miles only to find dried up oasis ponds which offered no reprieve. He killed several creatures, only to find they were too dried out themselves to have spare liquid within them.

When the day was up, Bartherious was reduced to a crawl by his father's side, begging for water, or a hint to the solution. Zujarij said that if his son wanted to give in, they could return to the capital and, although Bartherious would not be permitted to take up the title of clan chieftain, he would still be permitted to live comfortably. Bartherious was tempted, but resolved not to give in, and declared he would continue his search. Zujarij, impressed by his son's persistence, gave him a few droplets of water for sustenance, and then told his son to rest. Bartherious did so, and in his dream, he chased a cloud which goaded him and taunted him. It was higher in the sky than he could possibly reach. Then, a root beside him lifted him higher until he could touch the cloud. Upon doing so, it exploded in a shower of water.

Bartherious awoke to no water, but a new determination to find his quarry. He began to dig deep underneath a plant. Zujarij informed Bartherious that the roots here went too deep - he would not be able to reach the very bottom of the root to find the water within. His son replied, "I am not looking for its origin. I am looking for its climax." At last, he found a strand of the root which laid unconnected to any of the others, to the plant, or to the ground. He took it in his hand, and through intense concentration, grew it upwards until it had reached the ground level. Bartherious looked up at the clouds, and, with all his might, commanded the root to grow. It began slowly at first, not having ground to use for support, but then rapidly expanded. Zujarij watched his son climb into the air upon the roots of the cactus, but it was still not enough. Zujarij applauded his effort - but Bartherious was not finished. He had not intended to reach the clouds on the root, but to use it as the basis for his goal. A large bird-of-prey began to fly in his direction. With one swift movement, he snatched the bird from the sky and snapped its neck. He then imbued it with his shamanistic powers, and it rose from his hand, utterly obedient. He commanded it upwards, where it fetched a drop of water in its beak, and he drank it triumphantly. He had it fetch another, and offered it to Zujarij, who took it.

Now satisfied that his son had proven his worth - both with domination of his powers, and with his ability to think in an unorthodox manner like a true leader - Zujarij took Bartherious back to the capital. He proclaimed that his son had passed his rite of passage, and would be his heir. Tales of Bartherious' deeds swept across the planet, and soon he was hailed as a true and rightful heir to Zujarij's legacy. Fifteen years later, when Bartherious was the equivalent of twenty three years of age, Zujarij fell dreadfully ill.

Bartherious was struck hard by news of his father's debilitating illness - to see a man who once stood so strong ad tall reduced to lying in suffering for each and every day made him resent himself and the universe around him for bringing low so great a man. It was this time that Bartherious was preoccupied by a moral quandary - his people worshipped Zujarij, and he knw his father prided himself on his honour and independence - yet here he lay, unable to speak, and barely able to move. Bartherious felt he must maintain his father's dignity.

He entered his father's chambers late at night. His father heard him enter and faced Bartherious. The look in his eye showed he knew what Bartherious was planning. With a painfully slow gesture, Zujarij raised his spear, handing it to Bartherious. With a chant of respect for the dead, Bartherious stabbed his father again and again, each time repeating the chant, until finally, Zujarij stirred no more. With the deed done, Bartherious declared his father to be dead, and inherited the mantle of Chieftain of the Molikong people.

### War for Independence

However, Bartherious' inheritance of the title was not to come with simple matters to attend to. Bartherious intended to hold true to the promise he had made to his father - to make the Molikong Khanate independent from the Imperian Confederacy which occupied their worlds, and to liberate his people once and for all. He began arming his people, secretly, for war; sending infiltrators and expert spies to Confederacy territories to learn their secrets, their tactics, their battle plans. He investigated their weaknesses, and attempted to ascertain to what extent the Confederacy held dominion over the Dah-Kartan. He knew the "Veins of Life" would be integral to his people's success in their fight, and would also be vital to ensure his people did not collapse entirely following their victory.

Over time, Bartherious' network of spies and saboteurs grew, and he began an unofficial guerrilla war against the Imperian Confederacy. Crewmen sabotaged supply ships, citizens refused to attend Imperian marches and festivals, and huge numbers of Molikong civilians antagonised local Imperian peacekeepers. The overall climate came to be very hostile - fights between gangs of roaming Molikong and Imperians were common. All Molikong who had been filtered out through the rest of Confederacy territory migrated back to the Khanate's systems, making life for colonists on these planets, who relied upon the shamanistic powers of the Molikong, almost impossible. The Primis Council on Magnus Imperus knew exactly what was happening, and requested the official presence of Bartherious for talks on Magnus Imperus. He agreed, and went alone, to demonstrate his lack of fear of the Confederacy. Ignithitus and his advisers did their best to intimidate Bartherious into punishing the rebels, but he refused. Instead, Bartherious did the unthinkable - in the capital of the Imperian Confederacy, he declared the Khanate's independence from the Confederacy. He was told it was not that simple - Bartherious said that a declaration of war would follow if it was not. He was permitted to return to the homeworld, and await deliberation.

Bartherious wasted no time arming his people, as he fully expected the Primis Council to decide against granting the Khanate independence, and was intending to declare war when this was stated. Three weeks following the talks, the Confederacy issued a decree that independence would not be granted, and that Bartherious was to be arrested for crimes against the state. When Imperian law-enforcers marched into his home, poorly equipped, Bartherious and the rest of the citizens nearby brutally slaughtered them. Bartherious sent a container full of their bodies back to the Imperian homeworld, and at that, war was declared.

It was, initially, a very difficult war to wage for the Molikong, as the Confederacy's dominance of the Dah-Kartan meant many were unable to access their innate powers. Bartherious had long since learned to work independently of the Dah-Kartan, and taught as many as he could how to do the same. Eventually, the Molikong began to turn the tide - whilst they were outnumbered and outgunned militarily and technologically, they were experts at hit-and-run attacks, and their innate powers allowed them to use the very planets themselves as weapons, creating toxic regions, volcanoes, and the like to decimate Confederacy positions. After ten long years of fighting, Ignithitus finally called for a ceasefire, and a re-opening of negotiations. This time, Bartherious demand the negotiations take place on his homeworld. Ignithitus agreed, bringing with him a sizeable force should hostilities continue. Bartherious demanded independence from the Confederacy in all forms, and, to his surprise, the Marshall of the Confederacy agreed.

In *all* forms. Ignithitus not only took all Imperian forces out of Khanate territory, but all Imperian technology, including terraforming, food replication, and ship factories. All of a sudden, the Khanate, having grown to depend on technology from the Confederacy during their long reign, was left almost defenceless, in the grips of a tremendous famine, with many of its planets growing rapidly uninhabitable. This last gesture of defiance by the Confederacy is what sealed the hatred Bartherious felt for their leader, and began the process of Bartherious' turn to his only other option.

Tyranis, the Prime Evil.

### Tyranis' Conquest

Two years after the Khanate's independence was declared, Tyranis began to accumulate followers and armies to conquer the Imperian Confederacy. He had already gained the support of the survivors of the Hyralise people, but now sought the slowly collapsing Khanate to join his forces. Bartherious asked what Tyranis could give in return - although he had no love for the Confederacy, he also knew joining Tyranis was a risky move which, if played out poorly, could spell doom for the rest of the Molikong people.

Bartherious spent hours in meetings with his closest advisors, deliberating on the best action going forward. The Molikong society had been almost decimated by the pulling out of all Confederacy resources, and with the death tolls rising, Bartherious was under increasing pressure to find a solution. Tyranis had promised terraforming technologies and the like should the Khanate swear allegiance to his cause, but Bartherious knew full well that the Molikong poeple wre in no shape to be fighting open war against the Confederacy. He brought these facts to Tyranis, stating that whilst he sympathised, the Molikong people simply could not render aid. Tyranis brushed off this last inconvenience, and said that he had methods by which Bartherious could create an army of his own whilst the main conquest took place. Once the Khanate recovered, they would join Tyranis properly. Bartherious agreed to see the methods and use that to inform his decision, and Tyranis whisked him away to a mass grave on the Tudari homeworld.

Tyranis gave Bartherious a skull-adorned and rune-engraved staff which pulsed and hummed with deadly energies. Bartherious, upon holding the staff, felt his powers amplified a hundred fold. It was then he understood what 'army' Tyranis meant - an army of the dead. Bartherious raised tens of thousands of Tudari dead, but Tyranis collapsed them. When prompted as to why, the Prime Evil explained that the hostile nature of the Tudari matriarchy meant that taking their property without asking could lead to the worst possibly consequences for the Molikong people. Thus, Bartherious was sent on one final mission - to negotiate with Sybilia, the Empress of the Tudari people, for several million corpses to use in his conquest. This would provide him a sufficient base to conquer other worlds and raise their dead in turn.

He arrived in Sybilia's throne chambers, totally unprepared for the verbal onslaught she gave to him. She derided him, emasculated him, and spoke for almost an hour in indignation that he, a male from a tribal species, would dare disgrace her throne room. When she was finished, Bartherious calmly repeated his request, citing the resources Tyranis would give in return. She attempted to intimidate him, having her guards encircle him, but he kept his calm. One method his father had taught him for negotiation was that indignation should be met with calm, not more indignation. Eventually, she grudgingly gave in, and allowed him no more than two million Tudari corpses to use in his conquest. This was under half the number he had wanted, but he took it nonetheless. Overstepping the mark with someone like Sybilia could be disastrous, he knew.

He raised his army, and briefly returned the Molikonglia to make a public declaration - that he was striking out alone to help Tyranis in his conquest. Tyranis, by this point, was well underway in assaulting the Imperian Confederacy, and his forces had already taken the areas surrounding Molikong space. Thus, his people were more or less protected against any Imperian incursions. He told them to rebuild and to mobilise - he would return when the conquest was complete, and then, the Khanate would be restored.

With cheers of glory and pledges of honour, Bartherious left the homeworld with a sendoff the likes even Zujarij had seldom received. He was the avatar of their new future, and he wasted no time in proving the Molikong's worth to Tyranis. Tens of worlds fell beneath Bartherious' inexorable hordes, and eventually, he reached Magnus Imperus along with the rest of Tyranis' armies. He used tribal magics and potions to enhance his own abilities and that of his horde, but they were impeded by Kratindikur, Erthus Titan of Ice. Bartherious' armies were decimated, but he himself fought bravely against Kratindikur and briefly defeated him. Tyranis fought Ignithitus head-on, and their tremendous struggle was the key point of the Battle of Midnight Ridge. To Bartherious' despair, he realised too late that Ignithitus was buying time for the Vitacis and Luxaus to be activated. He tried to warn Tyranis, but before he could, a huge wave of life and light energy hit them both, and Tyranis was all but destroyed. Bartherious managed to capture what remained of the Prime Evil's essence within a spirit bottle, but then promptly disappeared. With Tyranis' armies crushed, the Imperian Confederacy annexed Molikong space, and little else was heard from them for decades.

### Apex Dozen

Almost two decades after the Battle of Midnight Ridge, Bartherious resurfaced from where he had been hiding - an uninhabited, icy moon, which orbited a long-dead rocky world. He had spent that time trying to reconstitute Tyranis' essence into a form which was able to survive, as suspended animation of the spirit only bought so much time. He had finally succeeded when he severed off his left hand to fuel the growth of Tyranis' new body. It was weak, however, and did not possess the strength it once did. Bartherious declared that he had saved his master's life, and asked for what it is he had planned now. Tyranis asked Bartherious to leave and gather a list of names, as well as the building blocks of a plan he had set in motion millennia ago.

Bartherious left the icy moon, and delivered messages on Tyranis' behalf to Herl'Be'Zaatch, M'Gilrma and the rest of the Fallen Gods. He also sought after the Kravarius Triad, each of whom had gone rogue following Tyranis' defeat at the Battle of Midnight Ridge. The other members of this collective - named by Tyranis as his Apex Dozen - joined over time. It was then that Bartherious learned of Kortarex, and his significance to Tyranis' long term goals. Originally somewhat jealous, Bartherious grew to accept that either way, the Molikong people would be ensured freedom and justice when the crusade against the Confederacy was finished.

He now acts as one of Tyranis' chief banner bearers, and one of his closest lieutenants. Whilst Kortarex finds his footing, Bartherious and Herl'Be'Zaatch work in tandem to maintain Tyranis' fledgling armies, and to lay the seeds of the Confederacy's destruction. Bartherious has made several covert trips to Molikonglia to reassure the people that liberty is coming in time, and to keep their morale high. The Skull Dominator, as he became known, would return to bring his people back to glory one day.

## **Tools and Abilities**

### Warchief

Bartherious was well-equipped with runic bone armour, enchanted by some of the most powerful shamans of the Molikong people. His father's staff was made out of a type of tree unique to Molikonglia which magnified the effect of enchantments and was also virtually unbreakable by conventional means. He wore no Helm of Power at this time - only a traditional tribal mask. His people relied on magic and not elemental energy, and so he had no real elemental affinity, although he could manipulate a great many different energies to his advantage if he so wished.

### Diabolith

Bartherious
was known to be a capable sorcerer, being a master of dark magic. He could
inflict death and misfortune on those he targeted, and is thought to have drawn
much of his energy from the favor of Furocemp by superstitious Molikong. A
combination of his magical skull helm and his natural magical talent allowed
him to raise the dead and make them do his bidding, making it very easy for him
to raise immense armies very quickly.

He
carried the Dominator Staff, which he used as a focus for controlling his
minions. It also allowed him to exhibit some limited mental control over weak
individuals such as young Makori. When Tyranis was reconstituted somewhat into a weak new body, he gave Bartherious some of his energies to help the Skull Dominator usher in Tyranis' rebirth.

## **Personality**

Bartherious
had a fierce loyalty to his own people and, as a tribal chieftain, was totally
devoted to the growth of his clan and his family line. He was also loyal to Tyranis
for seemingly holding true to his promise to look after the Molikong people and
further their influence in the universe. Besides that, he was a conqueror
through and through who believed that only through struggle would society evolve. He had a rivalry with Herl'Be'Zaatch, but came to respect the last Hyralise for his tenacity and grit.