Monryx Van Solar

Monryx in his last moments

### Relatives

Queen Evelyn Solar (Distant Cousin), Angnar Dorothy, Benedin Ryse, Nemedorn Horncast

## Physical description

### Eye color

Bright Gold

> "Above my brother's furrows rested his crown. In our parley it bore fiery orange crusted gemstones instead of the black ones that had dated back since King Vreyis. I heard that they turned dull and couldn't shine anymore so he had them replaced to his liking. He was never a fan of orange or red, until that nonsense started clogging his ears..."
>
> Queen-Claimant Aerin Solar

King Monryx Van Solar is the last Everseer King of the Summerlands, described to be a just and honourable man that bent to sense before the death of his son. He died in the Dark Years, battling against Evannion the Black Dragon before being slain.

Monryx's legacy would be a great man turned broken; indulging in religious fanaticism and orchestrating its several practices such as burning men, women and children alive. Not even his children and his friends would be safe.

### Life

Early Life

Monryx was born alongside his sister, Aerin onboard the royal ship of 'Aurant Sails'. The ship almost flipped over several times on their return from the burning isles, causing their mother, Seline, to be traumatized. Because of this and the fact that no maids were present to help her labour, she could not remember who among the siblings came first.

Monryx didn't even know how to call Aerin growing up. Sister, yes, but the two were distant as children. He learned the guitar, studied the blade and cared for the realm unlike his neglectful father and King, Maen.

##### The Prince

Monryx as a teenager and an early adult was the spitting image of his ancestor, King Vreyis. He held himself as he connected with the people more than his own family. He hugged men who had never even seen the King, charmed ladies with his guitar and honoured newborn parents single and couple alike with small gifts. His face was bright when he did these.

When Aerin came to visit from her foster home of Summerstead, Maen forced a scar on his own daughter. As he was about to land another, Aerin couldn't sit idly by. With haste and sweat, he deflected the dagger with his sword. After arguing with his father, Monryx helped Aerin up which would start their close relationship. The two would become sparring partness of the sword aswell as eachother's personal counsel, much to King Maen's displeasure.

Later on, he would meet with his 6th cousin, Evelyn Solar. Both were quite the match, Evelyn the Eye and Monryx the Might they call it as they would compliment eachother's weaknessds. He fell for Evelyn like an apple turning heavy on a branch, and she reciprocated a similar feeling, ending up in their marriage. Legend said that in that event when announcing their vows, their eyes glowed amber; the national color of love.

##### Blood on the Child and a Faith Unfollowed

Monryx now a full grown man was all his father wasn't and was ready to inherit the throne. But a horse hauling a cart with one stumped leg was faster than King Maen's plan to sort out the chain of inheritance. In the meantime, he fathered two children with Evelyn: Prince Eric and Princess Vanni. Grief would cripple Monryx when Eric died near a hostile border. The young boy apparently fell for a false prophecy which lead him down a destiny to quick death. After the incident, Monryx was jaded with the Old Faith and instead started catering to the Eye of Fire, his father's religion. He revelled in brooding joy as he burned his son's killers alive. This thought to be uncharacteristic side of him would make his wife uncomfortable while Aerin would find it worrying.

##### Religiosity and Machiavellian Ways

Maen managed to settle the inheritance late. Monryx would succeed him but Aerin can if she demands a combat trial. The then noble Monryx protested and said that Aerin shouldn't have to fight to prove her worthiness. His sister however insisted plainly that he take the the throne. With that, Monryx ascended as the Crowned Solar, Lord and King of Summer following Maen's death. Monryx in his early years had ruled with an even hand and a balanced head but the looming cloud of his son's demise couldn't escape him, causing his wisdom to wain even with Evelyn's help.

Monryx would still go around the city to charm them. It was in those times that he came to realize that their lives were more important than his own, than his wife's, than his daughter's. "The crown must serve the people, even if it requires that the needs of the many come first than the few" he famously said. He established the Church of Sun and Fire, an organized-religious body for the new faith. The New Believers cherished this moment, but the Old Believers saw this as a breach of culture, fearing that one single rigid view of the faith will be shoved down their throats like other kingdoms had. When Monryx started doing conversions, a plot against him was formed that backed Aerin to usurp.

##### War and Fratricide

When Aerin rebelled against his brother, they first tried to negotiate. Monryx suggested that Aerin can obtain high seats of power since he felt that she lived in his shadow. Aerin agreed but only to the condition that he dismantles and withdraws support fot the Eye of Fire. By the end of the parley, nothing came out of it but the foundations for grief. Monryx could never dared nor fathom to lift a sword against Aerin, which made him somewhat timid during the Sunstrife. In all of the battles he planned, he never used sunfire magic against her, even if she did betray him.

But during the Battle of the Dawn as the city almost fell to Aerin, the two attacked eachother in a dark room. Realizing what must be done, Monryx resorts to blasting her with Sunfire magic. Aerin did the same. Their duel went on for an hour until they grew tired. Monryx and Aerin were said to have regretted fighting and wish to stop. Rumors claim that they embraced eachother, with Monryx suddenly snapping his sister's neck.

Having realized that he killed his own sister, he spiraled into a deeper depression. Assange would step in to be his mind-healer and would sooth him to sleep away from cruel nightmares. Monryx's vulnerablity made him listen to Assange more than his own wife.

##### Faith in Fire

Using the Eye of Fire faith to cope, he starts diving into more extreme practices. He tightens his grip on the realm with the faith, beginning and ending the execution of criminals in the name of the Sun. When Evelyn told him of the doom she foresaw upon the Kingdom, Monryx and Assange take zealous actions to prevent it from happening. Believing that faith will prevail, Monryx per the advice of Assange took more rash actions from burning houses to burning people alive as a sacrifice.

What started off as taking criminals off from there cells and into a fire, turned into people deliberately burning themselves. It was here that many with the keen eye, including Evelyn herself, noticed that they have lost their King. He was never the same when he killed his sister and the joy that followed him turned to dim rains. He still loved the people and would do anything for them, but with Assange by his side, anything was an understatement.

Believing that the life of his son, his sister, nor the lives' of the his remaining family were significant compared to the lives of many in the city and beyond, he sacrifices his daughter, Vanni Solar, to the stake.

*"Sacrifice, is never easy. It forces your hand to do things you wouldn't ever fathom. Or else. Its not true sacrifice at all. Nor will it ever be."*

Monryx uttered those words to his wife. Those were the last things she heard from her husband and King before putting on the tight necklace.

##### The Saviour of the Summerlands

For years he had trusted in Assange and her cadre of witches, and for years he had been ruling. But when the doom came, he was unable to stop it. Monsters rose from the ground, tearing down the walls, clamping their crooked teeth down on the neck's of men, women and children, reanimated skeletons of dead soldiers reap the lands and rithe in their blood while an eclipse dominated the sky for years.

Monryx lead the Summerlands to battle against these threats and although they were able to resist for a short while, the Grey Riders would invade; making their folly permanent. Pushed back to the city, he soon realized that the sacrifices, the fires, the prayers, were all in vain and it paralyzed his thoughts. In his final moments, he fought and heavily injured Evannion the Black Dragon before his body had melted to his purple breath.