Gorgon115

**Gorgon115**, also known as Gorgon ibn Shekeil, is a citizen of Windcliff and self-appointed priest of Masos. Once a member of the Hayim tribe native to the deserts of Sørligste, he abandoned his nomadic ways to live a more sedentary lifestyle. Known to many as a pacifist, he peacefully travels the lands surrounding Windcliff to preach the teachings of Masoism.

### Early Life

Native to the harsh, arctic deserts of Sørligste, Gorgon's early life was filled with hardship. Wandering the borders and ancient battlefields of the empires that ruled the continent, his tribe had little access to resources, mainly food. Gorgon and his kinsmen spent many nights with an empty stomach, longing for the food that was just out of their reach. The only arable land was already settled by hostile kingdoms, who saw the Hayim as raiders. Shekeil ibn Abbas, Gorgon's father and chieftan of their tribe, was harsh in his leadership - which in turn, lead to the harsh treatment of his own son. His mother, Basya bint Omar, Gorgon's mother and a princess of a neighboring tribe that was married off to Shekeil for political gain, was the only one who ever gave her son any love. The neglect of Shekeil alienated Gorgon from the very tribe he was set to inherit, and whenever the tribe had time to set camp, Gorgon would often be wandering the nearby mountains in contemplative thought.

### Exile

At the age of 15, which is considered adulthood by Hayim customs, Gorgon left his clan under self-imposed exile. Infuriated by this, Shekeil disowned Gorgon from the line of succession, placing one of Gorgon's distant cousins as the heir. Gorgon wasn't bothered by this, as his time spent in the mountains gave him a different perspective. He believed the Hayim grew complacent, only longing for the scarce food of their desert home and not looking northwards to the many empires that sprawled over Rathnir. 3 years into his exile, Gorgon received word that the Hayim were engaged in a brutal feud with a hostile tribe. The war took a great toll on the Hayim, and led to the entire leadership of the tribe being executed in a brutal massacre, his father and mother being among the victims. The survivors of the Hayim, now only a dozen in number, were scattered across Rathnir. The young Gorgon, now 18, was not seen for many months by the locals-turned-friends of the towns he visited during his exile. Though all records and sightings of the hostile tribe ceased after his months of disappearance.

Re-emerging from the desert a changed and scarred man, Gorgon spent the following years of his life exploring the kingdoms and city-states on the northern coast of Sørligste. At 20, he discovered the village of Windcliff, an exclave belonging to the Republic of Ato. There he met MakkisPekkis, the mayor of the town and Consul to the Republic. Hoping to abandon the blood-soaked desert of his birth, Gorgon petitioned Pekkis for citizenship in Windcliff.

### Windcliff

Now a citizen of Windcliff and member of its militia, Gorgon settled in a house granted to him by Pekkis. Standing by the temple of Exolvonturis, a god of the Atopolonian Pantheon, Pekkis and Gorgon were approached by a wandering monk. During their conversation, the monk spoke of his goddess, Masos, a nature deity of prosperity. The Hayim were animists, their chief deities being the sky and the desert sand below. Gorgon saw his faith as an explanation of the tribe's reality, and their faith was rarely discussed or built upon by their shamans. Gorgon, fairly detached from his animistic faith, adopted Masoism.

### Conversion to Masoism

At first, Gorgon adopted the faith so he could better assimilate in these foreign lands, and having a more established identity would be potentially beneficial to him. Though as he explored the woods and hills around Windcliff, Masos's domain, he began to come in touch with his newly-adopted faith. Whether it was truly divine intervention or just superstition, Gorgon witnessed a rose spring from the ground before his very eyes. Believing this to be a sign of Masos, Gorgon fell to his knees, in that moment becoming a true believer in the goddess. {WIP}