Justicar

Justicar (now called the Hierophant) is a divine hero and member of the Contenders.

## Biography

Although he appears human, Justicar is actually a native of the Blazing World. His home was Agartha, the sprawling kingdom nestled in the roots of the World Tree. Agartha was ruled by an elite cabal of sages dedicated to protecting the World Tree and ensuring its continued growth; among other things, this required regular sacrifices to be made to 'water' the Tree with the life's blood of Agartha's denizens. These unlucky citizens were chosen by lottery from among the millions of people living in the Tree's shadow.

When Justicar's family was chosen for the lottery, he was naturally devastated, taking little comfort from knowing that their lives were being given up for an important purpose. Wondering why he had been spared, he began a clandestine investigation into the Sages and the inner-workings of the lottery.

What he found shocked him to his core: the lottery was rigged. The Sages protected themselves and their elite cronies among Agartha's upper class, always choosing to take their sacrifices from the poor and voiceless lower-class. And when they did occasionally sacrificed a member of the elite, it was always someone who questioned the Sages or spoke against their brutality. Worst of all was the revelation that the sacrifices were not serving the World Tree at all; they instead were used to maintain the long lives of the most elite Sages.

Despite having proof of these crimes, Justicar could do nothing; Agartha had no court or government body that was not totally loyal to the corrupt Sages. Just trying to voice his findings would mean that he would simply be the next to be sacrificed. Unable to bear the sight of his world any longer, he cried out for justice and cut his own eyes out in an ecstasy of helpless rage.

Unbeknownst to Justicar, he had just taken part in a powerful divine ritual. His cry for justice, and the sacrifice of his eyes, reverberated across the Blazing World to Tech Duinn, land of the dead gods. His plea was heard by Iustitia, the long-forgotten Lady of Justice, and she realized that she had one more worshipper in need of her aid. Although he had never heard of the Roman Goddess, Justicar immediately recognized her as the embodiment of the fair and just law that Agartha so desperately needed. He offered himself up to her body and soul, and in return Iustitia invested in him the power of her avatar.

Clothed and armed in the Goddess' glory, Justicar set out to bring vengeance to the Sages. What transpired next is known only to him, but Agartha is no more-- a blasted and burned ruin in the roots of the mighty World Tree. Once his task was complete, Justicar set out to bring justice to other lawless worlds, using the paths among the World Tree's branches to traverse the Blazing World. He made his way to Earth, sensing that it was a particularly evil and unjust place, in order to set it right.

Long after his arrival on Earth, Justicarius had the opportunity to examine the guilt of the Eid goddess Thracia. Direct exposure to the goddess' mind proved deadly, and although Justicarius learned much of her history, he was destroyed in the process by the overwhelming force of her divine power. Upon his death, he found himself in Tech Duinn, the land of dead gods, where Lord Donn informed Justicarius that he had in fact been acting as a defacto God of Justice as Iustitia had finally faded from reality some weeks prior. Upon hearing that Justicarius had been slain by the Star Empress, Lord Donn offered to return Justicarius to life as his avatar, in the hopes that he could destroy her and end her corrupting influence on the natural flow of faith. What happened next is known only to Justicarius and Lord Donn, but he soon returned to Earth in a new form. Having abandoned his armor and now shrouded in a divine aura, the hero now called himself the Hierophant as he moved to confront the Empress and her dark crusade.

## Personality

Justicar is single-minded in his pursuit of fair and measured punishment for all evil-doers. He is not cruel or capricious by nature, but he has a divine crusader's utter faith in the rightness of his own cause, and won't hesitate to execute someone who clearly deserves it. He does not abide by man-made Law, seeing it primarily as the tool of villains who hide behind corrupt courts to carry out their crimes. He is not a mindless zealot, however; he will attempt to persuade his allies of a villain's guilt before meting out extreme justice, and if overruled he will listen (at least a little) to the voice of "reason."

## Powers

Justicar is imbued with the powers of Iustitia, the Roman Goddess of Justice. He wears her armor and wields a flaming sword provided by her, and his powers derive from her patronage. In order to pursue his never-ending quest, he has been granted freedom from mortal woes, and does not need to eat or sleep. Despite his eyes having been cut out, the Goddess has granted him new sight as well, giving him a serviceable supernatural vision to replace what was lost.

Along with his impressive martial skills, Justicar has the power to fly and fire bolts of celestial fire from his sword to smite the guilty. He can also conjure golden chains to bind them, when imprisonment is a more appropriate punishment than execution. He can also force a criminal to bear the psychic burden of their sins, weighing them down in a literal sense with the metaphysical weight of their crimes.

When a villain's guilt is in doubt, Justicar can lay his hand on a helpless target and search their memory for evidence of misdeeds. This takes time to accomplish, but few powers can prevent it-- even the most robust mental defense will not stop him from eventually finding out the truth. If he wishes, he can share this vision with others, so that everyone nearby can see the evidence of guilt for themselves.

Justicar also has the ability to heal the innocent of their wounds and improve the fighting mettle of his allies. These potent blessings represent the other end of the scale; justice does not *always* mean punishment, after all.

After his transformation into Hierophant, his powers became much more broad and he abandoned his old tools along with his previous identity. No longer wielding a sword and clad in heavy armor, Hierophant now calls on a huge variety of powers through his connection to the dead gods through Lord Donn. Capable of many miracles and wielding divine energy more powerful than ever before, Hierophant's true potential is yet to be seen but is surely far greater than his old Justicarius persona's. Even so, he has given up some of the powers he once found useful, and can no longer judge the sins of the guilty as he once did.

## Weaknesses

Justicar's single-minded crusade puts him at odds with his allies often, and he can occasionally be baited into taking unwise actions in the name of his goddess. Further, if he disobeys or offends his patroness with unjust actions, she may well choose to withdraw her patronage, leaving him blind and powerless in a hostile world.

Although his powers are metaphysical in nature, they are mostly bound to his magic armaments, and if something were to happen to his weapons Justicar's power would be greatly diminished until he petitioned his Goddess to grant him new ones. Though Iustitia is one of the least aloof and haughty of her pantheon, she is still a Goddess, and failure of this nature would likely resort in some severe reprimand before she again gave her blessings.

As Hierophant his powers are much less fragile and no longer tied to physical objects. Instead, they are the product of a divine wellspring of power that cannot be harmed by any usual means. The downside to this is that, like nearly all other divine beings, Hierophant's defenses are easily pierced by any other divinities, just as he can pierce their defenses.