Michael (Edenian)

Abi-Sim (mother)

Cain, Abel, Seth (paternal half brothers)

*"I have oft heard it said that with age comes wisdom. I myself have found that wisdom has many other sources."*

*-Michael*

Michael, born Mi-ka-il in the city of Uruk, is the founder and leader of the Children of Adam. At nearly seven thousand years of age, he is the second oldest living Edenian, surpassed in age and power only by Adam, his father and the progenitor of the Edenian race. Among his own kind, Michael is a legendary figure, and most of the world's Edenians look to him as their leader.

## Biography

### Early Life

Mi-ka-il was born in the city of Uruk, some forty-four centuries before the birth of Christ. His father was a traveler who impregnated the Princess Abi-Sim. The man was banished from the city by Mi-ka-il's grandfather, King Enmerkar, the mage-king who had founded the city several centuries earlier. Most of the other members of the immortal Enmerkar's vast brood were Awakened as the king was, but he himself never demonstrated any magical aptitude, to the distress of his mother and the shame of his grandfather. As a result, Mi-ka-il was scorned and bullied by many of his relatives, and pitied by the rest. Though Abi-Sim begged Enmerkar to extend Mi-ka-il's life himself, the king was adamant that any member of his family who wished to prolong their lifespan using the methods he developed would need to do so on their own, as a demonstration of their worth. And so it seemed, Mi-ka-il would be doomed to succumb to the ravages of time.

### Reborn in Blood

When Mi-ka-il was nineteen, King Enmerkar revealed a dark secret. For the price of magical power and knowledge, he had sold his soul to a great infernal spirit. To prevent the creature from collecting on his debt, the king had devised a great magical ritual, which would grant him the power necessary to shrug off the being's hold on him, and allow him to defend his family. Mi-ka-il was told he would have a crucial part to play in the ritual, a prospect which greatly excited him. Finally, he would be able to prove his worth to his family.

Unfortunately, Mi-ka-il's part, along with twelve of his other more disappointing family members, was to be sacrifices to fuel Enmerkar's ascension to godhood. One by one, Enmerkar gave those who bore his own blood to a great, hungry flame. Many of the parents and siblings of those to be sacrificed tried to intervene, but those closest to Enmerkar, who were most privy to the secrets of his magics, were able to subdue them. The final sacrifice, Mi-ka-il struggled and fought, but was lifted into the fire by his grandfather's will, and the hungry flames devoured him as he screamed out his agony into the night.

The night gave answer, as a creature emerged from the darkness, drawn by the power that had been released in the ritual, and did battle with King Enmerkar. All the while, Mi-ka-il burned, and yet was unable to die, until the great ziggurat where the ritual had been conducted collapsed with the force of the conflict, and the young boy was buried beneath the rock.

### God-King of Uruk

Mi-ka-il spent a week buried beneath stone, until enough rubble was cleared away to unearth him. His grandfather's courtiers, those who had not been present to witness Enmerkar's "glorious ascension to full godhood", at least, were awestruck at his survival, as he had never demonstrated the "divine powers" commonly seen among the rest of his family. The energies that had been unleashed as the ritual failed, much of the city was devastated, and those mages within Uruk had all spontaneously combusted due to the magical backlash. With King Enmerkar and the rest of his family dead, Mi-ka-il was the undisputed heir to the throne, and it was believed that he had survived due to the providence of the gods, who had struck down Enmerkar for trying to usurp the divine gifts they had given him, and join their number. Soon after his reemergence, Mi-ka-il's long reign began.

#### Redhand

The beginning of his rule was marked by anger and violence. The terrible betrayal Mi-ka-il had suffered had left him full of bitterness and hatred, and his overseeing of the repairs to Uruk saw countless slaves worked to death. Shortly thereafter, the young king sought vengeance against all Awakened he could find, having developed a blind hatred of them as a result of what he had suffered. Few enough were to be found, and most of their powers were feeble, for Enmerkar was not one to tolerate any sort of rivals to his power. Still, what few mages Mi-ka-il could get his hands on were subjected to the same fate he had been: being burned alive. Fire was the king's preferred method of execution, so much so that his people began to call him "Redhand".

#### The Lion Wars

Some fifty years into his reign, Mi-ka-il made an enemy of the local werecreatures as his men inadvertently invaded one of their sacred sites. When the survivors of the slaughter that followed returned to Uruk with their tale, the king decided that it was time to drive these creatures from the land. It was no easy task, for the beastmen were physically powerful, and wielded potent primal magics. The Urukian forces were initially dealt many stinging defeats, with King Mi-ka-il being dismembered on several occasions by the claws of the lionmen as he lead his warriors into battle, though his superhuman abilities did enable him to slay a few. It seemed as though they would need to sue for peace, until Mi-ka-il was approached by a mysterious figure, hooded and cloaked. The man revealed that the beasts possessed a vulnerability to silver, and offered to give the king's soldiers the power needed to combat the lionmen. Hesitantly, Mi-ka-il accepted, and the man gave the soldiers his blood to drink, before vanishing into the night. When next the armies of Uruk met the lionmen in battle, their enhanced vitality and the silver weapons they were armed with enabled them to win the day, slaying or driving off the beastfolk who had troubled them.

## Physical Appearance

Michael is a man of average height, but possessed of a lithe, graceful build, and appears to be somewhere in his late teens. He possesses vaguely Middle Eastern features, with olive skin that would be considered pale in that corner of the world. His eyes area a pale green, often described as hauntingly beautiful. Michael also possesses rich black hair, which he usually keeps short.