Tan Blackhand

## Tan

### Aliases

Tan Blackhand, Acting Grand Master of the Illuminated, Master of the Light, Pontifex Maximus of the Republic of New Arendur, Rector of the Academy of the Illuminated

## Physical description

### Eye color

Black

*"Acts of goodness are not always wise, and acts of evil are not always foolish, but regardless, we shall always strive to be good."*

-Tan Blackhand

## History

One of the original members of Jotunheim's rebellion, Tan was a mage warped by eldritch energies, valued for his ability to transfer four-dimensional symbols from one person to another. He became Tolumvire's apprentice for a period of three years, before returning to Arendur to take up the position of Master of the Light in the Illuminated. During the Great Crusade, Tan accompanied Arazon to Caprakan, taking a coterie of mages from the Illuminated with him. When the Demon Wars broke out, he returned to fight, but arrived too late to have any real impact. After the war's conclusion, Tan rejoined Jotunheim in the Tower of the Illuminated, where he continues to serve as Master of Light. There is talk of him becoming a potential successor to Jotunheim, although it remains only talk.

## Personality

Lucid, reserved, and perceptive. Tan often kept hidden, self-conscious of the deformities that resulted from the energies he kept in contact. In particular, he left his right sleeve long, covering a tentacled arm. Tan took his duties seriously, believed firmly in the causes he fought for, and was noted to possess a great deal of courage. If he had a flaw, it was a caution of a buried soul, often leading him to act too late, and let events spiral outside of his control.

In many ways, Tan was one of the more unusual members of the Illuminated. Though he strove to be useful to those in power, he was not blind to their flaws. He learned a great deal from Tolumvire and from Jotunheim, but unlike others, he never idolized them. He did, however, believe firmly in the idea that a revolutionary vanguard was necessary to transform society, flawed or not. Nonetheless, when he found himself at the highest pinnacle of power, he appeared at a loss. Though he believed in change; revolutionary change, he had a reactionary streak, and was far more of an institutionalist then he even knew. In his heart of hearts, he knew the flaws of Arendur and the Illuminated, but like an actor cast to play a character doomed to die, he played his part like one who knew it perfectly.

Similarly to Tolumvire, Tan Blackhand was singularly friendless. He and Grundelthum Sunder were compatriots of a sort until their falling out, but never saw eye to eye. The only person he spoke freely around was the great warrior Arazon, who became a sort of mentor to him.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

Alongside Ramander, Jotunheim, and Vamnas Vuhlanath, Tan would seek out Philoktia and put her on the path towards becoming a Philosopher-Queen. After the outbreak of the War, and Tan led a contingent of Illuminated mages in defense of Forester's Town, felling many of the Final Empire's troops. As Jotunheim's consciousness began to be subsumed by the Tower itself, Tan would begin to take on many of his responsibilities, becoming Acting Grand Master. In addition, he would receive the title of Pontifex Maximus from the Senate of the New Arendur, becoming the undisputed ruler of the city.

## After the War

*“Tan Blackhand projects a strong impression of a man at home in the world and on top of his brief. But there are a number of occasions when it suits him to pose as a sort of Candide: naive, and ill-prepared for and easily unhorsed by events. No doubt this pose costs him something in point of self-esteem. It is a pose, furthermore, which he often adopts at precisely the time when the record shows him to be knowledgeable, and when knowledge or foreknowledge would also confront him with charges of responsibility or complicity.”*

-Testimony of Addison Marsh during the Trial of the Illuminated

When the Reich invaded New Arendur, Tan Blackhand would rally the Arendurians behind him in defense of their home. As the siege began, Tan would find himself having to boost the flagging morale of his people. Many Arendurians resented the fact that they had to fight and die on behalf of their mages - the very mages who had brought them into the War of the Philosopher-Kings to begin with. Tan often thought back to the days of the Arendur-Ragnarok War, and ruminated on Tolumvire's ability to convince his countrymen to die for a dream - for an illusion of might and a delusion of grandeur. Tan's goal was not victory, but to hold out and grind the Hexenjägers to a fault, forcing a truce. His plans would be dashed when the Carcosai, led by Flavius Luteus Scaevola, would open the gates to the city and let the Hexenjägers in. The Hexenjägers would storm the Tower of the Illuminated, bringing it to the ground and killing Jotunheim. Presented with the possibility of fighting house to house, street to street, Tan remembered how even Tolumvire had surrendered to King Bolgar to spare the lives of his people. Tan did the same, offering his surrender to Wolfram Panzer. In return for the Hexenjägers sparing New Arendur, the mages of the Illuminated would go on trial for their crimes. Though some of his compatriots began to work feverishly on their defenses, Tan's knew well that the outcome would be. He did his best to take what responsibility he could for himself, trying to shield his subordinates from culpability. In his deposition, he emphasized the difference between Old and New Arendur, maintaining that the infamous atrocities were the work of Emperor Tolumvire. He accepted his guilt for the deeds of the old empire, in his role as one of its revolutionary founders, as Tolumvire's apprentice, and eventually as one his intelligence chief in Caprakan. New Arendur, he maintained, was distinct, a kinder, gentler nation ruled by the old guard but populated by a new generation that should not have to suffer for the sins of their fathers. Much of his claims were greeted with incredulity and scorn, but he was able to spare some of his underlings. In a last stirring speech to the court, he proclaimed that he was willing to be executed in Tolumvire's place and for his crimes, and in a first for any Arendurian leader, expressed remorse on behalf of his nation. The speech would later be stricken from public record as part of Flavius Luteus Scaevola's *damnatio memoriae.* At the scaffold, by how a tired and enfeebled old man, he would use his last words to mantain the flawed, fundamentally good intentions of the Illuminated. He was the last of the three Masters of the Illuminated to be executed, and the last man in the Reich to be executed by the blood eagle.