Daylen Namaran

From the front cover of the Shadow of the Conqueror

Numerous unknown children:

* Blackheart (bastard son)

Daylen Namaran, also known as the **Great Bastard**, the **Scourge of Nations** and **Dayless the Conqueror**, was a Hamahran general and engineer born 31 years before the Fifth Day. A war hero of the Fourth Night, he led the revolution that marked the end of the rule of the aristocracy and royal families of the kingdom of Hamahra. Restructuring his nation into the Dawn Empire, he ruled as emperor until the end of the First World War. To this day, Namaran is *the* most important figure in recent history.

Daylen lived a long and accomplished life. A captain survivor of the assault on the Underworld, a strategist, engineer, sunsmith, Grand High Master of the sword, and emperor. He was the creator of the sunucle sword Imperious, the only sunucle ever known that did not shatter upon touching darkstone or Shade. He designed several skyships, the most notable being the Annihilator. He also invented the shooter, which he redesigned a few years into his rule.

So much is the suffering caused by the Dawn Empire, so great were the war crimes of the former-emperor, that the many positive contributions and reforms he was responsible for tend to be overlooked. Among them, he standardized the metric system, far superior to any previous measuring systems. The Dawn Empire built roads and opened borders to allow immigration to foster its economy and promote free trade, and pushed education policies and slave law reforms which remained long after his rule. His efforts to future-proof through city planning and infrastructure as technology continued to progress, particularly in regards to skyships, which he realized would grow more commonplace over time, demonstrated keen foresight, and helped promote efficiency, improve living standards and convenience, and served to avert potential disasters.

In his suicide attempt at the end of his life, Daylen rejuvenated and became a Lightbinder, thus becoming the first known non-member of the Arch Order of Light to become a Lightbinder, as well as the first known Lightbinder with four Bonds.

His lifelong experience as a soldier, leader, military strategist, mastery of sword fighting, possession of Imperious, and his additional Bond, make the former-emperor a formidable opponent, and likely the greatest asset of the Archknights and humanity against the threat of the Shade and any nations and terrorists groups looking to threaten the peace in the world.

## **Abilities and Powers**

Prior to attaining his Lightbinding powers, Daylen Namaran possessed an incredible intellect. Had it not been for his pivotal role in ending the Fourth Night, which cemented his status as a hero and led to his subsequent rise to power, he would have pursued a simple life as an engineer. His talent for invention and sunstone engineering during his reign demonstrate his technical prowess. He also developed keen strategy which was employed during the Fourth Night in the many battles against the Shade. His tactical genius would also serve him well during the many decades of his empire's constant warring, particularly his ability to turn around the long odds many times during the First World War of Tellos.

Daylen would study and come to be a very talented sunsmith. His skill and experience at sunforging, combined with his boldness, would enable him to be one of the few sunsmiths who could (and would be willing to try) reverse sunforging, a dangerous process which could potentially kill whoever was linked to the sunucle, if any mistake were made. In his years of study into sunucles, he discovered a method of "adding lives" to a sunucle to prevent it from instantly shattering upon touching darkstone or Shade. This process was not perfect, as the sunucle would eventually shatter if struck enough times by either. Because of the danger that near-indestructible sunucles would pose if that information fell into the hands of his enemies, he kept the secret of their creation to himself.

After his suicide attempt failed and his youth and strength were restored to their primes, Daylen acquired the Lightbinder powers of Lifebinding. Unlike any other Archknight in history, who had 3 light bonds, Daylen possessed 4 light bonds, although due to his inexperience with these powers, he did not know how to specialize with these bonds. He could stack up to 4 bonds on any attribute, achieving a level 4 bond, while Archknights who specialized could achieve level 9 bonds with only 3 bonds. With enough practice, Daylen could eventually best these with ease. Despite the objective superiority to other Lightbinders because of his 4th bond, he still has limitations to his powers. He cannot sustain continuous channeling of all 4 bonds any longer than one hour at a time, and any attempt at bonding a mental attribute causes him incredibly painful headaches.

Over the course of the Fourth Night, in many battles against the Shade, Daylen became an accomplished swordsman. At some point he earned the rank of Grand High Master of the sword, making him one of the greatest sword fighters alive. After his physique was restored to its peak, not only were his sword skills revitalized when his body's aging was reversed, combined with his Lightbinding abilities to strengthen particular physical attributes, Daylen's sword skills could exceed well-beyond superhuman capabilities.

Independently from his Lightbinder powers, Daylen can also utilize Lightsensing to feel the presence of others around him, loosely gauge their relative "goodness", and also detect the use of powers. This can make sneaking up on Daylen very difficult, so long as he is actively Lightsensing.

By his own admission, Daylen lacks any talent for cooking and singing.

## **Personality**

Daylen is fiercely proud and self-determined, above all else. He abhors cowardice of any kind, such that despite his wish to die, he will refuse to give up and allow his death to come easily. Even when he finds himself in a nigh-inescapable deadly situation, if he has the physical capability to somehow overcome his circumstances, no matter how badly he may wish to succumb to them, then his pride demands that he *must* fight to survive. He actively recognizes this contradictory tendency in himself, which others accuse of being mere delusion to placate his ego.

As part of Daylen's incredible pride, he hates being corrected, even if he knows he is truly wrong. Admitting fault comes with great difficulty to Daylen, and his apologies come off rude and condescending as a result.

In general he is quick to anger, and resorts to foul language and petty insults to get his point across when incensed. His anger also clouds his judgement, leading him to frequently regret his own actions and statements after he has regained his composure. Daylen has a particularly sharp tongue, and a penchant for overusing foul language when he is in a bad mood. Even in the company of others with more modesty, being asked *politely* to refrain from cursing merely inflames Daylen's temper and causes him to curse more!

He has a grating sense of humor, as he enjoys making jokes at others' expense, although he's not above insulting himself in turn. He dislikes humor which takes the form of word play or puns, as Ahrek's and Blackheart's penchants for both earned Daylen's displeasure. He predominantly favors gallows humor and pointing out situational irony for his amusement.

As evidenced by his many deeds as Emperor during his reign, Daylen can bitterly hold a grudge for a long time. Even long after any consequence, decades after his deposition, he held an intense grudge against the Delavian Dukes, enough to besmirch them in his memoirs just to snub them.

As a result of his long life, Daylen has taken to referring to everyone around him (since few have lived to his age) derisively according to their age. He usually calls others "kid" to denote his seniority over them, even if they are middle-aged adults, or elderly individuals much younger than himself. This causes much confusion and leads to awkward interactions when his physical appearance looks younger than those he is belittling.

Due to his decades spent isolated in exile, as well as thanks to his advanced age, he has adopted the curious habit of talking aloud to himself, even addressing his own body parts as if they were separate individuals to himself. This habit somewhat diminishes when he is in the company of others, but when alone, his thoughts and observations are frequently spoken rather than held internally.

By far Daylen's most dangerous personality trait is his ability to justify or excuse certain actions. At its most harmless, he excuses his rude behavior as a consequence of personal taste or habits he is unwilling to break. But at its worst, he is able to construct elaborate explanations for why mass-slaughter may be justified. He can compartmentalize his thoughts so that the truth of his actions, which would stop him if he recognized them, won't impede his indulging himself in the moment. Even after seeking redemption for his crimes, he retains this tendency, as he quickly dismisses his enemies' pleas for mercy while reminding himself of their own evils to excuse (and even encourage) *his* brutality towards *them*. Most of his crimes as the tyrant ruler of the Dawn Empire were a direct consequence of these tendencies. His capacity for self-delusion is not unlimited, as when the evidence of the truth is presented before him in inescapable clarity, he cannot deny them, usually resulting in feelings of intense despair out of remorse for his actions.

Despite his many personality faults, Daylen believes strongly in justice being carried out, and after years of reflection on his life, when he realized he had been done much wrong, he truly believed he deserved punishment for his deeds. Regardless of the heroic acts he performed in the past or after his revival, he believed that he deserved to be put to justice. This also carries over to others he deems to be evil or merely predatory, as he is swift to carry out justice of his own against them. His guilt and regret are genuine, however his overwhelming pride will impede him from taking the most direct action to receive justice (turning himself over to the authorities), as he believes that the magnitude of his crimes can never be paid through imprisonment or execution, and that living for as long as possible in misery, he believes, is the only proper punishment he deserves.

Daylen is naturally inquisitive and loves to hypothesize and experiment to test his hypotheses. He has a reckless streak where, in spite of recognizing the dangers of certain actions, he is eager to push safety boundaries, even if it means endangering himself, just to satiate his curiosity.

He is also a pragmatist, believing that weapons used in duels should be practical in battle outside of duels, particularly against the Shade. He strongly dislikes rapiers for this reason, as they are relatively useless against the Shade, but they make for excellent dueling weapons thanks to their reach. He really, *really* hates rapiers!

## **History**

(To be added)

**War Hero, The Fourth Night**

 (To be added)

**Rise to Power, The First Rebellion**

(To be added)

**Empire Wars and Guild Wars**

(To be added)

**First World War of Tellos and the Second Rebellion**

(To be added)

**Exile and Guilt**

(To be added)

**Rebirth and Redemption**

(To be added)

## **The Conqueror's Bastards**

One of Daylen's most heinous crimes was taking advantage of hundreds of women over the course of his reign, usually against their will. He wished to indulge in the company of women, and he didn't enjoy the services of prostitutes, preferring virgins for their "purity" instead. His desire for companionship was confused by many as a wish for a bride, both by his own citizens as well as his allies, including the Head Matriarch of Frey, Quallandra. Daylen actually disliked the thought of anyone growing attached to him, so he would discard these girls as soon as they showed such signs of fondness or attachment toward him, often to their great heartbreak at the abandonment.

While the first girls happily flocked to Daylen willingly, after many were subjected to humiliating acts if not physical and mental abuse from his perverted delights before being discarded in favor of new, younger conquests, the willingness of girls was gradually replaced with fear at being selected to be his newest concubine.

In order to provide girls for the Emperor's physical needs when they were less willing to volunteer, his servants resorted to threats and extortion to force many girls to comply. Though Daylen never commanded his retainers bring him girls by force, the culture of obedience-or-death which he had fostered directly led to their actions of forcing unwilling girls into his bed. Most justified these actions on the grounds that a happy Emperor might mean a happy Empire. In spite of the fact that he usually noticed the fear upon their faces, Daylen actively avoided considering the thought that these girls might not be willing participants, and simply excused their expressions as the result of sexual inexperience.

Due to the trauma of losing his family to the former Queen's assassins, Daylen did not wish to have any more children. So he took measures to have his concubines take contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. While he believed these measures to be successful, unbeknownst to Daylen, many of these girls fell pregnant shortly before he discarded them for someone new to bed. The fact that their ruler had fathered numerous bastard children was an open secret in the palace, even as he himself was totally unaware of this, as several servants from the palace helped to pay for the living arrangements for several of his former-lovers and his children after they were thrown out of the palace.

The number of bastard children Daylen fathered throughout his reign was never confirmed, though the number of women he had raped in that time was eventually counted as high as 427 separate individuals.

Decades after being overthrown, Daylen would eventually meet several of his bastards. First encountering Captain Blackheart while traveling close to the pirate-infested Floating Isles, after initially denying the existence of any bastard children, despite Blackheart's boasts of being the Conqueror's bastard, Daylen would eventually accept the possibility, and realized the truth that he had fathered many children when he discovered irrefutable evidence. Out of guilt for possibly creating new tyrants like himself and Blackheart, as well as hope that some of them may have turned out good, Daylen desired to seek out and meet his children. He would get the chance to see many, though not all of them in Highdawn in the senate.

Daylen's bastard children range in age from their young 20s to middle aged, several of whom wore the uniforms of the national guards as well as the mantle of Archknights. This seemed to confirm Daylen's suspicions that at least some of them had turned out good, if they had Archknights among them.

## **Trivia**

* A lot of elements of Daylen's previous life were inspired by such historical figures like Joseph Stalin and Genghis Khan.
* Daylen shares two of his nicknames with William I of England (Known as 'the Bastard' and later 'the Conqueror' after the Norman conquest of England)
* He will be portrayed by Dawson Ehlke in the short film by Productions Diratia.

## **Appearances**

* **Shadow of the Conqueror** (first appearance)
* Shadow of the Conqueror *(Graphic Novel adaptation)*
	+ *Enemies of Self*
* Shadow of the Conqueror *(Short movie)*