Voidwatcher

*“Nostalgia was like a disease, one that crept in and stole the color from the world and the time you lived in. Made for bitter people. Dangerous people, when they wanted back what never was.”*

-Voidwatcher

## Early Life

Voidwatcher was born in Nadezhda under the name Tiovonen to a family of travelers who journeyed east, and settled in Arendur. His mother died on the voyage, and his father, a soldier who joined the Arendurian Army, died shortly afterward, in the wars with Guilddon. Their child was taken in as a ward of the state, where he was given an education. At that point, he applied to study as a wizard, only to be miserably disappointed to learn that he lacked the talent to harness arcane magic, or the piety to receive power from the gods. Determined to force the arcane to his will, he took a job in the library, reading all he could about different branches of magic. When the city was plunged into the past, Tiovonen was assigned the task of researching the Paradax entities from the twelfth dimension. He took to this task with vigor and energy, but along the way, he discovered a portal that dragged him beyond the third dimension, into the realm of a draconic being formed of stars. He was nearly annihilated by the dragon before the mages of Arendur managed to bring him back. His soul nearby destroyed, and his body and mind corrupted by the energies of the void, he underwent a painful process of reconstruction that used components both biological and mechanical. Awakened with his memories tattered but his will hardened, he was determined to fight on. His experience had bestowed upon him powers granted by the void itself, powers he had sought during his wizard training yet never been able to master. Knowing that he needed guidance on the limits and subtleties of his newfound powers, he took a voyage to the Arctic Time Temple, and met with Lord Frazon, before begging him to teach him what he knew of the Kineticist’s arts. Frazon accepted, under the condition that Voidwatcher use his powers in the service of the human race, and the advancement of Tolumvire’s vision for Arendur and the world. Voidwatcher accepted, finishing his training with Frazon, and committing himself to the teachings of the Illuminated, although he did not go so far as to join the Cabal. When news came of Arendur’s fall, and Tolumvire’s exile, Voidwatcher returned as quickly as he could, to help his people in any way necessary.

## Service in the Illuminated

Voidwatcher, a kineticist and soldier in the Arendurian Army, begins his search for power and recognition in post-Tolumvire Arendur. On his own initiative, he travels underground to the dwarven communities that live in the mountains hear Oranor. He presents himself as speaking on behalf of Arendur, and speaks about improving relations and trade between the two nations. He is received favorably, for those in Arendur have a tendency to ignore the underground folk in favor of the elves. The only man to visit them was Tolumvire himself, who the dwarves found him insincere and self-serving. Voidwatcher stays for a time in the underground, visiting various dwarven communities and aquanting himself with their ways and what they might have to offer. When he returns to the surface world, he attracts the notice of the enigmatic Master of the Illuminated, the Doppelganger. The Doppelganger takes Voidwatcher under his wing, making him a member of the Illuminated and assigning him to a team investigating a growing formation of solid clouds that have formed above Arendur. Voidwatcher and one of the team’s leaders go above the clouds in an aircraft, where they find curious flora and fauna. They take samples and return, and Voidwatcher is surprised and revolted to find his commander eating parts of what appears to be a sentient block of cloud. He presents his reports, along with his doubts about the commander. The Doppelganger praises his work, and redacts all complaints about the superior officer without explanation. Voidwatcher asks for a chance to lead his own squad, which the Doppelganger grants. Voidwatcher finds two gunners, diviner, a gnome with extraordinary vision, a shield wielder, and two particular unusual individuals. The first was Davin, an otherwise ordinary soldier who had gotten his hands on the Black Blade of Disaster, a unique and devastating weapon capable of cutting through any substance. The second was none other than Princess Jang, heir of the old empire, who had been eager to leave Oranor and adventure. Access to such a powerful individual pricked Voidwatcher’s ambition, and he began to think about how he could make use of her. On their mission, they explore the solid cloud formations further, before encountering a colossal dragon devouring sections of the cloud. They report back to Oranor, and discover that the dragon has followed them, and now looms over the city. The War Council is convened, and Voidwatcher, as the squad leader who witnessed the dragon first, is allowed to attend and present his findings. Many of the army’s top brass favor a peremptory strike against the dragon, as the city lacks a credible method of defending against it were it too attack. Doctor Curtin, who is in attendance, states that he could facilitate such a strike, but that the costs would be great and potentially devastating. Worried about the turn of events, Voidwatcher steals away, flying his aircraft up to the dragon. Reasoning with it, he convinces it to leave, stating that its presence frightens the people of Oranor, and that only devastation will follow if it remains. The dragon agrees to leave, and Voidwatcher returns. The Doppelganger summons him, and reveals that he has been scrying on him. He states that he respects Voidwatcher’s actions only because they were successful - they would have been reckless and treasonous had he failed. The Doppelganger arranges for Voidwatcher to help Jotunheim and his mages with a project they have been working on in the Tower of the Illuminated - the alternation of the human species. Voidwatcher is offered a chance to determine the course of human evolution is he volunteers as an experiment. Many humans had already been experimented upon, with varying results. Voidwatcher agrees, and makes the choice to give humans superior vision, including the ability to sense magic, make them faster, and give them a little bit of control over fate. He survives the transformation, and Jotunheim, pleased with the choice, decides to perform the transportation on other citizens of Oranor. Voidwatcher and his squad continue to explore the clouds, and find that the solid plane of clouds has nearly formed a ceiling above Oranor, and that pillars from it are beginning to descend to the ground. They search for the source, and while they do not find it, their hunt takes them far north, to Xiclotl - a great domed city and the home to the second throne. Seemingly impregnable, they are able to enter when Davin cuts his way through with the Black Blade of Disaster. They find the throne at the center, and Voidwatcher sits upon it. It greatly empowers his kinetic powers over the void. Satisfied with his find, Voidwatcher brings the squad back to Arendur. He does not report his journey to Xiclotl, and decides to abandon his search for the source of the solid cloud. Instead, he convinces Jang to accompany him to Ragnarok. Voidwatcher knew of Tolumvire’s story, and having sat upon the throne, felt himself a worthy successor to the founder of Arendur. Tolumvire was gone, exiled, and the Doppelganger and the War Council were fighting a loosing war against an inevitable decay. Arendur had lost its identity. His plan was to marry Jang to Bolgar of Ragnarok, thus reviving the empire with Bolgar as emperor. Thus the Great Crusade could begin anew, with Oranor and Ragnarok as the jewels of the new empire. Xiclotl could be conquered, and the ruins of old Arendur could be reclaimed. On the way, the two get into several fights against monsters, leaving Voidwatcher wounded. They nonetheless make it, and slip into Ragnarok, but find that there is no particular prejudice against them. They stay with a local family, and as Voidwatcher gets a better measure of Jang, he begins to have doubts about giving her over to Bolgar. He also begins to realize that not only does he have no real control over her, she is far shrewder then he assumed, and has a greater hold over him then he first assumed. Voidwatcher visits the Church of Hermod and arranges an audience with Bolgar the next day, and returns to rest at the house of the family he was staying with. He wakes up the next morning to find Jang gone without a trace. He cannot pretend to be surprised by her absence, but is surprised to realize that his dismay comes more from her absence then from his plan to marry her to Bolgar being ruined. In fact, he was more relieved then he could possibly know. Jang had left the aircraft behind, so Voidwatcher had a choice - he could stay in Ragnarok, or could fly back to Oranor, or fly anywhere he else he wanted. He decided to plan carefully. His opportunities were as great as risks, although of course, he did not know the full reason for Jang’s departure. Tolumvire had returned.

## Personality

Relentlessly ambitious. Voidwatcher had an eye towards the future, and saw himself playing a grand role in it. His talents were considerable, but he tended to overestimate them. He was an effective but problematic soldier who perused outside-the-box solutions and acted in the cause of his own advancement. He was a genuine Arendurian patriot, committed to the cause of mankind and to the Great Crusade. A natural leader, he nonetheless carried a chip on his shoulder due to his inability to master arcane magic, and due to his injuries from the void, which he felt had rendered him something less than human. Much of his quest for power, fame, and glory had as such to do with a personal absolution as it did with any philosophical goal.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

Voidwatcher had been in Ragnarok at the start of the war, keeping an eye on Princess Jang. With the outset of the war, he returned to the Tower, offering his services to Jotunheim. Though he was distrusted, Jotunheim made him Master of the Word, a title he saw as unimportant, and gave him a position of command the troops dispatched to the First World, with Grundelthum Sunder as his second-in-command. Voidwatcher would serve with distinction, and afterward, Jotunheim would him back to Ragnarok to keep an eye on Princess Jang, and serve as his liaison to King Bolgar. Voidwatcher would come to see that Jotunheim simply wanted him out from under his skin, and that his title meant nothing to either the King or any of his subjects, and worse still, that Jang had disappeared. Voidwatcher would be recalled to New Arendur after the heist, for all hands were needed on deck.

## After the War

*“Yes, gather your disaffected, ignorant fools, then. Fill their heads with the noble glory of a non-existent past, then send them out with their eyes blazing in stupid - but comforting - fervor. And this will begin our new golden age, an exultation in the pleasures of repression and tyrannical control over the lives of everyone. Hail the mighty King in Yellow, the god who brooks no dissent.”*

-Voidwatcher

Initially, Voidwatcher was present for the war against the Reich, and fought in the Siege of New Arendur, earning himself a dark reputation amongst the Hexenjägers for his mastery of the dark beyond, which cut so well through their defenses. During the war, Voidwatcher drafted a secret letter to Shorden Hiem, which would have offered surrender in return for sparing the lives of some of the Illuminated. Key to his hypothetical offer was the suggestion that since he did not fight in the Great Crusade, Arendur-Ragnarok War, or War of the Philosopher-Kings, he was free of moral culpability for the sins of the Arendurians. Despite his doubts, Voidwatcher stayed firm and never sent this letter. When the Carcosai betrayed their countrymen and led to the fall of the Tower of the Illuminated, he was sent forth by Tan Blackhand to negotiate surrender terms. He was well-prepared. During his war crime trial, he put forth the letter as evidence that he was worthy of sympathy. He earned the scorn of both Illuminated and Hexenjägers alike, casting himself as a shifty, wavering opportunist who spent the war trying to see which way the wind was blowing. He was the first of the three Masters of the Illuminated to be executed. With his last words, he told his countrymen to submit to the Reich, warning of the dangers of ruinous nostalgia. When he was executed, his blood was as black and foul as tar, sickening his executioners. In time, some of his former compatriots would see him and his damning letter in a better light, remembering him as a flawed yet genuine patriot whose naked ambition was wrapped up with a genuine concern for the well-being of the Arendurian people.