Jerilath

Jerilath, circa 210

> "Mordus chose me to live again; to try and pay for my sins. I know I never can, but I must try." - **Jerilath**
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**Jerilath Gutraidh** (b. ??) was an Astarian chemist during the Astarian war of aggression and a priest of mordus from 199 onwards. He is responsible for producing the Mearani anesthetic and, more importantly, the Mergi gas used at the Battle of Osoweic.

## Biography

#### Early Life

Jerilath was born the sixth son of an infamous Astarian priest on the northern provinces of Astaria by the sea. Once he left mass early to chase a cat that was outside the church, in retaliation his father beat him severely with a cane for his impiety.

#### Making the Gas

After earning his degree in chemistry, he would be hired by the Almaekth company that was producing non-conventional medicine for the people of Astaria. It was Jerilath and his peers that spearheaded a type of gas that would cause the patient to fall asleep until the gas had been cleared from their system. In time the scientists would discover this gas however testing on humans and the potency of the gas was yet to be tried. Before this could take place, however, Almaekth was bought out by the Astarian military intending to use these new medicines on wounded soldiers.

Their first order was to increase the potency of the gas in an effort to make soldiers fall asleep at the post, intended to "cease conflict," during the war as well as fortify the body so that little harm can be done to them. They faced a few errors, including the heavy production of several byproducts that were impossible to get rid of. The military, under general Minarach, wanted a more slimline product that produced little byproducts and side-effects. After rigorous testing, the six scientists were invited to the front line to see their product end the conflict personally. Upon arrival, they met with six other scientists who were forbidden from disclosing their own purposes. Jerilath and the eleven other scientist prepared the gas to be unfurled onto the Volkhard soldiers.

Jerilath would witness the Battle of Osoweic in its entirety, watching as their gas intending to make soldiers sleep soundly turned men into monsters. The other team, named Team-Ni, was responsible for an acidic gas that would work alongside Jerilath's own creation. After watching in horror at the Volkhard soldiers, zombified but still fighting against their own mortality. It seemed Jerilath's gas that was to empower the body whilst asleep made the body writhe in agony. Once the battle was over, the men were told to board a truck and taken to the nearest town where they would spend the night.

The twelve scientists were brought into the meeting room where they ate breakfast that morning. The discussion was non-existent as each men tried to rationalize their own creation. To Jerilath, what had intended to be a product for peace and safety had been abused to the opposite. The doors were locked, the windows sealed and slowly the gas seeped into their own room. Jerilath found himself coughing blood but, thinking quickly, he remembered that a gas mask had been hidden in one set of cupboards in the event that Volkhard bombing would set the building ablaze. Without pausing for a second, he strapped the mask onto his face, burning in agony from the gas; his eyes seeped with blood and in the hazed vision, he watched the eleven scientists die. Jerilath's body would begin to fail too, falling into rigor mortis that he had witnessed on the experiments on rats so long ago.

#### Transformed

His unconscious body, along with the dead scientists, were taken by Minarach to the nearby town and hung upside down for the occupied Volkhard citizens to spit on and abuse for the chaos at Osoweic. Jerilath's body managed to avoid being undetected as still alive due to his own gas slowing his heart rate to near non-existence. In time, Jerilath would rely on the gas in order for his heart beat to increase to a normal amount. After two days unconscious, the bodies were taken to be burnt at which time Jerilath awoke as the gas had been cleared from his system. As the other bodies burnt, Jerilath emerged burnt and escaped into the woods. The story of the man who rose from the dead joined the growing mythos of Osoweic and the soldiers who rose again.

For nearly a month Jerilath wandered the woods, killing fowl and deer to survive while slowly discovering his new body. The mask had melted itself onto his skin and the clothing he wore had to be removed slowly through excruciating pain. He raided a local hospital at night to sleep bandages to wrap himself into, his body was still fortified as a side-effect of the gas, leaving him half dazed and asleep most days. The man would undergo several "visions" that would change his view on the world tenfold.

He emerged near an Astarian camp and sought out medical supplies alongside the ingredients to make his own gas, so that he could regain his own body functions. In a disclosed document, he learnt that Minarach had not only killed the scientists responsible for the gas but those close to them as well as a sign of "punishment" for the mass murder at Osoweic. Knowing his large family and friends were all slain, he stole a holy book to reminisce on his father's teachings. The visions, alongside the holy text of Mordus, made him believe that Mordus had made him live as an act of penance against his own creation and that, in order to find peace, he had to end the war by killing the Astarian generals for their, "act against Mordus." With a new purpose, Jerilath began to wander Volkhard preaching Mordus and eliminating all the Astarians who had wronged the world.

#### The Lost Years

Little is known about Jerilath from 199 to 208 except extracts and locations that the man had been spotted. According to Astarian documents, he murdered captain Kermichaef in a north-western Volkhard town by ramming a pipe through his body and leaving him to die. Astaria tried their best to hide the knowledge of the monster, hiring bounty hunters to seek out Jerilath as he roamed the continent.

Eventually, with little information and many bounty hunters hot on his trail, Jerilath moved to the Hauntings beneath The Capital where he could rest, recuperate, produce more chemicals and earn a small wage selling potions and elixirs to the seedy underground. He would pick up rumours and whispers of Astarian agents and their locations, eventually leaving for Vinas in spring 210 on the knowledge of a high ranking Astarian being present under the guise of seeking rare ingredients. During the Coup of Vinas, Jerilath murdered Vivian by locking him inside a sealed room with the Mergi gas.

## Trivia

* Jerilath's favourite ice cream would be Mergi flavour, but Duke and Dimwitt's don't do that so he has the Patriotic Three (Raspberry, Cherry and Lemon)