Myr

In the fantasy book, "*The Trinity Throne*", the Myr (*f/m/pl*) are a race of water-dwelling people, akin to mermen/mermaids. They are characterized by pale-blue skin, water-breathing gills, webbed hands and feet, dark spherical eyes, and fangs. They feed on mostly fish and seaweed, and swim incredibly fast. A Myr cannot survive long in open air. Their fangs carry the Myrdom poison, which, if bitten, will infect the blood and mutate a Man into a Myr through a painful and irreversible transformation. Myr are otherwise infertile and cannot reproduce healthy offspring on their own; most children are stillborn or emerge with great physical deformities that results in a young death. Efforts to reverse the effects of the poison are being studied by apothecaries who believe the Myr race can be permanently cured.

Myr are somewhat animalistic and uncivilised in nature. The Nordlandics and Vaykians both consider them dangerous pests that must be avoided while near any body of water. The Myr enjoy living in shallow, warmer waters, lagoons, lakes, and coral reefs (however, they must risk capture or slaughter), but some can also survive in deep, cold oceans (safer, but with less food available). Freshwater and seawater Myr have slightly differing skin gradients, eye and scale colours, and speak their "sea songs" in different pitches. The Myr are not organised into a single kingdom, but their overall occupation of the surrounding seas and waters is collectively know as the **Myrden**. Small colonies live together in coral or rock dens, with little unionisation between colonies. Oon is the unofficial capital of Myrden, located in the coral reefs of the Tjorstaads.

The Trinity Throne has only been held once before by a Myr, Shuragi, which resulted in a chaotic event known as the **Great Drowning**. Since, Nordlandics (and, passively, the Vaykians) have actively worked to prevent to the Myr from participating in the race for the throne again, most effectively by genocide.

## The Great Decent

Much like the the Great Ascent, the parted Thaelfasians from Men, the Great Decent describes the separation of Myr from Men. According to historians, the Nordlandic throne king of the 5th Century, Aiger Kass, wished to get rid of the Dodaanic monks and religious followers that were preaching their false god throughout his kindgom (during an era when the modern Pantheon had already been installed). To rid his land of them, the king offered the followers a ship and safe passage to Varkrona, where their kind was more tollerated, however, once at sea, the captain and crew secretly abandoned the ship in the dead of night, leaving them stranded and without navigation or food to survive the cold Tjor Sea. When the situation became dire, the doomed passengers all resorted to cannibalism and drinking seawater. They preyed to Dodaan to spare them. He answered by transforming them into horrid water-dwelling creatures, who then sank into the seas and went to seek out those who betrayed them in a violent hunt for others lost at sea and unsuspecting people living near lakes and rivers.

The Myr are considered an angry, vengeful kind, and while the Vaykians do not need to fear them, the Nordlandics have built great sea fortresses, armoured ships, and trained sea scavengers to hunt down Myr and protect their people from them.

## The Myr & the Trinity Throne

**First Crossing**

The Myr participated in the First Crossing to Fjorgallahar. Their champion, Umyami, was not of any royal decent (since none exist amongst the Myr), but instead chosen by a competition amongst Myr known as Ir Ra Few, held in an underground collesseum in the large underwater city of Oon. Unfortunately, Umyami perished when she was thrust into the sharp, hidden rocks of the Trappenfjords when the powerful tide overcame her. The honour then came to the second-placing champion, Maguo, but he feared for his life, and so the third-placing champion, Atsut, took up the challenge when the Trillian Tide came. Unfortunately, she lost the race to Alod of Thael, but was nonetheless honoured as a brave champion of Myrden.

**Shuragi & the Great Drowning**

The only Myr to have ever claimed the Trinity Throne was Shuragi, during the 3rd Century. Her win was unnexpected, and the Nordlandics and Vaykians refused to recognise her new authority, despite her legitimate win. Once crowned the Throne Queen, Shuragi claimed to have been blessed with several spectacular powers, given to her by the throne's mystical energy. She spontaneously gained the power of fertility, and was said to have given live birth to *twelve dozen* Myr children. In order to feed them, Shuragi raised the tides, summoned tsunamis, and flooded the lowlands across all of Allgardt in an event ominously called the **Great Drowning**. Her children, like a plague of locusts, swept across fishing villages and swampy areas and devoured the flesh of humans. These small, terrifying, demonic spawn were unrelenting in their hunger, and would drag unsuspecting people into the waters by their ankles to drown and eat them. The Myr celebrated the beginning of an era in which their kind finally would have power, respect, and the resources they needed to survive. Shuragi even attempted to unify all Myr to organize armies, monachies, and build fortified cities across the world.

Shuragi was a growing threat to the Nordlands, and as Men's efforts to fight back began to wane, they begged the Vaykians for assistance. Generously, the Vaykians allowed the use of their elite warriors, the Astrals, who flew down from the skies to fend off the Myr and drive them back into the oceans. This effort was successful; the Astrals and the Nordlandic armies overcame Shuragi's forces and usurped her after plunging a spear into her heart. Spontaneously, her spawn also died, and the Myr - once again without a leader - were forced back into the sea. Myr were slaughtered in their many thousands, and centuries on, their kind are still actively hunted down by the Nordlandics. No Myr has participated in the race to Fjorgallahar since (due to the efforts of Men to prevent them from doing do), and Myr are now facing a slow extinction by extermination, destruction of their colonies, and the inability to repopulate themselves. While Oon still remains as the pseudo-capital of Myrden, it holds no political power, and the Ir Ra Few has faded into nothing more than local amusement for its dwellers.

## Modern Myrden

Currently, there are more Myr in Allgardt than any other species, but they are still regarded as a pest and efforts are still made to keep a Myr from obtaining the Trinity Throne. In Holmestaad, which has the largest populations of Myr in their surrounding waters, a devious plan has come underway by General Axim Vanderholt to rid the world of the Myr kind by genocide. Vanderholt has been pleading endlessly with his chief and the Reinhardts to take the Myr plague seriously but it seemed like wasted efforts. He began leading a private army to capture Myr, imprison them, torture them, poison their waters and food supplies, and try to find "cures" for their poison. One of his counterparts is an apothecary, Mosseus, who is leading the fight to find a medicine to reverse the Myr poison. The Myr do not have the collective power to really stop Vanderholt, so they have begun hiding and fleeing from the coastal regions. This has left many without the food and sunlight needed to keep them healthy.

While the physique and health of the Myr dwindle, they still attempt to hold their yearly competition within the Colosseum of Oon, called Ir Ra Few, which chooses the next throne heir amongst the challengers. Queen Iyakana has become increasingly worried about the health of her people. While her court has largely been focused on how to approach the Nordlandics and Vaykians diplomatically to come to a truce, Iyakana wants to fight back against the genocide being perpetrated by Vanderholt's men. They do not have any warriors, though, to lead that fight.

When Iyakana learns of a new "Champion of the Myr" taking charge somewhere in Holmestaad, she seeks out to find him, only to discover that is a Norldandic named Gunter.