Paradigm Concepts

[Nierite]

Thought I would start putting in a little in character fluff for public consumption. I am a huge fan of in-character backstories for characters, so I thought I would share mine:


Greetings to you all, my name is Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, and I am a child of the Gods. I was born in Nova Cormata in the year 1052 as the second child and only son to Victoria val'Emman and Marcus Octavian val'Virdan. My mother was the daughter of Haakon val'Emman, a Holy Judge of Nier who fled Canceri when the forces of the Sword of the Heavens discovered his heritage, and his wife Julia Tullo, a Coryani native of Empebyn who converted to the worship of Nier after it was made lawful again in the Empire. My father was Marcus Octavian val'Virdan, a Patrician and son of Brutus Octavian val'Virdan, a former General of the Legion of Blazing Judgement. I have two sisters, the older Attia val'Virdan, awoke to her heritage at the age of sixteen and is now a Sword Sage in my home Province. My younger sister, Julia, is presently being raised by my parents, but has not shown the same bent towards our Lord as my Attia and myself, preferring the comfortable lifestyle of a Coryani Patrician.

Growing up, it was learned that with both parents having the Divine Heritage of Nier, our family is also strong with divine heritage. Manifesting the powers gifted by our Lord at a young age, we found that we were able to channel even more of our divine power than other val'Virdan or val'Emmans. When I was but fourteen years of age, I was set (as is tradition among the Nierites of Canceri) on the Coming of Age Ceremony where I survived for three whole months in the wastes of Nova Cormata. It was at that point, in the eyes of my family and society that I became a Man. That very same year, I heard the call of the Gods when I was brought to Grand Coryan and heard the Most Holy words of our Matriarch Elandre' val'Assante', who was touched by Illiir himself.

From that point forward, I knew that I would give myself wholly to the Gods. However, while being trained in Temple, I came to see that while my training with the clerisy of Nier was important, I felt that it was incomplete. To be trained in the worship of only one of the Twelve seems to me to be like learning to fight with only one hand, or see with only one eye. Though I was very skilled at the arts of Nier, my instructors did were concerned that I would not be able to finish my training with such a crisis of faith.

It was then that, as if granted by the Gods themselves, all became clear to me. While Holy, the worship of the Gods espoused by the Mother Church itself is but a shadow of the glories of the original worship of the Gods from before the War of the Gods and even the First Imperium. During these times, all of the Gods were worshipped equally by all, and during this time did Humanity reach its Golden Age. Our Mother Matriarch knows this, and is trying to return us to the path of Paradise that Illiir originally created for us before Neroth committed his sin of jealously and brought evil into the world. As such, I pledge myself to her cause of reform in the Church, bringing us back to the path to the gods!

I have embraced all the Gods, for they make me a better person, and a better warrior. From Neroth I am granted a body from which to interact with the world, while Beltine provides me the Soul which ties me to the Gods. Sarish has granted me the blood which keeps me alive, while his mother Larissa provides me the eyes from which I see the world. From Althares I gain the wisdom to choose my battles carefully, while Cadic grants me the determination to do what must be done. Hurrian and Anshar grant me the temperance and charity to fulfill my races mission as protectors to all of mankind, be they prince or pauper. Saluwe' and Yarris provide the fuel I need to fulfill my missions and the world in which to do it in, while Illiir is the Perfection which we all aspire. However, beneath all of this is for me the most important part of me granted by the Gods. From Nier, the patron of my family on both sides, I gain my Heart and my Passion. Without these, I cannot fulfill the mission for which the Vals were created. I cannot throw myself into battle to protect my Church and my fellow Man. It is through his fires and his quest for justice that I serve. While I am consecrated as a Priest in his name, however, I am a child of all of the Gods.

And it is this passion which has driven me north to the Milandesian Crusade. Though flawed as it is by the compromises made by Vesiti val'Assante' all those centuries ago, the Mother Church of Coryan is still the brightest light of the Gods upon Onara. However, while Coryan was still reeling from the Civil War wrought by the forces of the Pride of Illiir, the Heretic Sabinus val'Assante' severed the people of Milandir from our Church, denying them the salvation of the Paradise of the Gods. Preying upon their prejudices against the Cancerese people and their own heresies, Sabinus declared that three of the Gods--Sarish, Neroth, and Nier--to be but minor beings unworthy of the worship of the Milandesian peoples. In doing this, he has broken one of the most sacred commandments granted by Illiir himself to Humanity in "The Illuminated Perfection", that being "Give unto every God His due." Without proper worship of these gods, how can the innocent, if misguided people of that lost province of Coryan hope to be granted entry into the Illiir's paradise?

However, all is not lost. The people of Milandir have simply been lead astray from the light of Illiir by the False-Prophet Sabinus. While those who rule there, such as King Osric, may yet be damned for their embracing of Sabinus' heresy for political gain, the common people may yet still be saved. As such, I have come to the Crusade to save the souls of these people, and to defend them from the harm that comes from the Unsealed Lands. Because of the narrow-minded hatred of My Lord, I must show them the proper worship of the Gods through my own actions. As such, I vow to help any who unjustly feel the whip of the unjust. I vow to give myself to save the lives of my fellow man on the battlefield so they may yet live to recant their heresies. I vow to become an Avatar of the Gods themselves, in hopes of one day burning away the false beliefs in the Gods so that only the proper worship as granted by Illiir will persevere upon Onara.
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Cody Bergman

aka = Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Priest of Nier (Divine 1.
aka = Dyabe val'Abebi, Templar of Althares (Divine 1.3)
aka = Jorma Ostoman, Battlemage of the Coryani Empire (Arcane 1.2)

[Duzy]

After taking a pull from his tankard and slamming the head of his Tralian Hammer on the floor, Duzy replies; "To many words! I've come to fight these infernal beasts for no man should live beside them free, or under them as a slave." Grinning and taking yet another pull from his tankard, Duzy lets out a billowing laugh.
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Duzy 1.3 Beat Stick
Nabara 1.1 Berokene Elder Sorcerers Apprentice

[Nierite]

My Child, I agree that we shall not allow ourselves to be beholden to the Infernal beings as slaves. However, should the beasts strike at Coryan once more they shall be turned just as the Honored First Emperor did a thousand years ago!

However, it appears that the Emperor has decided to, at this time anyway, leave much of the fighting to the Apostates in Milandir. Be this as a way to punish them for their battles against Mother Coryan or to rid ourselves of their heresy, I cannot say. However, the more of them I can save, the better.
_________________
Cody Bergman

aka = Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Priest of Nier (Divine 1.
aka = Dyabe val'Abebi, Templar of Althares (Divine 1.3)
aka = Jorma Ostoman, Battlemage of the Coryani Empire (Arcane 1.2)

[Nierite]

An Update to my character, based on further thought/New rule possibilities. . .

Haakon Marcus val'Virdan was born the second child and only boychild to Victoria val'Emman and and Marcus Octavian val'Virdan in the year 1049 IC in the newly reestablished Province of Novo Cormata [NOTE: Not sure where yet, but until something else comes up I'm going to say he was born in a rebuilt Kofan]. Haakon is descended from an established Coryani Patrician Imperialis family on his Father's side, with his Grandfather Octavian Caius val'Virdan serving as a General in the Legion of Blazing Judgement following Emperor Calcestus' resestablishing the worship of Nier in the Empire. His mother's side, however, is descended from Cancerese refugees which fled the Theocracy during the Erdukeen occupation when their val'Emman bloodline was considered tainted. Haakon's maternal Grandfather, also named Haakon, was the brother of the famed Cancerese hero Nils val'Emman who fought at the Battle of Grand Coryan and was connected to the fabled "Champions of Light."

Haakon's family met during the movement of the Coryani Nierite population from Valentia and Illonia to Cormata. The daughter of a Holy Judge of Nier, Victoria val'Emman also decided to join the clergy of Nier though never progressed further than an acolyte of that sect. Using the pull of his family his father, Marcus Octavian val'Virdan, was appointed to be one of [KOFAN?]'s Patrician Councellors while his older brother Crastus became a new Senator for the region. The two met during the dedication of the new Temple of Burning Judgement in the city, with Marcus being taken by the beauty of the young Victoria. Despite his family's objections over marrying to a val'Emman, they were married in 1040 IC in a small but lavish ceremony.

Together they had three children, Aria val'Virdan (born 1045 IC), Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, and Julia val'Emman (born 1052 IC). Under the influence of their Cancerese Grandfather, both Aria and Haakon chafed under the pampared luxury of a Coryani patrician, always getting into trouble both together and separately. In fact, again at their Grandfather Haakon's insistance, both demanded to go through the Nierite custom of Manhood where they were sent into the wastes of Nova Cormata and forced to survive on their own merits. When Aria returned from her journey into the wilderness at age 16, it was found that she had awakened to her heritage becoming Psionic. She was then placed under the care and fostership of the greater val'Virdan family to train her in her gifts, eventually becoming a Sword Sage.

Seeing his Sister's success, Haakon also insisted on taking his own Trial of Manhood. Having trained for years in the ways of survival in the wastes, Haakon found it fairly easy-going until a massive storm blew off the Sea of Coryan. Taking shelter in a small cave to wait out the storm, an errant bolt of Hurrian's lightning struck near the cave, collapsing the entrance. Trapped with barely the room to wiggle his feet, Haakon dug himself out of the cave over the next four days, emerging bloody and dehydrated, and scarred by the experience. To this day, Haakon has issues with enclosed spaces.

Not feeling any great love of an Emperor he considered weak (partially due to his unwillingness to deal with his nephew Calmemnon's crimes which had proliferated through the Patrician grapevine), Haakon struggled to find his way in the world after his manhood was confirmed. It was not until a trip with his parents to the Capitol of Grand Coryan where Haakon heard the words of the most Holy Mother Matriarch of the Coryani Church, the unaging Elandre' val'Assante', that he found his path. Instantly stricken by the charismatic (and still very beautiful) Elandre', Haakon insisted that his parents allow him to join the clergy of the Mother Church at age 17. While his Father had hoped that he would take after him and go into politics, he could not deny Haakon after seeing the fires of Nier burning in his desire.

In the three years that Haakon was an acolyte of the Church of Nier in Cormata, he found that while he excelled in a number of areas (principly languages and the learning of the Cants of Nier), he continued to struggle to find himself. Unhappy with the one-sided teaching of Nier over the other Gods of the Pantheon, Haakon began rebelling against his instructors, earning him many beatings.

One night, Haakon receieved a dream of a Valinor of Nier bearing the Holy Sceptor of Illiir come to him and explain that what he felt was perfectly natural, and that there would come a time when the Gods would once again walk among the people like they did in the time of paradise, and that with them would come a renewed, unified Church of the Pantheon like in the days of the First Imperium. In actuality, this dream was implanted in him by one of his instructors, a Psionically awakened member of the Orthodoxy of the Mother Church organization. However, whatever the source, Haakon dove back into his studies with renewed vigour, become an Initiate by the age of 20.

Now, with his vestments given to him, he has decided that it is time to spread the word, the TRUE word of the Gods to the benighted peoples of Onara. Seeing the Milandesians as the first test of his mission to bring about the reunited Pantheon worship, he journied to the Milandesian Crusade to show them, by his own pious example, that not only are Nierites not evil like they claim, but that the tenants of the Mother Church were infinately better than the lecherous ways of the Heretic, Sabinus val'Assante'.

[Will edit and expand when I have more time. Also, include a picture as one of my friends said she'd draw one up for me ]
_________________
Cody Bergman

aka = Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Priest of Nier (Divine 1.
aka = Dyabe val'Abebi, Templar of Althares (Divine 1.3)
aka = Jorma Ostoman, Battlemage of the Coryani Empire (Arcane 1.2)