Appearance
Fearghal is at first glance a half-elf, though has features perhaps too broad for even half-fey blood. With a large, strong frame and clear power underneath his mithral plate, when his great horned helmet is being worn he cuts an imposing figure, covered in wild vines and wielding an intimidating sword. His massive shield is somewhat odd compared to the styles favoured by humans, shaped like a kite or a teardrop, rather than the rectangular greatshield or circular standard.
While frightening with his helmet on, once it is removed one can see naught but kindness in his broad face - auburn hair flows down to his shoulders, and a beaming smile reaches up to his piercing green eyes.
Personality
At his very core, Fearghal has a love for all creation so strong that it seems to physically hurt him to see another creature in pain, regardless of if, mere moments ago, that creature was trying to kill him. As such, he spends a great deal of time healing the wounded and aiding those in need, even when doing so would cause him harm. And though he is planning a revolution that will echo through the cosmos, he refuses to kill many who are in his way, understanding that they oppose him without malice or evil.
He is also a great believer in the idea that no creature is born inherently cruel, that monsters only go down paths of evil and hatred when taught or forced into them. He famously gives every being he meets - no matter how malevolent - second, third, and even fourth chances. He shows them respect and compassion, in the naive hope that everyone can change their ways if given the choice. Sometimes he is successful, often he is not. Whenever the tragic happens and a creature refuses to stop harming others for sheer delight in their acts of cruelty or rage, Fearghal dons his helmet with tears in his eyes, and will permanently remove such an evil being from this world.
Outside of his ideals, Fearghal is a polite and affable man, though he speaks somewhat oddly compared to most, as though from a story or play. He will happily sit in conversation for hours if he can find the time, eager to learn all he can from others about how they see the world.
Abilities
"He doesn't sleep, he barely eats, and even my strongest poisons seemed to have no effect on him." - Coranvin Hun'nai, Shadowblade
Wearing a near impenetrable suit of mithral armour and weilding a large, heavy looking mithral blade, his equipment alone would be enough to win most fights. In addition to his equipment and skill with it, he is a font of natural magic; grass grows wherever he steps, the plantlife nearby animates to follow his commands, and animals are immediately calmed by his presence. He also seems to have almost complete immunity to magics, even being able to redirect offensive spells.
Finally, there are various aspects of magic that he is severed from, in theory due to him being despised by the gods:
- Immunity to divination magic, as the gods refuse to (or are unable to) look upon him.
- Unable to access most forms of teleportation. Though he has has some success with preexisting portals in the past, and The Lich King was able to use extremely powerful magic to move him around. Recently he learned how to transport via plants, teleporting from tree to tree.
- Despite mastery over potent forms of healing, Fearghal cannot resurrect anyone from the dead, for Haroch has barred his realm to this man.
In more recent times, two more abilities has revealed themselves. The first is a strange form of invisibility - those he believes needlessly cruel, or powerful enough to help and still refusing to, cannot detect him. He seems to have no control over this power, and has even admitted frustration with it, for those he most desperately wishes to speak to cannot see or hear him at all.
The second is much more concerning, for it seems to be the power of the
Archons; with nothing more than his voice he can bend the will of anything or anyone that an hear him. He has used this power once, to force a deadly combat to a standstill. One can only hope his principles prevent him using it again.
History
The Dead God
Though Fearghal himself has no memories of his tragic origins,
The Exotics learned them in recent days from the dread elven god Fuil the Black; Fearghal was in truth the walking corpse of Caen O' Taer, filled with the stitched-together spirits of Archons and animated with the singular goal ruining this world.
At some point after his creation, his first memory became fleeing The Underworld, escaping it through a portal and killing a pursuing demon. From there he would go on to seek out people in need of help and monsters in need of redemption. How he escaped, and why he has such a kindness within him despite his origins remains unknown, likely even to those who created him...
Leader & Redeemer
With a drive to save others, the strength to best his opponents without killing them, and a powerful natural charisma, it was only a matter of time before Fearghal began accruing followers. Every monster he tamed, person he saved, every murderer or thief shown the errors of his ways, all added to his army.
He found an island to call home, and began directing his people there. Many he began sending out to be heroes, giving them humanitarian missions; capture a monster terrorizing locals, bring barrels of food to starving villages, seek out corrupt leaders and try to convince them to change.
But many of the followers were creatures who would be attacked on sight, incapable of helping without risking great harm to themselves. These creatures he bid stay at home in the paradise he has created, living in peace until the world would accept them.
Never Enough
For many years simply helping those within his reach seemed enough for him. But there is suffering everywhere, and eventually he found he could never help enough. Even if he were to save a village from starvation with orchards and fields, as soon as he left it was at risk of monster attacks. If he dealt with the monsters, a village could still be swept away by a storm.
Even if he were to grant protection against every foul fate imagineable, there are hundreds, possibily thousands, of settlements across the Varolian. And only one of him. But there were mages who can teleport or duplicate themselves, Gods who control the seas and plants of the whole world. There were people who could do more, and he would have them do it.
Seeking the Servant
He began by praying. He begged and offered tributes, attempted to make deals and pacts with Gods and Demons alike. But always he was rebuffed or ignored. He spoke with mages and senators throughout The Republic, yet the only ones who would listen to him were those with the least amount of power.
Eventually he decided that if those with the power to help refused to do so, he would make them. At some point he was told of a weapon that could harm the Gods, one that could be used to coerce them into helping the world, or to remove them from power and replace them with someone kinder.
This weapon was said to be held in The Underworld, far beyond the reach of mortals and standard teleportation magics. To reach it, he would need a key and a door - the first of which would be a device now known as The Destroyer, once used during
the Archonomachy to battle Archons and Dragons both. Fearghal began sending teams out to find each of the pieces of this machine.
Meeting The Exotics
One of the teams ran into a group called
The Exotics several times, leading to a request to meet Fearghal as the leader. A request he readily accepted despite the warnings of his people.
He travelled to neutral ground atop the back of a manticore, planted his sword in the ground, removed his helmet and said hello. They spoke for hours, with Fearghal explaining his motivations and answering any questions asked of him. As conversation ran dry, The Exotics explained they would have to oppose him due to their existing allegiances, no matter how much they agreed with his goals.
With an understanding smile, Fearghal wished his new friends well and went on his way.
False Pieces
In the months to come, his teams continued searching for pieces of The Destroyer but lost one of them to The Exotics. These opponents forged copies of their piece and handed them to various leaders in the area, spreading rumours to lead Fearghal away from the true parts.
The plan worked! Fearghal spent more than a month travelling between locations, wasting his time speaking to the Allagi Queens of
Chyreum and
Katamenos Xanómenes of
Amphousa in time. On both occasions he flew into the city, ignored any attempts to harm him, and politely asked for the part. Twice rebuffed, he left without further incident, and after enough time his sources learned these pieces were never real in the first place.
Hunted & Captured
Chyreum's Festival of Change is a yearly event celebrating the turning of Spring into Summer, hosting celebrations, events, and combats within its mighty Colosseum. This year, the theme was monsters fighting monsters - competitors were charged with capturing any creatures they could find, returning them to the city to battle in their stead.
It should come as no surprise that this practice was abhorrent to Fearghal. As soon as he learned of this, he travelled to the mountains nearby to turn any competitors away, besting any who refused to leave and keeping them restrained in vines.
He became a target for all, as folk believed him a golem made of mithral and a prize monster to bring in. The knowledge of this reached the ears of The Exotics, who sought him out to deliver him to
Vhul'xo and to free those he had captured.
They found him and called forth an Immortal. The Lich King arrived, spoke briefly with Fearghal, then held the souls of innocents hostage to force Fearghal into following him. Fearghal agreed without hesitation, and was teleported away.
Experimentation & Challenges
In the days to follow, Vhul'xo would perform many experiments on Fearghal, learning everything he could about the latter's strengths, weaknesses, and powers. But eventually Fearghal began asking for the conditions for his release, and was set three challnges to beat for his freedom.
The first was to best an Ashen Rider. This he did without even drawing his blade. He taught the ghost peace and requested the use of its flying mount.
The second was to reach Chyreum before the Festival ended. He had too little time and a thousand miles and more to travel. It was meant to be impossible, yet he rode all day and all night for weeks to arrive in the final moments.
The third was to serve The Exotics as one of their monsters, helping them to win the tournament...
Festival of Change - 674 MA
By the time he reached the Colosseum its Festival was almost concluded. The final event was to involve the destruction of a monster created by
Aesk the Ever-changing, who used the body of a werewolf whom Fearghal had known and hoped to redeem.
During the battle he prevented Radok the Wolf from escaping, but begged all the combatants to show him mercy. He tried in vain to keep his friend safe, but his pleading fell on deaf ears and
Garrac landed a final blow.
Fearghal spoke through his tears and congratulated The Exotics on their victory, declaring to the entire city that this would be the last time blood was spilled upon these sands, "else come summer's end, I shall return." He was laughed out of the arena by those who knew nothing of him or his threats, but followed by Garrac and his allies. Garrac explained why he participated at all, detailing a curse he hoped the Queens could fix. The rage Fearghal felt seemed to evaporate, as he smiled and took on Garracs curse, saying he could have, and should have, come to him for help.
Feeding the Damned
In the days following the Festival he would be called to help again -
Penelope Deo, the vampiric apprentice of
Odessa Deo, had drunk an
Apotheosis Potion which had drastically increased the bloody hold her undeath had on her. She was endlessly hungry, unable to speak for the madness of her screaming, and when Fearghal arrived she drank blood enough from him to kill three men. He held her without flinching until she'd had enough, thanked the group for calling him to help, then departed once again.
Summer's End
Four months later, Fearghal would make good on his promise. Chyreum was still committted to blood sports, though Garrac had convinced the Queens to make the next festival a sporting one at least. Fearing that it would not be enough, discussions were held to plan a way to deal with the mithral lord.
Expecting him to arrive announced and in peace, it caught all off guard when he quietly entered the city, freed many of its slaves, then marched on the Queens' estate with an army of gladiators and criminals. The Exotics blocked the way and successfully deescalated, convincing Fearghal to disperse his force to search for a dangerous creature for a few hours.
His army gone, he agreed to a conversation and negotiation before any actions were taken. After learning the Colosseum hosts blood sports every day rather than simply one festival a year, and that many of its combatants were slaves or otherwise unwilling, Fearghal's demands were far greater than those he'd had months ago.
Having expected this and wanting to be rid of this foe once and for all, the Queens issued a challenge; best them, The Exotics, and
The Champions in combat at the same time, and his demands would be met. It would be 10 powerful people against him alone, yet for the fate of those in the city he agreed, not realising it was an obvious trap and assassination attempt.
There was a great battle that threatened to reduce the Colosseum to rubble, but in the end
Coranvin Hun'nai interveened to save his master, forcing Fearghal to end the bout and state he had forfeited the match. The way he ended the battle is almost more noteworthy than the battle itself; with a single word he stunned almost all stood against him, and sent ripples through the Cosmos that were felt by all the Gods and all the Immortals. "Enough".
In the minutes following he gave all the slaves he'd freed a choice - stay in the city, follow him to a new life, or follow The Exotics to their
new city. Most would follow him, though after an altercation with
Telío Alori, some were too frightened to follow the man who had provoked him and decided to go with the Exotics instead.
Attack on The Sanctuary
While The Republic attacked his home and killed his people, Fearghal launched a simultaneous assault of
The Sanctuary of Knowledge, almost destroying the location but sparing the lives of mages within. He sought, and found, one of the last pieces of The Destroyer there, yet also took the time to lift The Sanctuary's librarian out of his painful life as a duergar.
For the Fate of the World
After another few months Fearghal had all but one of the parts he needed, and declared it time to start the final battle. An ally brought him the final piece of the Destroyer, another volunteered to pilot it, and the rest took up arms to battle their way towards
The Planeswalker's greatest artifact - the gates that would allow him entry back into The Underworld.
Though many of his people were captured or killed, and Fearghal himself almost met his end at the hands of The Storm Herald Ástrapos, he was at least partially successful. Divine intervention attempted to send him towards Arkadia instead of The Underworld, and yet the moment he touched the portal it spun and tore through the Cosmos at speeds unimaginable. He passed beyond stars and light, beyond space and thought and reason, only to seemingly crashland in the Grey Wastes of Hades with The Exotics at his side.
Now all that was left to do is find the relic that would allow him to reshape the world and conquer all the Gods.
The Wasteland
Stranded in land of ash and dust, Fearghal and the Exotics worked together to look around, discovering fields of the dead flowing with thousands, or millions, of walking corpses. They also discovered and battled with nightmarish trolls gone mad with hunger, before finally finding a small group of humanoids making their home inside a cave.
Fearghal set to work healing the sick and feeding the hungry he found, while the Exotics spoke with a dragonborn about the place they had found themselves in. Unfortunately they had spoken to some form of spy, who informed his master; a still-living dragon of old!
A Dead World
When the cave they'd found came under attack by trolls, Fearghal and The Exotics stood ready to defend them until a group of undead mages came to them, invisibly urging them to accept a teleportation spell to escape the area and flee the threat of an incoming dragon. Despite their thoughts being those of confusion and the fact that dragons were the protectors of their world, they went anyway and met a lich named The Last Shadow. After various conversation and in the coming days, they learned that this was not The Underworld at all, but an entirely separate world. One which the Archons had destroyed, with dead Gods and a shattered moon forming a ring around the planet.
The Lich had a plan to resurrect what he claimed was Kiderha using the last fragments of divinity or power he could find on this planet, and dangled the thoughts of Fearghal's long sought for weapon; some sort of amulet which both the dragon, and its Archon master, had been seeking for centuries. The lich sent these strangers to seek out the divine power of The Mother, a mysterious figure who had been keeping her people safe from the disease and hunger that plagued other survivors.
The Green Heart
Upon arriving at their destination, The Exotics found The Mother and discovered her to be a human woman with little special about her, though she bore a stone that glowed with power and held the last scraps of a God of Life. It was the stone keeping her and her people safe, and taking it for the Lich would mean the end of humanity on this world.
Thankfully The Exotics agreed with Fearghal and kept their discovery quiet for some time, and upon returning to the Lich were given a new task. They would seek out another source of great power to use instead; the sword housing Kiderha's soul. Though it was being held inside the Archon's lair, plans for distraction were made, with Fearghal being offered to the last dragon on this world as prisoner and informant.
The Dragon
Vantrukuul'griguul'oposs was the name of the ancient bronze being who took Fearghal away from his friends. Fearghal was shown the dragon's home; a land of illusory ships and coastlines where the seas had dried up, with dragonborn servants and a false peace. The dragon was old, and hated its service to The Archon, and missed a home where the water flowed and people would sail. But it still had its orders, and was determined to learn all it could of Fearghal's strange half-archon existence.
They spoke for many days, keeping the dragon's mind on Fearghal while the Exotics travelled towards the Archon's lair, until Fearghal used a scroll to teleport towards the Exotics to catch up once they neared their goal and the distraction wore thin.
The Archon
Within the mountainous hand of a dead God, Fearghal reuinited with those who were both his rivals and allies. They soon found a room of treasure beyond the likes of which any had ever seen, and of captives being held like zoo animals. Just as they prepared to find the sword and free the people, Death arrived. The Archon had returned home, and demanded answers from his new audience. Fearghal was immune to the Archon's voice, and yet terrified regardless, doing all he could to deescalate and keep his new foe peaceful until the time to strike.
Eventually the moment was reacahed and Fearghal charged this being from another world with the power to smite the Gods. Though the Exotics attempted to help for a few moments it was not nearly enough, and Fearghal convinced them to flee with the sword while he stayed behind to buy time.
An Ending
A battle that shook the earth took place, and Fearghal unleashed his power in a way he had never before felt able to, for he feared his opponent and had no qualms about killing it. And yet, without his connection to the earth, without any life on this world to control and grow, even his full might was not enough. Right as he was about to fall, the Exotics and a surprising new ally teleported him out using the power of the amulet had had spent his new life searching for.
The Archon soon followed, and Fearghal rose again to face him, with allies at his side and time running out. Weakened and without hope, he fought on, protecting The Exotics as best he could until finally, finally he fell to the foe who could break the world. The Exotics' last acts on this planet were to take his body home, and for Garrac to stay behind just like he had before, to delay the Archon and keep all safe.
Thieves With Friendly Faces
Knowing that The Halls of Arkadia had the ability to make them lose much time and the fact that The Republic was actively falling apart in their absence, The Exotics spent weeks attempting to fix many of the problems that had risen while they were in the other world, leaving Fearghal's body in their home city with the hope of returning it once everything had settled down and peace restored.
Unfortunately, it was while they were restoring things that Rakshasa arrived in the guise of The Exotics and stole his corpse away, under the pretense that they were going to take him back to his birthplace. What they plan to do with his body remains to be seen, though it can be nothing good...
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