Miirik
Master of Shadows Miirik
"Let us see what lies within your shadows."
Appropriately enough for a man called the "Master of Shadows," precious little is known about Miirik. He is centuries old at least, functionally immortal, and the most powerful Shadowcaster in all of Anacra, save perhaps for Seosh the Spiral themselves. His machinations and true agenda remain hidden, and he has the power to conceal himself and others from the greatest diviners in the world.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Miirik appears as a human man in his 70s. He is oddly hale and strong for his apparent age. He moves slowly and deliberately but is capable of great swiftness in times of crisis.
Identifying Characteristics
Wrinkles that, on closer examination, aren't folds of skin at all but patterns on his skin.
Special abilities
Unknown capacity for Shadow/Void Magic. Ostensibly, the greatest practitioner of the art in the Four Kingdoms.
Apparel & Accessories
Rusted (?) silver ring with inscriptions.
Featureless black mask that absorbs, rather than reflects, light.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Miirk's origins are shrouded, both in mystery and in obfuscating magic. The first known appearance of the Master of Shadows occurred shortly after Ica Elnao abandoned the village of Hreidur and discovered the power of Void Magic, over a century ago. He taught her to wield her powers in secret, turning her into the greatest Shadow Sorcerer in the Four Kingdoms, before sending her off to Ioth Academy.
Then, shortly before Garnet Tohsaka joined the same school, he saved her from an attack by the Iron Butchers, an attack that claimed her fathers' life. He told her of the power of the Void, the Fifth Pillar of Creation, and when she expressed the desire for power to wreak vengeance, he offered to train her. For the next two years Miirik taught Garnet in the ways of Shadow and Void.
To harden her will and focus her concentration, he laid a powerful enchantment over her that filled her dreams with nightmares. From that day forward she would never have a peaceful night's sleep, forcing her to face her fears undaunted. He made her meditate under waterfalls for hours, subjected her to minor starvation, prohibited her from speaking for a month, and other brutal challenges for such a young child. Once she passed his tests, he deemed her will strong enough, and gave her access to the Codex Penumbras, spells of shadow, accessing the liminal magic between light and dark. Still, he carefully monitored her intake of magic, for the young Shadowcaster's appetite for knowledge and power knew no bounds. Closest of all he kept the ancient tomes of Seosh, the Spiral, from her grasp until she was ready.
Unbeknownst to the Master of Shadows, Garnet taught herself Infernal under his very nose, and began reading texts of Infernal magic he'd forbidden to her--both for her own safety, and because he told her Infernal magic was a mere distraction compared to the power of Shadow.
One night, Garnet read aloud an incantation that invoked the soul of a long-dead skeletal dragon. It lashed out at her and transformed her aasimar powers, darkening the light within her soul. It was a wake up call for Garnet' mentor--he realized despite her keen mental focus, she was still a child, and not to be left to her own devices.
The Fire Returns
Shortly after Garnet turned ten, strangers invaded her new home. Miirik was the first to hear them. Garnet heard the sound of the iron butchers returning to finish the job. He gave her a cold, rusted silver ring with inscriptions on the side, something he'd worn from the day she first met him. He told her to find Ica Elnao at Ioth Academy, to give her that ring, and trust her. Then he tore a hole in the world and sent her into a colorless plain of endless dust and shadows, with only a Silent City with seven gates off in the distance. Miirik has not been seen since then.Truth
Spoilers for Book of Dawn: Ioth Academy
Show spoiler
By delving into her own memories and unleashing the power of the Book of Dawn, Garnet learned the awful truth--Miirik led the Iron Butchers to her father. He used the power of Shadow to cut Amosis Tohsaka off from the power of Zeilar, ensuring his death. And worst of all, it was not the Iron Butchers who invaded her home--it was her mother, Meresan Tohsaka, desperately searching for her daughter. Miirik used shadow magic to deceive her, and when she left, he turned to attack Meresan and the Phoenix Nights. He pulled a completely featureless obsidian mask from his robes--when he placed it over his face, plates of dark metal magically flowed across his body. And were those scales on his arm, and claws upon his hands?
Garnet shared this truth with her mentor Ica, who wondered now if Miirik is the one who led the Knights of Terranimbus to the village of Hreidur. Together they are resolved to find their former mentor and bring him to justice--but the power of the Shroud conceals him, and for years, it has concealed Miirik from all judgement.
Education
Unknown
Employment
Ica Elnao's mentor, Garnet Tohsaka's mentor.
Intellectual Characteristics
Miirik is philosophical, deliberate, harsh and profound. His skepticism in the power of the Sovereigns and Titans is not arrogance, it is founded in a thorough understanding of their natures and their limitations. Miirk is intellectually rigorous and demanding.
Morality & Philosophy
“Birth…Life…Death, Renewal. It spins, it spins, it spins on itself and just goes on forever…but nothing can really work that way. If you don’t keep feeding a fire new fuel, the fire is going to go out, doesn’t light itself up again. If push a rock down a hill, it’s going to reach the bottom and stop. So why does this just keep spinning and turning and turning on itself forever?”
“Because it’s all part of the cycle. What is death to the Phoenix? It will rise again as something else as far as the Sun Rider’s concerned. Whatever lives are lost will become something new and just rejoin the dance over and over: new shapes, new forms, new names. Life and death, it all just turns on itself. What does it matter when you’re a god?”
“The absence of everything. What happens when everything else stop. It’s not something the Infernals, their minions, and their empires dabble in, it’s not something your priests and flame fathers would teach you. It’s older than any of that. It is the hunger that gnaws at the feet of creation, keeping it spiraling on itself forever. The shadows of reality.”
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Unknown. Miirik displays minor contempt for the Sovereigns, Titans, even Infernals of Anacra. He trains people in the arts of Shadow Magic and teaches them the doctrine of the Silence. He is willing to manipulate people's lives to achieve his own ends.
Hygiene
He smells like snow, dark and cool and earthy.
Social
Religious Views
Adherent of the Silence, the doctrine of the Void. Miirik teaches his pupils that the infinite cycle of creation is impossible without pressure exerted by an outside source--the Fifth Pillar of Creation. The Void is a self-annihilatory impulse hard coded into the universe, seeking to end creation itself, and it is this strife and tension that turns the wheel of Birth, Life, Death, and Renewal. The Gods themselves are merely byproducts of these cosmic forces. As such, they are unworthy of worship.
Current Status
Shrouded
Current Location
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Master of Shadows
Age
Unknown
Children
Pronouns
He/Him
Gender
Male
Eyes
Weary, dark
Hair
Gray
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Extremely pale, wrinkled/pattern
Height
6'3"
Quotes & Catchphrases
“Let us see what lies within your shadows.”
Belief/Deity
The Spiral
Comments