Paulo Mysidi
Paulo Mysidi is considered an Elminster / Gandalf style figure in Arhor'ha. Originally a human born ~160 years ago into the Mysidi family, part of House Fortuna of Upper Crystallis. When his friend became called upon to be the Dark Heart avatar in the Great Game, opposed to his other friend of the Light Hearts, he sought to end the Great Game through peaceful means. Ascending a Light Heart champion, he acquired the power of the Sage of Light, allowing him to read variations of future in a maddening level of divination. With the power of both champion groups, they marched upon the Great Seal not to fight one another, but to bring the creature Gigareth to this world as a loophole in the contract of the Great Game. Only the part they would pull out is the celestial light in the creature. They succeeded.
Paulo took responsibility for this new entity as their power on the continent of Arhor'ha was beyond control and they were like a newborn child with godly powers. They moved to Freeport wherein this person's powers became revered and worshiped. Years passed. The entity found a family with one of the Zodarcs, Pisces, and had a child with her. Paulo was briefly warned that he should leave this entity and the city, but he refused. The city was then fired upon with the Aries Cannonade by elvish conspirators. This is a cruel weapon of destruction that destroyed 2/3rds of the city with this creature at the epicenter. It is possible that would have destroyed said creature if Paulo had not used his powers to weaken the blow to himself and them.
The creature took a less peaceful turn and rebuilt Freeport with the power of strong creation magic in mere years. Paulo unsuccessfully cautioned restraint which drew the attention of the Zodiarks, who saw this as exactly the act they warned mortals about when they gave 'independence' to them in earlier eras. Creation magic takes a source, that source was the souls and possessions of those captured in pirate raids that Freeport is known for. The final straw was the soul of Pisces, being bled to power an engine strong enough to lift a city to the very heavens, potentially to wage war upon it. The Zodiarcs assaulted Freeport, marking the second time it was destroyed.
Paulo evoked the Great Game with the champions, the very thing he sought to avoid. Only their enemy was this creature they brought into the world. To prove to the Zodiarcs they are still capable of addressing their problems, they fought. In the end, and at great cost, the champions prevailed. From that time only Lil, the Hero of Fates, (who we are saying Rhyza is similar to) and Paulo survived, as the creature still believed that Paulo, who was a father, brother, and friend to him, would not kill him. Paulo sealed the creature. Aries, the Zodiarc of War, was not convinced as they still took Pisces. Paulo revived Pisces by connecting to the Positive Plane, touching it, and returning the lost energy to Pisces. This worked and Paulo 'lived to death' as touching the Positive Plane is an unfathomable amount of life energy.
Lil used her power to put Paulo into a long sleep so that his mind and body might recover, sharing her fate with his. And for 100 years the name of Paulo Mysidi was little more than a historical reference. (Season 2)
Lil died of old age and that woke Paulo up, who was guarded by his cat, Pangur Bond for 100 years. He had successfully stopped the Zodiarcs from purging Arhor'ha and returning it to a 'rock to be guarded' as it was in the earliest eras. He became a symbol of guidance (Elminster/Gandalf) for various heroes and the natural foil of Gig, who was a Devil of Chaos to Paulo's Order. Paulo took to the Zodiarcs and made it clear that the 12 are too divided in thought and function to make consistent decisions on the fate of Arhor'has. They appointed Paulo the Speaker, who would interface with the mortal races on their behalf and provide counsel so that future eras would not suffer 'hastiness' like Aries showed as the first of twelve, eager to action, nor the aloofness of Pisces, 12 of 12, in consorting with the creature she did.
Paulo was a person who was keeping Zodiarcs in line and Gig in line. However he knew that this would one day end as he still had the powers to see ahead. This let him avert the worst of things without wholesale stopping the natural chaos of the world. He could have avoided his own death, but did not. During the events of Season 9, the brother of a PC (Ozy) took a weapon fully designed on the weight of 'Im tired of these god-like people messing with us' and struck down Paulo. He took to the sky before the power of the positive plane would detonate him, something that would have taken a healthy chunk of the continent out. This is why people believe Paulo is dead, anyone who could see the sky would have seen a largeĀ
There is ton more, and context bits like the Great Game, Gig, and the like. He has been around for a while and apparently died in Season 9, allowing the Soulburn War to go on with no mediator in the world strong enough to force people to armistice.
Comments