Augustin Reisenwulf

This article is about the historical figure. For the minor deity venerated by Augustinian Sedranism, see Ehrir
Augustin Reisenwulf (also venerated as the minor deity Ehrir) was a military commander and soldier who led an armed uprising against the Arideian Empire in 1421. While Augustin himself perished in one of the final battles of the war, the revolution was ultimately successful and led to the establishment of the Empire of Räsgard in 1428. He was posthumously declared the first Emperor of Räsgard, and ceremonially held the title for one year before his brother Petros' coronation.

Early Life

Augustin was heir to House Reisenwulf, a minor noble family which held land in the Reisenland region. By all accounts, he along with his family were particularly loyal to the Arideian Empire; indeed, House Reisenwulf was a relatively new house, having been granted noble titles little more than a century before by the Emperor himself. He enlisted in the Arideian military in 1416, and later that same year was part of the army that was sent to the Westfarm to combat the united dwarfish armies warring against the Empire. No contemporary sources record his opinion on the campaign, but it is commonly believed that he grew increasingly disillusioned with the brutality of the army's actions.

In 1418, in an effort to end the war the Arideian Emperor Caelykolos IV used the power of a massive arcaltium weapon known as the Kaltarohn Obelisk to rip the entire Westfarm region apart in an event that came to be known as the Scouring of the Westfarm. Vast swaths of land were sunk in an instant and while the dwarfish armies were utterly destroyed, the event also killed thousands of human soldiers and obliterated dozens of human settlements in the region. The shocking cruelty of this action led to massive dissent, but fear of similar actions from the famously mad emperor temporarily prevented open rebellion. According to his own journals, Augustin witnessed firsthand the Scouring, and planned to desert the army. However, his unit was disbanded before he had a chance to leave, and Augustin returned home from war shamed and disillusioned with the Empire.

Augustin's Rebellion

^{Main Article: Augustin's Rebellion}

In 1420, Augustin became the head of House Reisenwulf after the passing of his father. Upon learning of the construction of a second, larger arcaltium obelisk beneath the nearby fortress of the Rotterhorn, Augustin rallied several similarly angered lords and stormed the keep. His forced captured several Arideian mages and forced them to repurpose the obelisk into a weapon that would make magic vanish completely from the continent. The spell was cast, and the mages were slain to prevent them from undoing the spell. The Arideian forces were severely weakened without magic, but still posed a threat to the rebellion.

Over the next six years, civil war raged across the empire. Lord after lord rose up against the Arideians, with most joining Augustin's forces. Augustin and his brother Petros became symbols of revolution, and it soon became apparent that the tide of war was turning in their favor. The fate of the war would ultimately be decided at the Battle of the Aiberrun, in which the rebel forces would utterly destroy the Arideians' last-ditch effort to push through the Reisenland and retake the Rotterhorn. Augustin himself would be killed leading a cavalry charge against Caelykolos' household cavalry, but not before personally slaying the Emperor. Petros would take command of the rebel forces, and though some minor engagements followed the battle, it was clear that the war had been decided. In the last days of 1427 Petros signed a peace treaty with the 14-year-old Caelykolos V, formally disbanding the Arideian Empire.

Legacy

After the war, a great conclave of lords was convened to determine the fate of the continent in the power vacuum left by the Arideian Empire's destruction. It was decided after months of debate that the victorious rebel lords would unite under a new empire situated around the city of Räsgard, proclaiming Petros as emperor. In honor of his brother's legacy, Petros delayed his own coronation by one year, choosing to posthumously declare Augustin as the first Emperor of Räsgard (albeit ceremonially). Statues and iconography of him adorn many Imperial buildings, and his is the first and largest statue on King's Way in the capital city. A great stone archway was constructed over the site of his death, around which grew the fortress town of Hildegard.
Centuries after his death, Augustin would come to be venerated as a minor deity in a heretical offshoot of Einarianism based around the belief that after his death he was named a Sedran by Atar himself. Adherents of this sect venerate Augustin him as the deity Ehrir. While ostensibly a heresy to Einarian teachings the emperors of Räsgard, being themselves descended from Augustin, were uniquely inclined to promote this belief system. As such, while never formally recognized by the Empire, “Augustinian Sedranism” as it came to be called became the largest denomination within the Einarian sect.

Augustin Reisenwulf

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First Emperor of Räsgard

Reign: 1428-1429 (1 year, ceremonial)
Predecessor: N/A
Successor: Petros I

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Born: 1397
Died: 1427 (aged 30)
Family: House of Reisenwulf
Issue: Ludwig
Parent(s): Ursus
Relative(s): Petros I (brother)