Sagrado Valieda

The Story of the Unifier

Long after the events of the Great War, three provinces of Toletum, Faro, and Therpena took shape in Castinella, and continuously fought over the rich but unforgiving lands until they reached a violent equilibrium. Each time one province gained a dominant position, the other two would ally to bring it down and restore the stalemate. Therefore, none of the belligerents managed to overcome their counterparts for good until the time of the Human Paladin Sagrado Valieda, the Unifier.
Valieda was the perfect example of Castinellan valor, but he was also a clever strategist. Born in the foothills of the Corova mountains, he led the Toletum forces to victory against both its rivals. However, he knew that without a significant advantage the Corovans could not prevail in the long term, as history had proven. Valieda departed to wander the highest part of the mountains, a particularly dangerous area subject to sudden, violent storms, and reputedly unexploitable for mining. Whether by destiny or luck, Valieda was spared from the storms and came back, claiming to have had a revelation from the Empyreus - Arch Seraph of Valor.
The Sword Saint, as many called Empyreus, had apparently invested Valieda with the holy task of unifying all Castinellan Provinces, not under the rule of Corova or any other province, but under the sacred rules of the Arch Seraph himself. To help in this task, Valieda claimed, the Seraph had led him to a hidden valley where he revealed an exceptional vein of gold. Valieda quickly hired miners to exploit the vein and thus fuel Corova’s economy and war effort.
Valieda proclaimed his new allegiance to Empyreus and his intention of transforming Castinella into a theocracy, to put an end to the exhausting wars between the three provinces. His words became a motto that is still spoken by many clerics, priests and inquisitors:

“He who fights for himself shall fear death, for his steps are led by lust, and his deeds will fall into oblivion. But he who fights for Empyreus fears nothing, for his steps are led by the Eternal Dogma, and his deeds pave the way towards the Golden Age.”

Valieda and his followers proceeded to spread the teachings of the Arch Seraph to the three provinces. In time they gained complete theocratic influence over the provinces of Faro and Therpena, as their newly formed religion gained more war-weary followers. Finally, when they were unable to rally the last remnants of resistance to the holy cause, they overcame them either by gold or by iron and fire.
The Rise of the Arcanist Inquisition After unifying the three provinces, Sagrado Valieda ordered the creation of the religious order called the Arcanist Inquisition, whose function was to control and limit the use of magic in the provinces. According to what the Arch Seraph Empyreus had told Valieda, magic was a curse that endangered its wielders and everyone who associated with them.

Touched by the Sword God

It is said that when Sagrado met the Arch Seraph Empyreus that he was gifted with the powers of the divine that what so long as he did the divine work of Empyreus he would never age.