Loryn Korba'Rel
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Prior to his eighteen month invasion of the Laparan Empire, one mention of Loryn Korba'Rel exists in the tomes of Imperial history. A Khanakian scout by the name of Bertram Altan reported meeting a lone human by a similar name in the Devarashi Wastes north of Khanakia during the year 469. The strange figure, although having no common tongue with the scout, invited the scout to dine and spend the evening in the protection of a cave he seemed to have claimed for his own. At this time, the two men attempted to communicate and the figure revealed his name as "Korporeil".
Regardless of whether or not Korporeil and Korba'Rel are the same individual, Loryn appeared in Imperial territory as the leader of a vast horde of the bestial denizens of the Devarashi Wastes in a show of organization their race had never before shown. During this invasion, he had shown himself fluent in the Khanakian, Akanth and Devarashi languages. In negotiations offering surrender to garrisons as he made his way southward, he proved himself a charismatic speaker and shrewd military intellect, but also an individual who was very quick to anger. One report describes him as a "whirlwind of hatred" and "terrible to behold".
The horde, under Korba'Rel's leadership, headed for the imperial capital, making no attempt to hold territory as it passed through. His target, it seemed, was the Temple of the Three Wills, the heart of the Triumthelite Church, as he headed into the hallowed structure immediately upon taking the city. Any of his other plans, however, are lost to history, as he and all of his men vanished upon his leaving the temple's walls.
Rumors
In the half century since the fall of Lapara, a number of rumors have begun to circulate about Loryn Korba'Rel, his origins, and his goals. The three most commonly spread rumors are as follow:
- Servant of the Demonic - Possibly due to the somewhat demonic appearance of the short, black-furred, minions that surrounded his assault on the empire, this rumor claims that Korba'Rel had sold his soul to some demonic force, in order to gain immense worldly power. Having reached the pinnacle of worldly power, the toppling of the Jewel of the World, his demonic master called him from this world in an eruption of infernal energy.
- Avatar of an Angry God - Although the gods are not known to interfere directly in the lives of mortals, this rumor claims that Loryn Korba'Rel was the incarnation of one of the many gods that the Laparans slighted in their adoption of the Triumthelite faith as the only faith sanctioned throughout the empire. The destruction of the holy city would surely have had an impact on the celestial balance of power.
- Exiled Bastard - Familial politics has never been far from the minds of many in the imperial courts, which could explain the rumor that Korba'Rel is an imperial bastard whose mother was exiled prior to his delivery and whose campaign was little more than a claimant's desperate attempt to gain hold of his birthright. Upon taking the city, the Three Wills banished him from the world rather than let him rule the territory from which he had been exiled.
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