Exarch Amarashi

Little is known of the early life of Exarch Amarashi. What is known is documented by the Exarch themself, in journals left to the Āʾ Fanyetr monastary, which they founded in 5.455.
The youngest child of a Khaidari warlord, at the age of sixteen years old, Amarashi was cursed by a witch to become a žilba - a blood-drinking monster - in order to punish their father for his conquest of the witch's nation.
Although their father ordered his witches to break the curse, none of them were able to do so and the warlord was forced to consider killing his own child to save his people. A sheltered and bookish soul, Amarashi was training to join the priesthood when the curse took them and found that they were able to curb the urges of their monstrous nature through prayer and seclusion. Amarashi's father withdrew them from society, locking them away at night while the žilba-Amarashi screamed and schemed for murder, and only allowing Amarashi to emerge once they could perform the ritual of Sāqte without slurring or stumbling. Denied a drop of human blood, the curse could not take root and Amarashi lived a terrible half-life - human by day and monstous by night.
When Amarashi was thirty-one, their father was killed in battle and his territories threatened by another warlord. In order to make peace, Amarashi's oldest brother, the inheritor of their father's title, married Amarashi to the son of the warlord in order to secure an alliance between the two clans. Amarashi confesses that they do not know if the marriage was intended in good faith and whether their brother - who had neve met Amarashi until the day of his ascension - was aware of the curse, or whether he intended to make the marriage a poisoned gift. Against their wishes, Amarashi was placed in their husband's household. Fearing that, without the physical and mental barriers that had kept the world and Amarashi safe from each other, the monster would emerge, Amarashi attempted to sabotage their marriage.
At first, Amarashi's husband excused their abnormal behaviour - their strict dietary requirements, and their demands to eat and sleep in solitude - as the result of some antisocial personality, but he and his family grew increasing angry at Amarashi's refusal to make even the smallest concession to their new family. Eventually, after a season of constant companionship, arguments, and erosion of their routine and rituals, Amarashi's resolve wore through. Forced once again to share their husband's bed, Amarashi's monstrous nature overcame them and the žilba turned on the husband in the night, tearing him open and eating his heart while it was still beating. The husband's screams alerted the guards and Amarashi was caught in the act. Their secret revealed, they fled the city.
The curse fulfilled, the warlord whose son had been killed broke off their alliance and turned on Amarashi's clan, as the lesser-lords rejected their past alliances. Amarashi's clan was destroyed and all records of Amarashi's existence were excised from the Histories.
Stripped of their identity and fighting for their humanity, Amarashi wandered throughout what is now Khabrand. In 5.445, Amarashi entered the High Hall of Dabad Monastary during midday prayers, and demanded to partake in the ritual of Sāqte. On holy ground, surrounded by their gods, the Exarch of Dabad permitted a žilba to participate in his faith's most sacret rite. Amarashi recalls that, as they stumbled and stuttered through the ritual, they began to come back to themself, recting the final prayer with grace. After the ritual, they told their story to the assembly and threw themself of the wisdom of the Exarch, begging them to end their cursed existence. Instead of killing them, the Exarch allowed Amarashi to join the monastary for thirteen lunar cycles and, hopefully, find peace in the structure and routine of their faith.
By the end of their probation, Amarshi was once again able to contain their monstrous nature and prevent themself from harming their fellows. Nonetheless, their monstrous nature continued to pull at them and they felt unabl to unrestrained at night, fearing for the safety of their fellow priests. What the other priests felt about this remains unclear.
Utimately, Amarashi left Dabad for a more remote location, founding the Āʾ Fanyetr monastary in the Theolisian peninsula in a thin place in the hills of Helia, where they remain, upholding the routines and rituals that enable them to move among humanity safely.

Sex

Unknown

Gender

N/A

Founded Settlements

• Āʾ Fanyetr monastary

Ruled Locations

• Āʾ Fanyetr monastary