Nero

"He never asked for a favour, he never asked for praise, or reward, or thank you. He sacrificed his short life for ours. Forever will be a hero of the Farflare, The Empire and entirety of Era" - The Lightbringer, by Valar Margaret Vogt of Farflare 851 AR

Nero was a heroic figure, he is mainly known for his involvement in the Third Incursion.

Early Life

Born on 26 of Yuuvi 674 AR in a city of Terdaal in Farflare to a poor townsfolk family, he was orphaned early, managed to survive on streets the big city, using charities of the temples, working and possibly doing many things one do to survive, the details of his early life is scarce. At the age of 14 Nero started to work at smithy of one Amadeus Winzer, where he apprenticed for the next two and half years. In 691 AR the signs of incoming Third Incursion grown more prominent. Nero, as many other young man and woman of Empire, decided to join The Lightsworn army.

In Service of Lightsworn

In The Lightsworn Nero started a long and often brutal life of a career soldier. He managed over the next two years to distinguish himself as a talented fighter, he was always putting a good of a unit and his companions over his own. During his third year in Lightsworn his unit had a close encounter with a Banshee and several powerful shadows. Nero managed to seize leadership and save most of the soldiers, even though a paladin that led the party was slain in the ambush.
After that battle Nero was given an opportunity, to swear an Oath and become a Lightsworn Paladin in full, which he accepted. As a part of a ceremony he was given a last name - Katarn. After The Swearing he was a squire to Paladin Victor Menard for another year. Nero had apparent talent, rapidly growing abilities and affinity towards Yuuvi. As soon as in 696 AR Nero was a Lieutenant and a leader of a small unit of Lightsworn, at first with guard and escort duty for various towns and villages in Farflare. During the next year as Shadows became more prominent, as Hybrids and Darkfolk were congregating, Nero and his unit got moved to extermination duty, hunting shadows and hybrids wherever they were reported. He had many close scrapes in that time, some of which became legend, for example:

Nero and two other paladins intervening as shadows swarmed a caravan, as he in and out of a horde recovering wounded civilians

His squad holding in a tavern with a broken Eliseri Lamp, defending it from the shadow the entire night, after which they still completed their mission

Nero leading an expedition to slay a notorious Ebony Dragon, Rak'sha'utar, the Screaming Night, in which he agreed to fight the beast in single combat and with divine intervention of Yuuvi he bested it.

During that time he obtained the Brightfang, a Kadmin Alloy sword, made specially for him by an expert blacksmith by request of his old teacher Amadeus Winzer, this blade was later enchanted in a special way unique for Lightsworn.

The Third Incursion

Shortly after the beginning of Long Night and with it the Third Incursion, the Citadel of Light (the historic fortress of Lightsworn on the southeastern edge of the maze, on a border between shattered lands and the Valar Empire) was struck by an unprecedented attack. Organized effort by thousands of hybrids, countless shadows and siege engines and dark magics of darkfolk, the attack was led by the Archon - a new type of a hybrid, never before seen, considered to be a leader. During the attack both the First Commander and many crucial leaders were slain, and Hybrids took over the Citadel as one of their main base of operations. The attack is known as Desolation of Light.
Nero was not present in Citadel of Light at the time, but shortly after the attack he claimed a title of Commander of Lightsworn and after several month of grusome fighting he was unilaterally proclaimed as the First Commander.
Even with all the might of Lightsworn and all the allied states, hybrid forces made great strides into civilized territories, not all will be described in this article but the most important were:

conquering Blackglade, forcing drow into underdark

almost complete destruction of city of Ingver

lengthy siege of Terdaal

occupation and devastation of Sunstruck Lands in Akhatai

destruction of many dwarven holds in the Maze

enormous deathtoll in all of allied states

With small hope in actually stopping this incursion in conventional matter the plan was forged to slay the Archon, as many seers proclaimed it as a hope in finishing this war. Nero handpicked a battlegroup which were called The Companions. With usage of advanced magic they scryed the location of the Archon and teleported to the Citadel of Light, back then called Dreadfort, but for some reason instead of arriving on the top of the spire, they appeared on the very bottom levels. The lengthy battle, later known as the Ascent then commenced, in which Nero and Companions climbed the Citadel fighting shadow and hybrid alike, at the end they arrived at old council room in the grand spire, where Archon was waiting.
The battle was short and brutal, with many of companions falling, in the end Nero managed to slay the Archon, but in his death throws both its body and Nero were anihilated. From Nero only his blade, armour and holy symbol remainder. The massive holy sign of Yuuvi was magically carved into stone of that room.

Legacy

The room that Archon and Nero died is renamed a Hall of Victory, a sacred place for Lightsworn. In entire Valar Empire but especially in Farflare there are statues of Nero in public places, in some places he is worshipped as a deity of a avatar of Yuuvi. In Akhatai he is known as Aci'jubar (Dawnblade in elven), in Imlathar in Sunstruck Lands there is a statue to him, marked with that name. Both Blackglade and Dwarfen holds consider Nero as a hero. There were also hundreds of books written about him, from light novels, romance, to historical. Stories of his exploit, factional and fictional are known in every part of the world.

Age

26

Date of Birth

26th of Yuuvi

Date of Death

27th of Ostach

Life

674 AR 700 AR 26 years old

Birthplace

Terdaal

Place of Death

Citadel of Light

Belief/Deity

Yuuvi

The names of the Martyr

Nero during his life and after his passing had many monikers. The most popular is The Lightbringer, but he is also known as Nero the Saint, the Bright, the Martyr, the Saviour, the Chosen, the Great, the Hero, Santo, Hope of Humanity. He also had a title of First Commander of Lightsworn.

Portrayal

Nero is commonly portrayed as tall, muscular, lean man. He has handsome face but with many scars, which often glow gold, with golden eyes and short blond hair. He wears heavy armor and carries a longsword.

Companions

Nero had many formidable companions by his side, some of most important were:

• Simone Vogt - a young daughter of House Vogt, she was quite talented with arcane as many in her family are, it is though by historians that her first born could be Neros, which would mean that Lightbringer legacy is in Vogts blood, this is a claim that their family likes to reinforce, she died in 772 as a matron of Vogt family
• Maxwell - a famous dwarven tracker and hybrid hunter, both before and after the incursion, at the time of the Ascent he was 150 years old, there are some that believe he might still be alive somewhere.
• Anatoli Sanguar - a Lightsworn paladin, first a squire to Nero and then his most loyal and reliable comrade, after the Ascent he took over the leadership of the Lightsworn, died in 753 AR of old age