Eufer Lightbringer

Jufr II tibābţaa ul-Setferga

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King Eufer II Setferga (a.k.a. 'Light-Bringer')

Eufer Lightbringer - the legendary figure from which the religion of Euferism is named, the creator of The Godling Knights, and the most powerful deity on the Toreworld according to followers of Euferism, was a human King before he was a god. He brought his human flaws into his Godliness, for all the chaos that it brought his country and the world.

Early Life

Eufer was born as the third oldest son to the royal family of the tribal kingdom of Setferga, which made up a region of what is now known as southern Laros. He lived a relatively calm early life, due to the kingdom's wealth and sheltered position on the continent, though after the Battle of Qirkao in 25 BGK, which lit up the whole region with violent skirmishes in another surge of the Thousand-Years War, even the small capital city of Guelalmim was caught up in the full war that broke out across all stretches of the two continents; its scale and viciousness earning the latter half of the Thousand-Years War, the nickname the War of the Twin Poles. There were many casualties of the conflict in the years following the Battle of Qirkao, including one of Eufer's older brothers. His last remaining brother, Kisam III Setferga, ruled until his death of the wasting sickness in 16 BGK.

A reliable source told me he actually choked on a leg of chicken. But you didn't hear that from me."

— Translator's note

King of Setferga

As third oldest brother, Eufer had not been taught the ways of politics, and had instead intended to join the protective group of knights known as the Crownguard when he came of age. The Crownguard were eight of the best fighters in the kingdom, and were given lavish wealth and prestige in exchange for offering their life in service of the King's protection. As the third son, Eufer would have had leave to take the dangerous trials, tests and tournaments required to become a member of the Crownguard, but as the king, he was prohibited. Instead, his younger sister Lellah Setferga, having done three years under the training of Eufer, took his place in the Crownguard, and Eufer himself ascended to King of the kingdom of Setferga.
From the years of 16 BGK to 12 BGK, Setferga under 'Eufer the War-King' was plagued with calamity, both natural and war-caused, with Eufer being forced into issuing a royal decree conscripting all competent magic users over the age of fifteen into military service, creating what would later be called the Visarim Army, who would be used to fight and also distribute food during the long famines of the inter-war years.

Formation of the Godling Knights

Every eight years, during the astrological phenomenon known as the Red Moon, it is tradition for the nations of Northern Meraqia to set aside their differences and come together for the month-long festivities. In 12 BGK, Eufer announced to all of the nations of Meraqia that the kingdom of Setferga would host the continent's leaders at that year's Red Moon Fest, in the desperate hope that they might somehow find a way to end the conflict, or at least provide a united front against the Meddlemarkian invaders. During the event, eight of the leaders, including Eufer, become convinced that the only way to save their continent was to find a way to bring back magic, which had been waning for centuries, according to royal magicians. With the persuasion of Eufer, who argued that only the ruler of each kingdom can bear the duty and responsibility to do what is required for the sake of their people, they formed an expedition later known as the Godling Knights.

Search for the Creator

Serevin the Bright petitioning the Creator, 12th Century Larosian Tapestry by Pfeffermin (Using Microsoft Designer)

For almost twelve years, eight rulers of Meraqia sought a way to bring back magic. Then they rode out in the desert and according to myth, summoned the Creator down from the heavens. The Creator agreed to bring back magic to the earth, but only if the group agreed to be the guardians of that magic, and only if they agreed that it came with sacrifice. The rulers rode back to camp a night to talk it over.
In the morning when they woke, clear signs of magic had returned to the land, though there had been no sacrifice. Eufer announced he would ride to the spot in the desert and demand the Creator explain what had occurred. His squire did not rise to prep his horse, so he rode out alone. There at the spot in the desert where they had summoned the Creator, Eufer found an oasis, and the body of his squire by its bank. The Creator appeared to Eufer, and told him that his squire's sacrifice had returned magic to the land. Eufer asked how they might be able to protect it if they had no power.
The Creator agreed to give Eufer the power to protect magic, so long as he agreed that there must always be guardianship of it. Just as the blood of Eufer's squire gave magic to the land, the Creator's blood and body was given to give each of the Godling Knights a seventh of the Creator's power, so that there may always be magic in the continent of Meraqia and there will always be those there to guard it.

Return, and the founding of Serevinium

The Godling Knights, as they were now called, due to their newfound part-divinity, rode back to the city, and after a short battle, forced the Meddlemarkians to surrender. A treaty of peace was drawn up in a city in Gylarus, the midpoint between the two continents, called the Treaty of Pyrma, marking the end to the Thousand-Years War.
The Euferist Calendar begins in this year, with the day of the squire's death marking the start of year 0 AGK - After the Godling Knights, and any period before that marked as BGK - Before the Godling Knights.
On Eufer's return, he married the Princess Agsine um-Qersi of Qersistan, with whom his heir, Setra I ula-Ros -would unite the two kingdoms of Setferga and Qersistan (Northern Laros and part of west modern Umqher) into the country known as Laros in modern times, after Eufer's sobriquet 'the Red (King),' from the Old Gylarusian nickname for Meraqia - 'the Red (place)'.
He re-formed the Crownguard as a religious organisation, headed by the sovereign, newly called the Radiant Guard, with a duty to protect the people of the country, as well as the sovereign. Lellah Setferga became the first Commander of the Radiant Guard.
After five years of peaceful rule of the new kingdom of Laros, Eufer founded a capital city in the north, upon the bones of an old Gylarusian port town in the north, called Burnomanis. He named the city Serevinium, after his dead squire, who is known in the religion as Serevin the Bright.

Legend has it that he was the bravest, most handsome, wisest, kindest member of all the Godling Knights. I don't see it right to disagree with legend. This article is a sham, and Esiel deserved it. What do mortal historians know? It's not like they were there."

— Translator's Note

Esiel's Betrayal

Esiel De Banquefort, another member of the Godling Knights, the Molian King of Hymbia visited Serevinium four-hundred years after the beginning of its construction, by which time the city is, according to some contemporaries, the most beautiful on the continent, with every building built or rebuilt using palace funds down to the poorest areas, which still boasted murals and facade carvings. Legend tells that the Godling Knights' power had allowed them to live and rule for centuries, but Esiel, seeing for his own eyes the beauty and peace of the city, and believing himself the cause of war in his country, suggested it was time to leave the world to the mortals, and for the Godling Knights to step back. Eufer became infuriated, and tricked Esiel into locking himself in a cage under the sea off the coast of his new city. Jehemat the Strong, Esiel's wife, and fellow Godling Knight, visited Serevinium looking for Esiel. After a confrontation, where she blames Eufer for Esiel's disappearance and potential death, and Eufer maintains that Esiel was a traitor to them all, a civil war erupted between the Godling Knights, forcing the others to choose sides. This erupted into a terrible, long conflict, known to the histories as the War of Bloody Gold, only ended by the choice of Bephozal to side with Jehemat, and her discovery of Esiel's cage beneath the waves.

Withdrawal and disappearance

Though the War of Bloody Gold had finished by 426 AGK, and Jehemat had begun her yearly tradition of visiting Esiel in his underwater cage, with Bephozal's help to part the waves, the Godling Knights still shunned Eufer for his role in the conflict. He continued to rule in Laros, it is said, for seven more years, while the kingdom suffered under his melancholy, until he simply vanished one day in 429 AGK, leaving a conflict of succession in his wake, and many historians to speculate what had happened to him.

Status, debate and cultural significance

The story of Eufer's betrayal has been the subject of countless debate over the centuries between scholars of historical and theological thought. The debate has caused a schism between Traditional Euferism, which states that the above account is accurate, and that Eufer was morally correct to lock Esiel 'the traitor' beneath the ocean, and several other forms of the religion. Orthodox Euferism holds to the tenet that Eufer did not betray Esiel, and that it was Esiel who sacrificed himself, locking his form under the ocean to prevent mortals fighting over it, due to his belief that his presence as Godling Knight of Wealth and Fortune, and his marriage to Jehemat, Godling Knight of War and Strength, was the reason peace could not be had in his country. Umqheri Euferism posits that Eufer died much earlier, before he even returned to Serevinium, and that his dynasty was responsible for 'Esiel's Death,' which they posit is a metaphor for an invasion. Jasteli Euferism instead, agrees with the argument that Eufer disappeared in 14 AGK, abandoning the kingdom and the other Godlling Knights, which caused Esiel's eventual despair. In all forms, he remains the figurehead of the religion, appearing in many items of iconography, adages, and worship practices, due to his role in the formation of the Godling Knights.

Depiction in art and literature

Depiction as 'the Torch'

Eufer became known in popular imagination as the personification of a 'guiding light,' or 'torch,' which made it into a lot of imagery when depicted. For instance, the organisation known as the Hand of Eufer, (also known as the Hand and Eye, or the Eye of Eufer), is represented by a flaming hand with a watchful eye in the centre, representing the organisation's stated intention to act as both a paternal figure to the world's politics and economy, and its intent to 'guide' the continent into a new age.

The Tale of the Clay Knight

Some scholars have argued that Eufer Setferga was the origin for the popular folk tale about a boy who wishes to become a powerful swordsman, but is too poor to buy weapons or armour. He turns to the Sun for aid, and the Sun, loving the boy, told him to fashion a sword and armour of wet-clay from the riverbank, then stand in the Sun's light for nine days, after which he would have a sword that no shield could parry and armour that no sword could pierce. By the ninth day, his armour and sword have turned to ruby gemstone under the Sun's rays. Other scholars suggest that similar folk stories from the region have earlier origins and therefore cannot refer to him. The confusion with this myth could also stem from its similarity to the myth of the 'earth'/clay knight who the moon fell in love with, their meetings and goodbyes created the night and the day respectively.
The well-known Wyrdsmith ballad: The Song of Night and Day, ahistorically refers to the Clay Knight as 'Good Prince Jufr', which is an example of this confusion.

Not only is it accurate, but it's a good song too. Very catchy. Good dance tune with the right Wyrdsmith."

— Translator's Note

Awakening and Controversy

It is said that Eufer's reawakening by Jal Visari in 1584 AGK was the cause of the destruction of the Red Cazaar, the death of Usidra I Vringfeuer, Maridas Guelalmim and the catastrophic flooding of Northern Laros that year, though many academics of various camps have dismissed this as hearsay at best and heresy at worst.

I never thought there'd come a day I had academics on my side. Hmm. Wartime brings the best and strangest allies so they say.

— Translator's Note.

Embroidered image of the mythical Ruby Knight from a 16th century Larosian Tapestry by Pfeffermin (Using Microsoft Designer)

Epithet

The Torch

Patron of:

Kings, discovery, braveness, leadership, guidance, fathers, teachers, fire, bricklaying, cities, government, ambassadors, rooftilers, soldiers, guardsmen

Saint day and month

The second month of the year, Juveran, is named after Eufer. He is also said to be most poweful on the first day of the week: Udan. The first Udan of every year in the Euferist Calendar is celebrated in Eufer's name, during the Fest of Light.

Divine Classification

Godling Knight

Species

Human

Euferist traditions, rituals and practice

Festival of Light - a month-long celebration of the beginning of a new year, and the cleansing of all sins and shadow.

Symbol carved into the wall of a building known to be used as headquarters of a sect of the Hand and Eye by Pfeffermin (Using Microsoft Designer)