Nir
God-Empress of the New Rozsan Empire
Nir was a mathematician, poet, theoretician, wizard, engineer, martial artist, painter, oneiromancer, occultist, Lichlord and the second-most influential of the extraplanar Colonial Gods, behind the High King of the Kelpeater Empire, Inum'indiron'aravaut. It was Nir's nation-state of Elmdor that emigrated from the plane of Rozsa to establish the colony of New Rozsa on the backwater plane of Waking Materia. She and her brother Nef would unofficially lead New Rozsa for much of Materia's First Age as heads of a ruling council known as the Temporal Vanguard. She bore many titles, most prominently God-Empress and Divine Overseer.
Nir is the namesake of the vast city-state of Nireau, the largest of the New Rozsan Empire.
Nir's alignment is unknown but was likely Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil.Appearance & Heraldry
See also: Lichlord Nir Image Gallery (external)Remaining art of Nir generally portrays her as slight and willowy, with dark, unkempt hair and a light complexion. She seemed to have the disposition of an artist, wearing fashions that were often seen as eccentric or experimentative.
Domains
Nir's Domains are unknown, and indeed some scholars question whether the New Rozsan godlords had domains at all, as they seem not to have been worshipped directly. If she did have domains, they likely revolved around magic, lore, art and society.Favoured Weapon
Nir is known to have disdained weaponry and what few stories exist of her in combat describe only an immensely powerful spellcaster. However she was also known to train in martial arts, so her favoured weapon may have been certain unarmed techniques.History
Rozsa
The initial cause of the Empire's exodus was thought to be due to heavy cultural persecution experienced by its Rozsan precursor, a nation-district known as Elmdor, who were the subject of frequent and often brutal inquisitions by neighbouring districts for participating in occultism, blood magic, Avant Garde music and theoretical physics. This culminated in what became known as Elmdor's Final Referendum: no longer willing to endure the attacks, Elmdor had become sharply divided between three positions: stay and integrate, stay and fight and a "third way" movement lead by Nir, who wanted only to seek enlightenment unharassed, even if that meant leaving altogether. Aided by her brother Nef's strategic brilliance and the diplomatic acumen of their long-time ally Lakodalmas, Nir emerged victorious. Some number of Remainer militants still dug in their heels and fought, but having lost their bid for a united front, they did not last long and remaining Elmdorite cultures were either assimilated or sent underground.Waking Materia
Together with her brother and fellow Lichlord, Nef, Nir ran the Temporal Vanguard, an organization of immortal fortune-tellers that officially "advised" the many ruling councils of New Rozsa, but were in fact the expansive commonwealth's de facto rulers.
Nir would spend the majority of her time alone in one of her many scattered studies and observatories, each connected by portals usable only by her. Apparently it was common for her to go months, even years, without being seen by another soul. Other times she would walk the streets of New Rozsa in a frenzy, ranting about laws, societycraft, architecture and the like, trailed by scribes and worshippers. Though Nef's elite agents kept track of her, Nir never allowed guards close by; she despised weaponry and instead studied martial arts (though this was as much hobby as self-defence for a archmage of her immensity).
Although Nef would disappear without a trace in the late First Age, Nir would continue to rule seemingly up to the Deluge, when the great necrocracy was drowned beneath a massive upwelling of demon-infested brine. Her rule was mostly stable, save for a near-successful coup attempt by Ionian loyalists and a grinding series of wars against the Firstsong Islands, both of which heavily damaged the Temporal Vanguard's reputation.Divinity
Though sometimes ill-tempered, Nir was not known for violence, so it's difficult to establish her direct capabilities as an undead godlord. Nonetheless her political inferiors were known to be capable of great miracles so it's reasonable to regard her similarly.
Little is known about Nir's divinity; though context suggests she was as powerful as the Insurgent Gods and some later Ascendant Material Gods, New Rozsa was a seemingly secular society, with neither Nir nor Nef demanding any worship beyond respectable behaviour. Indeed it almost appears they hid their godhood behind the guises of mere fortune tellers, powerful though they were. How, then, they held such an apparently large amount of divine power, without cultivating any worship, is a true mystery to modern theologians.Beliefs
Lichlord Nir was a prolific writer and widely printed, so it is not uncommon to see several of her works in a typical, modern library. The issue is that much of it was limited to essays about music no surviving person has heard, bizarre (albeit often beautiful) manuscripts for stage plays, utterly indicipherable mathematical equations, and other subjects narrow in pertinence. Books more directly about Rozsan society, history, engineering and the like are incredibly valuable items. Also sought after are her musical compositions, as Nireauan musical script had long since been deciphered. Most common are her architectural designs, giving modern scholars a good understanding of what Rozsan cities would look like.The Doctrine of Denied Entropy
Lichlord Nir was, in a sense, a temporal architect. It was her fervent belief that the universe is born, grows, withers and dies in cycles (a process called 'Entropy'), and furthermore that the actions of its residents speed and slow this process. Her interplanar scouts detected the rapid progression of an indigenous Materian species called the Watchers, whose sprouting enlightenment would move the clock forward to a tragically early universal demise. The Empire of Nireau snuffed out the peaceful Watchers without difficulty, and its mostly well-liked God-Empress began the project of building a world perfectly calibrated to be technologically and spiritually comfortable, but “gentle on the universal clock”.
NIR
Godhood
Ascendant (Early First Age, possibly earlier), now thought deceased (Deluge?) Alignment
LN or LE Domains
Unknown Favoured Weapon
Unknown; valued Unarmed techniques Relic Weapon
Unknown Warbody
Unknown
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