Katyr Ainham

A closeup of Katyr Ainham.

Beyond his unique personality, Katyr is also known for his passion, having fathered perhaps thousands of children with his hundreds of lovers - enough to have built an entire army from his own blood.

Of course, it is his extroverted exhuberance and dedication to accessibility that has kept good will flowing his way, resulting in this over 15,000 year old man maintaining his title for nearly as long as he has been alive... resulting in one of the longest reigns in Incaendian history.

Despite his fairly youthful appearance, Katyr stands among the oldest Dominus Regas still active in Incaendium, having risen to power approximately 15,000 years ago. Despite this, he and Koraxis have managed to remain largely neutral in nearly every inter-domain war, large and small that has shaken Incaendium's power structure to this day -- partially a function of how physically distant Koraxis is from the center of power in the Realm.

Despite this, Koraxis was not a domain without conflict of its own. In part due to its having developed near the end of the continent as it did, as well as its difficult terrain, it lacked a central unifying force for many millennia. Thus, for thousands of years, there was no true Dominus Regas - only a parade of warlords, called karegnant who managed small territories. Many of these territories were also at odds with another, sparking dozens of small wars even as the residents avoided the larger, Realm-wide conflicts.

In 17354Y, wheels would begin to turn which would eventually unite Koraxis beneath the rule of one leader for the first time.

Katyr was born the son of the lord of a small territory within Koraxis called Osoving. While the territory was small, it stood at the crossroads of various roads, giving Katyr's father, Regnant Syrik, outsized influence as he controlled an important trade route.

This caused significant conflict between Osoving and its neighbors. As such, Katyr was raised in an atmosphere of constant upheaval and violence, as his family fought to maintain control of their important land - the source of their political and financial power.

As the years went on, Katyr distinguished himself as an excellent warrior and a worthy successor to Syrik. He would soon need to prove that, as his father was soon to fall..

During a particularly difficult and prolonged conflict in which two of Osoving's neighbors joined forces to try and take control of Osoving, Syrik was forced to overreach, overextenting his Magic, and plunging himself into a severe state of Void Madness. Suddenly, Osoving was without a leader, or their strongest warrior. With its fate precarious, Katyr stepped into the role of Regnant.

This was considered a moment of great vulnerability for Osoving... but any who expected the relatively green Regnant Osoving to be easy to conquer was quickly disabused of this notion as Katyr proved every bit as formidable - and significantly more physically powerful - than his father.

At first, he did as every previous Regnant Osoving had done - maintain his territory and protect his people from a defensive stance. But, after the fifth attempt to attack inside a decade, Katyr lost his patience and went on the attack.

For over a century, Katyr would lead Osoving into battle against its neighbors, taking the heads of any Regnant who would not swear fealty to him. In this time, he proved a capable leader and a more than capable fighter. He also proved to have quite the force of personality - despite his facility in battle and the intensity of his campaigns, Katyr was fast with an easy laugh, and could forgive his enemies nearly as quickly... provided they were willing to become friends.

The Unifier

Katyr with his legendary Great Axe, Tuvo-Marju.

...he also proved to be quite a passionate man, known for "falling in love" with at least one woman every time he rode into town... and each time he did, he would bring that woman (or women!) back to Osoving with him to join his hari suum basa. As the decades passed, his various love affairs produced many children, and Katyr found that he had pride and affection enough for every child, providing them with excellent education and tutelage in any area in which their natural talents and preferences suggested they might excel.

Many of his children would then grow to become his greatest warriors, riding into battle alongside their father as he conquered the land.

Eventually, he had united the various territories and tribes of Koraxis into a single Domain beneath his House's sigil. I The Warlord of Koraxis was then able to find peace... for a while, at least.

In the wake of the Unification, each formerly independent territory maintained its name and some semblence of its sovereignty. One might consider Koraxis a miniature-empire - a series of territories that acted independently, save for the need to defer to Osoving,

For several thousand years, the peace between territories held... until 22356, when the Regnant of the territory Tsara, Jhanandra Baran, attempted to wrest independence back by challenging Osoving. Though her army lacked the sheer power of Osoving's - an army long strengthened by its access to all territories and their resources (not to mention the high ratio of Katyr's children to other soldiers...), Tsara's Regnant was able to maintain her ground for twelve years. During this time, Katyr became fascinated by the question of who this person was - though he had, of course, been to Tsara during his original march of conquest, at the time the Regnant of the land was Jhanandra's father, and he had only seen the Baran children from a distance.

Their long conflict would finally come to a close when they met for one-on-one combat... and fought one another for several days straight before deciding to reach a temporary truce to recover.

The truce never actually ended - Jhanandra soon became Katyr's consort, and his partner in leading Koraxis.

In the centuries since, Katyr and Jhanandra have stood as the monarchs of Koraxis. As the Domain farthest from what is now the heart of power in Incaendium, the domain Amaya, they have managed to retain their independence largely by staying uninvolved. Within Koraxis itself, there is never much peace regardless - the old territories and tribes continue to occasionally burst into minor wars with one another; if they run too long or cause too much disruption, they are certain to be put down by the warlord rulers of the Domain.

As the heir to a former Regnant, Katyr has an education appropriate for the royalty of his age. That said, the chaotic state of Koraxis at the time means that this education was not on par with the royalty of more established and advanced Domains.

In the many centuries that have followed, Katyr has made significant progress in closing that gap - he's learned to read and write, though he doesn't find it a productive use of his time - and he's learned some of the courtly demands of Domains outside his own. However, these are largely things he has added to his toolbox for the use of diplomacy - he doesn't actually care about the proper addressing of other rulers.

Katyr is responsible for united the many scatterred territories of Koraxis into a unified Domain under his semi-direct control. He continues to upkeep this alliance by personally kicking rebels in the face when necessary, though he likes to give them a few weeks to get it out of their system first.

He has also fathered arguably thousands of children over his many years of life, and with his expansive hari suum basa. This has allowed him to establish one of the strongest of the various Domains' central armies, The Fangs of Osoving. While the Fangs are not the largest army in Incaendium, they are made up entirely of Katyr's own children, making it the only Archdemon-only army in history.

Where many an Archdemon king might find their magnetism in intimidation, or in sensuality, or in some combination of both - Katyr's considerable charisma emanates from his open personality, his zest for life, and his open enthusiasm. He is renown for his big voice, his big personality, and the loud laughter that echoes through any building where he comes to take his rest.

Katyr & Koraxis

Unlike the normal Dominus Regas, Katyr remains accessible and approachable with his citizenry. He will frequently join a celebration or drop into a civilian tavern to spend time with the people he rules. ...this sometimes (often) turns into a brawl.

Perhaps it is because he was born to a Regnant rather than a Dominus Regas that he lacks the distance and boundaries that separate rulers from their people. Whatever the reason, this has served him well, allowing him to forge loyalty from nothing and make friends of those who follow him. It is said that hsi enthusiasm is infectious, and he is able to easily draw others into his plans -- though they sometimes involve unnecessarily searching for danger.

And what are those plans? Well, typically, Katyr is devoted to the thrill of adventure. He will often organize hunting parties, seeking out beasts - though he has yet to encounter a Great Beast, which is probably for the best. He also enjoys exploration - he treks through Koraxis's mountain range and, when he has come to know them too well, he assembles Earth Elementalists to carve new caverns to explore anew... though he knows well enough to allow the new structures to sit for a few decades so they do not look so clean and unlived in!

He also enjoys socializing - every evening is an feast, and he keeps those feasts open to whomever cares to come regardless of status -- the doors close above a certain number, not to a certain class.

All of that said, Katyr has the presence and majesty of a true Archdemon - he wears his stature and his power both with ease and casual confidence. It is impossible to overlook him, and not just because he's nearly 8 feet tall.

While it would be politically expedient to claim that the primary motivation is the well-being of his Domain -- and that is a significant motivating factor for him to be sure -- the truth is Katyr is primarily driven by the pursuit of excitement and pleasure. Essentially an adrenaline or seratonin rush.

However, in the context of his Domain - and without wanting to get into a larger conflict that might cause the Imperator to come and bother him, he primarily exercises this desire through adventure and combat exhibitions/tourmanents. You could say another of his motivating factors is not getting the eyes of Amaya on his business, as he really doesn't consider that kind of drama worth getting into.

Because of his generally genial personality, it is easy to mistake Katyr for a "good" man - and maybe by some standards he is. Certainly he lacks the destructive tendencies of a Samael Asther, or the cruelty-with-intent of an Astaroth Dracothis.

However, it should be noted that he still started a war within Koraxis and subjugated most of the Domain. In short, he is more than capable of amorality and ruthlessness... but he lacks malice as a general rule.

This leads to his general policy on radical forgiveness - wherein he very rarely remains angry at anyone for anything, ever. Part of this is because he genuinely considers it too much trouble to dislike people or hold onto grudges. If a person is no longer doing the thing that angered him, what benefit does he gain from remembering to be mad about it going forward? That isn't to say that he forgives people the very second they cease their actions... but it generally only takes a few days at most before he moves on with his life and accepts them back into the fold.

This doesn't mean that he immediately trusts them - he is no fool, after all. But he is willing to be convinced, because he doesn't want to bother remaining wary, either.

Katyr does not have much in the way of taboos. That said, he has absolutely no tolerance for anyone who would abuse a lover. He considers that deeply dishonorable, and it is one of the few topics that can generate a persistent grudge from him.

Katyr is a giant of a man, standing at over 7' tall, presumably due to his Nephilor descent. His skintone is similar to that of a golden tan, and he has curly brown hair, which he generally keeps in a ponytail with a beaded hair tie.

A full body shot of Katyr Ainham.

His heavily muscled body is covered in battle scars.

Katyr appears, in most ways, human-like. However, his glowing green eyes give away his Sura heritage.

The fashion choices typically made in Koraxis are fairly specific - they wear very little clothing on a casual basis, and full armor in battle.

Katyr is no different. When seen off the field, he is typically shirtless or wearing an open tunic. He will often wear a battleskirt, armored or unarmored - often (but not always) with bare legs. He also enjoys wearing a heavy cape, and a great deal of gold jewelry. He favors red and green, though Katyr's wardrobe is generally quite colorful and he's open to most things.

Katyr's great battle axe, Tuvo-marju ("Mountainbreaker") is his most well known - and valued - possession. Capable of breaking through enchanted steel, it is also enhanced by his own Earth elementalism, and can break the ground itself, creating rifts and collapsing entire areas when used with sufficient focus.

Additionally, his massive long bow and armor piercing arrows are enchanted to release flames on impact.

His armor is also mildly enchanted, but it can be considered fairly standard enchanted equipment.

Katar is, of course, famously promiscuous - even once he found his korut vavine, Jhanandra, he did not slow down; instead, he continued to seduce and accumulate Hari Suum as years went by; his current hari tunwa houses an unknown number of women, but it certainly reaches triple digits.

In keeping with the value he places is freedom and the destruction of most strict between-class lines, he is known to release his hari suum on request, though he may complain about it or try to bribe them to stay depending on how fond he is of them.

Oddly enough, he has very few one-night encounters - typically, if he is attracted to someone well enough to desire them, he prefers to bring them home with him as part of a long-term arrangement. That said, he has had several casual flings as well, most notably with Catlili Iz'zilith some centuries back. She refuses to talk about it, but anyone who asks Katar will get an earful.

To date, he has only shown interest in women... at least outside the context of interesting nights shared with Jhanandra and her own hari suum.

Katyr is quite devoted to his family, despite having an extremely... extremely large one. He attempts to maintain personal relationships with every one of his many children and considers his Hari Suum to be part of his family as well.

The Royal Family

  Jhanandra Baran Ainham, Consort

Katyr's primary partner and great love. The two enjoy a passionate - and mutually open - relationship.

 

  Nias Ainham, The Regas Legat

Nias is the current presumptive heir, and the eldest daughter of Katyr and Jhanandra.

 

  Syrik Ainham, Former Regnant

The former Regnant Osoving and Katyr's father. His once powerful body has withered as his mind was lost to void madness..

That said, while he is genuinely proud and affectionate toward his various children, he definitely has favorites. What surprises many people is that his favorites are not determined by strength or utility. Rather he favors those whose personality he most enjoys - those with a strong sense of humor, those with a similar passion for adventure and dislike for complacency, and also the bookish ones who are willing to read things for him and then tell him what they say so he won't have to read them himself.

He does not allow his favoritism to determine status, however - the commanders of the Fangs are those who show the most facility toward war command, for example.

Finally, there is Syrik, the former Regnant and Katyr's father. Despite his broken mind, Syrik has survived to the present day and resides in Osoving, where he is cared for by a personal staff of servants. Katyr makes it a priority to visit with him several times a week, during which time he tells Syrik stories of the current events and his own adventures.

It is unclear whether Syrik understands anything he is saying.

Katyr's closest friend is, of course, Jhanandra! However, he also maintains strong relationships with several Regnants. In a real sense, he can be considered a friend to any citizen, but of course he only has so much time.

Jhanandra Baran Ainham is, of course, the great love of Katyr's life as well as the only woman he has found who can beat him in a fight approximately 33% of the time (33% of the time he wins, and 34% of the time they tie)! His immense respect for her is demonstrated in his insistence that her word carry the same weight as his own to those who serve them, and in the seriousness with which he takes any of her suggestions that don't involve practicing magic or reading reports himself.

Unlike many relationships between a Dominus Regas and their consorts, there is no visible power imbalance between them - what he does, she is also able to do. He has his hari suum basa, and she has her own. He goes on long adventuring trips, and she goes on her own. She maintains direct control over Tsara, just as he maintains direct control over Osoving. Ultimately, one could say that his title does give him greater authority than her, but he makes every effort to ignore that in all but the most dire situations.

Beyond that, he has an ever-expanding hari suum basa consisting of almost every woman he's ever been infatuated with going back thousands of years.

Finally, the less said about his encounters with Catlili Iz'zilith the better.

Katyr keeps a large pack of trained Grymvuld which he takes on hunting trips and various adventures with him.

Jhanandra also has several house cats and a large black dog, all of which probably qualify as belonging to him as well.

Certainly, Katyr's greatest abilities are firmly in the realm of the physiological. As a Nephilor descended Archdemon, his physical strength is extraordinary, allowing him to bend steel, break iron bars and tear buildings apart with his bare hands. Additionally, his skin is nearly impenetrable - it requires magical weaponry to injure him.

The Mountainbreaker

Tuvo-marju is Katyr's great axe, an earth-attuned weapon that enhances his affinities. This is his primary weapon.

By human standards, he is also quite fast, although by Archdemon standards he is rather "normal." This in itself is fairly impressive considering his size.

When he is injured, Katyr recovers at a remarkable pace with his high level of regenerative abilities.

And, like most archdemons, he has just enough ability in shapeshifting to make minor cosmetic changes by doing things like hiding or revealing certain demonic features such as his horns. Indeed, no one has actually ever seen said horns, at least not as far as the public knows.

While Katyr does have Magical abilities, as is to be expected from one of his lineage... he largely does not care. Magic is not interesting to him, so he has limited ability to shape and manipulate Void Energy... a fact that often annoys Jhanandra, but it hasn't done her any good to complain about it thus far.

Katyr's strongest sphere, by far, is External War, allowing him to project Vaham+ level destructive magic. It is believed that he could push his abilities to Vallus if he could be bothered to put in any effort, but he can't, so Vaham it is. As it stands, he has focused primarily on fire-magic... largely to compensate for the fact that he does not have a fire affinity but wishes that he did.

Beyond External War, Katyr shows talent in Deconstruction and in Travel Magic. Deconstruction, when coupled with his External War abilities, or his physical strength and speed, can create a particularly nasty combination. Where Travel abilities are concerned, he is most known for creating "short cuts" between places essentially by opening a tunnel that connects the point of departure and the goal area by a straight line.

Sigil of the Fangs

The Fangs of Osoving are the primary army of Osoving and the elite army of Koraxis as a whole. The army of around 500 people consists entirely of archdemons - and, more specifically, entirely by Katyr's own children. Their commander is Nias Ainham.

Katyr has a Vallus level affinity toward the Earth. This is the non-physical ability that he is most comfortable with wielding, often channeling it through his great axe. With his base abilities, and certainly using Tuvo-marju, Katyr is able to reshape the land itself. That said, he is generally disinclined to flex the extreme end of his Earth affinity, as he doesn't want to accidentally crush a territory. That would be uncalled for.

As Dominus Regas of Koraxis, Katyr has ultimately command of the individual armies for the various semi-independent territories under his authority as well as the central army of his personal territory, the Fangs of Osoving.

The latter is smaller than the others, with only a few hundred members... yet it remains one of the strongest armies in Incaendium as it is made up entirely of Katyr's own children - making it a small army of Regas-tier archdemons.

Katyr is exceptionally charismatic and capable of inspiring devotion and lifting morale among even the most stubborn of grouches.

Along those same lines, he is a skilled orator, though his speeches are less poetry and more storyweaving and infectious enthusiasm. He can also drink just about anyone under a table.

He is an Expert rider, and a Master hunter. Katyr is shockingly skilled at spelunking, although in fairness spelunking has considerably less danger associated with it when one can control the earth around them.

Though he lacks many of the skills associated with royalty in other sides of the world, this is really just because doesn't care about them.

Katyr's skill with his great axe is truly legendary; he is believed to be at a Grandmaster skill level. Additionally, he is a Master marksman with a longbow. While he is less adept with swords than axes, he is nonetheless skilled enough to be considered an Quaesitor.

Overwhelming force. He may rush into a battlefield on horseback, chopping everything in his path to pieces, or he may simply drop into the center of a conflict and begin clearing an ever-growing circle around him; either way, he hits a battle like a hurricane, and when he has passed through, there is little other than rubble and carnage in his wake.

If that were not bad enough for those who oppose him, any battle of sufficient seriousness to warrant Katyr's personal involvement will likely call Jhanandra to the field as well... and the two of them together are worth an army unto themselves.

Any assessment of Katyr's strength must take into consideration his nearly unparalleled skill in physical combat, his top tier physiological abilities as well as how those things combine and interact with his high level elemental affinity and destructive magical abilities. His ability to move swiftly through the use of tunnels makes him difficult to pin down, which is another complicating aspect. In addition to that, he has full control over the Fangs of Osoving, and mostly-complete control over around a dozen smaller armies dedicated to the territories within Koraxis. And, of course, one must not forget Jhanandra, an additional high level archdemon, who can always be counted on to come to Katyr's aid in times of danger.