Avarus Ravenburn

"If not for this man, Ansalon would still have three major human kingdoms instead of two"

 

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  Avarus Ravenburn was the king of The Kingdom of Altharas between 3156E1 and 3171E1 of the human calendar and also the last king of said kingdom. He has been widely blamed for the downfall of the region and his legacy has gone down in history as one of ruin and a lot of bad decisions.    

Story and life

  Youth   Avarus was born into the royal family of Ravenburn in the year 3143E1. Life in the kingdom during his father's reign was flourishing and he lived a relatively secluded life in and around the palace. Everything was always available to him, he could always have his will as the prince of the, at the time, wealthy kingdom. He was the younger of the two sons and thus second in line to inherit the crown, which led to him being unprepared when the responsibility would eventually fall on his shoulders.   Crowning as King   In the summer of 3156E1 the royal family made a state visit to Larven, a town a few villages north from the capital Altharas. It was a rather ordinary trip and everything went according to plan originally. However, on their way back through the countryside the convoy was attacked by bandits.   This would under normal conditions have been a suicidal attempt, but roughly half of the accompanying royal guard immediately switched sides and aided the attackers in their ambush. It was later discovered that a mage of the black robes had been after a ruby ring in the king's possession and had either bribed or cast some kind of an enchantment on the guards, causing them to give up their loyalty. The ring was supposedly a source of great power, though the royal family had no idea the piece of jewelry had such properties; it was simply something valuable passed down for centuries.   It was a slaughter. Both Avarus' parents, King Zyrus and Queen Keerla, as well as his older brother, Crown Prince Vilmar, perished in the battle, along with the royal guard that remained loyal. Prince Avarus was the only survivor. He hid during the initial ambush and then managed to escape by running into the forest.   Young Avarus, who was only thirteen years old, had no idea what to do. Afraid of going back to the main road, he wandered through the forests for days until he came across a village. As he walked in with his torn and ragged clothes from his time in the forest, the villagers didn't recognize him. As he pleaded for their help and compliance under the royal name, the people simply shrugged and thought him a common orphan beggar. Avarus was devastated and the seed of hatred toward lowly commoners was planted deep within him.   Eventually he found his way back to the capital, where he was finally recognized and hurried to the safety of the castle where they had begun worrying where the royal escort had disappeared to. Upon hearing Avarus' story, riders were immediately dispatched. Two days later the deaths of the remainder of the noble house were confirmed. With the king and crown prince out of the picture, the next in line of inheritance was the young Avarus himself. At first reluctant and traumatized, eventually that fall with the pressure of the tradition-clinging noble the court prince was crowned the 26th Ruler of the Kingdom of Altharas.   The campaign on magic items   The first few years of his official reign the king was mostly just a ruler by name, and the kingdom in practice controlled by the nobles of the royal court. However, as Avarus grew older and learned the extent of his power, he eventually cast them aside and became a full-fledged monarch, fully in control of all the politics in the region.   In the year 3160E1 the king hosted a feast in honor of his "becoming of age" and gave a grand speech of becoming a great ruler worthy of his family's name. The event went well and the general public loved him and had faith in him, partly because of the sympathy for his tragic past.   However, as the saying goes, the power ended up getting to his head. Less than two years later, king Avarus pronounced an official ruling that the monarchy would be claiming all known and suspected magical items in the region and that they will be collected to the treasuries and collections within the capital. It has been speculated that this was a mental substitute for the king never being able to retrieve the ring stolen by the black mage that his parents and brother died over.   As expected, this was not received very well. Many magical items were considered heirlooms. Many noble houses did not want to relinquish the ownership of their valued artifacts that had been in their families for centuries. Items were hidden away, towns and villages ruled by these noble vassals tried to object and declare independence from the kingdom, all to be suppressed with the full military might of the kingdom. The king did not take no for an answer. One by one relics were collected in the capital from all around the region.   Madness and ban on religion   At this point one of the main factors the kingdom was still in one piece was fear. People feared for their lives and families. As king Avarus kept making decisions that made the lives of normal people of the kingdom, farmers and commoners, worse, the one thing that was keeping them together through the dark times was their joint religion.   In 3170E1, king Avarus and the capital released a declaration across the entire kingdom. A copy of this historical document can be found here. The main message of this declaration was, that all practice of religion will, within the next year, be banned. It was stated that the gods weren't needed and that the only deity-like being in the kingdom was the King himself.   The religion ban started with one of the most popular gods among the common folk, Terrin, the god of farming and crops. The king's men would ride to across the lands searching for and destroying altars and shrines. The villagers were furious, but had to suppress their anger to preserve their own lives. Secret sects still dedicated to the practice of old religion were established and people confirmed or even suspected of taking part of such activity were swiftly executed by royal decree.   Divine wrath   While no mortal may gaze into the minds of the gods, this is an unofficial account by the storywriters on what happened.   Terrin had been sleeping a dormant slumber for many millenia, until he was awoken by his sister, Velthara, the goddess of Vengeance. The still drowsy deity inquired for the reasoning of this act.   "Oh dearest sister, why have you come here to interrupt my dream?"   "You have been gone for too long my brother. Your beloved people have forgotten you. Weakness and unwillingness to see things how they truly are has led you to this point."   The expression on the face of the typically calm god changed as he exclaimed: "Intolerable lies! I do not believe you! My devout followers are the most faithful!".   "Let me show you how the world has changed while you have been dreaming.", replied Velthara, as the two walked toward the World Sphere.   The goddess weaved her hand over the Sphere and an image begun to form within the mist. A scene of Terrin's shrines and statues being reduced to pieces. Then, a monarch stepping over the crumbled altars and the crowd cheering and kneeling for him.   Terrin had seen enough. Normally very patient and forgiving, on this day he let fury get hold of himself as Velthara slowly backed away with a twisted smile on her face. He shattered the image within the World Sphere and cursed the king and his kingdom to suffer and to never produce crop again.   In the following years, Northern Ansalon felt divine retribution without precedent. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, drought and even plague ravaged the land. Harvest was meager and a major portion of the population ended up dying of starvation, while most of those who survived quickly realized that their luck wouldn't last and headed south, abandoning their homes and lands.   Death and the burning of Altharas   In the summer of 3171E1, after roughly a year of struggle and series of natural disasters of unnatural magnitude since the declaration of the ban on religion, the forests around the capital city caught on fire. The region had been suffering from severe drought for months, and the dry woods burnt and spread quickly, eventually reaching the capital. Even though the castle and its surrounding wall were made of mostly stone, the rest of the city was mostly built from wood, and swiftly became a fiery inferno. An inferno that slowly enclosed upon the seat of the monarchy, suffocating and consuming all living beings within, eventually claiming even King Avarus' life.     The aftermath   The burning of Altharas marks the ending of civilization in Northern Ansalon, as quickly afterward the remaining people of the region deserted their homeland, scattering all over the southern half of Ansalon. Aside from the Black Bark Forest that was protected by Nadinis, the goddess of nature, the region quickly became wilderness where only dragons and other monsters roam freely. King Avarus Ravenburn has in later years been called "the Greedy King", for his greed and lust for power almost single-handedly brought down a major kingdom. While some of the arcane relics and artifacts were rescued prior the total destruction of the city, some remained within the vaults and treasuries of the castle. The heat of the inferno caused this massive gathering of arcane energies to start crackling and eventually explode, consuming them and creating a massive crater. While these days the region around the area is dangerous to explore and send scientific expeditions to, the waves of magical energy still remaining around the ruins make the location very appealing and important for further research of magic and its limitations. The Arcane University of Highpond has expressed interest in funding and organizing an expedition as early as 650E2.