The Penitent Tyrant

It is good that even in a state of Perfection and Infinity a soul knows how to bow and show sorrow. For who can possibly stand before these things and claim to be clean? As scions of Lunis, the limbs of The Law, we must every day be forgiven for the Perfection and Infinity we have attained.

  The Tyrant Penitent was one of the nine figures that ruled Lunis beneath The Absolute, responsible for interpreting and implementing portions of The Law that prescribed repentance and punishment.   Like the other Tyrants, The Penitent was supposedly semi-divine, or at least assumed such an aspect in the eyes of The Notari and Skunlynn; but ultimately he was as human as any other. It is likely that over the five hundred years of Lunis’ existence, there were many Penitents, each assuming the identity of the former to create the sense that the Tyrant was immortal. But despite this, a distinct personality can be ascribed to the avatar as each Penitent built on the mythology of the last like a series of actors performing the same role without personal interpretation. This dynamic was evident among each of the Tyrants, although more prevalent in some than others.   In The Penitent's framework, repentance always had the same face, a concept expressed through the prison guards who each wore the same mask and checkered cloak, each of them a smaller representation of The Penitent Tyrant himself, who through his ceremonial magic appeared over seven feet tall and particularly terrible in aspect. The harlequin dress of these figures seems to speak with the latter’s fascination with drama and mummery, and he had a stage set on one level of the prison, in which certain prisoners gathered at his behest to watch passion plays that he had personally composed.   Music was another facet of The Penitent’s mythos with the dramatic martial symphonies of The Apostate Rebel frequently playing through halls. These eccentricities aside, The Penitent Tyrant was arguably the least corrupt of The Nine, and the eventual cruelty that pervaded the prison was more an expression of Lunis’ overall degeneration than of the figure himself. He believed thoroughly in the possibility of rehabilitation and refused to have any of his charges executed, no matter their crime. But madness came to the Tyrant’s en masse, largely through the influence of The Ultimate Night, and the Penitent did not go unaffected.