King Korriggan Voletaria

The Cindrian Plague ravaged Western Arith. More than a billion dead, a golden age of humanity crumbled to dust. The last surviving Aristean men were those out of the country for travel and diplomacy, and many simply chose not to return, knowing that they no longer had homes to return to. Some noble families eked by with cousins and nephews taking over as the primary noble line, while others were taken over by people with less than concrete claims. A strong militarized border prevented the plague from reaching the Empire, and Tysha's lack of an interest in inviting foreigners saved the two nations from utter destruction, and neither had much of a refugee crisis to deal with since there were only a few hundred survivors. Voletaria had shut its gates early on under the command of Pontiff Ukko and witnessed their walls scorched black by the few infected strong enough to make it to the Holy City looking for aid. In 1319, when the dust had finally settled, the people of Voletaria cried out in grief to their ancestors, to the Voletarian Gods that ruled the skies above. This cry was not met with silence, like so many others; the Stormlord could not ignore the cries of his descendants united as one. Two of the Stormguard were carried down by bolts of lightning to Voletaria’s debate square, the cultural center of the city: Sunnhild and Reinhardt, the Stormlords top lieutenants. In their arms they carried an infant, a baby boy with electric blue eyes, dark brown hair, and a divine aura of protection around him. For the first time in many years the sky wept upon the city, the Stormlord’s presence negating the city’s weather protection spells. Word quickly spread of the divine child and his holy retinue which caused the faithful to flock to not only Voeltaria, but also to the destroyed region of Western Arith, a unified effort of people from every nation gathering to rebuild the destroyed cities and villages. A majority of the member-states of the Order had been wiped out entirely, yet the remaining kingdoms rallied around the Divine Child, ignoring an easy conquest to instead pay homage to those lost and support those left behind.   The Divine Child was named Korrigan Volker Voletaria, an impressive title to the faithful. It was obvious this boy was the son of the Stormlord, which meant he signaled the return of the Voletarian Dynasty lost centuries ago to assassins. Volker was not only the name of a god, but specifically of the boy’s own older brother, who’s direct descendants had governed the city in the Voletarian line’s stead. Finally, Korrigan was the name of the greatest mortal warrior in Voletarian history, a swordsman of mundane skill who could rival the Stormlord’s Champions in terms of strength and wit. From the moment of his birth, every hope of his people was laid upon his shoulders, and his names were meant to encourage faith from those same people in the times to come.   It became clear from early on that Kora would not be able to govern the kingdom on his own for some time. He aged very slowly, and while he was very bright as a child, he lacked the impulse control of the adults around him, which even he could recognize. Luckily for him, Pontiff Ukko proved an invaluable teacher, and very shrewd in her choices of advisors to the young king. She formally established the King’s Council, a unique assortment of advisors from across the Order to teach him the insight and skills he would need to be a proper king. The king’s first council consisted of:

• Spymaster Ricard Celoso, to teach him cunning.
• Adeptus Faenoryn, to teach him the histories.
• Justicar M’Baku T’wala, to teach him justice.
• Wisdom Ladia, to teach him mercy.
• Pontiff Ukko II, to teach him sacrifice.

In 1327, a new kingdom was formed from the once disparate clans of beastfolk living in the region south of Tysha. A Leonin with strength of arms and a charismatic aura had brought them under the flag of the Reborn Doctrine, a holy directive that promoted peace and unity above war and infighting. Despite such a claim, however, his army was nothing to scoff at, and when they arrived at the gates of Voletaria, the inhabitants prepared for a mighty battle. Instead of firing a volley of arrows, however, Legate Aelius and his legions bowed before the holy gates, swearing their loyalty to the Young King Kora. Not all believed in his sincerity at first, until Pontiff Ukko offered him an Aristean relic to prove his loyalty: the Sword of Lady Mortem. All oaths sworn while holding your hand to the blade were bound in your own blood, and should you break the oath, you would die instantly. Without hesitation, the Legate gripped the blade enough to partially wound his hand and proclaimed his loyalty for all to hear, taking on a new paladin oath sworn to the King.   And so, Legate Aelius joined the King’s Council, and took on the job of teaching him not only how to be a leader, but how to fight as well. As he grew older, he would get to duel some of the best warriors Arith could produce, each of them teaching him a unique fighting style and philosophy he could meld with his own. Trained in combat and educated in the basics of survival, he was prepared for The Proving, an ancient rite of passage for Voletarian royalty to prove they had become an adult. Given nothing but a knife and the clothes on his back, Korrigan was sent out into the mountain range to prove himself worthy of his station as King.   It was during this time that the Court of the Unseen made their move to break a hole in the Divine Gate. While The Chain were busy battling their way across the continent, many of the creatures set loose in the mountains slipped their gaze and began to terrorize the nomadic clans and independent fortresses in the area. When the Firelord and the Gunslinger returned to finish off the rest of the loose monsters, they only found corpses, each missing a tooth or a claw or an ear- trophies. The Young King Kora had been busy hunting down any and all rumors of dangerous beasts, but none had yet proven worthy enough to challenge him.   Rumor began to spread of the king’s strength, and these whispers eventually reached the ear of Ilben the Clever, an ancient copper dragon who nested upon the summit of a nearby mountain. The gargantuan beast found Korrigan and offered him a true test of combat, a duel to the death. He would show no mercy should the king prove too weak to fight him, an offer the king readily accepted. Like their fathers before them, Khora Voletaria and Zmaj, the two fought with fist and fang, lightning and acid, foot and wing. After a full day of fighting, when the two were on the brink of exhaustion, they agreed to unleash everything they had in their final attacks, of which the Young King Kora’s proved more powerful. Ilben declared Kora to be a worthy king as he fell, and out of respect for his opponent, the king neglected to take a trophy from his body. Rather, he gathered a number of scales scattered around the battlefield and brought them home, finally, four years later.   He walked from the gates to the palace when he returned, letting all his subjects see the many heads, horns, and claws he had gathered during his proving, as well as the copper scales of Ilben, a known ancient dragon. Everyone, from the couriers to the merchants to the soldiers began to follow behind him, chanting a battle hymn dedicated to worshiping the Stormlord. Legate Aelius, Pontiff Ukko, and Champion Tealeaf awaited him at the foot of the Stormdrake Palace, each holding a vestment of his station as king. Aelius placed a silver crown around his head, Ukko handed him the mighty Sunspear, and Tealeaf secured the Stormgirdle around his waist. Korrigan then turned to the crowd and raised the Sunspear high, joining in the hymn as it neared completion. Together, the entire city sang out as one, just as they had once cried out for aid. Korrigan Volker Voletaria had become a proper King, and the Stormlord’s own son once again ruled the holy city. To remember the battle of his Proving, the king had Ilben’s scales formed into a powerful gauntlet he wore on his dominant arm, a remembrance for his respected foe.   For a number of years, Kora ruled over a peaceful kingdom and advised The Order during times of strife. When the Grey Legion conquered the western half of Hraldi’s Brace, it was Kora’s rousing speech that secured the vote to send Order troops to supplement their elven allies. He also refused to punish Legate Aelius for giving his aid to The Chain to invade an independent city state without a vote from the Council, which was an unpopular choice among some who were regaining their pre-Cindrian strength and influence. Despite the universal agreement that Korrigan should be King of the Order at the time of his birth, some had grown to resent this change in power, most notably those in the Aristean Faction. Led by House Rhannor, this voting bloc had been a thorn in the King’s side for many years, opposing many of his decisions that came at the expense of the noble houses. Though none were willing to openly oppose or disobey Voletaria, they were comfortable enough to whisper and scheme when hidden from sight.   Eventually, a truly difficult choice was placed in front of the King. For years, the King’s Hand had been working in the Bloody Mountains to try and end the civil war that had engulfed Strey after The Chain killed their Pontiff, leaving the city leaderless. One of the warlords in the city was an elf named Godfrey, a former Red Priest who the King’s Hand had worked to elevate over his peers. He had gained the love of the civilian population, but just like the Order, Strey had its own House system that reviled the lowborn Godfrey. Seeing that he could take the city with aid from his neighbors, the Red Priest approached the King with an offer: help him take over the city as the new Pontiff, and Strey would open its gates to outsiders and become a member state of the Order. When presenting this choice to the Aristean Council, the Aristean Faction saw this as yet another powerful military force swearing themselves to the King, rather than the Order at large, and voted against. Even when it was revealed that the noble faction of Strey had acquired the means of eliminating Godfrey and thousands of his followers in an instant, they did not budge.   This left Korrigan with a difficult choice: help Godfrey and his people at the risk of the Order, or placate the Order and let thousands of innocent people die to blood magic. He also knew that some of the King’s Hand were currently hidden within Strey, and would fall to the blood spell with the rest should he not act. After an agonizing three days, he attempted to find a compromise and sent a force of his own troops, rather than Order troops, to bring peace to Strey. Korrigan led his Obsidian Bannerettes in the march, bringing wagons of food and supplies to the people of Strey while fighting off those foolish enough to attack him. A number of Red Zealots attacked him at once, armed to the teeth with poison, blades, and magic. Unfortunately for them, Kora had become something far greater than they could hope to beat, and they fell to his fists with ease. For the loyalists of Strey Nobility, seeing the banners of Voletaria was simply a reminder that the Stormlord had blocked the Stranger from entering the Divine Gate, and had set them on the path that led to the collapse of their once great culture. They fled the city and claimed many miles of Voletarian territory for themselves, declaring war on the Stormlord’s holy land and swearing to bring low the mighty King Kora.   This was the final straw for many, but one unknown power clearly viewed this as a punishable failure. A few days after the King’s return to his city, an assassin broke into the Stormdrake Palace for the first time since the Age of Ancients. They managed to use a magic item to trap Kora within the amphitheater from where he governed and produced a blade of red glass forged for an evil purpose: Red Obsidian, a God Killing Blade. The assassin had assumed that catching the King without any of his artifacts would make this fight easy, but they quickly learned of the power he held in just his fists alone. It was this fight that cemented Kora’s legacy as a warrior in the tales of every bard from this day till the end of days; all who heard it understood that the divine artifacts were actually a hindrance to his true strength. Without the length and predictable range of the Sunspear to hold him back, he could attack more freely. Without the weight of the Stormgirdle around his waist, his speed was unrivaled. Without Ilben’s Gauntlet on his wrist, he could force a fist stronger than steel. He met Red Obsidian with his bare fist and shattered the blade that once slew gods, ending the fight with his second punch.   An attempted assassination, military movements without the council’s approval, and losing land to a few upstart foreign nobles were all signs of a failing Dynasty to House Rhannor and the Aristean Faction. In the following rounds of votes, the Order crumbled, losing a majority of the kingdoms that once held the continent together. In the end, all that remained were Voletaria, Lorain, Blueridge, Strey, Borteaux, and Root’s Run, the latter two elected to fully join the Kingdom of Voletaria in lieu of a grander alliance.   Entering a time of war, Korrigan has begun consolidating his forces. The Storm Apostles have been recalled to the city, and the King’s Hand have begun keeping watch over the palace. The Voletarian army now flies a new banner depicting a sword broken in two, after their leader, King Kora of the Broken Sword. Together with Legate Marcellus and Pontiff Godfrey, he will defend his territory and that of his allies with fierce determination, ceding no ground to those who would stab him in the back.