Arran

Arran was a hero from Eastern Engelain that was active some three hundred years prior to the birth of King Damian of Selathon. He was responsible for leading the revolt against the Tyrannian Empire in the east, deposing Empirical rule and granting the Seven States their independence. Radically anti-theist, a freedom fighter and a champion for the common man, Arran was renowned for having gathered to him one of the greatest and most diverse forces ever to be seen this side of the millennia. His revolution came to an abrupt end when Soahc the Deceiver managed to remove Arran from the global stage. Followers of the Cult of Soahc allege that their liege lord eliminated Arran, though many others believe that Soahc transferred his godly power into Arran in order to return to Engelain once again, and that Arran was forcefully ascended to godhood. To this day, a great many people revere Arran as a god, so much so that he is generally included in the Pantheon of Engelain, despite the allegations that he is, in fact, dead.

Much of Arran's early life is unknown, the truth having been muddied in the centuries since his fall by fable and folktale, so much so that was is the case and what is not is difficult to part from one another. It is commonly assumed that he was born within the Seven States, then under Tyrannian rule, though to which state he hails is a mystery. Presumably of a humble sort, he grew to become an adventurer of the highest calibre, before eventually declaring a war on the gods themselves.

Arran believed that the gods of Engelain were nothing but regressive in their overrule- that the meddling of Tyrrus and Soahc both contributed to more wars, to more deaths, to more unhappiness and misery than any other contributing factor on the planet. Arran made it his mission to rid the world of godly influence, and in that mission was surprisingly successful.

An adept military commander, and much beloved by the commons, Arran managed to gather vast swathes to his cause. He took farmhands as men-in-arms, accepted defectors from the ranks of the Empire, raised up to great positions those of humble birth- Arran was indiscriminate in his open-handedness, awarding people on the basis of merit, rather than due to their born-into nobility. When he began freeing the slaves, adventurers flocked to his call, and forces as far afield as the Free Kingdoms of Engelain came to join Arran in the formation of his grand army.

Miraculously managing to hold this group of vastly different cultures together, (some even say that Arran's forces contained many different species- even that he consorted with demons, promising to free them from perpetual bondage in return for their aid,) Arran was successful in the liberation of the Seven States from Empirical rule, and turned his attention to Tywrought itself, marching his armies westwards with the hopes of eventually deposing both Emperor and Pope, and to take control of Messia.

It was during this part of the campaign that Arran would meet his downfall. His highest commanders have stated Arran's disappearance was due to the work of Soahc the Deceiver, who gave his excess energies to Arran in order to re-enter Engelain. It is an act of irony that befits Soahc's mentality- to make the man standing against the gods into what he hates most of all. This accusation that Arran was ascended, rather than Soahc's standpoint that Arran was killed in the transference of energy, has held sway ever since Arran's untimely vanishing.

With Arran's death was the death of the movement he lead- his closest allies were dejected and abandoned the cause, whilst the army he lead descended into its own civil war before disbanding. Though the Seven States were freed, the Empire remained standing, and in time would recover from the losses it had sustained. In the near four hundred years since, very little has been heard of Arran, save for what his believers espouse. It is possible that, given Arran's disgust with godly interference with the world, he elected not to interfere in the lives of mortals.

In the 69th year in the reign of King Damian, a runaway from the Church of the Unified God by the name of Abraxus Richardson, declared himself to be the High Priest of Arran- despite the fact that Arran hosts no churches and has no clergymen. He has taken in the girl Annie Wells, who has allegedly been granted a small portion of Arran's divine strength, making her the very first Avatar of Arran. Abraxus is of the belief that Arran is delegating his power to those he believes to be true and faithful to his cause for peace, and that he will one day lose enough power to return to Engelain as a demigod such as Soahc, but instead of granting someone godhood, he will have a contingency of quasigods at his side- the Avatars of Arran.