Volrankin

In an age of Dragons, magic, and mysticism, where humanity was  the gross minority in the plethora of intelligent life on planet earth, Volrankin’s story starts ages before the Magistrate calls on him to help eradicate the Cubine Horde from the face of the earth, but there is little known of his existence before his reputation as a Master Sorcerer. He has gone by many names throughout human history but perhaps the most noted name amongst his list of monikers is that of Merlin, embedded deep in Arthurian lore.

Volrankin served at the behest of the Ruler of the first civilization, known to his subjects as the Magistrate. The Magistrate’s lands and legacy was lost to time with no resounding records of this era of humanity, with the exception of Volrankin’s own memories.

Shortly after the settlement and unity of neighboring lands under the Magistrate, uniting for the first time in an effort to support a community in mutual partnership rather individual families working in solitude to survive the throws of nature and the marauding inclinations of their fellow man, a demon horde ran rampant on the outskirts of the settlements devouring the life essence of the regions inhabitants, and frequently turning them into the Demon manifestations that they fell victim to, increasing the horde’s numbers. The horde was given a name, the Cubine, as their numbers were culminated from Incubus and Succubus life sucking spawn, born of hate and a wretched, ravenous hunger for life energy.

The Magistrate saw the potential for the eradication of his people if the Cubine were allowed to continue their onslaught unchallenged and commanded Volrankin to use his magics and understanding of the ethereal to subdue the threat. Volrankin needed to study the creatures and set the Magistrate’s team of law enforcers, known as the “Protectors”, lead by Commander Kry and a barbarian vagabond named Vista. All of the Magistrate’s team lost their lives in the effort to collect information about the Cubine except for Kry and Vista, who managed to subdue one of them with enchanted blades Volrankin had supplied to them for their quest. The creatures had seemed unstoppable, only their satiated hunger would allow them to leave the Magistrate’s subjects  in peace.

It didn’t take long for Volrankin to conclude that the only way to eliminate the threat was to banish the Cubine from this realm of existence. With this Volrankin began to form a mystic prison on another plain of reality, it’s door hidden away where it was thought that no one would ever reach it. He forged new weapons and armor to help exile the horde, but he needed one more element to make the weapons function as designed. He sought the aid of the Basilisk, who’s eyes were thought to bring death to anyone or anything that they gazed upon but in truth, Volrankin discovered, it was a way for them to eat, transporting their meals (victims) directly into their stomachs (I guess that’s still death), as their mouths and fangs were used as weapons and defense as opposed to portals of ingestion. A bargain was struck with the Basilisk and the sorcerer was granted the use of one of the Basilisk’s eyes to take with him.

Slicing the eyes into infinitesimally thin round slivers, Volrankin mounted them to the hilts of the weapons that he created for the Warriors to use against the Cubine Threat.

Using the Prowess of a blacksmith named Mage, whom he had used to create the weapons that were given to Vista and Kry, together they armed the Magistrate’s Protectors for the war’s end. Mage was smitten with the abilities of Volrankin and earned a place at his side as his apprentice. Mage would later take this knowledge form the Mystic Dominion, in the modern era, to protect reality from threats from other realities and mystical realms, the relationship between Volrankin & Mage is a strained one.

The war against the Cubine lasted for centuries, long past the life expectancy of the Magistrate and his champion barbarian and Commander of the Protectors. The weapons were passed to new generations of Protectors. While the knives were powerful and served a purpose, it was the swords that held the true power to exile the demons to their eternal incarceration. The sword also held one secret caveat, upon the wielder’s death the sword would collect their soul and imbue the next user with the ability to tap into the knowledge of all of the previous wielders as well as couple their physical strength with that of the new wielder. By the time the war is ended generations have passed the sword to the next leaving the current wielder a hulking behemoth of human muscle mass.

Another weapon used to fight this threat was the Dragon Scale. Masterfully crafted by Mage, it’s gold finish was imbued with the essence of the Dragon known to Volrankin as Shail. Shail sacrificed it’s life so that it’s hide and fire could help finish off the horde threat once and for all. This weapon was forged towards the end of the war and there was only one bearer before the current era. Shail can communicate with the Bearer of he dragon scale as they are one against the demon threat. The dragon scale hunted down Jh’ark Facce, the original Cubine and the only Cubine able to turm both male and female humans into Cubine, and exiled it to the other realm prison.

Today Warden carries the helm of the Dragon Scale as the Cubine threat has reemerged to plague the world after centuries of silence.

After the war was ended, Volrankin and Mage became estranged and went their separate ways. Mage took the responsibility of checking on the prison gate while Volrankin sought  a bride and retired to the isle of legend known as Hy Brasil, venturing out to meddle in the affairs of man every now and again, and perhaps woo a new wife to share his island home with and stave off his loneliness. . . . until he creates Victory. . . . 

While out on an expedition in the wilds of South America, archeologist Idalia McFeircen finds the seal that imprisons the Cubine and breaks it. Sage appears to her in Astral form and charges her with the mantle of the Sword and is imbued with the power of all of the previous wielders. At this same time Victory breaks the vale of the Hy Brasil, escaping into the world she’s never known and Champion takes down the Directive, escaping into a world that he’s only ever known as an enemy.