Carinum the Old

Carinum the Old Carinum.png Archon of Solum, First of the Union

Early Life
Carrick was born to two scholars who were working at the Twin Academies at the time. His upbringing involved a strict academic schedule as both his parents wished to see their son exceed them. And exceed them he would.

Coronation
The 21st Archon, Carinum, was crowned on the 218st Sun of the 859th Year of Solum. He was Carrick, a 34 year old historian who had been working in the Scorian Library at the Holy University.

Carrick had been particularly interested in the few writings on the Northern Dominion and had spent most of his career piecing together the story of Solum and the First Five. The first complete chronicle of Solum’s life is attributed to Carrick. While Solum’s story shed light on the final days of the Northern Dominion, the mysteries of this vast empire and the reasons for its fall were still shrouded in legend and doubt.

After the death of Cainum, the Sun Spear chose Carrick only 3 days after the Archon’s passing. He was writing the latest chapter of his Chronicle of Solum when the Archmagus of Solum, Khalek approached him in his study. Knowing now his destiny had changed, Carrick went confidently to the Cenotaph of Solum, a building he had dreamed of entering his whole life. He would spend 6 days in meditation before emerging with his regnal name: Carinum.

Carinum would reign over a relatively stable Empire and Union, with the other leaders during his time doing their best to maintain stability. Carinum had originally wished to expand international cooperation with respect to the institutions of learning and established the first exchange program between the Alaphor Conservatory and the Holy University of Solum.

The 1st Sun, 861 YS
On the morning of the new year, the Knights of Chara at Solum's Gate spotted a large group of aberrations and monsters in the distance approaching the pass. The knight captain, Sir Suhelo, was awoken and he gave orders to ready the knights and soldiers.

Wielding the Oathkeeper, Sir Suhelo led the knights in battle against this group of aberrations. They were able to fend off the monster's attack and by the end of the day, the monsters had retreated.

Suhelo immediately contacted the Archon to let him know about the situation. Carinum was concerned about the timing of the attack, the monsters striking on the day the Empire was weakest. He ordered an increased contingent of soldiers at Solum’s Gate to fend off any number of approaching creatures. Carinum had read in the old texts of a type of monster that would appear to attack the towns of the Northern Dominion, but never being fully wiped out. Each attack consisted of the majority of monsters killed, however, a few would always retreat before they would be caught. They would return after ten years, stronger and faster. Each time they were beat back, they would return. These monsters nearly destroyed the Dominion and Carinum believed they preceded the string of disasters that ultimately caused its downfall. The strain on the Dominion’s resources left it unable to recover from the other calamities. Ultimately, they trapped the king of these beasts, The Lone Tyrant they called it, in a mountain, and dropped another mountain atop it. They did not know if they had killed it or simply trapped it. It was also around this time that the Nameless Order began their research into lange distance portals. This is a possible explanation for the origin of the Sun Spear.

Carinum noticed similarities with the monsters Suhelo described and the ones he had read about. Concerned about the possibility of them being one and the same, he resolved to be at Solum’s Gate in ten years time, in case they returned on the same schedule as the Scourge of the Dominion.

The 1st Sun, 871 YS
Carinum awakened on the morning of the new year to silence. He had rallied over half of the Union’s combined forces and marched them to Solum’s Gate in preparation for another wave of monsters, yet they did not seem to be there. As he prepared to send the troops home, Suhelo burst into his tent.

“They are here my lord.”

A host of monsters and aberrations appeared in the distance, the very ground rumbling as they approached the camp, but the Union’s might was able to repel the monsters once again.

The 1st Sun, 881 YS
Once again, Carinum had brought half the Union’s soldiers to prepare to defend the pass, as he had ten years prior. This time, they were nearly defeated. The monster's numbers had increased again, by more than expected. The horde was growing faster than the ancient texts had indicated.

In the heat of the battle, a group of monsters broke the line and fled into the continent. With their great speed, none were able to catch them. They rampaged across the countryside, slaughtering hundreds before coming upon Arahall. Lady Meria stood in their way, and was able to crush them with the Forge at the cost of her left arm.

As the dust cleared across the pass, the people were able to make out a large shape in the distance. The Lone Tyrant had been overseeing the battle.

It had grown weak over the centuries trapped under the mountain, but its strength was gathering. Carinum knew that if he could not awaken the Sun Spear before the Tyrant grew too strong, the Gate would fall first, then the South. Time was running out.

The next decades
The next several decades passed as Carinum instituted mandatory military training for every able bodied citizen and called on all the citizens to defend the pass each decade. Meanwhile, he studied the ancient texts and the words of the past Archons, desperately trying to find the secret to unlocking the Sun Spear. But, he had reached the same wall each of his predecessors had reached. None had awakened the artifact, save for Solum himself. With each surge, the numbers grew greater, and each individual grew stronger. It was only a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed.

The 1st Sun, 921 YS
It was as if the mountains themselves had come to block the pass. An unfathomable number of creatures approached in the distance. Behind them in the clouds stood the Tyrant, watching and waiting for the moment where it would join the fray and annihilate the forces arrayed against it.

Against them stood the greatest host assembled in the past millennium anywhere on the contingent. Over three hundred thousand soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder stretching across the mountain pass. A wall made up of flesh and steel, and will and courage. Bristling with the finest weapons of war, swords and lances crafted by the masters of the era. Clad in armour shining in the morning dawn. Leaders from across the continent stood ready, their people behind them. From the Grand Duchess Hesperia herself, to the Supreme Chancellor. Even the President of the Confederacy, Panon Uljarin, was there to lead his people in defending the land they all shared. Only the Oathkeeper was not raised in defiance of these twisted creatures. Sir Landus was late, a bit hungover, having been at the Hall of Pavonis the night before he was meant to set out with the rest of the Knights.

In front of them all stood the Archon. Carinum was 96 years old at this point in time and still led the Union forces from the front, Sun Spear in hand. It was Carinum who threw the first strike, hurling the blazing spearing straight through the enemy line, cleaving the monster forces in two with a single strike.

The silence of anticipation turned to screams.

As the armies clashed, the shining became dull, as dirt and blood wetted the steel and gold. Hundreds fell on either side within minutes. The neat lines now jagged across the mountain pass. For a time, it seemed that the Union would once again prevail, giving Carinum another ten years to awaken the spear. He would not be granted the luxury. As he battled in the centre, the eastern forces were faltering. The troops of Barnard were not as well trained as the professional armies of the other nations, their President unequipped to lead such a large force. As his people fell around him, President Panon was struck by panic and was the first to fall. The people of Barnard soon followed him, their poor organization exploited by the creatures who ripped them to pieces.

Now cut off from the main army as the Barnard forces routed, the League’s army were also being pushed back. Chancellor Klydain had been given the Duskbreaker of Pavon for use in this battle. Shields locked with his countrymen, they held a sturdy shield wall, repelling attacks from the creature's claws and bites alike. But of course like all the other humans, the soldiers of Igeum tire. And tire they did. Once the first faltered, the wall had fallen. Desperate to preserve his own life, Klydain ordered the remains of the soldiers into a circular shield wall, with himself at the centre. Perhaps it was this act of cowardice that caused his demise, or even the will of Pavon himself, but behind the shields of others was not the place of the Duskbreaker. Layers of soldiers were ripped back like opening an onion? leaving the Chancellor at the mercy of the massive claws of a particularly large monster. As impenetrable as the Duskbreaker was, it was a shield, and could not prevent a claw from wrapping around Klydain. He was lifted from the ground and thrown across the ground like one would skip a pebble. The Duskbreaker fell from his hands clattering on the rocks.

With the League and Confederacy routed, only the soldiers of Solum and Monsbergia still stood against the endless tide of monsters, the only obstacle preventing the rampaging beasts from tearing down 900 years of civilization.

The situation was grim. Carinum, in his old age, was not as powerful as he once was, yet he still stood as the anchor of the Union forces. Searing flame incinerated nearby creatures as their larger counterparts found themselves punctured by the golden lance. With every horror he struck down, it seemed several took its place. Soon, their numbers became overwhelming. One caught the Archon’s leg toppling him to the ground. His armour rang as it hit the rock and dirt beneath. Like calling children to a meal, monsters pounced from all directions, trapping Carinum beneath a writhing pile of carapace and twisted horrors.

A light shone out from within. Carinum burst forth calling all the power he could muster out of the artifact to scorch the shell that had been encasing him. His eyes blazed with power.

And just as quickly as he had burst out of that pile of creatures, he was met with the Tyrant itself. It seemed to believe the battle had been won and was coming to claim its prize. Facing the great beast alone, Carinum battled valiantly. The great Sun Spear was used to its greatest power since the days of Solum, blasting blinding light and heat, and slashing the outer hide of the Lone Tyrant. It was not enough. Nothing of the earth could put down the Tyrant, only pure starfire. Five times Carinum lept from the earth and pierced the creature, and five times it howled in pain, thrashing its enormous body, but it could not be slain. The toll of exerting so much power made the Archon grow weary, his movements slowing. He stumbled for just a second, and the beast caught him with its massive claw. Carinum was slain, his body broken after so many years of fighting.

It seemed that all was lost. With the forces of three of the four major powers defeated, the Grand Duchess Hesperia stood alone. Suddenly, the warhorns sounded in the distance. The sound of thundering hooves and clattering steel approached at great speed. Sir Landus and the Knights of Chara appeared over the horizon, the Oathkeeper raised at the Lone Tyrant, screaming in defiance. With the appearance of the Knights, Hesperia dashed across the battlefield. The Forge and her were one, smashing the monsters back as she cleared a path across the pass. She found the Duskbreaker fallen near the body of the Chancellor. Lifting the two artifacts to the air, she shouted to her comrades and rallied the remaining soldiers to hold. With the Knights behind them, the people were reinvigorated to fight again, fighting side by side with the legendary knights, the Oathkeeper instilling an unbreakable will and courage to fight in each and every one.

With the Duskbreaker in one hand and the Forge in the other, Hesperia fought the Tyrant. Each swing of its claw was met with Pavon’s shield, effortlessly deflecting it, and a counter attack with the Forge. Their battle sounded of lightning striking the pass with each blow exchanged. The Forge swung with the might of one hundred thousand people, like a thunderclap with each hit. A never ending barrage of blunt force trauma. The two fought to a standstill, neither tiring. The attacks of the beast could not break the Duskbreaker, while Hesperia could not kill the creature without the Sun Spear. Yet, when Landus rode on, cutting it with the Oathkeeper, it was forced to retreat and bide its time, it would not be able to defeat both artifact holders. Staying risked another thousand years of imprisonment, so the Lone Tyrant left the battle, its minions slaughtered by the remains of the Union forces.

Over two hundred thousand soldiers were killed that day. The devastating loss of several leaders of the Nations, especially the Archon, would severely weaken the resolve of the general public. Oathkeeper could not be brought to all the peoples of the land, and the loss of their great leaders was a huge blow to the morale of the Union.

After the battle, Hesperia would renounce her titles to live out the rest of her days in solitude. She would occasionally visit the castle to see her family.