Vafres Ruthen
From Mizahar Lore
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| Race | Human, Mixed | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 488 AV (aged 35) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | ??? | ||||||||||||||||
| Title | The Svefra Hunter | ||||||||||||||||
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| Gnosis marks |
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He is a cold and driven man, Vafres. Not one to speak nonsense or waste time on small talk, everything that he does serves his own purposes. Get in the way, and you risk being removed quickly and efficiently. Though revenge is his primary motivator, his emotions seem dull and blurred, as if kept behind a smeared glass wall: slightly visible, but sort of not there. Such is his capability if focusing on a task, to the point where everything else is just white noise, even his emotions, and if anything gets in his way he simply removes it. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it. No one else does though, and that can be terrifying.
Few have ever met this man and survived, and those that have aren't the kind of people you want to approach. His hatred of Laviku and those who follow him is strong, so he colludes with others on the sea who spite them for supplies and plans and manpower. Those who meet him face to face either join him or die. Such is his commitment to his cause, and such is the commitment he inspires from those who work with him.
Biography
His name wasn't always Vafres, though he's been wearing it for so long that no one cares to remember what his old name was. The man's history is shrouded in confusion and has grown hazy with the passage time, not to mention faded with the deaths of many who would remember such a time. Then, just to add even more confusion, one must take into account that many of those who first witnessed his entrance to history have enlarged the tale to almost epic degrees, and as a result his life before then has just become a stack of lies and a fabric of woven tales.
Regardless of what which version you're listening to however, there is one thing that they can all agree on. Vafres didn't just enter history: he burned his way in.
The legend begins when he was set upon by a notorious Svefra pirating pod near Fang Isle, at the mouth of the Middle Suvan. What was supposed to be just a quick raid and plunder mission turned into an outright massacre as the one man who stood to fight sent the whole pod packing. Before they could get far, they were set alight by the mysterious protector and destroyed one by one as the occupied crew focused on putting out the fires instead of fleeing, allowing this one man to crush his way through the attacking Svefra. He made sure each one died, hounding even those who jumped ship and tried to swim away in the embrace of their god. The trader he had paid for passage regarded him with a mix of awe and fear, and though they had been set upon again later in the South Suvan the same result happened - every Svefra killed, their ships burnt and their bodies thrown aboard to roast so that when they met their god their bodies would be marred beyond recognition.
Some rumors claim that the brutal killing of the Svefra was the reason for buying passage through the Middle Suvan. Speculation has arisen that he had suffered at the hands of the sea-children when he was younger, though like everything else beyond his slaughter of the Svefra it is shrouded in doubt and lack of evidence. The event that had propelled his name into the mouths of sailors up and down the Suvan happened almost six years ago, and in that time his name has grown less whispered at taverns and more used for a seaworthy tale to ease the boredom, most of it fading to legend. It's a common story now to hear of the man of flames who walked across the Suvan like a god, billowing out scorching fire to all who stood in his path or dared come near him. Or perhaps some will tell of how he stood at the helm of the ship and rained fire from the sky upon all who dared attack, a bringer of death and destruction. Most don't put stock in such rumors, meaning that Vafres has been largely dismissed by those who would remember him most.
But he is very much a real person, he has just been inactive for a long time. It has taken a while to travel under the radar, sometimes forsaking the sea for the coasts instead, gathering enough people to start his own crew. For the last year or so he's been on the sea, clever enough to avoid those Svefra who would see him killed and aware enough to know he needs even more help if his plans are too succeed. There has been no public word of him however, and he likes to keep it that way.