Anikar

Anikar the Great

Overview

Anikar is a legendary figure in the lore of the Anikari, the principle human group in Arizona Nova. She is the founder of the entire race of the Anikari, and its first great leader who forged an invincible and mighty empire, but who was corrupted by that power, which lead to her downfall. The following is taken directly from the ancient manuscripts of the Tyrion Archive.

Rise

[The Old World was home to the people who the Anikari are, according to legend, descended from. This world was of a fantastic sort, filled with elves, dragons, orcs, and the like.] There was a time when the humans and elves fought a long and terrible war, resulting in an ultimately tragic destruction of the elven homelands, and a truce between the two, immediately followed by what was remembered as the orcflood: for centuries they had brooded in mountain caverns and dark places, awaiting a weak moment to strike at their enemies. Almost as soon as the peace was signed, the orcs came - thousands, millions, pouring forth from the bowels of the earth like a black plague. Both elf and man lost even more to the relentless tide, and it appeared both, forced into an alliance, would soon be swept away by the tide. However, among the noblest race of men a powerful leader arose, driven by the lose of her family, friends, and land, who was accounted brilliant in strategies and fierce in combat: Anikar, who became Anikar the Great, mother of the Anikari people. Anikar began to turn the tide against the Black Horde. No vile creature even scored a minor hit upon her as she raged into battle, cleaving black and green heads with fury and power, directing her troops to strike the foe mercilessly. Soon, she had brought the advance of the horde to a standstill, and then began to drive them back. Emboldened by her success, her human, elven, and other allies took heart and fought with renewed, desperate vigor, while her enemies quaked with fear and hate. Soon she was driving the hordes before her, all of them fleeing from the onset of the flaming sword of men. Soon, the wretched folk were driven back to the very holes they had ruptured forth from, and howling and screaming were driven back into the dark abyss, dazzled and flabbergasted by the onset of the Conqueror. Anyone else among them scattered like rats to all the far points of the realms, and Anikar returned a heroine without equal, a messiah uncalled for in the darkest hour. She was crowned in glory, and from the lands she had carved out with the sword, so they were allotted to her, to rule elf and man in harmony and might. Jubilantly they rebuilt the shattered lands, and soon an empire unparalleled in might and glory was built, the crown jewel of the world. This was not enough for Anikar.

Fall

Enamored of power, and desiring more, she pushed her subjects to the limit, and became a tyrant. At first her people cried out, then submitted, remembering their lives were in debt to her. Yet it grew unbearable. Soon talk of revolt murmured in the streets of the capital city, the Gate of Anikar, and intrigue simmered even in her own courts. She put her trust in the power of magi, powerful will-workers, and guards girt with belt and helm, and turned her palace into a looming fortress. Yet she never saw the threat within. While she slept, the guards with daggers drawn crept into her chambers, but their weapons were fooled by the mail she wore perpetually. In a rage she killed them with her bare hands, but they were but fodder, as her mages appeared soon after. Whatever happened then, no one recalls, as the palace was seen to collapse in on itself from the inside. The rubble was cleared, and the people mourned the fall of Anikar, and celebrated her life before the corruption that power brought. Yet, even when all the shattered stones were cleared, the magi were found crushed beneath, but the body of Anikar was not. All wondered at this strange fact, but she was never seen again for all the time the world endured, though some wonder still - will Anikar come back, having learned this dear lesson, and lead her people to greater glory?