Iu

Iu Yusaf Soralar

Birth	Kel-Sansu, Solan 17,765BDE
Species/Race	Kajali
Titles	All-Maker, Great Builder
Portrayed By	Zulfi Sayed

Iu Yusaf Soralar is the central deity of the Iuan religion of Kajal. Mythology states that he appeared to the people of Kaiaa first as any other Man, and afterwords as the Great Shard Iu, a mythical construct. He was born in the Holy City of Laan-iuar approximately 17,000 years before present day.

Physical Characteristics

In ecclesiastic art, Iu is depicted primarily as male, standing 182 centimeters tall. His appearance in such depictions is largely consistent with that of the average Kajali male - though features such as ears, eyes, and nose are considerably similar to that of Terrans. While Iu's ears are depicted as slightly pointed, as normal Kajali ears are, he appears vaguely caucasoid in almost all depictions.

Depictions also suggest that Iu was fit, and able bodied, though it is widely held to be somewhat distasteful (read: heretical) to render Iu's likeness unclothed.

Iu's hair is depicted as dark brown, if not black, as are his eyes. It is believed that he favored flowing, light garments, and most depictions show Iu in clothing appropriate for a tropical or desert environment.

Iu's second form, as depicted in the Book of Saain, is that of an extremely large skyship, featuring a central core within which are recessed bays are set, and from which smaller vessels may emerge. From this central core, the majority of the vessel's mass extends, both fore and aft, with spires extending at regular intervals along the length of the vessel, as well as five larger spires that extend from the central core, defining five distinct segments of the exterior hull. Religious texts state that this form was destroyed in the final battle of the Great War that 'tore apart the heavens, scattering the Seraaii to the winds".

Personality

As a man living amongst the people of Kaiaa, texts describe Iu as intelligent, thoughtful, and pragmatic. He is described as a precocious child in his youth, and as an adult, he was not known to make great speeches or participate willingly in grandiose spectacles. As a leader, he acted quickly to improve the lives of those living within the Laaniuar City-State, and acted so singularly that the city-state essentially became a benevolent dictatorship.

Of Iu's personality flaws, his desire to attempt to do everything for his 'people' was perhaps the most dangerous. His policies and actions eventually lead to the Insurrection, which, bolstered by the appearance of Solus, a man claiming that he had arrived to "open the eyes of the people" to Iu's treachery. The city-state fell into anarchy and with it Iu fell into depression, recognizing that his drive to improve the city for the many had eventually created a growing group of marginalized persons, who rallied under Solus and the Insurrection's cause.

Iu's personality has, as such, consistently been described as cautious, underconfident, and unknowingly controlling. There are no references to his state of mind in the Book of Saain, as, at that point, he was clearly not Kajali.

History

The First Age

Iu's history begins, quite simply, with his birth in what was then the small village of Laan, the ruins of which are to the southwest of modern day Kajurmani. His childhood left the village largely unaffected, but as an adult, he eventually assumed a leadership role, after spending many years working in various professions throughout the city. After his rise to power, he apparently spent the next thousand years ruling the city, and leading it through crisis and growth with a group of advisors that grew substantially.

By the end of the First Age, Laan was known as Laan-iuar, and had grown from a rural settlement to a large city-state with territorial dependencies that encompassed most of the known world. Near the end of the First Age, Iu had been deified by his supporters, and demonized by those who stood against him. It was in the last years of the first age, roughly 16,000 years ago, that Solus challenged Iu's rule with the Insurrection, the world fell into anarchy, and Iu entered exile.

The Second Age

For the next hundred years, Laan-iuar collapsed in on itself, the population of the grand city isolating itself further from the outside world, and each other, as anarchy ran rampant. Eventually, a new voice rose to lead the city state, and with it the Queendom of Hiro-Laan arose to establish order. Within a thousand years, the new empire encompassed the totality of the old Known World, and expanded slowly for the next two thousand years.

Solus' Insurrection had been largely content to let the old empire crumble, but as a new order asserted itself, the Solun Insurrection rose anew to challenge the military dictatorship that was the Queendom. Iu had long disappeared, and without him, the new empire was quite content to simply crush small towns underfoot for the greater good.

Under the influence of Solus, a state of civil war eventually resulted as half of the Queendom's holdings revolted against the throne and declared themselves as the "Principality of Solus". A state of open war followed, within which the Queendom lost territory readily.

It was when Laan-iuar itself was beset by the forces of Solus that the Great Skyship appeared, and heralded the end of the Second Age, and the beginning of the Shard War.

The Shard War

The Shard War, unfortunately, is described in text as a final, climatic confrontation between the forces of Iu and Solus. It is never revealed from where the resources to build such monstrosities such as the Dark Shards of Solus, or the Holy Shards of Iu were taken, but it is speculated in text that both Iu and Solus were planning in advance for such a battle, and that each Great Shard - being Iu and Solus' physical forms throughout the war - were built over the course of the Second Age.

Religious texts are also vague in describing technology at all, instead attributing the existence of what would appear to be massive motherships, battleships, and carriers as the work of Gods. No matter the origin of the Shards, however, the ferocity of their battles blotted out the sun and all but destroyed all civilization upon Kaiaa.

It is assumed that the Shard War resulted in an Ice Age, at the end of which a small group of Kajali remained to form the common ancestors of the current Kajali race. The last traces of an ice age on Kajal disappeared roughly 10,000 years ago.

The Third Age

It would not be until the Third Age that Iu would return to Kajal. Unknown to the authorities that be, he hides in plain sight - walking amongst the people in his Kajali form. It is because Solus' return is near that he has returned to the blue pearl within the Pleaides, so that he could prepare the people upon it for the coming storm of war.

Kaiaa, as he knew it, rests deep under the seas of Kajal, and the end of the Shard War ensured that any memory of Kaiaa outside of legend has long been obliterated from memory. The Kajali people have overcome their past hatreds and prejudices, and become a nation united under a single flag. Working in anonymity, Iu has subtly altered the course of Kajali development through the ages of the Imperium and Democratic Revolution as to prepare the Kajali peoples for the prophesized confrontation with Solus.

The Present

At present, Iu is known to other Kajali as Yusaf Shevaan, and he has travelled to Terra, and Menelmacar in particular, on numerous occasions, both business and recreational. He is currently an Assistant Director within the Naval Design division of Atla/Ljosa Group, where he has subtlely introduced numerous innovations to Kajali ship design.

It is, quite simply, because of Iu that such vessels as the Four Glories, and the Kajali Titans have been made possible.

Iuans have made pilgrimages to Hiro Laan-iuar since the small city was built on the coast near the location of Laan-iuar.

	Her Imperial Majesty's Federated Imperium of the Four Worlds and Territories of Kajal
Main articles: Kajal, Kajal Mars
Leaders: Dajal I, Dajal II, Derin Kavar, Lirella Keral
Important Persons: Derin Lume, Ilosse Zherka, Ilunaia Keral-Kavar, Iu, Sala Maraan, Sera Merala, Vierun Muraan Jiraga Shenar, Illaan Soryaan
Currency and Language: Kajali Galac, Riikan Language
Other articles within Category:Kajal