Yusan

Yusan is a former monk who survived many wars, emerging from what remained and rising through the ranks of Elyria and eventually leaving to aid in the revival of his homeland and becoming one of Aerdale's twin kings. He fought valiantly to defend his nation and his empire, but in the end was defeated at the hands of Former Elyrian King Eiric at the Battle of Kaer Nevura.

Appearance
Yusan is a mysterious figure to all but his closest of friends. Under his typical attire of netherite armor, he dons pitch black robes, boots and gloves. Nearly all the time he wears a black-steel mask, forged from the blade he took off his father's body after his untimely death in the Battle of Jotunstan. This mask covers his entire face, leaving only the whites of his eyes peering through the heavy steel. A crown-like shape had been forged into the top of it.

Early Life
Yusan was born in the then small town of Jotunstan (formerly Styx) to two unknown Kogongi peasants. While he and his mother were very close, his father had been taken from him at a young age, leaving the family to fight in a war alongside the town's honored leader Kangy the Great, exchanging his peaceful life for the assured support of his family. As his father marched away with the soldiers, Yusan watched with envy. Though he lived a comfortable life with his mother and younger brother, Eun, he dreamed of one day joining his father in war and wielding the same indestructible armor and weapons of otherworldly power the knights who passed through his humble town had. Yusan maintained his dreams of grandeur throughout his childhood, listening attentively each time a small group of monks preached about the divine greatness of which they sought and watching each and every step the soldiers took as they passed through the town time and time again on their way to the ongoing war in the East.

Losing Jotunstan
Early into his adolescence, Yusan and his brother awoke to tension filled air, the likes of which he had never felt before. Exiting their home, they found the source of this feeling of dread that one could sense a mile away. Staring into blood-stained streets, they witnessed their fellow townsfolk being slaughtered like livestock, his father and Kangy among those fighting to protect the innocent. Yusan called out to him but in his father's moment of hesitation as a result, he was struck down by an enemy soldier, leaving Yusan and Eun watching in horror as their father was slain before their very eyes. The soldier began to advance on the two children, the brothers cowering in fear as the armored knight approached them, when the town's leader Kangy the Great blocked the soldier's path. Kangy took the enemy's attention off of the two brothers, leading the enemy soldiers away from the village and off into the deathly storm that had engulfed the town for the entire winter. Their mother, screaming in desperation ushered them inside their home, where they were to remain until the fighting had ceased. As the sun began to rise over the horizon, Yusan heard shouts of glory, though he could not recognize the voices which he had heard. Peering through the now broken windows, he saw the village's soldiers submitting to the enemy. Jotunstan had fallen.

After the travesty of his father's passing and the village's occupation, Yusan refused to sleep. After he had witnessed the brutality war had brought to his once peaceful hometown, Yusan refused to remain subject to the rule of outsiders. Whispering quiet goodbyes to his sleeping mother and brother, Yusan left his home, taking one last (now emotionless) look at his father's now-snow covered corpse before picking up his father's black-steel blade and heading off. Unbeknownst to him Eun had been laying awake as well, following his brother out into the storm as Yusan hurried away from the village.

Joining the Monks of Petroselenium
Taking one last look at its now lifeless streets as the dark engulfed the small village, he rode North, following the path he had seen the monks take time and time again. Eventually, with no more than a week passing since their last visit to the small town, Yusan caught up to the monks, who recognized him from their many times preaching to the villagers and accepted his pleas to come with them. Travelling with the monks further North than he had ever hoped to go, Yusan put the images of the family he had left behind out of his mind, resolving to one day return and save his home. After days of non-stop travel through the frigid Southern storm, Yusan and the monks finally reached the monks' home: Petroselenium.

During his time with the monks, Yusan adopted their religion, though in reality he was skeptical of its truth. Regardless, he persisted, joining them in prayer and adopting their pacifistic ways, in search of the divine power he had strived for all these years. He resolved to remain vigilant in his newfound role as a monk, putting all thoughts of his former attachments out of his mind, though he never could truly forget all that he had left behind. Eventually he learned to know Petroselenium as his home, finding serenity somewhere along his path towards certain power and though he had once merely hoped to gain the otherworldly powers of which the monks spoke, he began to feel truly at home once more.

The Pultria Crisis and the Abandonment of Religion
This newly found peace for Yusan would not last forever. One day, the skies turned black with smoke, forests burning on the mainland and the island alike. War had reached this sacred land, and with it nothing but pain and death would follow. Though both sides of the war would lose many fighters, the monks were the ones who truly felt its impact. In order to avoid complete subjugation to a powerful nation or death itself, the monks fled the island, leaving only Yusan to remain in the once holy land they had called home.

Following the island's abandonment and the departure of the monks, Yusan was furious with himself. Not only had he not achieved the power which he had came for, but once again his home and his family had been taken from him, leaving him far more alone than he had ever been before. It was then that he decided to abandon the teachings of the monks which he had grown accustomed to, refusing to flee this land as he did the last place he had called home. In the months following the island's devastation, Yusan would construct a fortress on its northern shores. This fortress would be entitled Kaer Nevura: The Fortress at the Break of Ice. Upon its completion Yusan ventured back into the village monastery, somewhere he had not entered since the monks had left, as it was considered sacred and only a select few were granted entry. He removed the Vodronomicon, the monks' sacred text, from its pedestal, throwing it high into the sky and drawing his bow. With one swift release of an arrow, the book was set aflame, its contents being lost to the fires of hell, the gods of which it praised existing no longer in the minds of men... or so Yusan thought.

Years following his abandonment of the religion of the monks, Yusan would stumble across a surviving few living in a small settlement by the coast. Upon revealing himself, he was met with hushed whispers and fearful stares, not unlike those of his townspeople back in Jotunstan. He would come to find that his actions following the war and his denouncement of the old gods of Petro had earned him a new name by the monks. No longer was he one of them, he was the man who bastardized their religion, destroyed their most precious text, militarized their holy lands. He was the slayer of the gods.

Joining Elyria and the Murder of Hargreeves
Shortly following the completion of his fortress, Yusan was met with the demands of those who were now in possession of the island. Though the village was once a holy site to be ruled by no nation, Yusan had since become disillusioned with the gods he had formerly praised, rejecting this religion and denouncing his former gods, surrendering control of his land to the nation of Elyria in hopes of attaining the true power of which their leaders spoke. Alas, this decision came at a price, for Yusan was soon requested to perform a task that went against all he was once taught. Eiric of Elyria had instructed him to lure the Hermit Hargreeves to his fortress, killing her upon her entry and giving Elyria control of a mystical relic of which she was in possession of. Though he was reminded of his former teachings, Yusan agreed to this deception in the end, his hatred towards the Hermit for participating in the island's devastation and his quest for the power of which she held outweighing that which he believed to be righteous. The plan was successful, earning Yusan more fame (or infamy rather), fortune, and influence than he had ever had before. It was this day on which he was granted the title of Grand Maester of Elyria, dedicating his studies solely to his new nation's benefit and obtaining power within its ranks. Yusan had truly left the teachings of the monks behind.

The Great War and the Alathran Restoration Movement
As a result of his affiliation with Elyria, Yusan found himself on the frontlines of the Great Alathran War. Though the odds were against them, Yusan prevailed in the battles of Blocksburg and Castle Nevermore, finally achieving that which he had set out to do so long ago. While initially overwhelmed with the glory and power he had now obtained, Yusan quickly realized the consequences of his actions, watching from afar as the realm which he held so dear collapsed upon itself, nations falling and chaos ensuing. It was then that he remembered what the war had done to his home (both of them), and that rather than perpetrating more destruction and chaos, the power his nation gained from this recent victory would be better put to use in restoring the realm to its former glory and beyond. It was with this intent that Yusan formed the Alathran Restoration Movement, an initiative designed to rebuild from the ashes of war and to finally unite the realm under one common goal: peace.

Returning to Koganon and Becoming King of Aerdale
As a result of this recent change of heart, Yusan decided it would be best if he returned to his roots for a while. Venturing south, far from the Elyrian capital, he found the barren tundra of Aerdale, his childhood home, far worse off than he had ever seen before. Though its towns remained, their streets remained empty, devioid of life other than the occasional Kogongi White Fox scampering through the fresh layers of snow. It was then that he returned home at long last, to the town of Styx (formerly Jotunstan), where he found the streets just as empty as the other towns. Filled with sorrow and regret, Yusan made the arduous journey East, towards the nation's capital of Silvermoon. It was upon meeting with its King Notoric that he learned of the nation's recent struggle due to the war, learning of its previous leader's departure and the abandonment of its town. With haste, Yusan offered his influence and resources to aid his former home, being named co-King of Aerdale along with King Notoric, truly beginning on his quest to revitalize the land he once called his home.

During his tenure as King, Yusan forged many alliances, both with his previous nation of Elyria and with those outside its boarders. Singlehandedly, he revitalized many of the nation's towns that had begun to fall and began the construction of infrastructure that would connect the nation's people to each other and the rest of the world. Yusan also pledged Aerdale to the former King, now Emperor of Elyria, Sherman, swearing fealty to his grace and promising to uphold all of the Emperor's alliances and treaties with the rest of the realm.

The Elyrian Empire Civil War
Throughout his days as King of Aerdale and as a loyal citizen of Elyria, Yusan had met many individuals. One such individual was Theodmer, former Duke of Redna and current King of Estea. When war broke out across the world on Prospit, between the fishermen of Dalleton and the Monarchs of Acquendavia, Yusan refused to fight alongside Dalleton as his Emperor was allied with the Acquendavians for many years past. Theodmer thought differently. Believing Theodmer's aid in the war against Elyria's greatest allies to be traitorous, along with another former member of Elyria, Chickenprism, Theodmer was declared a traitor to the Empire and war was to be inevitable. Refusing to allow his Emperor's name to be dragged through the mud by a man who wished to fight the Emperor's allies, Yusan prepared the Aerdilian High Army for war. Alas, the Emperor refused to acknowledge Yusan and Chickenprisms concerns, instead being more interested in maintaining his control over Gaushan's Western front, and Yusan was declared a traitor to the Empire. The Emperor's forces were rallied and though Yusan refused to back down and let his people be taken prisoner or be slaughtered, he was eventually defeated at the Battle of Kaer Nevura by his old king Eiric.

War had plagued him his entire life. From Jotunstan, to Petroselenium, to Elyria and finally to Aerdale, Yusan persevered through many conflicts, leading him to become hardened and bitter close to his apparent end. In his final fight, Yusan fought with all he had, though in the end even with the help of the late Commander Shiny and Grand Magician Keyral, the Aerdilian forces were defeated singlehandedly by the Emperor himself. Towards the end, on the jagged cliffs of Petro's Peak, the old king and recently freed Eiric appeared and allowed Yusan to escape the Emperor's fury for a second longer. This did not last long, however, as Yusan refused the old king's help, regarding him as just as much of a traitor as Theodmer and the Emperor were. Eiric then drove his blade through Yusan's chest, sending him tumbling down into the violent waters below, believed by all to be dead as the rocky shores were as merciless as the old king himself.

Political Beliefs
Yusan was a monarch, and therefore supports a monarchical form of government, though he does not support monarchy in the absolute. He believes that to govern as equals with many others is to be indecisive and that a leader is necessary for growth and change. He also believes in the value of knowledge, as he has studied many subjects for many years, to the point of being named Grand Maester of the formerly most powerful nation in the world. It is because of this belief that his first act as King of Aerdale was to create a council of the nation's leaders, as being informed before making decisions often leads to far less tragic results.

Religion
While Yusan was a monk, his belief in the religion was only skin deep. He wished for power, adopting their religion with the sole purpose of gaining the divine power of which the monks spoke. Following the monk's departure, Yusan began to reject their ideals and teachings, destroying their sacred text and denouncing their gods. Yusan now only believes in the divine power that is knowledge of the realm and its inhabitants, and no longer hails gods or deities.