Sparkus

Sparkus was a young and prosperous character born from a dreary past. He was the builder and leader of the City of Egregan.

Early Life
Sparkus Egregor, more commonly known as Sparky, was born somewhere in the snowy south of Gaushan, although where exactly is unknown. His Father, a fisherman, died whilst he was young and left his Mother to raise him. During his infancy, his mother traveled all across the continent avoiding the ongoing destruction caused by the Elyrian-Entente War. Searching for a safe place for her to raise her child, she heard of a settlement on an island just across the ocean. They called themselves The Anglers and were a group of fishermen. Believing that to be her safest place to raise Sparky, she worked hard day and night to earn enough for a boat to sail to this island. On the day that she planned to leave, a group of mercenaries caught up with her. It is not known why she was being hunted down. In a hurry and knowing she would not make it off the coast in time, she placed Sparky in the boat pushed it out to sea, hoping that he would land in safe arms. Afterwards she fled northwards and it is unknown what happened next.

Arriving at The Anglers
By a stroke of luck, Sparky's boat landed on the shore of The Anglers settlement where WilkoAC, the leader of the town, noticed the boat floating without any direction. After swiftly retrieving the boat, they noticed the child sound asleep in the hull. From that day forward, Sparky was brought up by the fishermen at The Anglers until his teenage years.

Teenage Years
After realising his profound crafting abilities, Sparky decided to build the settlements first tavern, the Sirens Wake. There he offered his services as a barkeep, speakeasy and also provided rooms for weary travelers. As the war progressed, it found itself on their island. Once the fighting was over, Emperor Sherman of Elyria himself came to their town to offer their apologies for bringing their problems to the island. This apology came with a bar of refined netherite alloy. This sparked an interest in Sparky; the more he studied the material, the more he longed to venture into the depths of the Nether to retrieve more.

The Nether Accident
Upon learning how to access the Nether, Sparky spent day and night to fashion his own glass portal. As he stepped inside, something went wrong and the portal imploded on its self just as Sparky had entered, trapping him in some in-between world of dirt and darkness and leaving him arm-less. In this dimensional anomaly, Sparky came face to face with a purple and blue disfigured version of himself in robes. It did not blink nor say anything but it also seemed to want to find a way out. After days of looking for a way out, he heard whispers much like his mothers and before he knew it he was brought back into existence, laid on his floor among the shards of volcanic glass. Days went by as the distraught young man slumped into a depression until one night he was awoken by the sound of footsteps in the tavern. Rushing to his sword, he jumped into the hall to halt the intruder only to find no one there other than a crumble of obsidian and the smell of his mothers cooking. This feeling of homeliness drove his decision to find his mother from that day on. Realising he was useless without an arm, Sparky purchased the schematics for a mechanical arm from a wandering trader and crafted himself a new one.

Shadow Arc
After successfully creating a Nether portal, Sparky traversed the hostile wastes in search of the ancient netherite debris. Bringing home plenty of this shrapnel from another dimension, he got to work and created his first netherite ingots. When the traders came to town he managed to sell a singular piece for more than his entire tavern was worth. One such trader was none other than a prominent Elyrian general by the name of [REDACTED]. They had come to speak to Sparky about their woes in the battles of the past and present, and Sparky let them air out their sorrows. After the drunken [REDACTED] left, Sparky saw a shadowy purple-blue cloaked apparition lurk behind the Town Hall, however dismissed it as he wasn't exactly sober himself.

Later that night the apparition approached Sparky on the docks. He introduced himself as herald of the God Occidere. What went on during this conversation is unknown, however the herald had managed to twist his mind into darkness and shadows. Soon after that night, reports came up all over Gaushan and Koganon of a unrecognisable hooded figure that went by the name The_Dominion. They traveled far and wide to the most influential people they could find to pass around The Shadow Tomes, texts that served as a narrative but propaganda laden story of the rise of the shadows and their eventual take over of Alathra. Not much is known about the whereabouts of the tomes other than that they seem to be in the position of a few individuals.

After many altercations, The_Dominion was finally slain and the shadows expelled from Sparky's body by [REDACTED]. The shadows fell silent, or at least that's how it seemed.

Egregan
After realising how much damage had been caused by his almost fanatical actions, Sparky decided to take his amassed wealth and found his own town, a fortress city built with the exact opposite pretense to what his once shadow/planet/god master believed in. It is common knowledge that powered by pure retribution, Sparky managed to gather the materials and construct the Great Egregan Wall in as little as 3 days. Afterwards, he rested and began to build his wealth again from the netherite market, and is currently one of the richest citizens of Alathra.

Having finished Egregans main infrastructure, Sparky appointed himself King of Egregan and announced the start of the Egregani Foundation which allowed Sparky to invest his funds into the world of Alathra, offering bursaries to anyone willing to build or create a service that will better every single Alathran.

Mid-life
Once settled in, Sparkus began to build his new life. He met a barmaid named Mini on his journeys and the two of them fell in love immediately. They held a ceremony in private on the docks of the old Anglers settlement. Not long after came the news that the couple were expecting a child. Fearing the worst outcomes of global political unrest and his own dangerous life, Sparkus immediately started the proceedings to send it off to the Redna College of Magic where they could guarantee safety. Once the child, called Maliko, had grown up to be three years of age, he was sent off to Redna in hopes that the world will be a better place when he grows up.

Sparkus had begun to notice that over those 3 years, he had grown much older than the average Alathran. Believing it to be the last curse Occidere could place on him before his imprisonment, Sparkus set out to discover a cure. Day and night the king would work tirelessly on his experiments, contacting the likes of Ra'thra and Orthigo in the Pater Carnis Arc. As his work progressed, he grew more and more mad, forcing his wife to leave him. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Death
After the death of Ra'thra, all hope was lost to Sparkus. Days went past where no one had seen him until his last public appearance atop his balcony. His aged self reassured the populous that he was still their leader and was fit to rule, and they had nothing to fear. Reports say that later that night he rode off towards The Library where he promptly made off with a wagon full of tomes and passages.

Two months later it was announced that a search party had found the deceased ruler propped up against his old bar The Sirens Wake in the Anglers settlement, his body more akin to an elderly man. His people will forever remember him as a benevolent leader, always for the people regardless of his flaws.

Trivia

 * One day a cat arrived at the Egregan gates named "Cat" and was tamed to Sparky. Despite having no recollection of owning this animal, Sparky decided to keep it and to this day it stands guard at the gates.
 * Egregan is derived from the Latin Word "egregie" meaning "Brilliant".
 * You can notice Sparky's mechanical left arm from underneath his robe. However, don't ask him to show you as he is sensitive about it.
 * Sparky considers brewing alcohol as one of the fine arts.