Liaka Maru

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Liaka Maru was a Necromancer and Mage who lived during the early part of the Third Age. His intervention is credited with helping to end the Necromanic Wars on Nos Vorm. Despite his great contribution, his life was less than happy.

Early Life

Liaka was born in a fortified hamlet on the outskirts of Kent, one of the three nations of Nos Vorm that shared a border at Phal. As a Green Temple Necromancer, he was quickly inducted into the rites of his people, and showed great promise. He was involved in the war by age 7, and likely saw combat that year.

By the age of 10, Liaka was already a seasoned veteran. While he did not carry a weapon himself, he was was definitely on the battlefield and commanding squadrons of undead. Children like Liaka usually controlled around 20-30 small groups of lightly armed zombies who acted as braces against the larger, more coordinated forces.

It was around this time that Liaka started showing signs of even greater potential. Though rare, it had been seen before that necromancers could be adept at the more common magics. Liaka had serious promise, being at least a 7-star or higher. He was withdrawn from frontline duties and placed into an "accelerated program" to promote these abilities and make him a much more powerful asset.

Magical Studies

The process of training mages in war time was cruel. Magic is called forth out of need, therefore the most expedient means of creating a magic is to create that need. Liaka was beaten, starved, and yelled at, all the while being given impossible tasks. However, as he was adept at wielding power, he did learn fast.

Second Combat

At 14, Liaka returned to the war effort as a Battling Sorcerer, but particularly powerful for his dual abilities to cast spells and command the undead. He was nicknamed "The Scalpel" for his ability to quickly cleave through opposing forces and kill enemy necromancers. In just 7 months, he'd made a name for himself at 16 major battles.

And then he fled.

Seclusion

When asked about it later, Liaka recounted that it should have been obvious. He hated war, hated killing, hated being constantly scared, cold, and hungry. So he abandoned his people and fled. There was no escaping the war in any of the civilized regions, so he went into hiding in a steep mountain range.

The conditions were not much better. Food was scarce, fuel even scarcer, and the constant threat of discovery meant Liaka spent most of his time shivering in a cave. Each day, as winter drew nearer, he wondered how he would survive and feed himself.

Day to day, he relied on magic: magic to keep himself warm, magic to quell his hunger. In his own way, this self-imposed isolation recreated the torturous training he'd had a few years earlier. Liaka survived one winter this way, before he was able to "flee" again.

Travels Off-World

Through sheer force of will, Liaka managed to transport himself from Nos Vorm to somewhere on The Inner Rim. Exactly where, he did not know for certain. Like most Necromancers, he was well aware of the existence of other worlds and that travel between them was possible using magic. While the Grey Temple necromancers had retained this ability, it was only with the aid of Litchs. Liaka is believed to be the first living person to rediscover this power since the Mage Wars.

His first travel took him from the icy mountains to a scorching desert where he very nearly died of thirst, before managing to transport himself again. Over the next few years, Liaka traveled from place to place, seldom finding people, and all the while honing his skills.

Time in Arindell

Throughout his long isolation, Liaka had long pursued some answer to the horrors he had left back home. In A.Y. 3377, he arrived on the Nara River which he followed to Zathra. Entering the city for the first time, he found it untouched by war, and initially thought to settle there. However, in a square on the outskirts, he discovered a statue dedicated to the Order of Slayer Dragons, of which he had heard rumors. No longer transporting himself magically, Liaka spent the next three years working his way around the continent until he could reach the city of Arindell.

Arindell, much removed and well defended, had also been impacted little by the war, but was also home to a very large Green Temple. Here, Liaka made himself a part of the Necromancer community, and eventually earned the trust of the high priest. He informed the priest of his heritage, and explained the war was beyond all control on Nos Vorm.

Together with the Slayer Dragons, the Green Temple, and the Gudersnipe Foundation, the Sasened Mission was launched, and order finally restored to Nos Vorm.

Later Life

During the Sasened Mission, Liaka became close with the Paladins assigned to guard him, and found great peace in the teachings they espoused. He formally converted to Cardinalism before the end of the mission, and returned with them to Arindell. However, as he was still ethnically (and more importantly, biologically) a necromancer, Laika was subject to the same imprisonment as his kin. His status as effectively the hero of all Nos Vorm gave him great status among the surviving necromancers in Arindell, but as he no longer believed in their ways he felt unhappy among them.

Longing to be among other clerics, he petitioned to the Doseu and Pendragon Lal Soratami for permission to be sent instead to a normal prison, where he could live out his days. He was 19 at the time. It was a difficult time to be heard, as necromancers were trying everything they could to avoid the forced confinement in the temple at Arindell. While Laika's beliefs were genuine, he was just one of thousands who attempted conversion as a means of escape. The war had taken a horrible toll on the population of Necromancers throughout the known worlds, and even with all confirmed Grey Temple adherents being executed, and even many Green Temple adherents under trial for war crimes, it was difficult for the humble and quiet Liaka to be heard.

In the end, the Foundation stepped forward to help him. He was wanted for his part in the war as he had been a combatant, so the Foundation deliberately moved to have him tried in order to bring attention to his plight. The High Priest of Arindell's temple initially tried to keep Liaka, but now under pressure from the Doseu, he was moved to Sun's Beacon where members of the Sasened team worked to secure his freedom.

Ultimately, however, it was a simple fact that as a necromancer he could not be allowed in the world. Necromancy was now widely regarded as evil, and as a male Liaka had the potential to easily create other necromancers in large numbers. Initially this was seen as a impasse, but Liaka voluntarily underwent sterilization in secret at the hands of the Foundation, then petitioned to be allowed imprisonment outside the temple as he was "no longer a threat". His magical abilities, however, made him quite unable to be contained by any prison.

The Doseu, who until then had little knowledge of Liaka, finally took notice, and offered him a place at the Tabernacle of the Perennial Colonnade where he could study the holy book of Cardinalism. The Alliance government, upon seeing that he had permanent housing available, felt obliged to offer him imprisonment under house arrest. Since, as a powerful mage, he could not actually be held captive, this seemed like a reasonable compromise. Any prison he entered would be one of his own choosing, and at least here he could be under the watchful gaze of the First File.

Tabernacle

Liaka entered the Tabernacle at the age of twenty, and died at the age of 82 having never again left. He pursued paladin training for many years, but was unable to complete certain portions of it due to his house arrest. While not confirmed as a paladin, many of his friends believe he had indeed attained that capability, making him the only known individual in history to become a Necromancer, Battling Sorcerer, and Paladin at the same time.

Eventually, he became a Gardener, and lived out his days in peace. In A.Y. 3442, he died of a heart attack while planting radishes. By this time, the Alliance had long ago stopped monitoring him, and he was effectively a free man. Earlier that day, one of his friends had even invited him to leave the Tabernacle and accompany him on a holiday. In the conversation, Liaka expressed his firm desire to never leave the Tabernacle.

After his death, he was interned in a crypt within the Tabernacle walls.