Born the late twin of his brother Ignas, Noah Ishtar I would grow to see his
land ruined by his sibling's cruel intentions. Unable to ascend the throne due
to being the younger of the two, he was relegated to the position of prince and
given no authority with which to oppose his brother's actions. Thus, each temple
and clergy was turned over to evil, and slowly all of Arya was submerged in a
dark age.
But Noah could not stand to see his people suffer. Fleeing the capitol, where
once shining towers of ivory were then crusted over with the obsidian tendrils
of the hydra which Ignas had invoked beneath it. The hydra had subdued all powers
of light and hope in the city and its very presence corrupted the minds of all
men and women. Even Noah, brightest star of the Arya, had felt darkness creep
into his mind, and fearing that he too would be taken over by its power, fled.
When days later Noah arrived at the Citadel of Amen Zoroah, he swiftly sought
council with the manifest gods. To him appeared Amen Zoroah, Serapis the Wise
King, and both Ah and Un, the twin energies of the world embodied. They each instructed
him thus in a new form of magic and gave unto him the task of uprooting Ignas.
Though the gods would not interfere in most affairs, such a time of imbalance
required their fullest attention, and already the celestial powers had begun to
work in different parts of the land. It was Noah who had been chosen to lead them,
and so he was appointed the title of one who, with war as his chariot and the
blessings of Heaven as his blade, would lead his people out of darkness: The Sword
Saint.
He was bestowed with the formal title of Emperor and given many divine weapons
with which to combat his brother's evil magic. So too was he given direct assistance
in the form of Ameretat, a divine guardian and messenger sent from the Wise King.
Ameretat would find those who were to help Noah, be it in Arya and beyond. Thus
he departed, and the gods bid Noah return to his people. It was then, as he emerged
from meditation, that he found his people at war outside the citadel, fighting
with the elite of Ignas' forces; the Drauga.
The Drauga was terrible beasts, more like machines than men. Thick places of
steel scale coated their bodies, and their eyes were nonexistent within their
long, sloping skulls. Only long, unhinged jaws which hung thick with drool marked
their faces. These were the terrifying powers of nescience visited upon the Arya,
their hatred and fear made manifest as predators.
In the ensuing battle, the Draugas set upon Noah and his soldiers in packs.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds came and tore through the last bastion of light, and
so too they fell beneath the Sword Saint's resplendent power. From all sides they
came, and on all sides they were driven back, melted away, shattered, and torn
asunder by the magic which erupted from Noah's hands.
Then it was over, and those which remained picked themselves up from amongst
the corpses. With the few who remained, the Sword Saint decided to consolidate
his power. Noah chose the Citadel of Amen Zoroah as his headquarters, rallied
his people, and began to plan a campaign. But he needed to find soldiers, so few
did he have. He did not have to wait long for reinforcements however. Priests
of the holy orders who had escaped corruption soon came, and with them their armies.
Ameretat and his servants had spread out the word, bringing hundreds to the citadel.
Even from as far as Chi'en they came, those who wished to aid the Sword Saint.
With his new army, Noah made swift progress back towards the capitol. Each
province he retook was swiftly purified by Ameretat, the hydras which had spread
to each part of the land uprooted and slain. Those many-headed snakes, large as
they were, had been the engines of corruption, so bloated were they with dark
magic that they infected the air itself. Over two dozen such creatures, tremendous
as small cities, fell before Noah and his soldiers. No hydra nor Drauga was left
alive, and finally the battle was brought to the capitol of Angmar.
At Angmar, Ignas prepared his final defence. Merging his power with that of
the hydra, he rode forth into battle, the snake in his reigns devouring hundreds.
For eighteen days he and his troops fought against Noah's, until at last the two
brothers came face to face. Ameretat and his divine servants had succeeded in
slaying all Drauga and smaller hydras, but the beast which thrashed beneath Ignas
was far too great for even them.
Noah knew that such a demonic creation was unstoppable by normal means. thus,
he invoked the sacred power of the Ishtar line, that which was special only to
them and the Alus. He entered into a state of meditation which the Bharata call
"samadhi", and thus renouncing his body, rose from it and unleashed
its most profound energies. The light which radiated from his form was thus so
powerful that it tore through the hydra, Ignas, and cleaved the capitol of Angmar
in two. Such a deep scar was left upon Solest, that the molten blood of its core
welled up and spilled over, devouring all in its path. Only through the swift
efforts of Ameretat were Noah's soldiers saved, but all else was devoured.
The battle over, all that remained was the smoldering ruins of Angmar, Noah's
scant remaining forces, and the glimmering sword which he once carried. It was
upon that mount, at the head of the volcanic rift, that a monument would later
stand, carved in remembrance of the Sword Saint. Ignas was gone, his darkness
had been swallowed up and devoured by light, and the land was free again. But
the Arya would never recover fully from Ignas' scourge. Even to the present, Angmar
has not been fully rebuilt, nor such an emperor or empress come forward to pull
the people together as they had once been. Such is the way that their past arrogance
was repaid, though the brightest star of Arya saved them from utter destruction.
