Sorhan
| Sorhan | |
|---|---|
| Titles and aliases | High Priest of Casir Prophet of Casir The Most Dangerous Man Alive The Wolf (disputed) Avatar of Ahuraiya (disputed) Avatar of Casir (disputed) Nyarlathotep (disputed) The Black Man The Man in Black Evil Itself (by Nico) False prophet (by the Sanctuary) |
| Type | ? |
| Born | c. 441–449 (age 45–53) (disputed) Phoena (disputed) |
| Alignment | ? |
| Divine Rank | ? |
Sorhan ("SOR-han," rhymes with "4chan") is a Phoenic occultist and one of the three high priests of the Casiric Church. He is by far the most infamous of the three and one of the most widely known and feared men in Teresis.
Sorhan is one of the more mysterious figures in Marillia, not because of a lack of information on him, but rather because of an overabundance of it. We have a bajillion stories about the many atrocities he's allegedly committed, and no way to evaluate which are true. He's been accused of everything from slaughtering babies to reigniting the Eighth Occaria.
Sorhan is currently leading a splinter faction of Casirists (making up about 40% of them, according to Lord Greymark) in an uprising seemingly to destroy Phoena. He's already taken over the city of Troyosha, and is igniting rebellions all over the Phoenic countryside.
Archbishop Marcela Serrano famously described Sorhan as "the most dangerous man alive." Lord Greymark remarked that Sorhan is to Raysh as the tiger is to the wild dog. Several Lucian bishops have described Sorhan as the Wolf. The Mazdanist archmaegi Cassan al-Diani declared Sorhan an avatar of Ahuraiya. The archdevil Azaphiel has speculated that Sorhan may be an avatar of Casir. Some Jihuthis believe Sorhan is a reincarnation of or a time-traveling Xoyahque, the ancient priest whose actions indirectly caused the destruction of the Mhawari Empire. King Jassar, on the other hand, seems to think Sorhan does not exist and is a myth perpetuated by Mortzopholus. In a letter belonging to the pirate captain Jamit Angari, Sorhan is called the Man in Black and Nyarlathotep. His son, Nico, said his father is "evil itself." Recently, Sorhan was declared by his supporters to be a prophet of Casir.
Sorhan claimants
This is a list of people who claimed to be Sorhan.
- Priest at the Casiric temple in Marnova
- Priest at the harvest banquet
- Priest on the airship heading to Shahasta from Runya
- The Great Dreamer's former student, who killed him
- Priest who launched the rebellion in Troyosha
- Priest who fought Raysh about one year ago
- Nico's father
- Yadeen Azaro's blood brother
Sorhan death roster
- A priest believed to be Sorhan was captured in 488 in Mazzim in northern Riyan. He was executed, but his body vanished.
- A priest calling himself Sorhan was at the Casiric temple in Marnova in 494. He was impaled through the gut by Raysh.
- A priest leading an assault on the royal palace in Lozanre during 494's harvest banquet called himself Sorhan, which was corroborated by a witness at the scene. He was killed by Yadeen Azaro and the Pale Brigade.
Appearance
Almost no one is sure what Sorhan looks like.
Personality
When asked what his father was like, Nico said, "He's not what you'd expect. He's... patient. Deliberate. Calm. A little funny. There were even times when I liked him."
Life
We know very little about Sorhan's early life. He seems to have come from nowhere. No one can agree on where he was born, though most believe him to be Phoenic and somewhere in the age-range of 45-53, putting his birth in the neighborhood of 441–449.
In 462, rumors began spreading in central Phoena that a young Casirist was on the rise. These are believed to be the first confirmed reports of Sorhan's activities.
In 465, an entire village in southern Phoena was slaughtered and all its inhabitants' blood was drained from their bodies. A year later, a young man—believed to be Sorhan—was arrested in Hadriz after boasting in a tavern that he was responsible for the act. He escaped that night before he could be questioned further.
If Nico was telling the truth, then around 476 Sorhan would have impregnated Nico's mother. Then, ten years later, in 486, Sorhan would have murdered her on Mortzopholus's orders and relocated to a manor house in western Astoria. What we know for sure is that this same year, rumors began spreading in the Aenea and Myori that Sorhan had become one of the three High Priests of the Casiric Church. A year later, in 487, Salysa Aidani, the umma of the Hadina, confirmed these rumors.
At some point in his life—we're not sure when—Sorhan apprenticed under someone called the Great Dreamer, and mastered dream-magic under him.
In 488, a Riyani captain claimed he executed Sorhan in Mazzim, a town in northern Riyan, after he was arrested alongside several dozen Casirists in the middle of a blood ritual. They invited the Daburai to come investigate the corpse and confirm Sorhan's identity,[1] but the corpse apparently vanished just a few days before their arrival.
In the spring of 490, things seriously escalated: Sorhan was accused of orchestrating the assassination of the Hestati commander Aletta Rossari, a war hero of the Eighth Occaria. Rossari was killed along with several of her officers by Casirists on the streets of Gazan. This act contributed greatly to the breakdown of the Spring Peace and the continuation of the Eighth Occaria. When Alicante demanded Phoena allow the Hestati to find and arrest Sorhan, King Jassar refused—though this was almost certainly not because Jassar wanted to protect Sorhan, but rather because he didn't want the Hestati in his country.
494 AOL
The year 494 has been a big one for Sorhan. Currently, Sorhan is suspected of sacrificing the Lucian population of Marnova to Casir. The official story as of now is that he was aided by a group of "mercenaries" (the Pale Brigade), and afterwards was killed either by them or traitors within the CC. However, the Pale Brigade knows that the "Sorhan" at the temple was really a priest masquerading as Sorhan, and that it wasn't even this faux Sorhan who killed the Lucians—it was Lord Raysh. To make matters even more confusing, many Casirists—those who follow Zehr—believe wrongly that Sorhan was killed at the temple by Zehr.
Several days after this, Casirists on the streets of Lozanre were seen claiming that Sorhan had either survived the events of Marnova or had defied death and would return. On the night of the harvest banquet, the palace in Lozanre was attacked by Casirists led by a priest claiming to be Sorhan. Hundreds of nobles and foreign dignitaries were slaughtered. Yadeen Azaro appeared on the scene and challenged "Sorhan," but once this priest was killed, it was revealed not to have been Sorhan.
Relationships
Nico claims he is Sorhan's son and that Sorhan murdered his mother, Inaya, in front of him on Mortzopholus's orders. This didn't exactly qualify Sorhan for Father of the Year in Nico's eyes, understandably, and Nico has since dedicated his life to finding and killing his father.
Sorhan's marital status is unknown. Nico didn't specify whether his mother was Sorhan's wife.
Yadeen Azaro was Sorhan's right-hand man. They seemed to have a very close, brotherly relationship—right up until the moment when Sorhan drove a dagger up his rib cage. Now Yadeen is searching for Sorhan for revenge.
Sorhan was likely junior to Mortzopholus earlier in his time in the Church, but they are now (at least nominally) equals.
Raysh hates Sorhan for breaking the Spring Peace by assassinating the Hestati commander Aletta Rossari, thereby reigniting the Eighth Occaria and indirectly causing the death of Raysh's wife and daughter.
Azaphiel seems troubled by Sorhan, given that Sorhan is the first mortal in thousands of years to trick him. Azaphiel believes Sorhan may be an avatar of Casir.
According to the bink Koley, Sorhan was once a student of someone known as the Great Dreamer, a powerful dreamer who was once a man of Marillia. However, the apprentice overpowered the master: Sorhan killed the Great Dreamer some years ago.
Powers
According to Raysh, Sorhan is one of the most skilled swordsman in Teresis; there are no more than a handful of men who rival him.
According to Koley, Sorhan is the most powerful dreamwalker in Marillia.
Sorhan seems able to create dread rings of power.
Public perception
Public opinion for Sorhan is understandably pretty polarized. Most people are terrified of him and hate him, viewing him as something like a mangled blend of Joseph Kony, Osama bin Laden, and Vladimir Lenin. Many, however, view him as a revolutionary, prophet, and a symbol of change.
Sorhan has been accused of being a mass murderer, child-killer, a cannibal, black magician, necromancer, necrophile, diabolist, a cynical political radical, a charlatan, a cult leader, an anarchist, a terrorist, a maximalist, and an occultist who seeks to end the world.
Sorhan has been condemned by numerous political and religious organizations over the years. The Vaishans and Mishraists, including Umma Salysa Aidani, believe he's an irredeemably vile sorcerer who needs to be killed. The Sanctuary has been tormented by Sorhan for years, and has demanded several times that Phoena allow the Hestati into their lands to hunt down Sorhan. Many Lucian bishops have declared Sorhan the Wolf of the End Times. Riyan, Phoena's strongest ally, has been more than willing to aid Phoena in the hunt for Sorhan; many Mazdanist archpriests and maegi have decried Sorhan's actions as evil and ungodly, with some going as far as to claim him a child or avatar of Ahuraiya.
Power Ranking
| Level | ? |
|---|---|
| CR | Stronk |
| DR | ? |
Quotes about Sorhan
My father [Sorhan] is evil itself.
—Nico
Sorhan is known and feared by all men.
—Reynald, knight of Azaphiel
See also
Endnotes
- ↑ Which probably would've gone something like "Yep, that looks like a Sorhan to me!" given that no one knows what Sorhan looks like
