[hider=Champion]

Name: Jagannath, the God-Eater

Gender: Bull

Race: Gaja (Elephantkin Beastman)

Age: 400-something. Middle-aged among his people.

Physical appearance: Jagannath is monstrously large even among his people, standing fifteen feet tall and weighing over eight tons. His skin is thick and leathery, covered in a huge, chaining web of old battle-scars, and has gained a reddish complexion from its usual healthy grey, thanks to the influence of his spiritual magic. The huge, flapping ears on either side of his elephantine head are ragged shreds, and his right eye is dull and sightless.

History: The elephant-folk, who refer to themselves as the Gaja, form nomadic tribes that cross the breadth of the Etheria, traveling in long, circuitous routes passed down through their tribe's oral history and long memories. Despite being giants among other races, the Gaja are renowned for their spiritual and philosophical wisdom, and are mostly ascetics and pacifists. Their huge size and long lives lead them to being few in number, and grow rarer with each passing year.

The beast that would be known as Jagannath was born long ago to one of the wandering Gaja tribes. His earliest years were simple and happy, traveling with his family, foraging for food, and learning his people's thousands of years worth of history and culture. This came to an abrupt end when his tribe crossed the path of a vicious band of brigands calling themselves the "Carrion Kings," led by Simha Storm-Crowned, a powerful lionkin warrior. The Carrion Kings slaughtered his entire tribe, burned all of their huts, fetishes, and other belongings, and painted the young Jagannath in the ashes of his dead relatives. With that, they took him in as one of their own, one of the "dead men."

Now that he was dead, Jagannath performed menial tasks for the Carrion Kings, and suffered their rages with beatings and whippings. Simha saw the potential in the young Gaja thought, and had him trained in his own sword-arts, taking him on as an apprentice. Wherever the Carrion Kings went, they killed, looted, and burned, and Jagannath watched, learned, and eventually came to join in their destructive revelry, but Simha was still the strongest of all. Once Jagannath was of sufficient age and power, Simha told him that the reason he was undefeatable in battle was because he was secretly a Red Knight, a member of a secretive and barbaric religious order of warriors that granted great power to those bold enough to claim it.

Jagannath left the Carrion Kings, as Simha allowed in and none else were strong enough to challenge him, and journeyed south to the savage land of Mumit, the home of the Red Knights. There, he fought for survival and recognition among the followers of the Red God, and searched ancient, abandoned temples for the truth of the Red God and its barbaric "knights." Eventually through brutal struggle he won the right of ascension in the eyes of the Red God, and offered himself as sacrifice at the God's temple in a volcano's heart. Those that undertake this ritual usually come away maimed for life, and this was true of Jagannath, who lost his right eye to the Red God's caprices. Only one task remained for his ascension to be complete: he had to kill his old master.

Jagannath spent years tracking down Simha, and when he found the old lion again, he was an elderly and feeble man, unable to fight or fend him off. Jagannath had no mercy for the man that made him what he was that day. He ripped Simha in half from shoulder to hip with his bare hands, and ate the lion's heart. In that moment, he had the full blessing of the Red God and had truly become Jagannath, the Red God's greatest monster.

In the many years since, Jagannath has been a scourge on the "civilized" nations of the world, and has been the subject of much rumor and myth. Tales of an unstoppable juggernaut, sometimes accompanied by other beasts, sometimes alone, always an engine of death and ruin, are whispered of in cities and temples. It is said that the temples of other gods are his favorite to sack, desecrating their altars and burning their sacred texts. This has given him the epithet of "God-Eater," as it is said that by destroying the sacred relics of other gods, his Red God rewards him by adding their power to his own.

Equipment: Jagannath wears little armor, as his leathery skin is proof against many blades and arrows, and there is not an armorer alive that could make a suit to fit him. Rather, he fastens huge, bronze sheets to his limbs, and has a stylized iron helm the size of a bathtub, which he uses to protect his head and sensitive trunk. Serrated metal blades have been bolted onto his long tusks, making every part of him a dangerous weapon. In terms of armament, he carries into battle a pike hammer as heavy as a human man, as well as a longbow made from a salvaged ballista that he can use to fire huge bolts across the battlefield. His most favored weapon is the blade Ruin, a massive sword made to suit Jagannath's enormous size. An enchanted blade infused with the fury of the Red God, Ruin carries with it the elemental essence of warfare and destruction, and its influence drives others to supreme acts of savagery and brutality.

Abilities: Jagannath is a veteran of hundreds of battles and thousands of duels, and he has never been bested in combat. His huge size and tremendous power are supplemented by extensive and diverse martial training, as he has studied under many schools of martial combat and warfare. Not only a masterful warrior, but also a skilled commander, as his studies on the nature of warfare and massed battles have aided him in his numerous struggles. Jagannath also has the ability to use powerful spiritual magics to enhance his physical abilities to supernatural levels, and imbue his flesh with the power and heat of the Red God. His magics often take the form of a corona of crimson flame that ripples across his skin and armor.[/hider]

[hider=Regiment]
Title: Red Knights

Number: 100 Knights, 400~ slaves, apprentices, followers, etc

Specialization: Elite Shock Infantry, Raiders, Cavalry, Linebreakers

Description: The Red Knights are an eclectic group made up almost entirely of savage, predatory beastmen. Every true Red Knight is a seasoned killer, for whom murder is a religious act, and had to kill their predecessor to "earn" their knighthood. All of them have made a flesh sacrifice to their Red God, many in the form of limbs and extremities, but others have given up less obvious parts of themselves. Apart from these commonalities, each Red Knight is a unique combatant, though their intense bloodlust and martial prowess lend them best toward smaller engagements, mounted combat, and any battle where they can tip the spear.

History: The origins of the Red Knights are lost in the ruins of Mumit's long-dead civilization, a thousand years buried in volcanic ash and rock. Those ruins that still carry some of their creators' legends tell of an age where the Red God walked the earth, and appointed its knights personally. In the modern day, the Red Knights are more of a myth to the wider world than a known force. Beastman brigands and raiders are not unheard of in Etheria, and the savage attacks led by Red Knights often go unremarked upon. These occasional attacks by wild fanatics are the most visible mark on the world left by the Red Knights, the vast majority of whom go unnoticed among common soldiers and mercenaries as they ply their bloody trade. Becoming a Red Knight is not an easy ordeal, and many have this life of death and depravity thrust upon them rather than seek it out willingly. Only the most vicious and committed of warriors can survive their training and trials, and to earn a knighthood one must kill their master and take their title for their own. Ostensibly this would mean that the number of Knights stays the same, but their numbers seem to shrink and swell despite that fact.

Country: Mumit is not a country as much as it is an ungovernable no-man's-land. A tropical, volcanic land in the furthest southern reaches of Etheria, Mumit's inhabitants are primarily savage, feral beastmen that live in bestial competition with the unforgiving landscape. It is rumored that tribes of wild men, elves, and even dwarves live among the ruins of Mumit's extinct civilization, outcasts from their people that live as though they were beasts, themselves. The closest thing to an organized body within this anarchic wasteland would be the Red Knights, a bloodthirsty religious order dedicated to the Red God worshiped by the people that were swallowed by the awakening of Mumit's volcanoes.[/hider]