Successors of the Prophet
The Prophet Pianna
The Prophet Pianna was only human. She never claimed to be able to perform miracles and she possessed no abilities that were out of another’s reach. Pianna only claimed to be possessed of a direct message from the Great Creator, the One God of All Things. Her message was spread far and wide and people began to believe in her message, to believe that all was not lost and that there was a future ahead — one just as bright as the empires of the past. When she died, it was a dark day. Some allowed themselves to believe that the Faith she built would not survive past her own existence, but they were mistaken. Pianna was succeeded by a line of mortals. Like their predecessor, they would possess the same abilities of the Prophet: none. Like their predecessor, they would lead based upon their convictions and their mundane abilities. Like their predecessor, they have been generally successful in their endeavour.
Uleg the Founder
The first person to succeed the Prophet Pianna was her last consort, Uleg. When they were first together, the two were a political pairing. Necessary for peace between man and orc, the two major nomadic clan groups on the Steppes, Uleg and Pianna played their part in maintaining the uneasy peace. This all changed when they became emotionally involved with one-another. As they went, so did the (nomadic) world. Uleg was a strong leader, a confident leader. A former hunter and war chieftain, he was a keen and skilled peacemaker. But he is best known for his conquest of the One City, the sole city of the Steppes: Karakalla. Once the farthest outpost in the Dwarven Empire, it was now a great stone husk of a city — built for fifty-thousand and inhabited by five thousand. Karakalla became the center of the Community of the Faithful, and it now houses over one hundred and twenty thousand people. He established an order for the Faith and the Faithful to follow and a framework for leadership that allowed for his son, Orda, or pick up where he left off.
Orda the Magnificent
Orda followed his father as Successor to his mother, the Prophet Pianna. He was a jealous guardian of the Faith and the Faithful. He masterfully repulsed an invasion from a Cabalistic army, such was his wrath that he had the eyes of the surrendering mercenaries pierced out save one man. They were lashed together and the man with one eye led the army out of nomadic territory and back into the lands of the settled men. This punishment for invading the holy land was repeated two more times in history and became known as the Unblinking Eye. Orda strengthened the community of the Faithful and began the process of bringing Pianna’s message to the settled lands of the south.
Runa the Graceful
Runa came next. She was a convert — a minor noblewoman brought with her husband on campaign against the nomads. Runa was raised to pay tribute the elementals, to honour the memory of Victor Magnus, and participate in the festivities of the Cabal. Thus, she was without conviction for the beliefs of the southern lands. Of all the beliefs of which she was exposed, Runa was most comfortable with the rationalism of the gnomish Order of the Stars and was intrigued by the mystery of the enemy religion, the One Faith. She left her husband without a word in the night, bribed the campguards to allow her to take a horse (she used her engagement ring), and rode toward the enemy camp. To the realms of the south, Runa was regarded as a traitor. To the nomads of the Steppe, she was seen as an omen. If a woman of such grace and elegance would leave the decadent luxuries of the south to seek the true faith, then perhaps the Prophet Pianna was right. Perhap theirs truly was “all under heaven.” [A phrase that would become the second most common battle cry in the nomadic tongue, after "Prophet's Grace."] As a convert to the One Faith, Runa’s was a particularly fervent belief. She was tireless, often to the point of staying up nights working with her inner circle of advisors and ministers. Runa collapsed due to exhaustion more than a few times in her life.
Runa is best known for establishing the Three Orders of the One Faith: scholar, preacher and priest. The Scholars were bookish monks and nuns, not necessarily aesthetics, but small households of men and women dedicated to teaching the Faithful about the world. The Preachers were speakers, singers, dancers and musicians. They created works of art to teach the world about the Faith and the Faithful. The Priests and Priestesses were special. They were rare. They were charged with teaching the Faithful about the Faith. The best of them carried within them a piece of the Prophet’s Grace within them. These three in one, the clerics of the One Faith carried the word to the world and the world to the people.
Hanif the Studious
The scholar Hanif followed Runa as Successor to the Prophet. In his time, he created an extensive phonetic alphabet to replace the Elementalist ideograms that most languages used when they lacked their own writing method. He was best known for prociding over the process of codifying the Acts and Revelations of the Prophet Pianna into a single document. Though he seemed harmless, Hanif established the Lower Order, a secretive group of spies and agents to protect the Faithful from supernatural threats and covert undertakings by other realms. Under Hanif, the Community of the Faithful solidified control over the Steppe and the neighbouring fertile lands by paying gnomish engineers to oversee the construction of roads, bridges, fortresses and three strategically-placed towns: Uleg’s Rock, Orda’s Crossing, and Runa’s Retreat. Hanif’s rule was well-regarded and served as a small golden age for the Faith and Faithful.
Omar the Righteous
Omar was a trained Priest, but he left the service to join the army during an invasion from a Cabalist realm near Orda’s Crossing. He led his men well, and over the years, was promoted to be proclaimed Protector of the Faithful by Hanif himself — a title that had previously been the province of only the Successor. It was natural that Omar succeed Hanif, and so, it occured. Faithful historians see divine providence as the reason Omar became the Successor. He was not much of an administrator, but his faith and his skills as a warrior were key in saving the community of the faithful from a mass invasion by an alliance of the settled lands to the south. Elementalist, Imperialist and Cabalist came together to carve up the fledgling lands to the south and they did ravage the lands that could not be protected. In response, Omar put out the call to the entirety of the Steppes and the Community of the Faithful to rise up and fight against these vile transgressors.
The holy warriors of the One Faith threw themselves against the invaders and beat them back beyond the old borders, back into their cities and citadels. Omar commissioned the gnomish engineers once more, but this time, to construct machines of war. Great catapults capable of felling the greatest walls. When those walls crumbled, so too did the resolve of the invaders. In his anger, Omar commanded that the cities of the south be put to the torch. He strode the palace halls of all the Kings of all the Southern Lands, and he burned every single one of them. The dynasties were put to the sword if they did not convert. Only one family was noble enough to surrender after an honourable setpiece, and only they were possessed of the grace to convert to the One Faith. All other royal houses fell in the wake of the Steppeland’s Holy War. Omar is remembered as a hero, and his is a name invoked when rousing battle speeches are uttered. To those subject to his wrath, he is remembered as a envious and brutish barbarian.
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Kalda the Heretic.
Junan the Saviour.
Sarrah the Healer.
Tarkin. (Current Successor.)
