Maken Lonwe was a citizen of Gypnle a small, ancestor worshiping nation in the Hundred Kingdoms that was eradicated in a conflict with their traditional enemies. As he lay dying, the Deathlord called Walker in Darkness offered him great power to take revenge in exchange for his name and his freedom.
Lonwe accepted, and was brought back from the brink of death as the deathknight Pyre Surmounting Innocent. In the Underworld he fought out that his ancestors spirits had also been destroyed, and with undying fury he submitted to necrosurgical procedures that grafted reanimated muscles to his own, increasing his strength to inhuman levels. Walker in Darkness took this chance to tattoo a potent prayer upon his skin that forced all who could read it to surrender to death.
(The wording is drawn from Starhawk's Spiral Dance chant/song)
"You warriors! Here your battles are over, You workers! Here your tasks are done, You who are hurt! Here find healing, You who are weary! Here find rest, You who are old! Here you will grow young again, For this is the Land of Youth, the Shining Isle, the Isle of Apples, Here is all that ever was, none are forgotten, All that has passed comes round again, For here, what is remembered, lives.”
He took up a gigantic soulsteel hammer called Requiem and made war on the Ansazl responsible for his Kingdom's ruin. The destruction was nearly absolute. Walker in Darkness captured the souls of those murdered and had them folded into the soulsteel that went into the construction of a giant mechanical suit (or warstrider) called Ebon Annihilator. The killing of so many people had created a new shadowland where the Underworld seeped into Creation. Innocent was comforted by the eternal agony that the Ansazl would suffer, yet he still simmered with rage. He began his studies of both necromancy and sorcery, and tried to immerse himself in his faith in Oblivion.
A demon he summoned informed him that he had been tricked, that Walker in Darkness was actually behind the slaughter of the Gypnle, and that their souls had been forged into the metal of the Requiem hammer. The ghosts of his people had been very powerful and defiant to Walker in Darkness with so many living Gypnle worshiping them. With the living dead, they were easily defeated by the Deathlord.
The Walker had hoped that Innocent would be broken by the truth... that he would become a fatalistic and paradoxically more loyal slave. He misjudged Pyre Ascending Innocent, though. The deathknight felt incomparable fury seething within, but somehow realized that he could not defeat the Deathlord by himself. He stole Requiem and made his way into Creation to seek others that could help him. He wears the traditional clothing that the Gypnle were entombed in. Since he cannot sustain his powers in Creation he takes essence from stealing the breath of the living.
While there he tried to help people with the powers he had gained, masquerading as a golden hero. When his fury gets the better of him, the brilliant halo around his head changing into green pyreflame burning through his skin, illuminating his tattoos from within and the bright light of his anima being replaced by midnight black energy. Unfortunately, those that he helps usually end up the worse for it as the evil Abyssal energies he wields taint his every accomplishment.
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To be honest, I was not convinced by the pencil version of this, but the color version has more than convinced me.
The sun energy looks beautiful and powerful, even if it really is just an illusion to cover the midnight energy within.
Thank you for adding the tattoo detail as well. they add to the picture without becoming a distraction.
THANKS!