Yengwayo

BIO

Yengwayo was a Human from Planet Squid born 31 years before Rhys invaded Aurea, along with his identical twin brother Nhlahla. His mother was a nature spirit named Omodele and his father a Zebra named Inyanga. Inyanga was the herbalist and spiritual advisor of Lwazi, the current Shaka Zebu of the Idube Kingdom. As children, both Nhlahla and Yengwayo showed talent in the magic their father used, with Yengwayo showing particular talent in Mind, as well as being able to handle the additional school of Storm thanks to his nature spirit heritage. Nhlahla on the other hand showed a knack for Life and Rock.

When Yengwayo was eight years old, the Idube Kingdom found itself on the losing end of a war with the Squidian Isles, and during a battle in which Inyanga foolishly brought him along to observe, Yengwayo and Nhlahla were captured and sold into slavery.  Brought to the port of Serananatsilo in Sikaria, likely to be shipped off to either the Ishga East Islands on Atlantea or a UNISYN colony, Yengwayo and Nhlahla were separated. Yengwayo was taken to the UNISYN Colony of Deepest Canyon, where he was bought by the owners of an alfalfa farm he was forced to work on. 

Yengwayo spent the next 7 years of his life having his humanity stripped from him, being forced to adopt the name Jack Stevens, being beaten and whipped constantly for stepping even a toe out of line, and being threatened with death by his owners after being caught observing the Iouan Anandist religious rites of his birth in secret. Worst of all, he was forced by his master, an Aurean named Osphestus, starting as soon as he hit puberty, to become a "stud", forced at swordpoint to have sex with dozens of women per day to produce more slaves. 

Never having learned how to control his powers, Yengwayo one day wrecked havoc on the plantation in his rage, terrifying Osphestus both with his raw power and since Aureans were unused to magic. In an effort to prevent him from using his powers ever again, Osphestus attempted to hack off both of Yengwayo's arms with a machete, but only succeeded in cutting of his left before Yengwayo tapped into his Mind powers out of rage, using his mindreading, mindwalking, and phantasmagoria abilities simultaneously to create an illusion of himself at Osphestus's old villa on Aurea, killing his entire family with the same machete he had just used on his arm. This was so realistic and devastating that Osphestus died from shock, allowing Yengwayo and all of his other slaves to escape.

As soon as the stub where his left arm used to be healed, Yengwayo sought out any who could teach him to harness the magical powers he possessed, but found no one. Eventually, he stumbled upon an Aztlanian settler living in Deepest Canyon, who told him of the Black Sun Priestesses from her home planet, but warned him that they dealt in "dark magic" and were not to be trifled with. With this knowledge, he stole an Ishga starfighter and flew to The Zocalo, Aztlan's capital.

Seeing his spirit heritage and immense magical potential, the Black Sun Priestesses took Yengwayo under their wing. He quickly mastered both Storm and Mind magic, becoming highly skilled in using advanced telekinesis to fight as if he still had both arms. Eventually, they began teaching him Shadow Magic as well, with Yengwayo gaining the power to use it by sacrificing an infant the priestesses helped him kidnap from a nearby town. As Yengwayo grew more powerful, he began to share his desire to use his powers to rid the galaxy of slavery with the Black Sun Priestesses. At first, they encouraged him, but noticed more and more the way he talked about his plans grew darker and darker. He talked about how he started thinking the only way he could protect the people of his home planet from slavery is if he ruled all of it with an iron fist, and from there, he eventually escalated to wanting to kill every last Ishga man, woman, and child in the galaxy for enabling the slave trade. Finally, he brought up the idea of forging the Sword of Calesvol, an ancient magical sword design the Gods had entrusted only to the Black Sun Priestesses, King Arturius, and the guardians of Nidavellir, and using it for his aims. Fearing what they saw him turning into, the Black Sun Priestesses stopped teaching him Shadow Magic and used Shadow Magic to place him in a state of suspended animation before burying him in a sarcophagus in the Pyramid of Mother Mehna at the center of the Great Blue Hole deep underwater.

13 years later, Yengwayo was accidentally awoken by Weasel, who had just completed the Sword of Calesvol and had just become the Man of Light and Shadow after opening an ancient container also stored in the Pyramid of Mother Mehna. Yengwayo, immediately recognizing the sword Weasel had forged, demanded it so he could use it to liberate Planet Squid. Weasel refused, but after Yengwayo revealed to him through phantasmagoria some of the horrors of what he experienced as a slave, Weasel agreed to hand it over temporarily. However, Yengwayo then mentioned what he planned to do to every Ishga man, woman, and child of the galaxy, and Weasel demanded the sword back. Yengwayo refused and Weasel attacked him. While Weasel was able to use the fact that Yengwayo was still groggy after waking up from his coma against him to put up a strong fight at first, he underestimated Yengwayo due to his missing arm, and Yengwayo defeated him easily as soon as he got serious. 

After this, Yengwayo took the Sword of Calesvol with him to Planet Squid, and returned to Inyanga, who was happy to see him. He told Inyanga his plans, and Inyanga, bitter with the Ishgas for facilitating the slave trade that kidnapped his son, reluctantly joined him. In a coup, Yengwayo and Inyanga ousted Lwazi from the Zebu Kingdom and Yengwayo was proclaimed the new Shaka Zebu, ruler of the Idube Kingdom. In his coronation speech, he declared that the days of Ishgas trampling over the Squidian people and allowing the slave trade to happen under their watch were over, and that if the other nations on Planet Squid joined him, he would rid the planet of its Ishga presence. The Baobab Council, a group comprised of a representative from each of Planet Squid's nations tasked with settling the planet's disputes, deliberated on the issue. By one vote, the Baobab Council voted to join Yengwayo, and all of Planet Squid with the exception of the Ishga-controlled Misty Coast declared war on Ishga, even though slavery was still legal in many of their domains.

While Yengwayo's forces were technologically far inferior to the Ishgas, he was able to use sheer force of numbers to defeat them in multiple battles. The Ishgas, caught almost completely by surprise in addition to being outnumbered due to the Misty Coast being lightly garrisoned, crumbled. As Yengwayo's army rampaged through the countryside, he recruited what sympathetic civilians he could find, while mercilessly slaughtering the rest. Eventually, he came upon the city of Walker Town, one of the Misty Coast's largest cities and a port known for exporting slaves. The Ishgas, not having the soldiers in the area to defend it, were forced to abandon the city, evacuating everyone they could. When Yengwayo's army reached it, he personally ordered the city burnt to the ground since he saw it as a monument to the slave trade, and had every man, woman, and child in the city, regardless of if their ancestry was Ishga or Squidian, brutally killed. 

Weasel, who had traveled to Planet Squid both to stop Yengwayo from committing atrocities and to get the Sword of Calesvol back, was present in the city, and challenged Yengwayo to a duel. He initially refused and sicced his army on him, but after Weasel took out dozens of soldiers and several commanders on his own, Yengwayo acquiesced and agreed to duel him again. Weasel, having done some more training since his last encounter and being more familiar with Yengwayo's fighting style, was able to hold his own against him far better than last time, recovering the Sword of Calesvol. However, Yengwayo, dueling with both the Sword of Calesvol and a second blade he'd picked up off the battlefield, managed to extract the sword's power crystal at the end of the fight, robbing Weasel's sword of its magical power and taking it with him.