Pontiff Judas Marthelius

CHAPTER 1 - Origins

Judas Maximillian Marthelius was born into a wealthy family within the kingdom of Nekhacia at an unknown date, but it is believed that he would've been born around the time Lycan was still king of Nekhacia--thousands of years ago. Judas was a born sociopath, and from a young age he knew exactly how to get what he wanted. Despite being considered an oddball for this and bullied during his formative years, he paid no attention to the harassment he received as he knew that in the end, he would be the one having the last laugh. In his studies he outperformed most others, being notable for his success in areas where many others failed. Due to this he became extremely prideful and enjoyed boasting about his success to all; a trait that would stick with him for all of his days. After he had made it through all of the necessary education that he wanted to pursue, he started his path to priesthood, viewing religion and the manipulation of its followers as the ultimate way to obtain power. Ever the manipulator, he was set apart from the other priests in the Nekhacian clergy for his charisma, intelligence, and cunning, and showed extreme devotion to Thalion; much more devotion than the other priests showed. He quickly gained one of the highest positions in the church: cardinal. As a cardinal of the church, he was unique in that he did not just tend to himself and internal affairs; rather, he ran campaigns, gave many speeches, and developed a cult following due to his influence. Eventually, he gained the position of Pontiff: the highest position in the clergy. Having achieved this new position, he was able to make regular interactions with the king, Lycan, and it seemed that they were soon close friends; Judas, however, had other plans. Becoming Pontiff had allowed him to gain access to knowledge otherwise forbidden to him; knowledge of various forms of magic, of these he took great interest in Illusion magic, and in his own time he practiced it to a point that he was able to master it in almost all of its forms. Hearing about the things Lycan had been through during his kingship, particularly his battle with the demon general Astaroth, made the Pontiff realize he could win the people's hearts by demonizing a commonly discriminated group of peoples, Inhumans, with demons being the ones most despised. With the knowledge of Lycan's traumatic past, he began slowly but surely corrupting the poor king, ever so subtly bending Lycan's will to his; and to aid him in this, he received a magical item of unknown origin that allowed him to control the mind of the immeasurably aged king. Very soon, it was almost as if Lycan viewed everything the same way as Judas did, and it was almost like Lycan treated Judas as HIS superior. With this newfound power, Judas would attempt to cause a great divide--nay, a great shatter--to the kingdom of Nekhacia. The sounds of this shatter still echo within today's world.

Side note: Lycan was king for quite a while due to being practically immortal. While it says Judas was born during the time Lycan was king, he was not around when Lycan fought Astaroth (which was VERY LONG AGO). The Thalion Theocracy is not as old as it may seem; it's relatively new as a kingdom. The story of the Pope continues below.

CHAPTER 2 - The Theocracy is Born

With Lycan now on his side, Judas began straying away from the church, becoming more involved in politics. He ran more campaigns, more speeches, and gained many more followers--and with the king's support in addition to illusion magic, his following grew to a size it never had grown to before, and also demonized inhumans like never before. Sure, demons and orcs were probably the worst, but who's to say the others are different from those barbarians? In the eyes of his followers, all inhumans were nothing but noncivilized monsters, as opposed to the grandeur of the human race; they were merely animals waiting to be tamed by their sophisticated masters. However, these views were not universal throughout all of Nekhacia. Lycan however, as well as Judas' followers, agreed with his beliefs. Feeling it to be the right time to openly share these beliefs, he held a rally where he made them known to all. Make no mistake, his beliefs were not hidden from the public, but this was different; the start of a revolution. All of his followers supported him, but those who did not bashed the pontiff for what he said that day, causing a small riot in the crowd. Unexpectedly, the pontiff ordered his followers to silence the ones who bashed him, and all at the rally that opposed the pontiff were killed. This outraged most of Nekhacia, which soon led to one of the worst civil wars in Nekhacian history. Towns were destroyed, crops were burned, and thousands were killed. Because of what the Pontiff and Lycan had both caused, nearly all of the royal guard and members of the kingdom in high positions came together and determined it would be best to exile the two and their followers, for the greater good of Nekhacia. Judas, Lycan, and their followers were forced out of Nekhacia, and were now told to be killed on sight by one very powerful individual: Galio. Judas and his followers went Southeast for hundreds of days, eventually coming to a stop in the land that Judas saw fit for a kingdom to be built in. He ordered a massive city be built here, and to help do their work they had kidnapped hundreds of dwarves on their way to this land. This city would soon be known as Anor Londo, the "New Land", built almost entirely from creonor, the ore of the heavens. It is there that Judas would create the Thalion Theocracy, primarily using religion as a means to control the populace. As kingdoms were traditionally meant to do, Judas needed to pick a guardian for this kingdom, an almighty protector that was loyal to a fault to the kingdom's leader; for this position he had the perfect candidate, Lycan. For decades after this, Judas, who was now addressed as Pontiff Marthelius, ruled with an iron fist. Unbeknownst to the general population however, Judas was not nearly the holy man he appeared to be, and he actually performed many abhorrent things to some of his citizens in secret, turning them into monstrous creatures only fit to serve him and the kingdom in his quest to take over as much as he could and rid the world of the inhuman blight it was infected with.

He ruled his kingdom for around three decades, but all things must come to an end eventually.

On his 140th birthday, the honorable Pontiff Judas Maximillian Marthelius passed away silently in his sleep.

But this was not the end of Judas.

CHAPTER 3 - Life in Death

The wretched pontiff did not truly die. Before his demise, he tracked down a sacred artifact that he knew as the Fountain of Youth; in actuality, what he found was an Eternia Crystal far below the ground in a temple of unknown origin. As he let out his dying breath, he managed to touch the crystal and, as such, sealed his soul in this crystal. This preserved his soul, and allowed him to resurrect, preserving his life for an unimaginably long amount of time. This act, however, rendered him an undead. However, thanks to the illusion magic he had mastered, to the people of the Theocracy he had never died and had always appeared as the gallant man he had always been viewed as. He continued to lead the Theocracy, but seldom appeared outside of his holy mech, for he found that he could only use his illusion magic to fool the members of the Theocracy and only some humans, but not inhumans. However, staying in this mech took a toll on him. Due to the unimaginably strong holy energy he was exposed to all of the time, he was in constant agony. His body withered and rotted within his great metal tomb, yet he never truly died, a blessing that quickly became a curse thanks to his Eternia crystal. Eventually, when Anor Londo had been sieged by Galron, the Pontiff fled to his secret temple that housed his crystal, as he thought his illusion magic was strong enough to conceal it; despite this, it was still found. Pontiff fought ferociously against Galron's forces, including the late Xeno, however they bested the Pontiff and he met his end in the same place he once found life. It is said that his soul was taken from the crystal by one of the reapers of Nebotus, and his soul has been taken to a very special place in Purgatory for other wretched souls like him. At a later date, the warden Eden recreated the Pope's mech, dubbing it the "Iron Pope", and this mech was used to siege Galron's capital. While it was powerful, it was destroyed that same day.