Editing Awnshegh (section)

==[[Gorgon|The Gorgon]]==
''The'' [[BBEG]] of the ''Birthright'' setting. Before the war of the gods, Raesene was the eldest son of the First House of Andu, and the elder brother of [[Haelyn]] and Roele. However, due to his bastard birth, he was not in line to the throne, something that embittered him despite his family, contrary to what [[A Song of Ice and Fire| certain politically-tinged fantasy settings might have you expect]], embracing him as one of their own. He earned the title "the Black Prince," his armor having turned black and sooty after leaving the court to go have adventures, and became famous as one of the greatest armsmasters of the world, training both his brothers. However, after his father's death, Azrai began to appear to him in dreams and visions, tempting him into damnation by feeding his feelings of thwarted ambition and envy. As the secret champion of the Doom Bringer, Raesene began covertly amassing a private core of loyal supporters and subverting them to the worship of Azrai, before betraying his family and his people in the war against the dark god. After the death of the gods at Mount Deismaar, Raesene was, allegedly, the most powerful inheritor of a fragment of divine energy who did not himself become a god afterwards. 

In the years since, he ultimately killed his brother's descendant, and last Emperor of Anuire, Michael Roele in a final battle, though Michael might've had the last laugh. Raesene underestimated Michael's determination to save his people, and destroying him cost him the last dregs of his humanity. Though the creature still believes himself to be Raesene, all that's left is the Gorgon. Also, some folklore suggests that Michael somehow warded or ground out his own power as the dark creature committed bloodtheft on him, forcing the Gorgon to remain confined to his castle and seat of his power for long periods.  Either way, no one could ever mistake the stony monster the Gorgon is now for the handsome man he used to be. With a huge, many-horned head filled with ape-like fangs, stony skin bristling with spiky growths, digitigrade legs ending in diamond-hard hooves, and an enormous overall stature, the Gorgon is every inch the monster-king. Additionally, the Gorgon regularly kills and "harvests" bloodlines within the Gorgon's Crown, his huge and ominous Holding, to gain more power for himself.  

The Gorgon actually ''doesn't'' have Invulnerability, but, well, he was one of the greatest swordsmen in the world ''before'' he had a millenium and a half of practice. He also has Regeneration, his stony skin gives him hefty magic resistance and immunity to all but +3 or better magic weapons, and he can kill or turn people to stone by looking at them. He also has a bristling arsenal of powerful magical weapons, including his favorite weapon ''Lifeender'', one of the twelve tighmaevril bloodsilver weapons in the setting. The Gorgon is also terribly, terribly patient: after all, he's immortal, as near as anyone can tell, so he's got all the time in the world to plot the downfall and conquest of all other nations. He seeks to become the emperor and absolute master of the whole continent of Cerilia, then of the entire world; his burning ambition is a hot and insatiable thing.

The Gorgon's Crown, his personal Holding, is a huge expanse of volcanic wasteland, riven with seismic activity befitting a ruler with such burning rage and ambition within him. It has a huge mixed military force, with access to gnolls, goblins, and human dregs who flee to the Crown with nowhere else to go, though its military captains struggle to prevent racial hatreds from boiling over. The Gorgon is also in an informal alliance with the Magian and the Raven, with all three planning to overwhelm and destroy all opposition, including all other awnshegh nations, before battling it out among themselves, and has some ties to the Elf.  He also has many capable and somewhat-loyal lieutenants working for him, including the wicked dwarf and lesser awnshegh Kiras Earthcore, "the Hand of the Gorgon," Courrak Lone Hunter, an old but wily gnoll chieftain, the Goblin King Charqek Talnos, and a mysterous priestess known only as "the Hand of Azrai," who is not blooded but still a high-level cleric of many dark gods.