Rath Varss

Rath Varss is an Etrandish Inquisitor.

Biography
Born in the city of Grandfolk as third son of a rich family: his father being a(n in)famous merchant in the city, his mother being the daughter of an impoverished nobleman:. As expected, eldest son inherits the business, second son goes to become a soldier, third gets to be a priest.

Rath was six years old, when he got accepted into the local seminary - this is where his memories really start. Every prior memory is only kept in blurry forms, such as his mother's smile, as she looked on him, or his father's stern look, or the hours spent with his brothers. After being taken into the seminary, he rarely met his family - usually only on bigger holidays. Most of his time was spent in the church and the area around it. Sometimes in the city. During these years, he learnt the basics of his faith, which were etched into his mind - often augmented with a good beating. He was taught the art of putting words to ink, as well as the basics of dealing with numbers. By this age, he also learned quite a few simpler spells too, to the delight of his masters - so they told him, that he was exceptional, so they were expecting a lot from him. At the age of fourteen, they began to train his body too, not just his mind. Although the drill was not comparable to that of a soldier, it gave him quite the pysique, which would have definitely allowed him to survive outside the city walls. They made sure he'd get used to wearing armour and carrying weapons. He also learned, to an extent how to swing said weapons, but his spiritual training still took up the lion's share of his studying hours. Now he'd know not just some basic spells, but also some from the books of Light and Destruction.

This was when his more violent self started to surface. He punished his comrades, when they did not act according to the faith. Sometimes with fist, sometimes with a wand. He considered representatives of other faiths to be heretics. First, he tried to turn them to the way of light via dialogue - it was always a huge failure, as he was always a horrible orator, despite having the looks needed to be a good one. This is what got him thinking, and led him to joining the Holy Inquisition, so that he shall serve his god this way, if there was no other way.

After three years of being a consecrated sworn-in priest, the Inquisition accepted his request to join them. During these years, he walked the earth, trying to preach order - order that they could thank Titanius for. He often turned around in smaller villages as a wandering priest, in order to do his duty. Sometimes, during these journeys, it was necessary to take out his mace to make an argument, although always strictly against sinners, who usually took the shape of raiding bandits. He also held masses, although he quickly realized, that this was not his way. This is how he finally became an inquisitor - receiving a few more years worth of training. He found his place in the Inquisition. He saw many executions and interrogation sessions during these years - some done by himself, so that they could weed out the rotten apples out of their own ranks. But most of them turned out to be innocent after the executions. His master explained to him, that it was better to kill many innocent ones, than to let even one sinner escape. Rath quickly accepted this view and embraced it as his own.

Then came the high point of his life: informers have found a hideout of the Order of the Eternal Crystal Flower within the city. They definitely did not expect the heretics to be so deep within the city, so they quickly alerted the inquisitors, who moved almost immediately. They planned the raid, of which Rath was also a part of, like his master. Their work was aided by knights, who were also in the church's service. Then they only had to wait. They secretly kept the place under constant surveillance, then, during one fateful night, they began the raid. The heretics took this as a great surprise, and the initially peaceful meeting quickly turned into a bloodbath. The knights and inquisitors quickly made order out of the chaos - they had minimal casualties, while almost everyone died on the other side. However, a few heretics surrendered - this is when Rath discovered a few familiar faces among the prisoners. Although he was a very daring person, he still recognized his father and his oldest brother. He was dumbfounded, and even his mentor noticed this - so the identities of these persons were quickly uncovered.

It was quite understandable, that Rath had to prove his loyalty. But that happened not here, but in the deepest dungeons, where he had to interrogate his own relatives, and then sentence them to death by burning on a stake. It wasn't easy. Even if a long time has passed, they were still family to him. Yet, this mattered little. He did his terrible deed to prove his loyalty. His mentor looked at the young man's handiwork with approval, as thanks to his work at interrogating them, they got quite a few other names too. Rath was also the one to light the stake under his own father and brother. After this, his master took his hand onto Rath's shoulder approvingly, saying "Now you are an inquisitor. Welcome, brother" with his deep voice.

The original FRPG
Rath Varss first appeared on the Hungarian version of the forum on the 26th of April, 2013. He only took part in one adventure: No Tomb for the Undead.

The 2013 game


Just like many other legacy forum characters, Rath Varss was planned to appear in the 2013 game as a recruitable companion. Nothing came out of it.