Favian Dhavja

Backstory

Raised in Brevoy by his Vudrani mother and Brevic father, Favian grew up regularly witnessing the cruelty the national system there encouraged. He never blamed his mother for fleeing without him, not after seeing the abuse she endured daily. He eventually became a scrivener for the local temple of Erastil, doing his best to hide both his attraction to other men and the panicked celestial that came from him whenever he found himself under duress.

Favian managed to keep both under wraps until he was outed by a local priest, Eldon Goranov, who became jealous of Favian's natural affinity for what he saw as his god's domain reported his and Favian's affairs to the clergy, claiming that Favian had tempted him. The scrivener was saved by the demon worshipper Evarius Dhavja, who gave him the Heartbound Dagger and whom he eloped with after knowing him for only months. The pair were eventually found out by Brevoy's military, captured, and Favian was eventually freed by Evarius faking his murder and telling Favian to flee, a chance he took. However, he knew it meant risking Evarius's death.

Moving further south, Favian joined up with a small charter group to the River Kingdoms, where he met Torment, Gralamin, Maurice, John, and Lorrimia. His skill as an oracle was revealed after a desperate effort to save Torment, one that nearly ended in his own murder. Though John wished him to become a religious figure in the founding of Firstlight, Favian abstained, refusing to admit his ties to Evarius, to Pazuzu, and to Socothbenoth to give any form of reason. The pressure mounted until Favian took up the councilor's role to the city to be a moral guide, unwilling to lead the faith he saw as broken or the kingdom he saw as being likely to collapse.

When Gyronna's cultists set up shop within the city, Favian burned down their hideout in a farmhouse with himself and the cultists in it, revealing to the other councilmembers that he'd spent the past year learning from the dragon Darva how best to protect the people he'd come to love. It was then that Gralamin decided to admit his love to Favian in the distracted hours after the cult was destroyed. For the first time since he and Evarius parted, Favian felt hope in his heart. It wasn't long before the two married at the behest of Torment, much to John's disdain. On their wedding night, Socothbenoth granted Favian a cruel gift, his own two snakes as advisors as Gralamin suggested Favian take the crown.

A week later, Favian became king of Firstlight, appointing Gralamin as the city's councilor in his stead. A rebellion staged jointly by Mivon, and the lordship of Albotros followed, though it was put down quickly between Favian's own dragonfire and Torment's unending violence. Erastil angered at Favian's easy hatred towards his worshippers and acceptance of a demon lord as his god, sent forth the Great White Stag to slay him; instead, Favian was greeted with a feast and an old friend, Evarius and Torment slaying the creature before it could strike a killing blow, Gralamin all too willing to turn a perilous escape into a celebration for the kingdom.

Favian, then reuinted with Evarius, considered abandoning Firstlight to go with him in his ventures but was dissuaded by Evarius, who insisted he could have him, his city, and Gralamin. Gralamin backed Evarius's claims, instead inviting Evarius to stay with the two of them, though it was Favian who convinced him to stay two weeks of each month to return to their bed, all three men holding nothing but love for one another. Favian adored them both, Gralamin, for his strong-willed defense of love above cruelty, Evarius, for his endless crusade against Lamashtu's horrors.

Since those days, Firstlight has become a more peaceful place thanks to Favian's easy friendship with Pitax's Alexandri Reille and his descendants. With the gifts bestowed by the Heartbound Dagger, Favian chose to bear two children, one with each of his loves. The first was Selia, Gralamin's daughter who so dearly loved the world that she set out two write it all, eventually forming a line all her own in Ustalav under the name Blackwood. The second was Arturias, the half-elf son of Evarius, who desperately wanted to rebuild and reclaim the elven ruins at Taurs'igil. Favian loved them both dearly, both children his pride and joy, though in time, it became clear that Arturias's line grew fast and twisted, each generation more depraved than the last.

Five generations passed in his son's line when Favian was first moved by his descendant's desperate cause, Evalrius Ophion. His wife to be murdered before their wedding day, his grief turning into desperation for what he had left when a poor chance had his lover, Satri, executed for a crime he'd never committed. Favian decided to use the Heartbound Dagger once more, this time to create a new body for Satri, an imperfect representation born of himself and Evarius. Grateful for another chance at life, Satri took on the name Satria to fit her new form and married Evalrius in Favian's own halls, under the wise eyes of Matthais Rowan as Favian requested.

The act of great good using such an evil artifact repaired the long-wounded relation Favian held with Erastil, the god claiming Arturias's line back into his domain despite their sins, Favian returning the kindness by repairing the millennia-old ruins of Erastil's first temple. It was a peaceful decade or so until Evalrius's sins grew too large, his ambition too extreme for the River Kingdoms, leading to his and Satria's deaths and sending their daughter, Luthien, fleeing to Firstlight in grief and anger, where Favian now hopes he can convince her into following Evarius's path of righteous anger put to a good cause.