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Zhan was amongst the first settlers of Jarneyna and later Warlord that would play a role in bringing the Iron Corruption to the Ironlands.
Biography
Early Life
Zhan was amongst the first to be born in the new world. He would grow up in a small village as son of farmers. In the early years of the first settlements, anarchy and chaos reigned and often these villages would be plagued by raiders and bandits that roamed the lands.
He would loose both of his parents to these attacks. As he grew older, scarred by these tragic events, he would begin to rally his village to defend themselves and successfully strike back against the intruders.
Rise to Power
Encouraged by his success, he would then gather like-minded people around him, that suffered similar fates and were yearning for order and structure. They travelled from village to village and dealt with local bandits and would get food and shelter in return. The villages under his protection soon began to flourish and word of his deeds would spread.
It would turn out that he was a talented combatant and strategist, so his territory began to grow. Soon he would declare himself Jarl and to the most loyal of his men he would give regions in his quickly expanding realm to rule in his name. He would name them Huscarls.
Blood Wars
As his territory began to grow, so would opposition. Villages would declare independence from his claims to rule. Believing unified order in the new lands being jeopardized, he razed those villages that would oppose him. Many of those posed little to no threat to his army.
Early in his conquest Zhan would recognize the strategical value of Iron. A resource that allowed him to forge weapons and armours far surpassing the clothes and clubs from his enemies. From the villages he would recruit able men to work as smiths for his army, either willing or not. One of them Aldur, talented, would soon rise as his personal blacksmith and design and forge new weapons and armours that even surpassed his current armaments.
Armed with these weapons he would be almost unstoppable and would soon conquer these new lands.
He would assemble a Haer, a great army, that would travel in all directions of Jarneyna in a means of unifying the new world under the sole rule of Zhan. Those that would oppose him would be destroyed. And so began the wars that would span over two decades, where many fields and villages would turn red.
Death
Desperate to stop Zhan in his Conquest and bloody wake, the few remaining independent villages gathered what remained of their people and gathered an opposing army to make a last stand at Vonvallar, far outnumbered and under-equipped to Zhan’s Army.
Overconfident, Zhan organized a feast the night before battle. As he and his men would revel, unbeknownst to him, a small party of opposing warriors would sneak into the camp, lead by Aldur. They would slit his and his most loyal Huscarls’ throats and end the reign of Zhan.
Personality
Zhan was determined and would tolerate no argument. He recognized a lack of leadership, rule and order in the world and was adamant in changing that. His decisions were final and had to be followed to the letter, no matter the cost. He was convinced that some sacrifices had to be made in order to preserve the law and establish the order he sought.
His determination would become obsession as the war began. The Iron Corruption leading him to a path of paranoia and greed. He sometimes felt betrayed and would lash out. At the height of his obsession he believed, that his rule was law and the only way to bring order to the world was to reign over it all. His obsession turned into a lust for power.