new @riesenlied character Isan, one of the ill-fated successors of the golden age prophet lore:
This is a giant raised by the church of Golden Age Prophet Dayas Welikanate and prepared all his life to be one of her successors. Her plan was to be succeeded by a council of scholars so that the burden of spiritual leadership in the Welikanate would not rest on only one heir alone and be more distributed. But that did not go as expected. After her passing all of these scholars broke down, one by one, each in their own way. And each of them went down another rabbit hole to get through that. Isan, the "best" and most religious of that entire group, was the last one to break. To cope with the prophet's death he had delved deep into old scripture and chronicles. And discovered something that destroyed everything he had believed in. When he confided in his closest friend (another scholar heir) about it, that friend reacted by stabbing him with a bayonet. Isan barely survived and escaped the country (along with a part of the prophetic guard), asking for asylum in the human-led part of the world. There he wrote "Divine Lessons. A study in reconnecting Gods gifts with history". A book that tricks a religious reader by appearing "normal" at the start, only to subtly lead someone to the same realisations the author had towards the end. Citing many sources for every claim. Copies of that book were then smuggled into his home country, wreaking havoc. Destroying the faith of many. And starting a modern anti-theist movement. He started going by "Vito" ("torch"). As many later demonised him claiming that wherever he holds a speech, churches soon burn. He made a habit of getting a new tattoo for each new assassination attempt he survived. (Most of which were ordered and paid by that former best friend.) By that time of that last picture (where he is recording some podcast while vaping) he is no longer the main leader figure of the movement he had started, and is seen as a washed up celebrity by some. A bit of an edgelord who has run out of fucks to give a long time ago. Some find it nonsensical that part of the Prophetic Guard (a church organisation responsible for protecting the prophet and her heirs and making sure their voices are heard) had followed Isan into exile despite him turning against the faith (and are the reason how he has survived all those assassination attempts so far). The Guard claims that each of the scholar heirs embodies part of Dayas thinking. And that she, too, had held an amount of doubt and resentment to the faith. Making Vito still part of her legacy that the guard is sworn to protect.