Eshrin Linphori

Eshrin was born Eshuhara, fathered by Vaidale, head of the prestigious Sentinel house, Linphori. She was his first, delivered during the highly-romanticized Dalae Era in the Daphoan province of Illata. Fated by her father to wed for political convenience or be consecrated to the Rose King, Eshuara instead chose to drown herself off the coast of the province of Litirya. By happenstance, she was discovered mid-act by Idanai of house Telanei, a priest of Alia the Empath. Eshuhara briefly lived with he and his partner, the Aeolian priest Lahanet of house Ishtae, until her course was decided.

Opting to follow in Idanai's footsteps, Eshuhara was brought before the goddess and gloriously transformed into who she truly wished to become: the hypermasculine rake, Eshrin. Over a span of years, Eshrin, Idanai, and their cohort (known as the Petals of the White Lotus) spread the gospel of the Empath through convention-flaunting expressions of personality, violence, and sexuality. Eshrin coveted many lovers, but eventually became attached to Lasila of house Vahendra, sister of the celebrity swordsman, Envarinon. With the death of his father, Eshrin ascended to the position of Aen-Edavagel ("Lord Fearless"), with all of house Linphori's social cache at his disposal.

After the imprisonment of Alia, an Aeolian envoy, deceived by Sabanthe the Black Lotus, butchered the Petals of the White Lotus to the man, hanging Idanai's mutilated corpse from the balcony of the Imperial Court. Eshrin's tardiness spared him his own death, but forced him to flee Ilodaiya for fear of further reprisal. He attempted to marshal other followers of Alia to fight the tide of history, but without the divine power of the goddess, their faith flagged. Hiding in the Grand Temple of Orguei in Illata, Eshrin defeated his former guardian, Lahanet, when confronted, and claimed the site as the providence of house Linphori.

The temple incident drew the attention of Idanai's cousin, Lynaia. Her prompting inspired Eshrin to return to his once-home of Litirya under an assumed identity. Supported by her resources so as not to arouse suspicion, Eshrin attempted to integrate as best he could into the Aeolian establishment. Casting himself as "Rin the Divine Rose", he made a splash on the local dueling circuit as a dramatic heel. His alter ego's fame spread, inspiring numerous serial characters modeled after his performance. Lynaia, however, did not remain at his side; she had been chosen by the god Aeoleri to be the first Rose consort.

Anxious to leave his life of semi-permanent exile, Eshrin rejoined his former lover, Lasila. After much encouragement, she invited him to a celebration at his familial Illatan estate for his forty-sixth birthday. Lasila personally arranged a guest list, including Lynaia, and presented him with a ceremonial knife from Daphoan antiquity called an erari. She told him that the weapon was a gift from the god Serachel, and with it, he could take his life back. Before the festivities began, Eshrin led Rose consort into the foothills of the Ialidae mountains, where he murdered her and cast her severed head from a cliffside.

Now among Serachel's chosen, Eshrin left Lasila, traveling to the province of Siael to study the void alongside house Judessa. Becoming a professor of arcane geometry at the Academy at Phirala-Yutei, he developed extraordinary command of planar mechanics. During his tenure, he focused his romantic attention on Aetana of house Ilaephos, whose research would be pivotal to the transport industry; with her parture, Eshrin despaired, doing the minimum required until his retirement. Called upon one last time by house Judessa, Eshrin vanished when brought before their most dangerous treasure, the alatharyan artifact known as "Celheim's Paradox".

The enigmatic Eshrin reappeared on the continental frontier in the year 948 CC, where he assumed the position of Scorpion of the Coven of the Shunned. Acting as the organization's enforcer, he and Lasila (now Siren of the same) largely managed its direction in deed if not in name. Commanding the power of An'akarta, Flame of Logor, Eshrin's duties included obliterating failed applicants, that their component parts might be repurposed into something useful to the Greater Whole. However, unbeknownst to him, Alia, now Alil, would escape from her prison in the year 960 CC, placing the two on a future collision course.

The branding of Feolne of house Ilaephos by Alil brought them to the attention of Eshrin, first as a foe to be destroyed. Hating his former creed and those who would follow it, he persecuted Feolne and their friends vigorously until his greed for sensation caused him to cannibalize a petal from Feolne's lotus brand. In the doing, Eshrin's former identity as the White Lotus re-emerged, and he began to instruct them in the ancient ways of the Empath. He was not, however, spared his obligations to the Coven, and was tasked with using the power of An'akarta to destroy the isle of Alensha in service to the goddess Lilune.

Unwilling to allow the Alileans to continue to languish, Eshrin co-opted the Lilunite ritual to perform one of his own: to draw the sign of Lavetiae in the skies above Avendar to stir the goddess' memory. Feolne vehemently opposed the massive death toll of carrying out the destruction, and would ultimately persuade him to target somewhere else. However, Eshrin had deceived them; instead of destroying an "uninhabited island" as he insisted he would, he used the power of An'akarta to lay waste to the ethron island of Endeqil, obliterating his body in the process.

With the reawakening of Alil's memory, Eshrin was briefly resurrected in the service of their ends. He acted as mentor and friend to Raoloa of house Shio'hiara, helping to shape them into a duelist in his own vein. He also bestowed upon Feolne the Grand Temple of Orguei, transferring its management to house Lenahiri. Unfortunately for him, the manner in which he destroyed Endeqil was a voliation of the divine Compact and would necessitate his destruction at the command of the Overgods. Sparing him dissolution, he was instead absorbed into Alil's prismatic heart of glory.

Eshrin and Lasila (commission)