Excerpt from:
New Age Press
Ames the 1st, 3E8
Karashartal Names Maulan as Vice-Captain
By Lyra Blackstone
FIDES- The newly established Starlight Crusade Headquarters is abuzz with anticipation as the first of its forces begin to arrive from throughout the known world. The captains of the Crusade's five vessels each seem to be in particularly good spirits as they welcome the first of the officers who will serve under them. The Avatar Atunis Astersong, who captains the Karashartal has selected a stable of Midania's most prestigious faces to help him staff Midania's vessel, from mariknights to Katrinean shaman. But none of these appointments have gotten more attention than his selection of a maulan by the name Largo as his second-in-command. Largo currently commands the crew of the mariknight flagship, the Light's Grace in the place of its original captain, Harley Rumgourd-- who remains among the prisoners the Starlight Crusade seeks to rescue from the planet Mennon.
Even among the Mariknights' commanders, Largo is a controversial figure. When reached for comment, Captain Dan Skye of the Wavehammer elaborates, "He's been denied a promotion to captain for years because only his own captain and the Admiral [Atunis Astersong] seem to trust him.
The New Age Press has reached out to the Avatar and Karashartal Captain for comment regarding the maulan. Astersong stresses that Largo has demonstrated all of the merits necessary for his position and has proven to be trustworthy. When told that his trust is contrary to conventional wisdom among both the other mariknights and his Restan countrymen regarding the maulans--who are said to lack free will and live only for Lady Maula's amusement--he maintained this position.
"As someone who has known Largo for several years, I can safely say that he is a highly competent leader who can think critically and act of his own accord. If experts somehow do not believe this is possible, I would say that they need to reexamine their beliefs... We've served together in dangerous situations. On top of that, I have seen him command respect from the mariknights who have served under him. They all trust him as I do."
On the Avatar's advice, the New Age Press has reached out to Largo for comment on the controversy surrounding his appointment. Although he had a reputation for being a man of few words, the subject of his trustworthiness is something he is admittedly quite passionate about.
"I understand everyone's concerns since I wasn't born to have free will. Mortals understand that the gods have plans for them while my kind exist only to satisfy even the most petty whims of our mistress. That can terrify people who remember when she was a threat to them."
Largo went on to explain that maulans become subject to less of Lady Maula's attention as they get older. By the time they reach the age of ten, they are all but ignored. Without the wishes of the Death Goddess to motivate them, maulans face an existential crisis that will sound familiar to many of Midania's sai'mul citizens.
"The first question we ask ourselves at this point in our lives is what we exist for. When the one whose pleasure we exist to create no longer cares enough about what you do, there is no comfort that mortals can offer because we know that we are fundamentally different from them."
Largo was summoned by the First Archknight shortly before the Champion of Geos seized the Restan throne 56 years ago. Although Maulans were afforded legal protection during the early years of the Geosian Regime, these protection were rescinded when rebel Maulans banded together for an ill-fated assault on Resta's Gilded Keep. Although Largo was not involved in this attack, he went into hiding with the templars who fled from Resta and formed the Holy Key Knights.
"Geos didn't wish us any harm because his love for his sister extended to her playthings, but when the other Gods were banished from the world, she willingly went with them. When she did, she left many of us behind without a purpose for decades! Most of us who develop a will of our own as a result of our Mistress' neglect choose to throw our lives away at her feet with the hope of amusing her even slightly. But since we couldn't find her to do so, we were forced to live among the mortals until she could return. It was during that time I learned how to sail from the templars."
Largo served as a helmsman on the Holy Key Knights' vessel, the Gods' Vengeance for the duration of the regime. It was in this new life on the sea that Largo found a purpose to drive him forward when he would have preferred to die. Following the Archknight Rebellion--in which the Second Archknight liberated the Fadalians and Resta from Geos' rule-- newly-crowned Restan monarch Kyle Baldus richly rewarded the members of the Holy Key Knights who participated in Kartal Marle's quest, but only thanked Largo in the belief that he couldn't wish for much more.
"I didn't mind being passed over for land and titles and the like because I found something more important along the way. I love sailing. That's how I found myself becoming a mariknight in the first place!"
Largo managed to acquire and restore a derelict ship following the disbandment of the Holy Key Knights. With this vessel, he ran a small business that offered chartered voyages to places that mortal sailors feared to approach. Though he was still feared for what he was, he found several clients among those he claims had a "death wish." That was until he was recalled to the Temple of the Children in Foldo in the first time since the Fadalians' banishment.
"The saddest part is that no matter how much joy we find in the world or how much pain she has given us, it's impossible for us to drop our loyalty to Lady Maula completely. More than thirty years later, I was prepared to rip off my own skin for her amusement."
But Largo's summons were initiated not by the Death Goddess, but by Aennin Moonstep. Maula's Avatar would enlist his services on behalf of Lord Astersong and gift him with a more modern vessel. That was when Largo took Astersong to Midania to aid in his mission to revive the mariknights at Lady Salica's bequest.
"I took him all around the Dervish Ocean, met a man who survived from the original mariknights as a sai'mul and just... became one of them. Nobody ever asked me what I wanted, Harley just assumed that I was there to be in the new fleet. I went along with it at first because I thought it would benefit the Avatar that I was commanded to help, but when Atunis left, I stuck around because I was having too much fun to leave my new crew behind."
Largo has reportedly been considered a valued member of the first mariknight ship to sail for Midania's new fleet. Although the mystical abilities of the mariknights of old were once unique to Captain Rumgourd, he served as the Vice-Captain of the Light's Grace due to the seniority conferred by his sailing experience until he became the highest-ranking member of the crew. His assumption of command following Captain Rumgourd's abduction has been contested by other captains in the fleet throughout his career. Despite this, Lord Astersong remains confident that Largo the maulan has earned the trust he and his crew show him and that he will be a great asset to the Starlight Crusade.
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