Antonius Drake

Artoni Drakas, better known as Antonius Drake (Stellate_Zealot), is a human male. He currently resides in Northport, serving as its Secretary under the Via Sinclair Administration. As such, he serves as the right hand man to Arutor (Lord) Sythe Via Sinclair. He wasn't regarded under the name of Antonius Drake until he claimed it for himself from his book of origins; before this, he was regarded as Stellate Zealot, a name that stuck from the same book of origins. He currently resides as Head of House Drake, a family dedicated to service & integrity.

=  Early Life =

A ripple from another World
Antonius' past before his arrival in Rathnir is largely based on several books, one of which he had upon awaking for the first time. The Drakes would later dubb these books "The Drakonian Chronicles." The first in the series, "The Journal of the Stellate Zealot" is essentially a journal about an unknown man's time on an overseas continent that's being colonized. While this man's name is never disclosed, his title is regarded as "The Stellate Zealot." Antonius would go from simply admiring the character to evermore associating himself with it. The similarities would crossover between the two so much that it became clear that he was actually the same person from this very book. As such, while it did not occur in Rathnir, here follows the Early Life of Antonius Drake, interpreted & summarized from the 1st Journal of Origins:

Origins & Schooling
Antonius was born to Lower Aristocrats of Uvendawia, a nation that resided in Rathnir eons ago. His parents sent him to a boarding school of sorts, where he served as an assistant to one of the Uven deputies. Here, he was taught Jaenop, a runic-language that was used by the military to send "secret" messages containing orders from Higher-ups. Outside of his core classes, he also delved into Technical Writing, so he could serve as a historian or secretary after his schooling was over. His brother, Nico, would join the academy shortly after him, where they once shared a class in foraging. It was their only real bonding time as their schedules differed evermore.

Greater Uvendawia & the Secret Schism
The nation itself was more technologically advanced that its neighbors, where even their closest allies lacked an education system or the ability to smith diamond tools - the strongest material in the land at the time. On the outskirts of larger Uven Federation, there were more tribes than nations, most of which moreover lacked standing armies or the ability to write. Uvendawia stood out as a bastion of freedom, culture, & art. It had quelled many barbaric invasions in the past, & looked to delve into mystical arts of magic & the mystery of redstone over time. However, much of this was cut short, when a secret rebellion took place in the city of Centralis, the second largest city in the nation.

Many had grown tired of the royals that had reined since the dawn of the nation, whom which the royals descended from. A few groups came together to bring forth thier own families to the throne, realizing that Uvendawia could be split into smaller kingdoms whilst removing the royals from power. This became common knowledge for the many citizens of Uvendawia, where many people would flee across Rathnir during the Great Schism.

Escaping the Madness - Departure
Antonius was only 15 when Centralis & Keystone were raided by Uven Separatists. His father pulled him from the boarding academy, where he would work alongside him for two years until he was drafted into the Uven military. His mother was a staunch politician within Uvendawia, & his father headed the logistics of the 45th Uven Battalion. Nico did not want to see his brother shipped off to war, so he tried to convince Antonius to flee the nation so they could find refuge in a non-war-torn nation. From here, it is unknown how or what came of Uvendawia, as all Antonius remembered was the silence around him as sand suddenly enveloped him in his parents Courtyard, the last time he saw his homeland.

(More details will hopefully attained if Antonius ever finds the remaining missing Volumes of the Journals belonging to the Drakes)

=  Adult Life  =

Arrival & Journey across Rathnir
Antonius first awoke on the sands of Yimmu-Audul, & traveled along a dusty road until he reached a coast. His memory was hazy, & he felt alone. The he felt unknowing of himself, & evermore did not know where he had truly landed. After a small panic-attack, he was able to muster up some strength to continue his journey. He was able to make a raft to cross the Southern Ocean, & would travel across the waters foraging & fishing to survive. He would eventually make landfall on a peninsula, where he unknowingly was confronted by Bardonian militants. He was accused of being a squatter after making his claim to traveling across the lands to simply find out why he was here - and was abruptly chased off thier territory, fleeing from the raining arrows overhead.

Antonius' next interaction was with the people of Montriog, who were currently amidst thier Civil War within Uldarash, whom fought under the Loyalist banner. They shunned him away for not being a trained swordsman & not being aware of thier struggle, so he would follow the coast of Haven, where he would eventually find himself in the state of Aurora. He was cautious to sail around one of the port cities due to his previous hostile encounters, where he thought two soldiers were eyeing him up. Eventually, he stumbled through the thorny brush surrounding the walls of great city of Fornost,

Refuge in the light of Aurora
After wandering the merchants district, Antonius was greeted by Aerith via Sinclair, then a major member member of Aurora (the eventual Queen). She was able to aid Antonius with her administrative work & a tour. Towards the end, he was housed in Prolin. After Lady Aerith left him to settle in, two stragglers from the tour gave him a grand welcome, explaining better methods of making an income & meeting the locals. They were Sythe & Durwin Destrae, fellow citizens of Fornost who knew their way around.

Overall, it was nice to have a couple of friendly faces around, so they went to Northport as the sun went down to fish the night away. A couple of mending books were fished, laughs were exchanged, & a bond of friendship was forged. One conversation led to another, & talks were made about starting a new guild for Aurora - a Fishing Guild. The investment of the three would lead them to send out a ticket notice to the higher-ups of Aurora. Little did they know this would unite them evermore in a bond of brotherhood in thier journey of life.

Inbetween his time fishing, Stellate Antonius would try his hand in many fields - he'd mine across Rathnir to bring home the occasional bits of gold, but he knew the real money would roll in once they could get past the furthest layers of deepslate, as there was bound to be untapped riches down there. He also grew what crops he could in his basement, as the Agri district of Fornost was currently a defensive berryfield. In the end, fishing came to be his favorite hobby & job, helping fuel the granary of Fornost. Being in the slums of Aurora wasn't so bad, although he had the occasional feeling he was being watched...

A short time after living in Prolin, a housing crisis was declared in Aurora. As one of the newer citizens, he was encouraged to volunteer to pack my bags & move to a neighboring city. A fellow citizen, Ninja (Znet), also joined him in this journey. This resulted in a lot of shulkers & a moving process, where-in Antonius Drake moved to Northport under House Ganeffs, who oversaw the city's operations. The beginning of his time in Northport was rocky, as before he could unpack the rebels of the Loyalists of Uldarash were soon going to raid Northport. After the famed battle with the loss of the Iron soldier - his friend Ninja who was unaware of the attack - the calm after the storm was finally upon Aurora.

"The Mask of my Disguise"
Madame Aerith had made it clear during his tour of Fornost that lycans - any undead or animal based creature - were frowned upon in Aurora, & many were even attacked or slain by Order members. While Antonius initially had no worries, the infection on his face was still a mystery in itself. As such, the looks from the citizens during his walks to Northport became more & more daunting as time went on. It must have become more & more clear to Sir Sythe, as during one of thier fishing trips he asked Antonius about his anxious demeanor. He was able to put Antonius at ease by directing him to his fiancé, Madame Louella Via Sinclair - sister to Aerith - who headed the Apothecary in Fornost. In the meantime, Antonius decided to craft a makeshift mask from random fishing trash, namely bones & dried leather that could be carved & fashioned easily.

When meeting with Louella, she was able to identify the infection across Antonius' face & body was not actually an infection or disease, but a spread of skulk that had amassed across him. It became more & more clear to him how the skulk worked, as it was essentially undead material that grew as things were killed or moreover severely damaged. This explained how he didn't find to much pain from Louella's jabs of needles, or even when he dropped his dagger onto his foot - they were brief stings, but not needing stitches for a foot-wound was profound. Instead, the death or damage of living material resulted in the spread of the skulk. Thier time ended after a discussion about the ramifications of this skulk mass; while it wasn't deadly to Antonius, many across Aurora may still deem it as infection, and evermore of undead composition. She sent off Antonius with some remedies, some of which were to experiment with, & others to potentially push back the skulk's spread.

Antonius has many encounters with members of the Order, who were moreover priests of Pavlovich. During a trip to see sir Destrae, he was stopped by King Aurelian an Aurorii outside of the Courtyard district. Antonius had been playing around with those remedies, one (or perhaps two?) of which managed to fade the skulk on his neck a fair amount, with his eyes returning to a more natural hue. It became evident that Sir Aurelian wasn't having this, proclaiming that he knew he was a Lycan. Before Antonius could really react, he felt the coldness of the Sentinel's blade through his chest. After dropping to the cobble street, Aurelian slashed at his face before leaving down the road. When Antonius awoke, he rushed off to Prolin, clutching his face & ignoring the crowd behind him. His left eye was bloody, but his chest itself had completely healed. He applied what healing potion he had to his eye, & stared out of his tiny window, pondering what had happened.

While he himself was trying to rid of the skulk in fear of being treated differently, he had been dubbed a Lycan by the high king. This hadn't been the first time either, as the Pavlovist priest Timothy took a literal stab at him on his way through Agri only days earlier. Antonius understood he couldn't fight the kingdom on this, & while he felt unwanted, he didn't want to leave the many friends he had made during his time in Aurora. So he decided to embrace his difference - at least, until he could find a "cure" for it, if need be. Since he didn't want to be impaled on a daily basis, he spent the next days smithing a proper mask in Northport, using silver scraps & tinted glass from an Emporium in Fornost to have proper vision through. This would be the first mask of Sir Drake - he takes great pride in what he is whilst only showing his true self to those closest to him.

The Auroran Fishing Guild
During his first days in Aurora, Antonius worked with Sythe Via Sinclair & Durwin Destrae to plan a foundation for the Auroran Fishing Guild. It was created to provide a community for fishers across the kingdom (and at the time, Uldarash as a whole) by securing set prices for fisher's to sell enchanted books to the Order, & also informing new players of the ins-and-outs of fishing whilst equipping them with an enchanted God-Rod. In the long term, it plans to provide an in-depth fishing log so all havenites can use it to fish at maximum efficiency, i.e. fish during peak times in the right biomes.

After December, Sir Destrae was found of the coast of Huitca after a horrid accident during a fishing trip. His vessel was recovered & sits on the eastern docks of Northport as a memorial to the founder. Arutor Sythe still serves as a guild manager alongside Antonius to this day. In May of 2022, the Guild HQ was moved from the Merchant district of Fornost - where it resided since its founding - to the Gull Parkway district of Northport.

Civil War in Haven, the Eldham Entente, & the Collapse of Uldarash
Antonius had never known a time up to this point where Aurora wasn't in the middle of a conflict, wherein they were currently in the middle of the Uldarashi Civil War when he first joined. While he initially joined the Order, he did not see active combat during the civil conflict. Instead, he aided Aurora by constructing one of many forts that would be used as a precaution against invaders Alfheim & Montriog. As he lived in Northport during this time, he boarded up his house before the invaders came sometime during November, serving as a witness to the remains of the Iron Soldier - whom was the only real casual on the Imperial side of the Battle of Northport, as he held off the Alfheim-invaders until reinforcements could arrive.

= Career & Accolades =

Leadership in Northport
In early March of 2022, Sythe Via Sinclair was called upon by Ward "Bourbonknight" Ganeff to lead the city of Northport as its new Mayor. Evermore, Sir Sythe asked his best friend Antonius to work alongside him in the revival of the city as its Secretary on March 12th. Thus far, they have created a marketplace among the revamped western docks, renovated the walls to be more defensive & envelop the city, & provide new housing whilst adding an eastern dock as well.

On the 18th of May, 2022, Akeri Aerith an Aurorii brought Antonius aboard the diplomats of Aurora as an attaché. (WIP)

On the 21st of May, 2022, a summons was issued by the order of King Aurelian to the heads of the new Noble houses - Antonius was one of many to receive this invitation. As such, Antonius will the head the Lower Noble House of Drake. (WIP)

Trainee in the Order of Aurora
As Stellate Zealot, Antonius first joined the Order six days after joining Aurora in November. He did not see combat during any of the conflicts under Aurora / Uldarash through November & December, as he did not attend enough training sessions to become a Warden to aid the Order properly. At the end of February 2022, he left the Order to focus on his tailor shop. He would not return until April, understanding the need to train to better defend the city he now served evermore.

He has mainly trained under Rum the Spiritknight, a Knight within the Order, whom has served Aurora & the late Uldarash valiantly in the past.

Antonius' first log of combat was during the 2nd Raid of Segra upon Fornost. He barely faced off against Duke Azael outside of the Agricultural district, and the few sixfold-strikes against Antonius left massive gashes on his left chest. = Personal Life & Relationships = In order of appearence: (WIP)

 Sythe Via Sinclair 

 Durwin Destrae 

 Soul Astaseul 

 Louella Via Sinclair 

 Anthousai Boulderov - Annie 

 Alana Via Sinclair 

 Eris Via Sinclair 

 Nico Drake 

= Other =