Harkan Bheannaigh was a warrior, a scholar, and a poet who ruled a barony in Keary just before Starfall. He was powerful and talented and well liked, and he had a loving and warm family. His wife was known for her beauty, his children known for their many talents. His people respected and loved him. He was a pious man. He had a good life.

But then came the famine. He found it difficult to provide for his people and his family. He made hard decisions, and he was hated for it. His people turned on him first. They blamed him for their hardships, citing his extravagance before the famine. Harkan became hardened, but tried to be good. He prayed for guidance, and he found strength.

But then came the plague. He lost his beautiful youngest daughter to it and his wonderful eldest son. Devastated, he was unable to overcome his grief. He let the plague run rampant. He was unable to make the hard decisions. His people suffered. They blamed him for letting it spread. Eventually, his wife helped him pull out of his grief and get the barony back on track. He prayed for guidance, and he found strength.

But then came the uprising. His people were hungry and sick, and they could not take it anymore. They revolted. Harkan had to use force to stop the uprising, and the King threatened to revoke his title if the did not turn things around. Harkan was enraged. He worked very hard, and he got no thanks. He sent his second son out to capture the leaders of the uprising and hang them. Not long after, Harkan learned he had lost another son. His wife took the news hard, and within weeks, she died of grief. Harkan was lost and alone, but for his elder daughter. She did her best. She prayed with him, and eventually, he found strength.

But then came the accident. His daughter, the last connection to humanity he had, fell from her horse one day and broke her neck. She lived, but she was crippled and broken. His barony was in shambles, his last attempts to restore it thwarted by her fall--he had intended to marry her to a rich ally. He had nothing. He turned to prayer, but he found no strength. He fell into despair.

He cursed the gods thrice. First, he cursed them for the loss of his barony. Second, he cursed them for the loss of his wife. And thirdly, he cursed them for the loss of his family. He went to see his crippled daughter, and he wept at the side of her bed. He told her he could not bear her misery. He took a pillow and began to smother her, calling out to the gods that it was their fault, and that he hoped her death would bring about ruin such that none had ever seen.

And in that moment, by coincidence or not, the impact event occurred. Starfall struck. Harkan's world became fire and darkness.

When he awoke an undetermined time later, Harkan found himself on the edge of the Pit. Disoriented, he simply picked a direction and traveled. In the Fuligin Field, he saw many horrors, many wonders, and many oddities. He discovered creatures that had never been seen before, and he discovered that, for reasons unknown to him, he could control them. Driven mad by his grief, and by Starfall, he built an army of monsters, and he traveled from Starfall westward, conquering as he went.

In short order, he had forged a small kingdom out of the wilderness. He discovered that the mountains further west were impassable, so he went southeast, carving out a large section of the continent as his own. Starfall had left him scarred with fuligin metal shrapnel, causing his skin to be studded with blacker than black pustules. He took for himself the title Harkan the Black, and with his power, he built a small empire, in the midst of which he built a castle beside a river of blood.

Centuries passed, his power grew...