Thilus (Lore)
Lore
The Sun Spirit may have been killed by a human, but it was not entirely his efforts that lead to the Sun Spirit’s death. Years before Stephen had even entered the Aether, there was a squad tasked with the Assassination of Karthuul. Lead by one brave Knight, Thilus, a retired material engineer and thundersmith turned military advisor, they stormed the Sun Spirit’s stronghold, and armed with giant rings of heavily refined icestone, and supercooled machine weaponry, attempted to battle Karthuul and his many acolytes.
Unfortunately, only Thilus made it to the top to face Karthuul, and was left with only the Icestone Rings to fight with, but this was not a battle he could afford to lose. The Icestone Rings were intended to trap Karthuul’s fiery powers and solidify his flowing gaseous body, after which they hopefully could stand a chance of destroying him.
Thilus battled for hours, using the Rings to deflect and absorb the flames Karthuul threw at him, Thilus saw no end to the fight, his armour was weakening, and his arms beginning to tire, so in one last effort for victory, he lured the Sun Spirit into a stance where he could lock the Icestone Rings around Karthuul’s wrists, hopefully weakening or stopping his ability to throw fire. Luckily Karthuul was arrogant in his ability, and slow to realise Thilus’ plans, and fell into the trap. Locking his arms within his own molten flesh.
Weakened, The Sun Spirit had no defence against Thilus’ main weapon, the largest icestone ring, made from the purest stone found in the furthest reaches of the Frostpine forests. This ring would encapsulate Karthuul’s entire body, turning it to stone. And hopefully killing him once and for all.
What Thilus did not know was Karthuul’s abilities were heightened when enraged, and even through the agony of his body turning to stone and embers, Karthuul threw one final blow at Thilus, tearing his left arm clean off, stripping away all of his Wynd crystals and launching him off the side of the tower they fought upon. Down below the Aether’s lowest clouds, leading to certain death.
Karthuul thought he won, assuming the icestone was not powerful enough to best him, his body still burned hot with anger, that was until he realised one detail, the icestone could turn his fire to deadly ice. Ice so cold and so intense that it could extinguish his own fire.
Knowing that this weakness could be the end of him, Karthuul went into hiding, in hope of maintaining his influence from the sidelines, away from his enemies and away from danger of discovery.
Thilus’ sacrifice inevitably led to the Sun Spirit’s murder years later, he is considered to be a hero by all who live in the Aether, and his work against the Sun Spirit is still celebrated to this day.
His death was a great loss to the Aether.[1]