Melvin Arcblant
Melvin Arcblant was a doctor and an expert biomancer. While he was well known as a professor of healing magic during his tenure at Phovezila's most prestigious arcane school, he would go down in history for being Legere's first somatomancer.
Biography #
Early Life #
Melvin was born during the Ancient Era[^1] and grew up in Phovezila's countryside in the small town of Lilgart near the northern rim of the domain. Once he was old enough, he joined a band of mercenaries known as the White Fire Corps, where he developed an aptitude for Biomancy. While enlisted with the White Fire, Melvin saw combat in the Bithrun Campaign[^2] and the Hal'Akh Siege[^3]. During these conflicts, Melvin's mastery of biomancy improved, and after receiving a serious leg injury that inhibited him from serving as a combat medic, he sought out an academic career as a professor of biomancy at Phovezila's most reputable arcane school.
Professor of Biomancy #
With his combat suitability now gone, Melvin turned to the School of Rings, Phovezila's greatest magic education institute. He taught at the school for the better part of a decade, becoming an extremely well-respected teacher of biomancy. Several of his students would become the domain's most reliable healers, with many being employed as the personal biomancers of the Dukes of Phovezila.
While Melvin was definitely not expecting to go far from his office in the School of Rings, he would be invited to join an expedition to the Festerplains. The expedition was a joint effort between the Arcane Hand, several magic schools (including the School of Rings), and various scholars from archives across Legere. Preparations for the expedition were extensive, taking nearly 2 years to ready all personnel for the dangerous trip.
The Deep Expedition #
The purpose of the expedition Melvin was invited on was to explore the Festerplains to an extent previously impossible. Advancement within the field of arcane studies opened up new theoretical possibilities for protection and defense, promising a deeper push into the dangerous Breathing Jungle.
When Melvin and the rest of the team arrived at the shores of Dawn Island, they first had to set up base camp. This was where the first red flag of the trip was seen. The Festerplains' coverage had greatly expanded since its last observation, and the team's camp was much closer to the region than planned. With a greater risk of stray carnites wandering into their camp, the team had to stretch themselves thinner in order to adequately supply the base with a watch.
To properly plan out their true insertion into the Festerplains, the team were to observe and monitor the landscape from a distance over a course of 2 weeks. The original plan was to carry out this period of observation, and then receive incoming supplies from a second boat before traveling inland. However, the situation grew complicated when the supply boat was sunken by a marine carnite that emerged from the Bloodcoast Sea.
While Melvin and several other team members believed it would be best to end the expedition due to inadequate supplies, other team members--including the team leader Lemballe Zerabeau--were afraid that the political fallout from ending the expedition empty-handed would be catastrophic for all institutes involved. This was mainly due to the amount of resources and time that had been dedicated to its preparation. Melvin lamented at this point that too many poor decisions had been made already, including the controversial plan to approach the Festerplains from the south instead of landing at the east end and travelling west across Dawn Isle.
However, Melvin was in no mood to stir up an uprising, and after voicing his discontent at Lemballe's plans to carry on, submitted and prepared to make an early foray into the Festerplains. This would spell disaster, as by the end of the first day of travel, one of the team members would contract manikinism and begin to turn. Instead of leaving the team member behind, Melvin had him restrained as they turned around to leave. However, once the team member fully turned, it was filled with preternatural strength and broke free, killing several team members while grievously injuring--and infecting--Melvin.
Lemballe prepared to put Melvin out of his misery before he transformed, but in desperation Melvin attempted to heal his own wounds with biomancy. To his surprise, he found that not only did he heal and not turn, but he could use his biomancy to command the very shape of his flesh. Lemballe agreed to let Melvin live, and after several days of observation from a holding cell, allowed him to return home--Somatomancy had been discovered, and that was knowledge that would be worth its weight in gold.
Professor of Somatomancy #
When Arcblant returned, he presented his newfound powers that had arisen from the novel union of biomancy and Sculptoris. Excited by the prospect of an entirely new type of magic, Arcblant disregarded caution and began to take on students to learn somatomancy.
Melvin would take a handful graduate students of biomancy and infect them with sculptoris samples, and they had moderate success with control over their bodies. After a year of development, he sought to expand the somatomancy class. But Melvin had failed to realize that his current students were the cream of the School of Rings' crop. Their ability to biomantically control their flesh was only possible because of their mastery of biomancy. When Melvin opened the floodgates to allow in less skilled biomancers, incidents began to occur.
While at first the incidents were minor, their frequency rose as the class sizes did. Eventually, the incidents could be ignored no longer, and the Arcane Hand stepped in to stop the School of Rings' somatomancy courses after one student rapidly and uncontrollably mutated into a carnite while performing a routine demonstration in class. Somatomancy was labelled as a volatile arcane path by the Hand's Bureau of Classified Arcana, and all known somatomancers were taken in for study.
Arcblant would be taken away by the BCA, and he disappeared from the face of Legere.
The High Saint of the Shifting Flesh #
Several years later, a small group of Corgathian cultists who revered the Cyclops learned of somatomancy and sought to acquire the magical powers for themselves and their followers. After establishing contact with former School of Rings students who had been mistreated by the BCA, the fanatics were able to plunder Arcblant's research and begin to create more somatomancers, birthing the Priests of the Shifting Flesh proper.
Arcblant was twisted by the Priests into a figure called the High Saint of the Shifting Flesh. The High Saint Arcblant was praised as the first to fully embrace the Cyclops' gifts (as per the Priests' beliefs) and transcend the feeble frame all Legerians were cursed with at birth.
"The High Saint", painted by Erthys Bielbane in 158 DHT.
[^1]: 5 - 157 DHT. [^2]: A major assault by Hivemen on multiple Phovezilan strongholds. Efforts to repel the hivemen were led by Elementum Bithrun. [^3]: Phovezila launched an offensive campaign against Jinifar, pushing into the desert to try and conquer the northwestern reaches. They would be stopped by the impenetrable fortress of Hal'Akh, which held out for 36 days from Phovezilan siege. Phovezila relinquished their offensive operations for several reasons: with the Demon Wars still a recent memory, many members of the Phovezilan public saw attacking fellow Legerians as evil and twisted after fighting shoulder to shoulder with them; heavy Jinifarian cavalry known as the cataphracts arrived to repel the Phovezilan forces; the harsh conditions of the desert took a major toll on the morale and health of the elemental warriors.