Volkaa

The god of iron, the forge and volcanoes, worshipped primarily by Runebearers and Infernals.

Appearance and Personality

Sticking close to his original followers and their statues of his, Volkaa usually takes the form of a Fleshcarved. But his pride will not allow him to appear as such a tiny creature, leading him to inflate his size and appear as an extremely large one large one, towering at over 2m, a fact his fellow gods find extremely amusing. Ever since he moved to Molgard, he finds himself more often taking the appearance of Infernals. First, he only used this form when he would appear to his infernal followers, but over time, he slowly got more comfortable in this form, using almost as much as his original in more recent years.

As his namesake, Volkaa has an explosive temperament, becoming quite dangerous when angered, sometimes even smiting down his own followers. If one wants to get on his good side, they should be prepared to show mastery and diligence at their craft, two qualities he greatly values. He of course values skill and dedication to metalworking the most. However, he also enjoys other fine skills, being close friends with Calzareth, who is the more relaxed and cooled down side to his temperamental and wild side.

History

As one of the lesser gods, Volkaa came into being long after the world was created, after many others of his fellow gods. He first came into being in the Grundarimm, part of an ancient kingdom of Fleshcarved. They were the first to master various kinds of metal crafts, including the art of Infernal Melding, a legendary method of forging with the rare metal Volkanium. After the inhabitants of Grundarimm first found Volkanium and learned how to work with it, they attributed its strength and magical properties to a god they named Volkaa. They began worshipping him, building many statues in his honor and bringing him many sacrifices at the Moon Gate, causing him to slowly awaken in the depths under the Infernal Crown, wher Grundarimm was located.

Soon after he came into being, he heard the call of the other gods to join them in their blood moon celebrations at Lunara's palace. Intrigued, he followed the call, and went on to meet his fellow gods for the first time. Ever since then, he had great admiration for both Lunara and Kalia, viewing them as the perfect beings to exist. At the same time he also gained a strong resentment for Faeryn, whom he viewed as having betrayed his fellow gods, for feelings of love he could never understand, nor did he want to. This resentment can be seen reflected in both the Runebearers and Infernals, who to this day worship Volkaa as one of their core gods, while viewing Faeryn as a misguided fool at best, and a malicious egoist at worst. At this blood moon, Volkaa also met Calzareth, who became his closest friend and taught him the ways of the gods, allowing him to unleash his divine powers.

After many years of peaceful live in Grundarimm, a horrible sickness took hold of the Fleshcarved, later becoming known as the Fever of the Deep. It killed them in droves, saddening Volkaa deeply, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop it from spreading among the population. He even turned to Velora, the goddess of healing, who he never was on good terms with, begging her to save them. But even she was powerless, watching them die one by one with no way to stop it. In his desperation, he even dared approach Kalia as his last hope, but he got tragically shot down, as she explained the dire consequences her interference could have on the world. Utterly defeated, he had to watch his beloved Fleshcarved one by one, leaving Grundarimm to fall into ruin, an empty tomb of thousands.

He then spent many years mourning after Grundarimm, feeling like he should have saved them after all. Only the combined efforts of Calzareth and Velora, who he grew closer to during the tragedy of Grundarimm, finally managed to take him out of his depression and seek for a new home, leaving the ruins once and for all. During this time, he visited many other kingdoms of Runebearers, but could not find a suitable home. One day, travelling through the Infernal Crown, he laid his eyes on the peak of Molgard, the tallest volcano in the crown, where many Infernals had created their keep. Watching them, he felt reminded of Grundarimm and he decided to stay for a while and observe them, which led to him developing a fondness for them he had not felt since his days in Grundarimm. So he revealed himself to them, choosing a new form as an infernal and causing them to worship him above all the other lesser gods, seeing thim as one of their own. Slowly but surely, Molgard thus became his new home, where he resides to until this day.

Prior to the The Marking, Ryxos also tried to bring Volkaa under his influence. Especially during his long depression, they were very close to succeed. But both his undying loyalty and new purpose as protector of the Molgardian Infernals kept him from fully giving in. Instead, Ryxos' influence caused him to gain a growing hatred for Kalia, who he now saw as heartless and uncaring even for her own creations, after seeing her abandon them to be taken by the fever. He of course always knew that there was nothing short of rebuilding the world itself Kalia could have done either, but after many years of Ryxos' whispers this fact no longer mattered to him. When the fateful night arrived, he was one of the few gods standing with Lunara to the end, fighting many of his former friends in defense of Lunara. What hit him the worst was seeing Calzareth had fallen to Ryxos as well. He blamed himself for not seeing the signs and not interferring, breaking him out of Ryxos' spell. While he did try getting through to him during the final fight, it was too late, his friend now but a shadow of his former self, his mind distorted by madness and hate. During the fight, Volkaa realized this came down to either him or Calzareth. And while Volkaa had always been the stronger one of the two, when it finally came down to it, he could not bring himself to kill his best friend. In his final moments, he thought he could at least see a glimmer of hesitation in Calzareth's face as he brought down the final strike, one last remnant of their lifelong friendship.