Power Rank #5. Master of Magic. Leader of the Kingdom of Iyhago. Speaks only through harmonic pulses interpreted by chosen attendants. Believed to commune directly with the divine pattern guiding the Quiet Harmonic faith.
Background
Born in Iyhago. Had long been respected across the continent before the Great War.
The Great War
During the Great War (795–800 ACC), Veles sided with the South Goldhelm faction. He genuinely believed the southern territories’ fight for political autonomy was just and noble — his alignment was a matter of conviction, not strategy.
When the war ended with the Equinox of Power, the people of Iyhago voted him to the throne in recognition of his role. He expanded the Kingdom of Iyhago’s territory to its current borders over the following decades. He held the throne of Iyhago together with the title of Master of Magic until 840 ACC; the kingdom, which he had been establishing since 800 ACC, was fully formed in 835 ACC.
Master of Magic
The title of Master of Magic is held for life, which makes the career of Veles all the more remarkable. Chosen in 788 ACC, he abdicated in 840 ACC, forty years after the Great War, to build his new Kingdom, Iyhago, and to develop his own doctrines. His research into new forms of magic eventually became the system practiced in Iyhago today. His departure left a vacuum. All the kingdoms’ Magic Societies convened the Klanron Magic Conference to choose a successor, but the office requires the agreement of at least 6 of the 7 societies, and the congress deadlocked for five years. Only in 845 ACC did it settle on Velho. Historians often point to that long stretch of magical instability as the spark of the Wizard Uprising of 880. Velho inherited a fragile era and held it steady until around 875, when extremism began to rise. In 889, a mob of wizards killed him. The second Klanron Magic Conference met in 890, and this time all 7 societies were unanimous: they voted Veles back into the office he had once abandoned. He has held it ever since.