Laoguan, Of Shepherding the Lost

Summary

Born the first son of a commune's leader in Nerzin, Laoguan proved a spritely and energetic boy throughout his youth. Affluent and domineering, he became a scourge to women and a warring soul that sought martial prowess. It grew so terribly he was exiled to a neighboring land and conscripted by the reigning lord. The horrors of the battlefield shattered his arrogance utterly, and he was presumed dead after a besieged fortress fell.   A sect of scholars soon found him among others in a ceiling that had collapsed. With nowhere to return, his learned upbringing caught their attention, and so they recruited him. With no spirit left for battle, the quaint life of wandering offered him reprieve. The sect, it turned out, were an organization pursuing matters of the Lost. Where there is violent deaths, the Forsaken invariably arise; where despair consumes the spirit, the Lost wander aimlessly. Many sought ways of suppressing the Forsaken in whatever form they took, and his new sect was no different.   Life's cruel irony became thrusting him face first into the same horrors that daunted him. The trials proved to be quelling the Forsaken and absolving their grievances. Many, he soon discovered, were just like him in their own ways. Souls made to fight in wars they didn't understand, for people they didn't like, far from homes they lived in. A scant few held grander ideas, and they were always the fussiest to handle. It was on those ancient battlefields that Laoguan's fame was born, for he could speak to the Lost as no other could. His eyes became theirs, or perhaps theirs were like his. For as unnerving as his sect fellows found him, none could deny his affinity.   With fame came attention, and so Laoguan found himself drawn away from wars. Old forests, run down villages, and decrepit slums became his new battlefield. There awaited all sorts of Lost, from so many different kinds of ugly ends. In them he found himself and more, the horrifying revelation of unfettered evil wracking him terribly. He pressed on nonetheless, driven by deep-seated empathy he'd long since tried to ignore. Some would later regard his frantic diaries as a forewarning. Laoguan found in his toils enlightenment of a kind, shedding off his old ways. The path he would take brought him ever closer to the Forsaken, and the turmoils that consumed them.   Laoguan's attention shifted more and more to that of the living. For as many Lost as he sought to bring peace, he viciously sought justice upon their wrongdoers. When lawful courts failed and reasoning fell on deaf ears, Laoguan did not relent. If the dead could not be given justice, he would never have peace. In the following years, all sorts of mysterious deaths followed, and Laoguan notoriously refused to adjudicate some personally. This drew suspicions, and investigators for a powerful lord in Tomu deduced he was behind them. Although Laoguan evaded capture, his mortal wounds did him in ultimately.   So powerful was his rage at injustice, and so vast his hatred of the wrongs the dead face, he himself arose once more. Gone was the person who possessed wizened judgement and sound council, a learned mind of estimable quality. Only his burning desire to see justice done remained, and so Laoguan became a terrifying Forsaken.   Even after the loss of everything he was, his mission ever drove him onward. Wandering across Nerzin, Laoguan kept looking for the Lost, taking upon himself their burdens, and easing their souls into passing. His power grew by the day, their terrible fates emboldening his unnatural existence. Some called him a Grave King of a kind, though he has no followers except the lost lanterns that keep his company. Others went as far as call him a new kind of immortal, though only the mad entertain such an idea. He is undoubtedly Forsaken, and their fates are ever unchanging.   No end of heroines have come seeking his head, and great has the body count grown. It is said that Laoguan himself has struck a deal with the immortals upon high, and maybe even the goddesses of Nerzin itself. He shall not harm the innocent he finds, but those with blood on their hands are surrendered to him. For, as many can say, they have crossed his path and left unscathed, despite the overwhelming presence he carries. Others have vanished entirely, scarcely any belongings left to be found. If such a deal hadn't occurred, surely he would've been defeated long ago.   In no small part, Laoguan's shadow across Nerzin greatly influenced pacifism. From war was he born, and to reap war's bounty, he comes for those drenched with innocent blood. However right or wrong this may be, the impact is undeniable. Others regard him as an evil spirit who can only be satiated with guilty sacrifices. Whose guilt, of course, is ever debated.  

You plea for your life, how many pled to you for theirs?

— Laoguan, casting judgement upon a noble lady. As the story goes, she was responsible for working countless wrongfully imprisoned peasants to death. Her scam of choice was tax fraud and evasion, and she was never 'lawfully' brought to justice.