Maximarne

Venerated by the mighty Crush Tribe of the southern islands, the Big Red Lizard of the Inferno is technically very, very dead. And he has been for at least four thousand years. His skull is actually used as a sacrificial altar for the aforementioned tribe, who hope that enough tribute will bring him back to life.

The conditions of his death are unclear, but the rumor goes that he was struck down by Betel the Forgeman in a thunderous conflict that filled the sky with burning magic. Whether or not it’s true, it certainly makes for a fine campfire story, and the Crush Tribesmen retell it frequently in all manner of different ways.

But what of the god himself? Let’s not get sidetracked, this is Maximarne’s big debut. Standing at well over eighty feet tall, with a wingspan as long as a medium-sized village, the beast that was once called the “Greatest Dinosaur” actually fashions himself as a proper storybook dragon. With crimson scales that clatter like ringmail as lava flows beneath them and a mouth fit for swallowing battleships, this Red God is doubtless the mightiest embodiment of power, the Reddest of the Red.

While he lived, he fought and grew. Wakecells feared him, lesser dragons flew in his shadow, and few were foolhardy enough to oppose him, least of all the primitive men of the First Forest, who scattered before him and retreated to the boughs of Enhaa for safety. His reign, referred to by those who remember it as the Red Eternity, was as oppressive as the name might suggest. Lesser gods were made to worship like mortals, and many mortals were simply pulverized or incinerated for their inert magics. For a time, Maximarne had no equal and no better, and as a god he felt complete and fulfilled.

Currently, his whereabouts are unknown. The Crush Tribe refuse to believe that their god is truly dead, and nobody can be sure that his magic truly returned to the stars after he was finally struck down. The occasional wheezing laugh that his skull produces is also something of a sign that he might not have shuffled off the mortal coil quite yet.

Without Maximarne drinking the fires of its heart and forcing all things lesser to bend knee, Nohren prospers. Roccopeles is Red enough and contained enough to maintain the balance of power. Gods help them all if some fool finds Maximarne’s magic and tries to put it back where it belongs.