Makrozoia

Makrozoia, known to most simply as the Mad King, was a second generation god of Aquila, the son of Avus and grandson of the Ancient Fear. Mysteriously, Makrozoia was born without classical divine powers, though he augmented his strength past that of other gods through the use of his father's enchanted golden apples at a great cost to his spirit. Though he was initially a kind and renowned ruler of the Aquilan Empire, he descended into madness after unwittingly releasing his grandfather's consciousness back into the universe.

His name roughly translates to "long life."

Physical characteristics
While gods generally aged much slower than mortal counterparts (Makrozoia appeared to be roughly 22 at age 600) the Mad King was aged greatly spiritually and physically by his extended use of golden apples. He remained physically imposing, however, standing at just over two meters and possessing the strength to compete with two gods at once. In the midst of one of his campaigns during the Hundred Year Darkness, he lost one eye in the heat of battle and never replaced it, instead wearing a horned battle helmet for the remainder of his life. His original body was permanently destroyed after his battle with Notch and Herobrine.



Above: Makrozoia's battle armor, worn during the Hundred Year Darkness and beyond



Biography
Born 1,000 years before the Resurgent War, Makrozoia was the only child of Avus, the first god of Aquila, and his mortal love Minerva. As fate had it, the boy was born with no divine powers such as flight and divination, but secretly possessed an insidious power to drain the life force of gods and other immortal beings. Upon the discovery of his power, Makrozoia slowly stole his father's power without him knowing, giving him an edge over most mortals. Still, he was deeply jealous of his father, and sought to further augment his skills.

Makrozoia scoured Aquila for mythical golden apples, one of Avus' strangest creations. Avus had created the apples as a gift to Minerva, but when his wife refused the gesture, the old god hid them somewhere in the overworld where no mere mortal could conceivably reach them. Eventually, Makrozoia finally found the apples deep within the Farlands, a precarious region that served as the buffer point between the overworld and the far reaches of space. He consumed half the apples on the spot and secreted away with the rest of them, keeping their existence a mystery in case he was ever in need of a trump card.

Choosing not to reveal his newfound powers, Makrozoia, with his father's blessing, set about imposing order upon the lawless mortals that roamed Aquila. With his immense knowledge and impeccable charisma, he convinced the numerous mortal tribes to rally behind him and thus formed the Aquilan Empire, a world-spanning government which he named himself the sole ruler of.

Bored of the everyday toil of ruling, Makrozoia began to explore the far reaches of the universe, leaving Aquila for the first time in decades. In the darkest edges of existence, the god reached the border of reality as he knew it, a shadowy gate that led into the inky horrors of the unknown. The gate at the edge of the universe, he believed, was designed to keep its inhabitants in; in truth, it had been put there to keep something out. Curious, Makrozoia unsealed the barrier, allowing something dark and ancient - an impossibly large creature of pure nightmares, comprised of countless horrible appendages - to seep back into existence. The monster simply gazed upon Makrozoia for a few solitary moments with its eyes, which were the color (or lack of color) of the dark void itself, before vanishing.

Though he had only gazed upon the horror for a matter of seconds, the young god's body, mind, and spirit had been permanently altered for the worse. Makrozoia returned to Aquila a tyrannical dictator and slew his mother and father with his blade, theInvider, to ensure they would not interfere with his new regime, then quickly set about ensuring the loyalty of his subjects. He waged a hundred year campaign of death and genocide, imposing his infallible will upon all of Aquila. To facilitate his rule, he awakened the deadly Nightmare Legion, convincing the evil warriors to serve him. From then on, Makrozoia was universally known as the Mad King.

Still, despite his all-consuming evil, he found love in at least one of his mortal subjects. An unnamed woman known only by her pseudonym of Yuuki ruled as the de-facto queen of Aquila. Though she was terrified of her husband's wrath, she loved him deeply, and insisted that there was still good in him. Slowly but surely, she was able to sooth her husband's rage, and though massacres persisted daily, they eventually lessened in their severity. The Mad King finally settled down, as it were, when his two children, Notch and Herobrine, were born.

The unseen darkness that initially corrupted Makrozoia, however, was not content to let him grow complacent. His bloodlust resumed, and one faithful night, Yuuki fell victim to his rage. The Mad King was horrified by his actions, but not to the extent of his twin sons, who could never have imagined the tales of their father's evil were true. They conspired for many months before enacting their grand plan, stealing their father's golden sword and slaying him with it in one swift stroke. Wielding the Invidere, Notch and Herobrine were able to banish the Nightmare Legion once more to depths of Urghast.

Still, the Mad King's spirit stirred in the darkness, roaming the countryside as a disembodied and powerless spectre. After centuries of lingering in the shadows, Makrozoia was able to make contact with two mortal men, Knights of the Order of Thash, by the name of Triton and Ceto. He convinced the men he was a benevolent spirit and that a great darkness was on the verge of returning, the likes of which only he could contend with. The Knights Thash believed the spirit, bestowing a suitable host body upon him before departing with his gift of immortality.

After laying his seeds of revenge, Makrozoia waited another two centuries to gather his strength before resurrecting himself, taking the form of the body the Knights had given him. He concluded it was time for him to seize control once more over all of Aquila, but first, he had to regain his strength, as his unnatural powers had faded after possessing a new host.

As it happened, Makrozoia discovered that after his death, his son Herobrine had stolen his golden apples, electing not to eat them but instead continue to guard them from the mortal population. After Herobrine's death, the apples had fallen into the hands of the so-called Outlanders, four heroes renowned throughout all of Aquila for their exploits. Makrozoia, calling himself Vitiate, convinced the Outlanders he was a servant of Notch, and that the apples were needed to revive the late god who had passed away some time ago. Obliging to help him, the Outlanders helped Vitiate hunt down the last golden apples in Aquila and brought them to the ruins of a city that had once served as the capital of the Aquilan Empire.

Using an ancient device, Vitiate empowered the inert apples, whose power had faded after hundreds of years. He revealed his identity of Makrozoia and instantly slew all four Outlanders with the Invidere, which he had recovered in his travels with them. He immediately set about releasing his Nightmare Legion from Urghast in order to facilitate the return of the Empire.

After reviving the Legion, the Mad King began to press the largest cities of Aquila into submission. While invading the city of New Detroit, he was encountered once more by the reanimated Outlanders, who had managed to return to the land of the living with the help of, ironically, the still-living Notch and Herobrine. Just as before, the Outlanders posed no threat to him whatsoever, and he quickly began to overwhelm them. However, one of them had possessed an ancient bow called the Talon Cutter, one of the creations of his mother Minerva, which was imbued with the same divine power as the Invidere. Luckily for him, one of the Outlanders' allies foolishly detonated a powerful weapon in what was likely a desperate attempt to kill him. The entire city of New Detroit was instantly vaporized, leaving only the Mad King and the shielded Outlanders alive. Makrozoia left the city and mobilized the Legion to attack the city of Aragon, one of the largest in Kilran.

The Outlanders and the Mad King clashed once more in Aragon, but this time the Outlanders had the help of Notch and Herobrine, each armed with their own godly weapons. Makrozoia was forced to flee to his home in the End, Imperium. The Outlanders, Notch, and Herobrine quickly pursued him to his hideout, and after a fierce confrontation, managed to defeat the King at the cost of Notch and Herobrine's lives.

Still, though, the spirit of the One-Eyed Demon remained persistent. Not a year later, the traces of a great evil, which he knew to be the darkness he had released centuries prior, began to make its mark upon Aquila. According to plan, Triton, with the help of the Knights Thash, conspired to revive the Mad King once more, hoping to combat the coming malevolence.

The Outlanders once more rushed to the side of the Light, hoping to stop Triton, whom they once believed was their ally. The heroes were able to disrupt his ritual, though only partially, as Makrozoia was still able to return, but unable to assume his original form. In response, he possessed Triton's body and used his residual dark powers to trap them inside of a dark vision which he conjured out of their greatest fears.

In a twisted reflection of the Outlanders' old home, the heroes faced the Mad King one final time. Though Makrozoia's spirit was still imbued with a fraction of the power of the golden apples, he was still trapped in Triton's mortal body, and was just barely slain by the resilient Outlanders. The Mad King believed he would be able to simply manifest once more in due time, though he had made a grievous error in making his last stand within the dream world. After his spirit was freed from Triton's body, it dispersed in the endless plains of Urghast with virtually no chance of ever reforming, forever trapped outside of the overworld and the living universe as a whole.

Though he hoped to return to the living world for selfish reasons, the Mad King was still very aware of the impending darkness that was coming to Aquila. With his final defeat, the Outlanders became the last chance the world had to defeat the Ancient Fear.