Covu

Covu the Transcended was the founder of Necroism and the first Lord Marshal.

History
Covu was a member of the Brotherhood of Austeres and was an important scientist-philosopher, he decried monotheism as an unnecessary vestige of Jesusism, and began teaching the then radical belief that there might be more than one God indeed, that there might be as many Gods as there were "universes"!

For this stance, Covu was persecuted by the Austeres. When he declined to recant his positions, deemed heretical, the Austeres tortured Covu day and night, and the abuse was so relentless that Covu lost the ability to feel pain.

Soon the Austeres turned their ire on Covu's family, torturing and killing them. Covu would have died at the hands of the Austeres, too, had it not been for the few followers, Covulytes, who had been drawn to his teachings and who helped Covu to escape.

Outcast, Covu wandered space with the corpses of his wife and children. How long he journeyed is unclear, but eventually Covu made a discovery of unimaginable import: a rift in known space that constituted a crossover to another 'verse. The Threshold!

The Covulytes were afraid to approach this strange and turbulent corner of uncharted space. Only Covu pushed ahead, perhaps driven by the need to lay his family to rest in a place that would remain undisturbed by the Austeres.

Only minutes later, Covu returned, yet he seemed years older. Too, he seemed stronger, more resolute in his words and ways. Speaking to his astounded followers, Covu claimed his family was no longer dead, that they had risen and walked again in the 'verse on the far side of the Threshold, a glorious place he called "Underverse."

Imbued with an almost magical new strength, Covu took righteous retribution on the Austeres who had cast him out. He fought and killed their commanders, claiming their heads as he did so. Looking into their newly dead eyes, he was overheard to whisper, "You keep what you kill."

In victory, Covu assumed the new office of "lord marshal," the one rank that cannot be superseded. After forcing them to bow before him, Covu reorganized the last living Austeres into a more regimented though still pre-military society.

So different was this society that it begged for a new name and a new place of worship. Covu termed this new ideological order "Necroism." As a powerful testament to it, Necropolis the most hallowed hall of the necromongers was erected on the tallest mountain of Asylum.