Banquolf

Banquolf is the almighty Cromwellian god of war, judgement, vengeance, power, smithing, storms, deserts, jungles, woodlands, chaos, meat, weapons, good and evil.

He is a powerful figure and is one of the Big Three (the other two being Cromwellius and Ceazure). He is appointed the judge of all things, acting as the supreme judicial authority on matters of multiversal proportions.

He was a prominent warlord that proved to be Cromwellius' greatest challenge during The Primordial Era, and was the last god to truly join the pantheon. Despite his constant affinity for war, Banquolf ruled his multiverses with a just meritocracy and allowed many universes to prioritize the arts, mathematics and other sciences just as much as the glory of warfare.

The Titles of Banquolf
The Ultimate Decider, Magnanimous Maestro, Malicious Master, Overlord of all that is Good, Overlord of all that is Evil, Lifepurger, Darkest Day-Ender, The Horned Warlord, Apocalypson, Celestialsbane, Decapitator, He Who Breaks Spines, Genesis Flex, The Brave, The Strong, The Powerful, The Clever, The Ferocious One, Judge Of All Things, Fateweaver, He Whose Guesses Are True, Slayer of the woman-born, Razor of Life, Executioner of All, Wild Game Hunter, The Predator, Weapons Master, Hunter-Killer, The First Warrior, Like a fond memory of every soldier across time, Skullcrusher, Skinflayer, The Black Raider, Lord of the Blood-Red Knights, The Black Lion of the North, Bane of the Anti-Gods/Varud, Beheader of Demons, Gutter of his enemies, The King-General, Immortalsbane, The Cthonic One, Dragonslayer, Culler of the Weak, Thunderfist, Trial Master, King of Lies, Master of Days, Father of Summus, the Uncommandable Commander, Optimus Princeps, Armed to the Teeth, Barbarian God, Tiger of the Omniverse, Rex Regum, End of Days, Nigh-Omnipotent Lunatic, the Wild Lion god, Brain Eater, Splitter of Rivers, Savage Barbarian Emperor.

Dawn of the Gods
When the entity Servesuvius would create first multiverse, the one and only Protodeos, multiple planets emerged. The very first bits of various land such as desert, jungle and tundra would all contribute to the birth of a new god, a being of incredible power. It was a young lion cub, a fine yellowy coat to disguise itself in the savannah it was born in. This young cub would roam the plains, looking at the rise of life around him. Soon the cub would grow into a full grown lion, no longer yellow but now that of black fur. Larger than any of the lions that would come after him, the lion crowns itself king of the planet. The planet would be named Predarus.

Soon other gods would contend with this wild lion god, some such as the hawk goddess of the Predarian clouds and the spider god of the many webs within the jungles and forests. They all claimed the planet was theirs and that it was named Sitiya, but the lion would not have any of it. With his mighty roar alone he would silence many of them, leaving only those powerful enough to contend. The brutal crocodile god, the fearless rhino god, the fast cheetah goddess, the lethal leopard goddess, the vicious hippo god, the ever-so-tall giraffe goddess and of course their leader, Sitayo the elephant god-king.

The spider god knew that this was a good way to trick both sides, too cowardly to face the lion on his own, he uses his mischievous mind. He calls upon the hawk goddess to command the clouds, preventing it from raining in the lion's territory. Soon droughts would occur and many animals under the lion would suffer. Interpreting it as a slight from the Sitiyan gods, the lion declares war. With a mighty roar he creates a powerful cyclone and a flurry of rainstorms, filling his dried kingdom with water once more and bringing beauty back to the marsh. The same cyclone would result in a mass flooding of the enemy gods' lands, uprooting trees, picking up animals of all kinds be it cattle or bears.

The Sitiyan weather gods could not contend with the powerful cyclone, and were killed in its powerful winds.

Afterwards it was war, and despite the Sitiyan's best efforts, they were no match for the Black Lion from the North.

The Lion ruled the marshes, the tundra, the mountains, the jungles, none beneath the sky was not under his rule, and soon none in the sky was beyond him either. The lion would soon take the form of a man, and have various children with those of Predarus. Some of his children would become the powerful Munkithin and Summus. Powerful children they were, but none were as powerful as their father.

Onward Conquest
The lion would be named Banquolf, which has various meaning both in Predarite and Sitayan dialects, meaning "Brave Lion", "Strong King", "Powerful Ruler" and "Clever Predator", among other things that truly compliment and define the wild lion.

The lion would use science and magic alike to quickly expand into neighboring planets, all of them submitting to the mighty warlord and his ever-expanding empire. Some would resist and fight Banquolf, but none could defeat him. Numerous stars and planets would be destroyed, but none would ever truly stop Banquolf and his empire. Not even the fifth-dimensional entities that began to sprout out and warp reality as they saw fit.

Banquolf would conquer an innumerable amount of multiverses, having his way with the many politics of his new realm. As his empire grew so too did his power, and his number of children. He would wield the mighty sword Mikhavosh and crush every rebellion with ease, and even seal an ancient entity capable of destroying the universe named Rabalos.

After his victories and conquests, he would meet a peaceful goddess of music and arts known as Choolo. Choolo was often known as the lilac goddess and with her pastel wings she flew across the universe, her songs healing wounds and creating masterpieces of art. Banquolf was beginning to feel a grand emptiness within him after his nasty winning streak began to bore him, the goddess would use this opportunity to actually civilize the rather savage barbarian emperor.

Soon Banquolf's thirst for conquest was eventually gone, and this now smarter Banquolf instead opted for prosperity. As a war god he decided to take measures to stop wars from happening rather than beginning them, and decided to focus more on his other qualities as well.

Driving out the corruption he left in his trail of conquests and reinstating those he deemed worthy, he began to push his part of the omniverse towards prosperity.

Meeting his brothers
Banquolf was slaying the powerful celestial titans that were performing their experiments within a particular multiverse, driving out those wise enough to realize the mismatch. It was then he would meet the first of his brothers, Tsar Gon.

Tsar Gon too was fighting off the celestial titans, and was thankful for Banquolf's assistance. Tsar Gon had a beautiful part of the multiverse as his own, and Banquolf had a booming empire on his end. Together the two would form a pact and become the best of friends, brothers.

Later on Banquolf and Tsar Gon would be friends with another of their brothers, Chubuddha. It was then when they realized that they could rule as a pantheon of the highest of the gods, and if they meet the rest of their kin, the entire omniverse could be under peaceful rule.

Soon they would find the last of their remaining siblings, Cromwellius and Ceazure (Lolisundari was met right after Chubuddha met Banquolf). Together they would unite and become the ultimate pantheon of the growing omniverse, they would conquer neighboring multiverses whenever they appeared.

The Great Murder
When Cromwellius, Ceazure and Chubuddha would murder their creator, Servesuvius, and chop him to use his body parts in creating the Nine Realms, Banquolf sneakily grabbed his creator's heart. Banquolf would hide, entering the dark void. He would climb down Yggdrasil the world tree, the spine which holds all there is, descending down its roots.

And so there was the void, the great emptiness. There Banquolf would hide his creator's heart, burying it under the neverending roots of Yggdrasil. What remained of his creator's spirit now rests as a powerful entity within the world tree, the still pumping heart now creating a powerful uru known as Villonium.

With the death of Servesuvius came the Nine Realms, made by Cromwellius and his brothers, together alongside them they would reign as the new supreme gods of the omniverse. Banquolf's secret burial of his creator's heart would lead to the creation of the Abstracts. Things such as Time and Space came to be.

Along those Abstracts came two incredibly powerful ones, Order and Chaos.

The Many Monster Slaying Quests
Banquolf ruled as the god of weapons and war, gods of war to him were like soldiers to gods of war. He spent his time enjoying his new privilege, despite the heart-wrenching cost of it. He would spend his days travelling from planet to planet, universe to universe and realm to realm looking for powerful monsters to spend the time with. He'd hold back lots just to ensure the monster gave him a challenge, sometimes a creature capable of devouring galaxies would show its ugly face and Banquolf would have to fight it. At first he was doing it to protect the worshipers, but eventually he began seeking it. Victories many would call impressive would become forgettable to Banquolf, in the millennia that would pass he'd face foe after foe. He'd single handedly crush varud armies and on others he'd crush the skulls of the unlucky beasts that mistake him for food. He'd lay with powerful warrior women across the realms and sometimes shatter planets that have been swayed too far by the darkness of evil.

An evil Banquolf finds familiar, an evil akin to Rabalos, an old foe. Cosmic Abberations and whimsical fifth dimensional monsters, Celestial Titans and Multiverse Enders, none could withstand Banquolf.

It was this long period of longing, this period of constant slaying when Banquolf realized he missed his olden days, back when he was not as powerful as he used to be. The burden of godhood was the lack of pleasure one gets from mere earthly desires.

While he pondered on his thoughts, suddenly a black winter would fall upon Milruar, and soon that black winter became a great ash storm, and down from it would come a powerful dragon. The dragon was one with scales blacker than the darkest depths of the ocean, ones devoid of light. Feelings of dread would ripple across time and space, this was no ordinary dragon, it was the dragon emperor of Gardkon, Abzun.

The Apostasy of Abzun
Abzun would come with his many fiery dragon warriors, dragons on par with the gods, and demand Cromwellius to step down, for the gods and the dragons to switch realms and that the dragons were to reign supreme or else face his wrath.

Cromwellius did not take the dragon's demand lightly and stand his ground. Abzun would perform his battleroar, deafening the many gods around them and sending a chill up the spine of Fear itself before the dragons and the gods began their mighty battle.

God fought against dragon, the mighty elements that made the realms used against each other upon the top of the world-tree, soon the battle would spread to the other realms and numerous races were forced to take a side. Banquolf during this time was in Deshai, the only realm undisturbed by the fighting, judging who stays in the realm and who goes to paradise. That was until he began to see the influx of souls, and how so many of them feared returning to Milruar. There was an imbalance, with his power he would create a temporary multiverse to store the many many souls flooding Deshai before rushing off to Urthar.

There Banquolf would witness the great battle before him, fast and brutal back and forths between dragons and gods of all sizes and powers. Banquolf would join the fray, and with a battle ax made of Celestial Titan bones he would begin his slaughter.

Against Timata
Timata was the feared mother of all dragons, and she alongside many of her dragons terrorize Urthar. Her many jaws devoured innocent planets and as she grew entire multiverses. Banquolf would then make his way in front of her, the two stood in front of each other in dead silence, the tension was so thick one could cleave it with a sword.

Timata would make the first attack, breathing a torrent of various elements (like fire and ice) towards the god, Banquolf would stand and tank the direct brunt of the attack. Timata would be horrified at how the god withstood her blasts, and in that moment she left herself open. Banquolf would wrestle with the dragon queen, cutting off her heads one by one with his ax, the cuts so sharp that Timata could not regrow her heads.

Her scales peeled, her flesh cut and her heads severed, Timata was spared no quarter and Banquolf stood victorious over her headless corpse.

Judgement of Abzun
Banquolf was soon soaked in dragon's blood, and was in a state of joy. So many opponents, and he can hold back less. Urthar began to fill with dragon corpses, and Banquolf's bloodlust continued to be satiate. As it happens however the battle of Abzun and Cromwellius would find its way to Urthar, with Abzun crashing upon an innocent multiverse, casting it in darkness and forcing it to collapse. Both combatants were tired and hurt but Abzun had the upper hand. As Abzun buried his jaws into the All-Father's shoulder once more, a sinister smile grew on Banquolf's face.

Now this was a foe he didn't need to hold back on.

Banquolf stretched out his arm, and manifested a bolt of god-lightning. The energy was pure rage and might, the mightiest bolt of all. Suddenly a sense of hope filled Cromwellius while a sense of fear filled Abzun. They would both stop their fighting and look upon a humble and surviving planet on Urthar. There stood Banquolf with a ready grin and an even readier hand. Banquolf would proceed to cast his judgement. And with those words Banquolf threw his bolt, it did not matter if Abzun could move faster than light or thought or how invulnerable he was. This bolt was not just a bolt of god-lightning, it was a symbol of judgement, and the judgement declares Abzun guilty.

The bolt would pierce Abzun's heart and erase him from existence, Cromwellius was not part of the judgement and thus was not harmed.

With Abzun defeated the dragons were routed, Gardkon would then be pacified and Cromwellius would proceed to ban them from ever travelling the realms.

Attack of Nonuninane
Coming Soon

Attack of Ravnigar
If there are gods, then so too are there anti-gods. The anti-gods are known as the Varud. Some varud are can only terrorize mere planets, a threat only to the lives on the innocent world and its local gods. But all gods have their varud, for the reigning Cromwellian gods, all six are one, and that one is Ravnigar.

Ravnigar would march into the halls of the Cromwellian gods, located at Protodeos, the birth multiverse of the primordial gods at the center of the realm of Milruar. With him an army that could endanger any realm.

Even Milruar.

While Tsar Gon, Chubuddha, Ceazure and Lolisundari would move and fight the incredible army of varud, Cromwellius and Banquolf would face the almighty varud which endangered they themselves.

Ravnigar proved to be more of a match for even the Cromwellian gods themselves, Banquolf would have one of his arms broken, and his ribs crushed as well as be rendered blind. His healing factor overtaxed by the anti-god's devastating blows. Cromwellius, humbled, would grasp what remained of his mighty spear and hurl it at the mighty beast. Ravnigar's tail would deflect the incoming projectile but it would buy the muses enough time to escort the injured gods out of Protodeos.

Soon Protodeos itself would be destroyed, and all of Milruar would belong to the varud.

Self-Offering
The gods were escorted into a dwarf planet somewhere in the realm of Urthar, it is a planet where its fish has just began to walk, and plants diversifying into various future types. Banquolf would be tended to by the use De-Ai, his wounds and injuries severe, his healing would take days, but Banquolf did not have days, he knew that if the varud now ruled all of Milruar, that would mean the rest of omniverse was doomed.

He would command De-Ai to take him to Deshai (the realm of the dead) which was the realm closest to Yggdrasil's roots. The two of them would be taken to the cold realm, and much to the muse's surprise Banquolf would begin to take a ride outside of the realm, and towards the tree itself.

De-Ai, or any of the muses really, could not transport to the world tree itself, only to other realms and what were within them. By being taken to Deshai, Banquolf had gotten a shortcut to the lowest levels of the tree. Banquolf would take a vessel known as the Realm-Worm, which created wormholes that allowed one to enter the space between the realms. Banquolf was too injured to do it himself, and thus by leaping onto the back of a nearby realm-worm he would find himself in the great space.

De-Ai was told to return and tend to the others, while Banquolf would roll off the worm and fall towards the roots of the tree. The spirit of his creator would sense his speedy fall and with his connection to the tree he would move some of the tree's vines to catch the broken god.

Banquolf would be taken to the heart, and surrounded by roots he would begin to make an offering. Banquolf was not a god that requested offerings, for he was not a god that desired followers, but now he has one, he offers himself to himself.

An impossible offering at first, but with the heart of his maker, and the roots of existence around him, he was willing to sacrifice whatever the cost to defeat Ravnigar and save the realms, which by this time were now also being colonized by the varud.

Laying on the old demiurge's heart, the roots begin to hold him, his offering was himself, a broken god.

Then the world tree began to burn. The burning roots began to sear Banquolf's flesh, some of the Villonium melting on his skin, muscle and bone. The heart beneath him pumped with a rhythm, one that beat for war and vengeance. The tree's burning would shock and terrify every single being in the Omniverse, even the Varud.

As if in a furnace he began to cook, his body scorched but his spirit refusing to die. Or perhaps even Death itself was too afraid to claim him. As Yggdrasil began to light up, his strength began to fade, the fire taking all there was to him.

And soon the fire became a woman. The woman was an avatar of the burning Yggdrasil, she would lay with the similarly burning god to complete his restoration, his unity with the wills of the worlds.

The fire fades, Yggdrasil still stood, as if it never caught fire. Within the roots of the tree laid a black heart...

And an empowered god.

Rematch
Banquolf flew out from the roots of Yggdrasil, and flew across the realms towards towards the top of the tree where his realm is now being overrun by the varud and their king, Ravnigar. As he flew from the roots to the top his fellow gods felt his presence and were instantly recharged by his empowerment.

Together they flew with him to Milruar, and with a tempest of holy fire they began to annihilate the enemy Varud with ease. Banquolf would tell them to liberate the rest of the realms, while he would have his rematch. Cromwellius and the others would do as their colleague says and liberate the realms one by one. The only realm that did not need liberation was the realm of the dead.

Banquolf would clash with the mighty Ravnigar, their clashing blows so powerful it shook Yggdrasil and destroyed neighboring multiverses. Reality itself would shatter and they would slip through the void, but in the end Banquolf would smash Ravnigar's skull with his warhammer, smashing both the varud king's brain as well as his very soul, both killing and outright destroying him without any chance of return. Banquolf would bring the corpse back into Milruar, and drop it before Ravnigar's followers. With a mighty roar all would stop and flee, terrified now that their master was dead. Routed, fiery cavalry would kill the many that flee, while all others would be sucked into a powerful vacuum made by Tsar Gon, all of them falling into the emptiness of the void, and meeting an early doom.

Trivia

 * Banquolf's name is a combination of two names, Banquo and Beowulf.
 * Considering Banquo was a general, and Beowulf was a king, his title of "The King-General" seems all the more fitting
 * In addition, Beowulf was known as a slayer of monsters and his final battle (which also resulted in his demise) was against a powerful dragon. This explains Banquolf's quests of monster slaying and his monumental battle against the might Timata.
 * As a Cromwellian god, Banquolf is omnifarious (capable of the highest form of shapeshifting). Unlike his brethren however he does not appear to use this in combat, apparently since "the human form" was "enough" for battle. He mostly uses his powerful transformative abilties to simply change his appearance, which explains why he constantly shifts from one form to the other in various stories.
 * This can be seen during The Defiance of the Dragons, before Banquolf battles Timata he had dark skin, long black hair and two pairs of ears, one human and one lion, but when he was actually battling Timata he had pale skin, blue eyes, short blond hair, a beard, only one set of ears.
 * Cromwellian Mythology takes a lot from real-world mythologies, Banquolf is most likely based off of Thor, Ares, Mars, Susano-o and Set. Ares and Mars both inspired Banquolf's affiliations to war, vengeance, guarding and barbarism, Thor and Susano-o the monster slaying and storms while Set represented both war and storms, as well as the desert and evil.