From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Early Life 1.2 Invasion 1.3 Rise of the General 1.4 Civil War 1.5 The High Prince 1.6 Paragon City

Background

Arctic Dominion is from another Earth.

Early Life

Icheb was born to parents in a small village in western Mohar Province of Tir Tairngire (literally Land of Promise). (Mohar is comprised of most of what is called Alaska in "our" universe). Icheb grew up in a communal village struggling to survive the harsh realities of the Northern Provinces. His older sister, Tallera, almost died when Icheb was ten. This instilled in him at an early age that life can be fragile.

When Icheb was fourteen, he began training in his father's trade as a metalworker and smith. Though he was able to withstand the heat of the forge well enough, he hated it. But he refused to complain, doing his duty as was required. It was clear that his sister, Tallera, was the better metalist and she so loved the work. Thus when Icheb expressed a desire to become the flautist's apprentice, he did so with his family's blessing.

Invasion

Icheb never made it past his apprenticeship. The frost giants were sending their tundra ork armies through the Northern Provinces in a bid to acquire more land and slaves. The Tir Tairngire army recruiters spread through the North like wildfire and soon enough they visited Ghejarra and conscripted Icheb among their numbers.

Icheb reluctantly complied with his orders and began his training as a soldier. Training came and went uneventfully and he was sent to the front lines for his first posting. As the general was making his standard introductory speech to the new arrivals, Icheb felt a very strange sensation as one of the mystics floated toward the general. The mystic paused on her path and looked directly at Icheb, her eyes glowing as he looked back. They held each other's gaze for only a moment before the mystic broke the connection and returned on her path toward the general.

Just after Icheb began to unpack his gear in the barracks, the general's personal messenger arrived and told him to gather his gear and report to the general. Icheb complied and stood staring at the general, waiting for him to speak.

The general informed him that the mystic strongly suggested the Icheb be put though officer training. When Icheb surprisingly asked why, the general responded only that the mystics are called mystics for a reason. Their ways are a mystery.

Officer training was difficult for the boy from a small village. He was younger than the others at the camp. However, it was soon clear that his abilities and instincts were making him one of the best candidates for a commission. It was also clear he was the commandant's favorite student at the camp.

Rise of the General

Icheb went back to the front lines as a fresh lieutenant. His command instincts garnered him a promotion to captain soon enough. His battles against the orks and their frost giant commanders earned him even more respect and a promotion to major. He was well-liked among the Northern Provinces and when his path took him near villages and towns, he and his fellows were welcomed with open arms.

Even though his victories were numerous, the tide of the orks seemed endless. The eastern provinces in the North were occupied for a decade before the Tir Tairngire military was able to battle the orks' progression to a standstill. Even still, the western provinces in the North and the provinces to the south still feared for further ork victory soon enough. Speculation was grim amongst the academians.

Icheb's natural charisma and his reputation amongst the populace made him a perfect candidate for a recruit campaign. He traveled from town to village asking those older than the conscription age to volunteer service to the nation. Icheb succeeded where many other had failed and soon the new recruits were filling camps all across the front lines. Icheb soon found himself back on the frontlines as well.

He found himself reporting to a colonel who refused to see Icheb in the same light many others had. Icheb's advice was ignored, his instincts dismissed, and his rank only gaining him command of the newbies. When the colonel refused to listen when Icheb informed him that his new plan was severely flawed, the colonel again dismissed him. The war made it impractical to go over the colonel's head, so Icheb merely clenched his jaw and left the colonel to make the mistake.

During the following battle, the colonel lost over half his troops. But he was too arrogant to admit his mistakes and Icheb knocked him out and took command of the remnant. He turned the fiasco into a victory and recovered territory lost to the orks. While he was reorganizing the troops and recuperating from the battle, he gave command back to the colonel. The colonel attempted to have Icheb imprisoned, but the soldiers refused to restrain Icheb. Reluctantly, the colonel left Icheb to his former command.

It wasn't long, however, before news of Icheb's victory spread through the nation. When he was recalled to Shay ke'Sallah (literally Forest of Silence), the capital city of Tir Tairngire. He might not have been surprised had he been promoted to colonel, but his promotion to general caught him a bit off guard. His celebration in the capital was short as he had business to attend to in the North.

Taking the reigns of many troops, Icheb was able to coordinate a series of campaigns to turn the orks back, reclaim the lost territory, and capture frost giant territory. The frost giants reluctantly signed a treaty with Tir Tairngire that gave the giants back their land and ordered areas of the North to be evacuated as buffer zones.

Civil War

At first there was merely an outcry as people were being asked to abandon their homes. Outcry turned to protest and protest turned to violence. Icheb was sent to the North to quell the rebellion before it became a threat. When Icheb failed to report to the capital for too long, they dispatched a mystic to the North to investigate. This mystic was the one who had recommended Icheb to the officer training decades before.

The mystic knew what Icheb was up to. She saw it that day so many years before. She, too, was from the North and her home town was in an evacuated zone. She had no intention of advising Icheb to do as he was told. She hid her intentions well from her colleagues in the Elder Circle.

The mystic guided Icheb on what he had already set his mind to do. Though he knew it would spark a civil war, he sent word back to the capital that the Northern Provinces had no intention of either giving the land back to the orks or evacuating for the buffer zones. Both the orks and the capital were outraged at Icheb's declaration. Orks from the north and former countrymen from the south, Icheb and his fellow northerners braced for battle.

Though the orcs and frost giants came full force again, Tir Tairngire faced the twin problems of people's respect for Icheb and people not wanting to fight their brothers and sisters. Though the skirmishing along the southern borders of the Northern Provinces went on for a while, the orks and giants were held firmly back. Icheb hated fighting his own country, but he felt he needed to.

In the end, the warring with the orks lasted only a decade. The battle with the south drew out twice as long before Icheb and Mystic Jianna were able to convince the capital to a cease fire. Negotiations ended there. The capital refused to budge on its treaty with the giants. Icheb had no choice to to announce the creation of Tir lo'Delara (literally Land of Serenity) with his command post the site of its capital city. Tir Tairngire was unable to do anything about it.

The High Prince

Icheb did not want to lead a nation. He was content with his station as general. However, the people of the North wanted Icheb to become the High Prince of the new nation and so Icheb, with the help of Mystic Jianna, relented and took on that responsibility. He turned the land of the former Northern Provinces into a prosperous nation rivaling that of their mother country Tir Tairngire.

As Icheb Ghejarras an lo Aleut commissioned the building of a national learning center with the Respitish od Telenetish (The Council of Professors, literally Those Who Listen and Learn) overseeing it. With Mystic Jianna as the first member, he formed the Mellakabal (The Council of Princes, literally The Shining Ones) with the Tesrae ke'Mellakabal (literally The Citadel of the Shining Ones) as his palace and government building.

As Tir lo'Delara settled down and reconstruction turned to peacetime, Icheb reigned with a strong sense of justice and the nation was prosperous. He was loved by most of the citizens and the class distinctions of Tir Tairngire nearly disappeared in Tir lo'Delara. Furthermore it wasn't just the elves, sprites, dwarves and gnomes that were prosperous, but all the sentient species of the nation were united in society.

Paragon City

Icheb was to speak with the Ele Arandur (literally Council of Princes) of Tir Tairngire in the capital city of Shay ke'Sallah to request a revision of their trade agreements. Normally other members of the council would perform the task, but it was High Prince Freyalise's birthday celebrations and Icheb made a personal appearance in her honor. During the negotiations and celebrations, however, Icheb came upon a portal. Despite his discipline as a soldier and experience of a politician, his sprite curiosity got the better of him and he went through it.

The portal closed behind him and he found himself trapped in the new world. He felt the Great Earth Mother change beneath him. It was like it was her, but it wasn't. And this one was in pain and at first he almost thought he couldn't take it. He tried to find a way home, but there were no more portals. He ventured out into Paragon City, a city of humans. There were no humans on his world. They were considered to be mythological beings.

He acclimated to the world fairly well. He was able to locate and contact officials could get him into contact with the government of the United States. As the High Prince he has been able to get the United States government to agree to political discussions with Tir lo'Delara should contact with his world ever occur. Until that time he has taken on the tasks of a superhero under the moniker Arctic Dominion.

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