Svarog/Synopsis

A complete history of Joszua Orzechowski, aka Svarog, from the popular online novel Plague.

Early Life
Joszua Anthony Orzechowski, often referred to as Joszua or Josz, was a Polish-American born with ADD in Brick Township, New Jersey. From a very young age, Joszua showed amazing potential in various skills, including psychiatry, computer technology, and manipulation. Not much else is known about Joszua's past, as he is known to try and cover it up to make himself more "frightening" to his opponents.

ACE Incident
Thanks to his skills, Joszua becomes a psychiatrist and is designated to help people suffering from schizophrenia and heroin withdrawal. The stress of all the patients day and night seemed tortuous to Joszua, and he began to develop anxiety and anger issues. Eventually, the ACE Company hired Joszua to work as the "motivational campaign manager" at their newest factory, which was connected to Riverside Bank and Trust. Accepting the job, Jozua met Daniel Brown for the first time. The two quickly became friends, and Joszua even helped Daniel cope with the loss of his grandmother, who was a heroin addict. That all changed when a crime lord known as Tanner Riley plotted a heist to rob the bank connecting to the factory, with the funding of banker Keala Tiana and con artist Thomas Weiler. The three of them hired four young juvenile delinquents to go through the factory and break into the bank, robbing it clean.

The plan did not go as intended, however. One of the security watchmen began fighting with a burglar who was holding him at gunpoint, setting off the gun and causing the bullet to ricotia off the walls before hitting the factories core reactor, setting off an explosion. Rubble and debris began falling on top of Joszua, pinning him to the ground. Daniel Brown (who was in the same room) watched, stunned, as Joszua screamed for help. In order to save his own life, Daniel ran out of the building himself and left Joszua to be buried underneath the burning debris. He was dug out a day later. He was alive, but had deep scars running down his face. The ACE Company later sued Joszua himself for negligence, blaming him for not stopping the attackers. Their lawyer, Theodore Dugland (an impatient man responsible for smuggling 20,000 dollars worth of marijuana into the states) showed no mercy and had no remorse for when the company's lawsuit caused Joszua to lose his house.

Things began piling up. Joszua became lonely, as unlike Brown, he never did nor wanted to start his own family, and all of his friends had left him after the lawsuit. He lived in poverty for one day before having a dream about his future. He saw himself, wearing a dark robe and hood, standing on top of a burning building. The building was surrounded with different horrifying traps, and one person he wanted revenge on was inside of each one.

Joszua believed this was a sign that he needed to get revenge on everybody who had ever wronged him. Joszua dawned the suit of a Plague Doctor, doctors who would treat dying people during the plague, which people called the end of the world. This was the symbolize how losing his job, his house, and all of his friends was the end of the world for him, and vengeance was his treatment. Joszua also went under the alias of Svarog, the Slavic God of fire.

Revenge on Brown
After "becoming" Svarog, Joszua heard of Brown's wedding and saw this as an opportunity for revenge. He snuck behind the outdoor building where the wedding was taking place and set fire to one of the banners with the box lighters. The building collapsed, and thinking Brown was dead, Svarog left to finish off Tanner and Keala. Brown had in fact survived, however, and his wife had died instead. After burning down Keala's house and setting Tanner ablaze in his own basement with a flamethrower, Joszua thought his work was done. He soon discovered that Brown had survived and joined the police force in a statewide manhunt for him. Svarog believed that Brown deserved to suffer even MORE for cheating a death he deserved. A day after the fire, Svarog saw a baby crow fall out of its nest and about to be eaten by a fox. Svarog chased the fox away and took the crow in as the son he never had, raising it. He also trained it to deliver a quarter to his friend, Maxwell Cloud. Max used his machinery and put a crow symbol on it, turning it into a custom made coin for only 40 dollars. Svarog saved it for later on in his plan against Brown.

After the failed attempt and assassinating Brown, Svarog dawned a black leather coat and skull like bird mask and attempted to kill Brown once more. The mask had limited visibility, since Svarog was paranoid Brown would see his scars and recognize him immediately. Wearing this mask, Svarog knocked on Brown's door, which his sister Sheila opened. Thinking she was Brown, Svarog pinned her to the ground by the throat and strapped a leather, airtight bird mask around her face, suffocating her. Once again thinking he had killed Brown, Svarog disappeared into the forest and ran back into his secret hide away.

Plague World
Svarog soon learned that he accidentally killed Brown's sister. Now furious that Brown had cheated death TWICE, Svarog decided to handle matters professionally. He snuck into "Seafall Heights", an abandoned amusement park, and began a large counterfeiting operation. It is estimated that Svarog made about 2.3 MILLION dollars in counterfeit money. Using this money, Svarog renamed the park "Plague World" and made it his headquarters, arming it with security cameras and rigged traps. He also used a portion of the money to hire a series of hit men (disguised as twisted versions of children's amusement park mascots such as clowns) as bodyguards and laborers.

Svarog also sent his crow (which he never named) to fly into New Jersey Police (NJP) conference rooms and record them with a small cassette tape the bird held in its beak. The crow would then bring the tape back to Svarog so he could replay it and learn of Brown's next move in trying to catch him.

Kidnapping Brown
One of his hit man was French detective Jacques Pierr, who was actually assigned to help Brown with the homicide case. On the plane ride to Trenton, Josz dropped a custom made coin (equipped with a tracking device) onto Daniels lap while he was sleeping. Since Joszua had little to no vision out of his disguise, he demanded on the tracker to show him which persons drink to poison at the restaurant they were heading to. Unknown to him, Daniel's friend Sammy had taken the coin for himself, and he ended up poisoning the wrong drink. Enraged that Daniel had escaped his "justified" death about three times now, Joszua became convinced that simply killing Brown would not be "satisfying" enough. He developed a three phase plan: first he would display his power to Brown and get his full attention, then he would psychologically torture Brown before killing him.

While Sammy was being driven to the hospital, Svarog kidnapped the three delinquents who were responsible for robbing the ACE Facility, Theodore Dugland, and Thomas Weiler, placing them in horrific death traps while they were unconsciouse. He also attempted to kidnap Daniel's alchoholic niece, Sarah, but was fought off by her parents. Svarog then commanded his hitmen to prepare Daniel's trap before returning to Trenton. Disguised as a doctor, Svarog entered the hospital where Sammy was staying at and placed a bomb underneath his bed, which later goes off and wrecks the entire room. Svarog returned disguised as a paramedic and this time kidnapped the injured Daniel, bringing him back to the Plague World amusement park. He put him into the "rubix cube" trap and begun the first phase of his plan: displaying his true power and showing Daniel how little control he had over Svarog's twisted game.

Deathtrap
After the successful kidnapping of Daniel Brown, Joszua placed him in a room far underground. While he was unconscious, Joszua placed a cassette and a metal rubix cube near Daniel. When the detective woke up, he played the cassette and Joszua (using a deep, distorted voice) informed him that the rub-ix cube was rigged with the pipes above the room. Each tile on the cube had a letter on it, and Brown had to twist the letters in a special order to reveal a word before time ran out. After the tape stopped, eight short pipes attached to the ceiling began pouring water into the room. Fortunately, Daniel figured out the word (which was coward) just before the water in the room drowned him. A small hatch on the ceiling opened up, revealing a room of pipes with another cassette were Joszua taunted Brown about how he burnt down his wedding.

Brown soon discovered a tunnel dug by Joszua that led Brown into a locked janitors office, which he soon breaks out of. As he enters an auditorium with a stage, a hit-man disguised as a clown pinned down Brown and Joszua (dressed in his Svarog outfit) attempted to stab him. Brown manages to escape however and battles multiple employees in the second auditorium. Joszua then reveals that he kidnapped the hostages and reveals a remote controller which he can use to kill off the hostages with a press of a button. Svarog then commands Pierr to kill him before escaping. Brown escapes through a tunnel system, constructed to help move supplies throughout the park quickly, and confronts Pierr, who was disguised as a wolf. Pierr slashes him on the back and is about to kill him when Brown overpowers him and knocks him down before escaping in a cart and making his way to the police station, where he met up with Robbie.

Saving the Hostages
Robbie refused to help Brown with the case, and he went rogue. After Brown entered the park, Svarog informed Brown over the loudspeaker that the first hostage (Thomas) was at the teacups ride, strapped to an electric chair helmet. Brown had to cut the right wire or else he would be electrocuted. Brown ends up cutting the wrong cord and lightly shocks Tom before finally cutting the right one and helping the hostage to safety. The next test was to rescue former attorney Dugland whom Joszua had strapped on the tracks of a roller coaster. The only way to stop THIS deathtrap was to stick his hand through two pipes shooting out extremely hot steam to reach the emergency stop lever. Brown painfully does this and the coaster stops. After saving the attorney, Brown headed over to the slingshot ride where the three accused ACE assailants were trapped on the ride, surrounded by a metal cage inlined with spikes.

Unbeknownst to Brown, the trap was rigged. The slingshot went off almost immediately, and the three victim inside went bashing around the trap, dying from blood loss and a concussion. The timer then ran out and the "Haunted House" rigged by Svarog exploded, instantly killing a SIXTH unnamed hostage. The burning pieces of debris hit multiple of the other rides and buildings, setting the entire park on fire.

Finale and Death
After Brown freed half of the hostages, he confronted Joszua in the stage room, which he was attempting to burn down. The two begin fighting in the middle of a circle of gasoline that Joszua poured on the stage earlier. Despite his best efforts, Brown was able to counter every one of Joszua's knife attacks. Joszua then reveals two mechanical fire staffs which he cross rigged with flame throwers. Svarog fires a stream of flames at Brown, setting him on fire and filling the room with smoke. Although he has the advantage, Joszua is again overpowered by Brown. In a desperate attempt to save himself, Joszua uses the fire staffs to ignite the oil, creating a wall of fire around them before the two continue to battle. Brown once again gains the upper hand and throws Joszuas weapons into the flames, causing them to detonate and a large portion of concrete from the ceiling to come down crashing through the stage, revealing a burning security room underneath.

Brown takes out his firearm as Joszua charges at him with his bone saw. Brown shoots him twice in the chest and dive out of the way just as Joszua leaps forward, causing him to fall down into the security room and be impaled by a bent piece of metal framing, finally killing The Mad Arsonist. A crow later brings Brown Joszua's last cassette, realign that he has placed a poison in his body so they would both die no matter what. Brown dies because of poisoning soon after and they both burn to ashes.

Aftermath
In a deleted chapter, it is revealed in a news report that Svarog has been dead for seventy years, and three different copycat killers had each tried copying his M.O. to make the police think he has come back to life. The author of the Plague series, Joshua Anthony Orr (aka JORR) has revealed that a Plague: Chapter Two is set to be released soon.

Watching Annie
Svarog makes his first cameo appearance while Annie (this time from an alternate timeline where Dzoshua Orzeovski was never born) was at school. He is briefly spotted by Annie watching her and Harland (who never died) from inside of the forest. He later taps on her classroom window during her detention seen. It is unknown why until later in the book.

Kidnapping Harland
While trying to hunt down Mascre, Harland is heard screaming frantically on the phone before the connection hangs up. She is found by Annie in front of her house, badly bruised. She reveals that a man in a bird mask kidnapped and tortured her, demanding to know about someone's whereabouts.

Motivations
While Annie is in her Dad's office, she finds a stack of files underneath her fathers cabinet. After opening them, she finds multiple court appeals, revealing that Daniel Brown was the half-brother of Annie's father. She also finds out that they had a falling out and her father changed his name to Summerall. In this timeline, Brown moved to an unknown location before Svarog could exact his revenge. He is then spotted by Annie watching her outside with a knife in his hands before disappearing for the rest of the novel. It is unknown what happened to him in this universe.