Svarog

"Welcome to Plague World!"

- Svarog's most famous quote.

"What wrong, Brown? YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'VE SEEN A GHOST!"

- Svarog taunting Brown during their final fight.

"Welcome, Daniels. I hope you enjoy your visit, although I'm afraid it won't last very long. You see, I've been watching you. You don't know me, but I know EVERYTHING about you...."

- Svarog's first tape

Joszua Anthony Orzechowski, aka The Svarog Killer, The Mad Arsonist, or simply Svarog, is the main antagonist of the 2019 novel Plague written by Joshua Orr (JORR) and leader of The Circus. He is scheduled to make a second appearance in the book's sequel, ''Plague: The Lost Chapters. ''

He is voiced by Joshua Orr in the book's teaser trailer.

Appearance
Joszua is a skinny Caucasian male with hazel/light brown eyes, brown hair, and an oval shaped head. He wears a steampunk bird mask, a brown fire resistant undercoat, and a belt with a series of weapons, which includes: a series of knives hand crafted by Svarog, a small pouch which contains a series of syringes and pills, a silver box lighter (which is rigged to spray out a flammable fluid), and two mechanical staffs which can launch a series of flames.

Underneath his mask Svarog is described as having a scarred face and wearing something resembling a black surgical mask covering his mouth. This is to help further filter the oxygen that comes in through his mask, as some of it still may be unclean.

Personality
Svarog's personality is extremely complicated, as it is sometimes hard to tell whether he is being genuine, being sarcastic, or trying to manipulate somebody. In general, Svarog is shown to be short tempered, dishonest, cold blooded, vengeful, selfish, intelligent, sly, unloving, manipulative, and impulsive. He is a master manipulator, and is perfect at bending lesser people such as Pierr into doing his bidding. He has also been shown to be skilled in psychologically tormenting his victims, and is known for his ability to make people feel helpless, hopeless, and lost. Despite this, he is shown to have some moral values. He appears to have a soft spot for animals and was somewhat empathetic before his accident. This, however, does not excuse him from being a cruel, brutal, and vicious pyromaniac.

Due to his ADD, Joszua is also somewhat hyperactive and has constant mood swings, which get the better of him most of the time. It has been noted that Joszua has constant twitching in his eyes and legs, the same way some birds do.

Powers and Abilities

 * Intelligence: Svarog is extremely intelligent, and has a vast knowledge of psychiatry, weaponry, tactical combat, psychological torture methodology.
 * Combat Skills: Svarog is an extremely capable fighter and was in many fights during earlier years of his life. He is capable of fighting off NJP officers and more physically powerful opponents like Detective Brown. He is skilled at using various weapons to his advantage, especially knives and fire-based weaponry.
 * Weapon Crafting: It is revealed that Svarog crafted his own knives, as well as all of his other weapons. He has crafted explosives, cross-rigged weapons to objects such as a fire staff or a box lighter, and knows how to clean, maintain, reload, and use higher level weapons such as a flamethrower.
 * Engineering: Svarog has crafted many advanced death traps and is an incredibly talented engineer. He has crossed pipes into rooms, rigged roller coasters with hot steam pipes, attached an electric chair to one of the teacup rides, and rigged the Haunted House attraction at Plague World to explode once Brown's time ran out. This is all supported by his counterfeited wealth, which gives him access to a variety of materials.
 * Wealth: Joszua has a vast amount of money (about 600,000 dollars/euros) that he has recently counterfeited. All of his money goes towards buying him materials to make weapons and hire professional hit men.
 * Pyroweaponry: Joszua has a vast understanding of fire and knows how to use it to his advantage. Most of his weapons include fire somehow, and Joszua prefers to give his victims, as he puts it, "a slow, painful death by incineration."
 * Weaponry: Joszua's weapon arsenal is by far his most impressive accomplishment. In his possession are multiple knives of various shapes and sizes,
 * Plague World: Joszua has complete control over Plague World, the "employees" (who are actually hit-men hired by him), all rides and cameras, the PA system, and all the death traps he has set up over the park which he can activate with a press of a button.
 * Counterfeiting: Before hiring the hit men, Svarog ran a giant counterfeit operation and created millions of fake dollar bills which he used to build death traps, install security systems, and generally run the park as well as hire the hit men.
 * His Crow: Svarog has a trained "pet" crow which he saved and adopted before opening Plague World. The crow itself is extremely intelligent and it's razor sharp beak is perfect for ripping apart flesh. The crow is mainly Svarog's "scout" and has been known to carry cassette tapes and record police meetings, allowing Svarog to stay one step ahead of them at all times.
 * Pharmaceutical Knowledge: Svarog's psychiatrist job required him to prescribe medications to patient, which allowed him to have an understanding of the medical field. He can name about 40-50 different prescriptions for one particular syndromes. This also gives Svarog access to a vast arsenal of prescription medicines, which he uses to drug Sammy in the diner.
 * Biochemistry: As well as being skilled with the pharmaceutical field, Svarog also is somewhat skilled in biochemistry. He created his own special "Midnight" chloroform, which is able to knock somebody out for at least four hours, sometimes more depending on how strong it is. This, along with a series of other harmful substances, is what he injects into Daniel Brown before beginning his game.

Crimes

 * Arson: Svarog burned down one of his victims' house and also set fire to one of the banners during Daniel Brown's wedding. He also burned down Plague World when trying to hide evidence at the end of the book.
 * Murder: Svarog has murdered many people to achieve his goals. He was responsible for killing Debra in the wedding fire, murdering Sheila via suffocation (although this was unintentional), starting a house fire that led to Keala's death, burned Tanner alive in his basement, and killing three teenagers using his slingshot death trap. He also killed Brown at the end of the novel.
 * Counterfeiting: During his hideout in Seafall Heights, Svarog and The Circus began a massive counterfeit operation and made thousands of dollars worth of forged currency. He also put this money into circulation by giving it to his assassins.
 * Assault: Svarog attacked Daniel Brown directly during the book's climax, although this ultimately led to his downfall. Svarog also knocked Daniel's niece unconscious while he was attempting to kidnap her, as well as attempting to attack her father.
 * Kidnapping:Throughout the novel, Svarog kidnapped multiple people and put them in terrifying deathtraps. He first kidnaps Thomas from his cottage using chloroform spray, before kidnapping Dugland, Daniel Brown, and multiple other people.
 * Attempted Murder: At the beginning of the book, Svarog poisons Sammy's drink and causes Sammy to collapse, although it is mentioned that Sammy was not killed. Svarog also attempts to murder Daniel Brown multiple times before finally achieving it at the end of the story.
 * Torture Methodology: Svarog brutally tortured and/or murdered four of his nine victims. He also tortured Brown, attempting to severely burn his face with a lighter, nearly drowning him, indirectly leaving a series of scars on his back, and giving him second degree burns across his body during their final fight.

Trivia

 * In an interview, Josh said that Svarog was a persona of himself.
 * The said interview can be found here.
 * Svarog is the name of the Slavic god of fire.
 * As well as being called Svarog, Joszua was also given the name "The Mad Arsonist" by the media.
 * It was hinted in an interview with Josh that Svarog will be returning in Plague: The Lost Chapters, hinting that he might actually be alive.
 * Svarog's costume is based off of a Plague Doctor, skilled people who treated the dying during the black death, aka the Plague.