Svarog

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

- Svarog taunting Brown during their final fight 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 was a psychiatrist who worked alongside the workers of the ACE Oil Facility before it exploded. During the explosion, he was trapped under burning rubble and yelled out for Daniel Brown (who was his close frenemy) to save him. Daniel didn't, out of fear, and Joszua ended up with a scarred face. In the book's first teaser trailer, he is voiced by Joshua Orr himself.

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. Svarog is shown to be short tempered, dishonest, cold blooded, vengeful, selfish, and intelligent. He is a master manipulator, and is perfect at bending people such as Pierr into doing his bidding and helping out with his death traps. He has also been shown to be skilled in psychologically tormenting his victims, and is known for his ability to make people mentally snap from his death trap. Despite this, he is shown to have some moral value. He has a soft spot for animals and is shown to be somewhat empathetic before his accident. This, however, does not make up for him being cruel, brutal, and vicious pyromaniac.

Due to his ADD, Joszua is somewhat hyperactive and has constant mood swings, which get the better of him most of the time. He is also shown to have a love for setting things on fire, which he claims relieves stress inside of him. This hobby has been blended in with his weaponry multiple time, including his fire staffs and box lighter.

Skills and abilities

 * Intelligence: Svarog is extremely smart, and has a vast knowledge of psychiatry, weaponry, tactical combat, and how to psychologically torment his victims.
 * Combat Skills: Svarog is very skilled in combat and has been in many brawls before. He is capable of fighting off a trained SWAT team and Detective Brown. He is very skilled at using various weapons, escpesially knives and two torches he rigged to fire out flames at an enemy. He also has a box lighter that, when a button is pressed on the bottom, will spray out a flammable liquid at the opponent.
 * Weapon Crafting: It is revealed that Svarog crafted his own knives, as well as all of his other weapons. He has crafted explosives, made clever deathtraps, and has a vast arsenal to different materials.
 * Engineering: Svarog has crafted many advanced death traps and is a very skilled engineer. He has crafted pipes into rooms, rigged roller coasters with hot steam pipes, attached an electric chair to one of the teacup rides, and was able to rig the haunted house attraction to explode. He also somehow has access to a vast variety of materials, allowing him to construct more complicated traps.
 * 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. He also is good at burning down buildings.
 * Weaponry: Joszua has a vast amount of weaponry including his knives, syringes filled with cyanide and chloroform, and two weaponized staffs that he has crafted himself, a rigged controller that can activate the various death traps set up around the park, a swarm of trained crows, and a rigged flare that can release a series of sparks and smoke that he can use as an escape mechanism.
 * Plague World Amusement Park: 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.
 * Counterfeit: 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.
 * 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.

Criminal record

 * 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.
 * Poisoning: Svarog poisoned Daniel Brown before his first deathtrap was set to start, ensuring that he would win no matter what the final outcome was. Svarog also poisons Sammy, although this was unintentional.
 * 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: 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.

Quotes
"Have you made your mind up yet, sir?"

- Svarog's (disguised as a waiter) first line in the novel "Welcome Daniels. I hope you enjoy your visit, although I' afraid it won't be very long. You see, I've been watching you. You don't know me, but I know EVERYTHING about you, and I'm not afraid to use that to my advantage. Anyway, as you can see, you were completely trapped in this room. Helpless. Alone. Those holes in the ceiling? They pour water, filling up the entire room in minutes. Unless you stop them. In the desk is a tape recorder. One of the cabinets is rigged to explode, so choose wisely. Good luck, Daniel :)."

- Svarog in his first tape "Your still alive? That's perfect! If you looked deeper in the drawer, there is a modified rubix cube. Try and decode the message. Once you answer correctly, the deathtrap will end. But I must warn you every minute the water comes down faster. Re-re-re-re-re....."

- Svarog explaining the death trap to Brown "Any memories coming back, Brown? Let me ask you something: any wedding wishes?"

- Svarog taunting Brown in one of his tapes "I've been waiting for this moment for FAR too long..."

- Svarog before introducing himself to Brown "You ruined my life. You twisted my mind. I couldn't be seen in public without scaring everyone. And you’re the one to blame for ALL OF IT!"

- Svarog explaining his hate for Brown "Yes, you ruined everything Brown. You ruined everything for me.."

- Svarog condemning Brown "You scarred me. You took everything away from me. I dreamed, for years, of a paradise! AN ENDLESS LAND OF SUFFERING FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE!"

- Svarog lashing out at Brown "Welcome to Plague World!"

- Svarog's most famous quote "GET HIM YOU ASSES!"

- Svarog ordering his men to capture Brown "Brown, Brown, Brown, playing the hero again! But I've been waiting for this moment for years! You want drama that bad? Then I'll give you a dramatic death!"

- Svarog taunting Brown "This is the part of the story, where you get a choice. You can take all of your anger out on me. You can turn me into a bruised corpse in mere seconds. Or, you could leave me be, and everyone in those pictures, including you, will live for another day or two. Remember Brown, with a press of this button, I can kill everyone who ruined my life. And then my guards will take care of you."

- Svarog cowardly reasoning with Brown "Brown: What now? Svarog: Get out while you still can."

- Svarog telling Brown to run "Well then. This should be fun. I’m starting my timer now. You have 20 minutes before each hostage dies his or her own gruesome death. Time starts.....now."

- Svarog about the hostages "H-h-how did you? Wh-h-h..."

- Svarog after being confronted by Brown "Brown: The HELL's so funny? Svarog: It's just, heh heh, you forgot one thing about the story. PLOT TWIST!"

- Svarog after another failed attempt at killing Brown "You remember. And still, you don’t care. You never did. At least, you didn’t care enough to help me. My life was PERFECT before you ruined it! You.....and these horrible people that you’re trying to save from their demise! I lost my job, my home, my PUBLICITY! It doesn’t seem like much to someone as arrogant as you!"

- Svarog revealing himself and his motives "HOW DOES IT FEEL? NOW, YOU’RE THE ONE ON FIRE. AND THIS TIME, NOBODY IS GOING TO SAVE YOU!"

- Svarog during his final fight with Brown "That's how you want to play, Brown? FINE!"

- Svarog chasing Brown through the smoke "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

- Svarog as he plummets to his death "Congratulations, Daniel. If you're hearing this, then that means you won! But we're far from done. I have ONE more trap that I made just for you. This entire time, you've been walking around with nitro celfite coursing through your veins. While you were unconscious, I injected you with the deadly chemical meant to kill anyone in 5-19 hours. I originally thought of adding an antidote, but then I remembered all the pain you've caused me. Everything I lost, because of your cowardliness. It wasn't just once. No, no, no. It happened every time we met. You told me my ideas were going nowhere. You broke me. So now, we both die. Goodbye, Daniel. Goodbye."

- Svarog's last tape, revealing he rigged the game so they would both die no matter what

Trivia

 * In an interview, Josh said that Svarog was a persona of himself.
 * 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.
 * The second book will have a new main antagonist that will take Svarog's place, as well as having Svarog as a secondary antagonist.
 * He is similar to Scarecrow from Batman.
 * They both use fear to psychologically intimidate their opponents, as well as using fear itself as a weapon.
 * They are both skilled manipulators.
 * Both of their outfits (Svarog's in the books and Scarecrow's in Injustice 2) are based off of crows.
 * Svarog's costume is based off of a Plague Doctor, skilled people who treated the dying during the black death, aka the Plague.
 * Svarog is also similar to the villain Jigsaw from the Saw franchise.
 * They both make death traps.
 * Both started off as normal people (Svarog a short tempered psychiatrist and Jigsaw a civil engineer) before beginning their own twisted "games".
 * Both of them have survived traumatic events (Svarog survived the ACE Incident and Jigsaw survived driving his car off of a cliff) which "opened their eyes" and changed them.


 * If Josh's claim that every character in Plague represents one of the seven sins, then Svarog would be wrath. That leaves greed, envy, and gluttony as the only sins not to have a character based off of them.