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| “ | He truly thought of himself as a Sun God. His mind was... broken. He believed that blood sacrifice would solve... well, everything. | „ |
| ~ Avad's description of his father to Aloy. |
Jiran, formerly known as His Radiance Jiran, 13th of the Line of Luminance, is an overarching antagonist in the Horizon video game series.
The late father of the current Sun-King Avad in Meridian, Jiran's reign was notably infamous for its sheer brutality and despotism. He was responsible for the Red Raids, a bloody campaign of human sacrifices and mass murders, in a deluded effort to stop the Derangement, an event of machine's increasing hostility towards humans. Avad, his second son, would later kill him in Meridian, albeit it was Ersa who dealt the killing blow, putting an end to his reign of terror for decades, once and for all.
His past atrocities catalyzed many events that would lead up to the events of the first game, including Dervahl's genocidal plot of destroying Meridian, as well as the creation of Shadow Carja, a splinter tribe of the Carja. He also catalysed Regalla's wrathful personality, as he was directly responsible for the deaths of her younger brothers during the Red Raids.
Personality[]
Initially, Jiran was known to be a benevolent and a capable leader of the Carja Sundom, of whom which was was largely influenced from his father. But as years go by, Jiran became increasingly arrogant and despotic, as he views himself as the Sun God's incarnation, who was a part of them. This alone later compounded with the Derangement, an event where the Machines would be increasingly mad, largely due to HEPHAESTUS being a self-aware, fully sentient AI.
Jiran, not knowing the true purpose of the Derangement's origins, later became so arrogant to the point that he descended into madness, left completely unchecked, turning from a once capable ruler into a violent, tyrannical despot. As a result, Jiran would no longer accept his madness as a sickness, later proceeding to go into the extra mile of his brutality by starting the Red Raids, a bloody campaign of human sacrifice against other tribes, in a deluded thinking that it would end the Derangement as a whole.
He was also intolerant with mistakes and rebellions, as exhibited with Dervahl's wife and daughter being executed into the Meridian Sun-Ring, resulting in Dervahl descending into becoming a genocidal terrorist.
Background[]
Jiran the 13th[]
Jiran would later succeed his father, Hivas, as the 13th Sun-King of Meridian. Married to his two wives, one who was unknown and the other was Nasadi, both his wives would later bear three children: Kadaman and Avad for the former and Itamen for the latter.
His inspiration for his ruling came from the strength of his own father, as means to bolster the Carja tribe's defences. However, unexpected events including the Derangement, a phenomena of machine hostility, made Jiran a strong leader.
Fall From Grace[]
However, Jiran's ruling would later gradually descend him into a state of utter madness, accompanying by a growth of megalomania and the stress of the Derangement, perceiving himself as the incarnation of the Sun God. As a result, Jiran later crossed the point of no return, when his ruling became completely unrecognisable. Once a capable leader, Jiran would eventually degenerate into a despotic, tyrannical ruler, now completely intolerant of mistakes. He would later choose Helis, a Kestrel commander, as his own champion.
Cruelty[]
Jiran's tyranny would later turn into a reign of terror, not just the Carja, but to the tribes he encountered, painting a much darker, rather indelible history of the tribe, as a whole.
Jiran firstly introduce slavery, which would later take into prominence as part of the Carja culture, as a whole. Inhumane treatment was commonplace to the servants, during Jiran's ruling. One such victims was Vanasha and her family, formerly servants at the time, who were flogged severely, as well as Furahni, a Carja hunter, due to her refusing a Sun-Priest's sexual advance.
Red Raids[]
Making matters worse, Jiran's cruelty and despotism later reached a disturbing low, where he would introduce the Red Raids, a series of violent, extremely bloody atrocities and human sacrifices, in a rather deluded way to "end" the Derangement, as a whole. Jiran and his forces would later attack several tribes, including the Nora, the Oseram, the Banuk, and the distant tribe of Utaru in the Forbidden West. However, a part of Jiran's Red Raids failed, when all clans of the Tenakth tribe in the Forbidden West banded together to repel the Carja's attack.
Later on, Jiran would introduce the Sun-Ring, an arena in the middle of Meridian, where prisoners from all tribes were helplessly forced to face off against huge, powerful machines, primarily Behemoths, mostly for Jiran's sadistic entertainment, as well as the audience. One such known victim was Dervahl's wife and daughter, who were killed after he initiated a rebellion with his Oseram freebooter army, catalysing his descent into madness. However, Ourea, the Banuk shaman, was fortunate to avoid to be sacrificed, due to her skill in machine capturing. The Oseram warrior known as Ersa would be also successful, turning her into a palace slave for Jiran.
Zaid and Helis, Red Raid's commanders, were infamous for their acts of barbaric cruelty during the Red Raids, something that Jiran approved.
Rebellions[]
However, a string of rebellions slowly ensued, as the Carja who were against Jiran's tyranny would rally to overthrow the tyrant. But it came with a price for Jiran's dissidents, whom he would simply punish them without hesitation, leading to the death of the Sunhawk known as Talavad Khane Padish in the Sun-Ring. To make matters worse, Jiran would later execute his son Kadaman from the Sun-Ring for demanding the Red Raids and human sacrifices to be ended.
Avad, his second son, would later act as a dissident, causing Avad's revocation to be the rightful heir of Jiran, forcing him to flee into The Claim, the Oseram Territory. From there, Avad was friends with Ersa, who was an erstwhile slave of Jiran, who helped him escape from his father's tyranny. Later encountering Ersa's brother Erend, Avad's chances of liberating Meridian would increase tenfold, as he formed alliances with the Oseram, thus forming the liberation army to overthrow Jiran.
Death[]
Months later, Avad, now allied with Ersa and Erend's Oseram army, initiated the event known as the Liberation, an event to overthrow Jiran and end his barbaric rule in Meridian. Through the help of Marad, a Carja spymaster and a dissident, as well as the dissident Carja soldiers and a group of oppressed underclass, the Liberation officially started, where Avad's army would fight off against Jiran's loyalists and his army. Meridian was liberated by a significant margin, and with Avad and Ersa later confronting his father in the Solarium.
As a last-ditch effort, Jiran would command his champion Helis to send Itamen and Nasadi to Sunfall, as well as his loyalists. Despite Avad's plea for his father to surrender and end his train of atrocities throughout his despotic rule, Jiran defiantly refused Avad's pleas, until Avad left him no choice but to kill his father, ending his reign of terror in Meridian, once and for all. However, it was revealed to be Ersa who dealt the killing blow.
Legacy[]
Jiran's ruling and the uncounted number of atrocities he committed was so massive that he was universally reviled by all tribes, calling him the "Mad-Sun King", as a result. The long-lasting effects of his brutal reign were far-reaching, which included Dervahl, who would later attempt to destroy Meridian, as a whole, as revenge for the death of his family from Jiran during the Red Raids. Jiran's death would later indirectly start the creation of the Carja splinter tribe known as the Shadow Carja, which comprised of Carja who were loyal to Jiran's ruling, after they were driven out by Avad to Sunfall. Its de facto leaders were Helis and High-Priest Bahavas, since Itamen was a puppet leader of the Shadow Carja.
The creation of the militaristic cult known as the Eclipse was also started by Helis and Bahavas, under Sylens' orders, who would ally with the rogue artificial intelligence, HADES, and target Meridian to retake it, when in reality HADES wanted the ancient MINERVA broadcast tower, as means to re-start the Faro Plague and exterminate all life on Earth. But the alliance of tribes banded by Aloy defeated the Eclipse and permanently stopped HADES's plans of mass extinction.
Trivia[]
- It is highly implied that the origins of Jiran's descent into madness originated from his Sun-robes being coated in cinnabar, according to Sun-Priest Mournful Namman, a chemical that is known to be toxic and can cause psychopathy, due to cinnabar containing mercury.
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 Villains
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Artificial Intelligences Organisations Carja Shadow Carja Banuk Oseram Tenakth Londra's Devotees Far Zenith | ||