Bazkinn

High Priest Bazkinn was the last High Priest of Tirikoz, after his uncle Rayorki was stoned to death by a mob. He ruled for less than a year before succumbing to the Bastaxian Plague.

He reigned from mid to late 1245.

Early Life
Bazkinn was born in the town of Žoz’Huwak, east of Ajerrez. His mother had been returning from a diplomatic mission in the ancient land of the Scots known as Scotsland. It is theorized by some scholars that he may have been half-Scots, as his surviving portraits portray him as somewhat paler than other Eztirikozmi.

Rise to High Priest
In 1245, in response to the rampant, unchecked spread of the Bastaxian Plague, revolutionaries sacked Ajerrez and stormed the Great Temple. Bazkinn’s uncle, High Priest Rayorki, was kidnapped by the revolutionaries, who demanded high ransom from his court, believing to amount to several year’s worth of economic surplus. After they had been given the money, the revolutionaries promptly slew Rayorki, stoning him to death in the middle of the Grand Temple and throwing his body into a midden with plague victims. The revolutionaries promptly established the New Regime, the first and only Baskinian republic.

Whilst in exile, the Rayorki’s council of Greater Priests elected Bazkinn, at the time a Greater Priest of Žoz’huwak, to be the new High Priest, as he was the closest of Rayorki’s kin in the clergy. Once a runner had been sent with the news to Bazkinn, he mustered the local Žoz’huwak garrison, bolstered by forces from surrounding loyal towns who had not fallen under the sway of the New Regime, such as Tanemore, Jewo and Zō.

Bazkinn marched this army to Ajerrez, assisted by his commander, a woman named Natesa (she would later adopt the title of Zi’Fin). Once he arrived, his army initiated Bazkinn’s Siege. This persisted for nine days. The Ajerrez garrison, having had their commanders murdered in the coup, were low in morale, and opened the gates to the invading army in order to spite the New Regime’s leaders.

With the garrison’s surrender, Bazkinn’s forces swiftly secured Ajerrez. At Natesa’s suggestion, he had the heads of the conspiracy executed by manner of stoning, the same way in which his uncle had died. One leader of the New Regime escaped, Deonn. He would prove to be a great obstacle to Bazkinn’s brief rule.

On the 7th of May, 1425, Bazkinn was formally crowned High Priest in the Grand Temple.