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Uriah Olathaire

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Uriah Olathaire was a Terran and resident of Franc. He was the parishioner of the last known church on Terra after the culmination of the Unification Wars.[1]


Biography

Spoiler!
This page contains spoilers for: The Last Church (Short Story)

Olathaire was born into a clan who had weathered out the devastating Age of Strife with much of their wealth intact, owning substantial lands. This gave Olathaire a privileged upbringing, but he developed a rebellious streak that only increased as he watched Terra become unified under the Unification Wars.[1]

Once he came of age, Olathaire traveled to every distant part of Terra, trying to find pockets of "resistance" but even the farthest corners of the globe had sworn allegiance to the Emperor. Finally, in the land of Franc, he found the rebellion he was looking for; there he joined with a hot-headed militia determined to overthrow the Emperor. However, at the Battle of Gaduare, this army was wiped out and Olathaire himself was severely wounded. Barely managing to flee, he had a vision that he believed was sent to him by God, and his wounds were remarkably healed.[1]

Following his narrow survival, Olathaire attempted to return to his family home, only to find it ransacked and housing the bleached corpses of his family who had been killed by Skandian raiders. Taking a few keepsakes, he left and came across the Church of the Lightning Stone. It was at that moment he had an epiphany: he had been spared at Gaduare so that he may repent his ways and serve God. Thus, he turned to religion, eventually becoming the Church's last priest and delivering popular sermons. The Church had the dubious distinction of being the last place of public worship to be destroyed by the Emperor's warriors. Its destruction was overseen by the Emperor personally, who, in the guise of a simple warrior named Revelation, engaged Olathaire in a debate about the relative merits of religion and the Imperial Truth. They also shared Uriah's last preserved wines from his younger years and discussed his life story.[1]

At the conclusion of the debate, the Emperor revealed that Olathaire's vision had not been sent to him by God, but rather by the Emperor himself as a manifestation of his psychic might. Olathaire wavered in his faith and considered joining the Imperium; however, when the Emperor ordered the church burned to the ground, Olathaire chose martyrdom in the flames.[1]

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