Arch Evoker, Lord Commander Sutherland Dash
Paragon Senator
“Precision is power. Anything else is waste.”
Origins
Half-elf Sutherland Dash was born to legacy. The son of a decorated Abjurer general and a renowned professor of arcane defense, his path should have been predictable. He was meant to follow in their footsteps, to raise wards and shields, to be another Vorn in name and discipline. But Sutherland was never interested in safety. He wanted victory.
At the Paragon Military University on Plate Two, he chose Evocation over Abjuration, scandalizing both sides of his family. He argued that defense was for those preparing to lose, and the only good defense was ending a fight before it begins. Even then, he believed the battlefield was a problem of geometry, not sentiment.
He was, of course, top of his class.
The Spark
During his university years, Dash and his roommates began experimenting with alternative casting methods. They weren’t interested in bigger spells, but better ones. What they built would become the foundation of spellweapons: precision-guided magical payloads launched from arcane bows, spells delivered like arrows, detonated on impact.
In his final exam duel, Dash used a Firebolt-charged spellweapon to cut clean through a Fireball, disabling both it and his opponent in a single, surgical shot.
He graduated into legend.
The Azure District Victory
Years later, when a rare incursion of the Unraveling appeared deep within the city on Plate Three, the Senate called for Abjurists. Dash brought his battalion anyway.
Equipped with experimental spellweapons, they didn’t just hold the line, they pushed the Unraveling back. A thousand synchronized impacts. Targeted strikes. Oracles confirmed what everyone feared to believe: for the first time in Wuh-Zhei’s long history, the Unraveling had been moved.
No one else has ever replicated it.
Rise to Power
Matilda Brightside saw the opportunity. Dash didn’t want politics, but he wanted resources. She offered him both. And when the time came to replace the Paragon Senator, Dash went to Orbash Grent, his commanding officer.
The story goes… one night First Lieutenant Sutherland Dash arrived at Lord Commander Orbash’ office with a manilla folder and a six pack of Impact Point IPA Light. The two spoke privately for an hour. When the door opened, it was no longer Orbash’s office.
Dash ascended. Lord Commander. Arch Evoker. Senator.
Role in the Bloc
He is the newest sitting Senator of the council’s five. He rarely attends Senate meetings. That duty falls to Commander Gael’da Vorn, a towering elf of the old guard and distant relative who votes in Dash’s name. The Paragons claim not to play favorites between Evocation and Abjuration, but Vorn’s presence is the faction’s steady hand.
Dash supports the Bloc. He trusts Matilda, respects Sintetra, and considers the Gilded Gaze irrelevant. So long as he is left to do his work, he allows others to do theirs.
Philosophy of War
Dash believes the Unraveling is not a uniform force, but a broken shell containing resonant pockets of former reality. In his view, attacking it broadly is folly. Victory lies in precision.
He trains his forces accordingly. He believes every able-bodied child should learn Evocation. He believes in deployment before debate. In crisis, he will declare martial law without hesitation. To him, it isn’t tyranny. It’s duty.
Personal Character
Despite his fame, Dash is not a loner. He maintains ties with his old university crew, still drinks with them on quiet nights. All but one: Favian Underhill, his closest collaborator in the early days of spellweapon design. Favian was exiled to a lower plate under undisclosed circumstances.
Dash never talks about it.
He adores his mother, despises inefficiency, and dreams, quietly, someday, of becoming a professor just like her. But for now, he remains the sword (or bow) of the Senate.