Igor the Great
- Igor the Great
- Igor of Ursus
- The Bear Raiser
- King of the Northern Lands
- The Rebel
- Lord of the Icefields
- Sovereign of the Ursus and Hippogryph Empires
- Hippogryphic Army (formerly)
- Ursus Royal House
- Boris (father, unconfirmed)
- Aleksey Igorevich (Eldest son)
- Ivan Yevgenyevich (descendant)
- Vladimir Ivanovich☠ (descendant)
- Fyodor Vladimirovich (descendant)
Igor the Great is a background NPC in Arknights. He is first mentioned in the Doctor's Personality Test, and is known as the most famous and important figure in the history of the Empire of Ursus.
Background[edit]
Igor the Great was a legendary chief of the Ursi, which by that time was subjugated by the Hippogryph overlords. Much of his early life is shrouded in rumors, with some claiming that he was a born as a pesant named Igor Borisovich after his father, while old documents from the Hippogryph King suggest that he once imposed a surname on his original birth name. Igor was forcefully conscripted at a young age, but quickly ascended through the ranks during his years of service thanks to his extraordinary combat skills, military exploits and strategic genius, gaining the heart of Ursi and Hippogryphs alike. On top of that, he was one of the few non-Hippogryph officers to be canonized, and the Hippogryph king would bestow him with the military title of "Razisal" —Meaning "Bear Raiser" —which was used while commanding the Ursus conscripts.[1]
Following the withdrawal of the Nightzmoran horde in Terran year 16, the Ursi started to organize small-scale resistance against the Hippogryphs, as a response to their oppression and failure at trying to defend them from the Nightzmoras. The Ursi's rage against them would led to a group of conscripted Ursus workers killing their overseer and taking over a tower in Deity Grypherburg —The Hippogryph citadel— two years later. Igor was sent to take care of the situation, as even the initial group of soldiers sent to the tower also deflected to the rebellious workers. Igor took off his equipment and was welcomed by the workers, but by the time he left, the traitors were all dead. While official reports claim that Igor single-handedly killed all of the sixty traitors, it's also speculated that perhaps he could've convinced them to take their own life despite being Ursi.[2]
Even after achieving the rank of Colonel by the 25th year, Igor started to feel dissatisfied with how the Ursi were treated. He would conspire against the Hippogryphs and led the Ursi's uprising in the winter of the 27th year. Thanks to his successive victories, more and more people joined forces with Igor to join the uprising —Not only Ursi, but also Hippogryph nobles who decided to turn their back. The defenseless Hippogryphs, who had no idea of how to deal with domestic problems or rebellions, were finally overthrown.[3][4][5][6]
After four arduous years, the Ursi managed to capture Deity Grypherburg, but Igor chose to keep the name presumably to honor his Hippogryph allies. Under recommendation of his assigned ministers, Igor was crowned as the first monarch and tsar of the rebranded "Ursus Empire" and his descendants would consolidate its power on Terra for the years to come, but his story was still far from over.[5][7] Upon ascending to the throne, Igor bestowed himself with a series of various titles, one of which being "The Sovereign of the Ursus and Hippogryph Empires" —a reference to how the Hippogryphs were demoted as a simple, powerless vassal state within the newly-established Ursus Empire. For the following two decades he continued to lead the Ursi against the relentless Hippogryphs in the eastern mountains, but couldn't fulfill his objective during his lifetime. Legend says that he suddenly passed away in front of the military map, thus leaving the Ursi' expansionism in a stalemate.[1][2]
Legacy[edit]
The Ursi's uprising is often considered by historians as the turning point in the conflicts between Ancients and Elders, which set the foundation for Ursus' further expansions. In Terran year 58, his son, "The Young" Aleksey Igorevich, who succeeded the throne at the age of 16, would enact the "Eastern March" national policy with the objective of defeating all Hippogryph remnants, aiming to continue his father's unfinished business. On the other hand, although Aleksey also abolished his father's surname from any official documents after his death, it also served as a basis for the modern Ursine three-part naming nomenclature.[1][8][9]
Amongst his many names, "Bear Raiser" is perhaps the most popular of them, which is still widely used in many literary works based around his deeds.[1]
References[edit]
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