Rune of Punishment

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One of the 27 True Runes in the world of Suikoden.

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Current Owner: Lazlo (Hero of Suikoden IV)

Past Owners: Man buried in Obel ruins, Queen of Obel, Graham Cray, Graham Cray's son, Rikie's husband, Steele (Suikoden Tactics), Brandeau, Glen Cott

A True Rune that represents atonement and forgiveness and is always borne on the left hand of its host; this rune is a parasite that feeds off its host with fatal consequences: the rune has tremendous offensive capabilities; however, using them drains the bearer's life force, eventually to the extent that he or she turns to ash and their memories are locked away in the Rune; the Rune then transfers to the nearest available host. Whilst it is still believed that the Rune of Punishment will grant standard True Rune abilities such as agelessness; there is no record of any of its previous bearers surviving long enough for this to be an issue. The Rune became sealed in Obel after its then bearer died with no potential host in range; it remained in the Ruins there for many years until discovered by the then Queen of Obel. She resisted the Rune's call to be used until a time when pirates threatened her children and her kingdom. Since that time it has moved around the region causing death to its bearers and destruction to those around them; no matter how much they may resist, fate transpires to place the bearers in situations where they end up using the Rune to save themselves or others. One such incident occurred in a border village between Kooluk and the Scarlet Moon Empire: some Scarlet Moon nobles dressed up as Kooluk raiders and attacked the town to drum up support for a war; the then bearer of the Rune (who was a small child) unleashed its power and the nobles, as well as the village, were decimated. The succeeding bearer [Graham Cray] was the father of the previous bearer, and in order to escape the Rune's curse he severed his left arm from his body; the act saved him from the Rune, but he then developed a fixation on the power he had discarded.

The Rune continued it's cycle of death and destruction, returning to the Island Nations where it claimed the life of an innocent fisherman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, before eventually passing to the pirate called Brandeau. Knowing the fate of those nearby, Brandeau isolated himself from his friends and crewed his ships with strangers; eventually on a raiding mission that went bad he used the Rune to try and escape, and seeing one young man remain who bested him in combat he felt as though he knew who the next bearer would be. He was mistaken however, as Glen Cott stepped in the way just as Brandeau died. Glen returned to his home of Razril but did not bear the Rune long before he was forced to use it against an invading fleet; although he tried to keep everyone away from him when he did so, circumstances saw the same young man being close to Glen when he died and it transferred to him this time around.

Exiled from Razril for being believed to be responsible for Glen's death this young man became embroiled in a war that started due to Koolouk's expansion progress, but continued due to Graham Cray's desire to obtain the Rune again. During this time the young man managed to survive using the Rune's power a total of four time;, before the power of the 108 Stars of Destiny moved the Rune into its little seen forgiveness phase, where it no longer drains the life of its bearer. Since then the bearer vanished from the pages of history, knowing full well that his death would see the cycle of death and destruction start over again.

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Sources from Suikosource (http://www.suikosource.com)