Legendary

A legendary is a superhero warrior who possesses extreme longevity and insight. Legendaries frequently do not know that they are legendaries until later in life. Their lives extend to 150 or, in some cases, to 200 years.

Insight is one of the most mysterious superhero warrior abilities. It is usually described as an uncanny, but mostly intuitive sense of "things unseen", including a subconscious and usually very accurate sense of how things are going to develop into the future. This is sometimes interpreted as precognition, but this would be incorrect: legendaries do not know the future. They might sometimes sense its general direction, but in most cases their future sight manifests itself in their actions: a legendary might not know what tomorrow holds, but they will act in a way as if they mostly do.

Legendaries tend to play an important, although an unclear role in many historical events. People like the Utbringer had the peculiar ability to be central to the development of whole movements, while having their exact role in the events remain vague even to the people directly involved. Some have described legendaries as someone who can infuse a sense of divine importance into even the most mundane tasks.

In his historical treatise "The Movers of our Previous Generation", Porteek pays a great deal of attention to the influence of legendaries on the history of Tarnaria and says this:

They are able to navigate any situation with ease, regardless of the odds. No matter what kind of predicament they are in, their exit is going to be clean and comfortable. At the same time, they always manage to do it without exerting a cost on others, which leaves them with no enemies. But nor do they have genuine friends. The might choose you as their companion, but it's fleeting and temporary: one day, when you least expect it, they will just disappear. And yet, you will feel grateful that you were part of their journey.

Davi the Heranian had this to say about legendaries when discussing the nature of power in his notes on Parra:

I have been asked about this many times, my friendly reader. But there is little I can add to what the wise men of the past had said about the nature of power. If you want to ascend to the throne, you must be like a legendary. They are the ones that rise to power, quickly and effortlessly, like the feather of a bird rises up to the sky, sailing the wind and requiring no horse to pull it. For when you need to be pulled, there is going to be a puller, and they will ask of you, and you will be in their debt - and there is no power in being in debt.

A bubble rises to the surface of the pond because it cannot go anywhere else. The secret of the legendary is the paradox: they are the most unremarkable person you will ever know, yet the whole world will keep wondering about them until the end of time. This makes them blameless. Like a fleeting glance of a beautiful lover, a legendary leaves no evidence of their deeds. And yet, they single-handedly create empires, build cities, displace whole peoples and make time turn.

Yonisha, Mayeerqnoel's personal aide and closest friend, writes this about her master:

I have witnessed him in all kinds of situations. At one point they were about to hang him. And yet, there was an air of calmness about him. He never felt he was in any real danger.

Legendaries exact lifespan is usually estimated, because the vast majority of legendaries' deaths have not been documented. Their passing is usually inferred later, as they are not seen around for a long time. Exceptions are Rufu Aoa, who was killed in battle, and Moreek, who died in prison.

False legendaries

Because of the vague nature of legendaries' abilities, some people throughout history have either claimed to be legendaries or were falsely thought to be legendaries. Such claims are usually disproven by later historical analysis.

One of the more known cases of such misidentification is Kren Oordar, whose victory ver Tonaran and acute knowledge of the future were thought to be signs of insight. However, this was later discovered to be the result of a number of coincidences and the actual knowledge of the future that Kren possessed due to the Oordar causal loop.

Notable legendaries

• Rufu Aoa
• Mayeerqnoel
• Kievan
• Moreek