I wasn’t too proud of the things I did during the war, and I’m still not proud. But at the time I was young and thought I deserved some sort of punishment in exchange for all the things I did. Gave up my dream and became a peacekeeper as some sort of convoluted retribution. Who knows if that was the right decision?
- Izsak talking about his decision to become a peacekeeper with Olive, Part I | 3.1: Chance Detection
Wtorek Izsak was an Ophiuchian peacekeeper. He was a Conjurer and was originally from Taurus. He was married to Wtorek Elizabeth and had a fourteen-year-old daughter named Wtorek Csilla, a failed Saint Candidate of Taurus. At the end of Part I: The Converging Six, he was killed by an unknown person and the ELPIS leader Gamma was subsequently initiated into him.
History[]
Early History[]
Izsak first learned how to use a conductor at the age of eight. He grew up in a "small, isolated, sheep-herding village called Okor embedded in the heart of the Great Lascaux Mountain that ran the length of Taurus’s eastern border with Ophiuchus" during the Reservoir War.
The only thing they knew of the war were the occasional loud cracks they’d hear in the distance. Although rare, they were booming sounds that sent shockwaves rippling through the air.
Every time the rumbling would rock their village, his grandfather would rub his nose and say, “Guess that means the war’s still going on, ’ey?”
- Wtorek Izsak, about the war
When he was ten years old, he was given a V-type test that determined his conducting-type as a Conjurer. The conscriptionist who gave him the test told Izsak that he was also a Conjurer, and that they "were the backbone of the battalion," and most battles couldn't be won without them. The afternoon after he took the test, a Sagittarian air Elementalist descended upon the village and slaughtered everyone, including the conscriptionist with a "twirl of her fingers." Izsak, after pulling on the dead conscriptionist's conducting gloves, conjured a wooden's shepherd stick in an attempt to fight back. The Elementalist easily dodged, but laughed and left him alive.
They later hailed Izsak a hero, calling him the "Great Shepherd of Okor."
Reservoir War[]
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At the age of eighteen, after completing his conductor training, Izsak participated in his first battle. He was assigned as a support Conjurer for a joint Ariesian-Taurusian company in which he found easy comradeship despite his poor grasp on the Common language.
They were all young and eager for a fight. Some of them cried for revenge, others bragged about the numbers they would get under their belts, while others dreamed of the rewards they would receive when the war ended.
Izsak had his own way of counting ‘victory points,’ as they would call it. He had practiced conjuring weapons with his name engraved on them. “It counts as my kill,” he’d say to the chagrin of his company.
After the battle ended—they had won, of course—Izsak was sent with a group to trace back and pick up (or off) any survivors remaining on the battlefield. They joked all the while. Until they saw the bodies, that was.
When it came to battles, it was hard to see who one was shooting or swinging their conductor toward amidst the chaos. Even more so for Izsak, who usually hung along the rear, conjuring weapons and sometimes conductors for the front guard. But now, their victory points—their victims—were laid clear to them.
“Bastards,” mumbled an Ariesian as Izsak knelt to the ground. “Can’t believe they send…”
It was a child. A girl. Her hair wasn’t long enough to tie up into a ponytail, so it was splayed across her face and matted down with blood. There was a combat knife driven into her chest.
It was one of Izsak’s. His engraved name glowed in the faint sunlight on its hilt. Izsak Wtorek. One added victory point. One slain child.
- Izsak, during the Reservoir War
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That day, after Izsak took his soup and sat alone in a corner, he met Gabrielle Law and Moerani. The former said that the people were calling their generation "Generation War." Gabrielle continued that after the war ended, there would likely be a policing organization established, and that would be her ticket to achieving her dream of making a future where Conjurers conjure stuffed animals instead of weapons. Izsak responded that she sounded like a villain, to which Gabrielle replied with an offer for Izsak to be her minion. Izsak considered the offer, before saying that he would rather be co-villain.
Later, Gabrielle introduced Izsak to Elizabeta, who insulted Izsak's height at first sight. Izsak proposed to Elizabeta on their third shared battlefront, and Elizabeta accepted on their seventh.
Several years after that, the formerly uninvolved central country of Ophiuchus declared an insane twelve-front war on the other twelve countries of Signum. The declaration was met with ridicule—at least that was until several vitae reservoirs were decimated in several countries by Ophiuchian Conductors. There was no better way to bring together bitter enemies than a common adversary. And that was how Izsak served in the final offensive against Ophiuchus. It was odd. Fighting beside Sagittarian, Virgoans, Scorpian, Libran, and Piscese soldiers that had been his enemy just a year before, but Gabrielle adapted quickly and seemed to forget the fact that the former had slain many of their comrades.
It wasn’t long after that the Treaty was signed by all twelve countries.
That night was the night Csilla was conceived. Izsak and his wife had decided to name her ‘Csilla’ after the Taurusian word for star. She was their star of hope, after all. Hope for a peaceful future.
- Izsak, about the Reservoir War
Post-War and Ophiuchus[]
After the war ended, Izsak and Elizabeta settled back into his old mountain town of Okor with Csilla. Izsak spent his war funds building a quaint home for them, but the day after they moved in, Gabrielle knocked on his door with a new peacekeeper sash on her arm. "Told you, didn't I?" she asked, tapping it. "Ready to be my co-villain?"
Izsak subsequently joined Ophiuchus as a peacekeeping agent alongside his wife Elizabeth. While Elizabeth joined the Medical Department, Izsak joined Gabrielle in the General Investigations Department.
He was one of the peacekeepers who handled the aftermath of the Tragedy of Aries and subsequently met Olive from that experience.
Plot[]
Part I: The Converging Six[]
Assassination Investigation[]
At the start of the story, Izsak is assigned to look into the possible international interference regarding the assassination attempt on Olive's life with Gabrielle. He meets Jericho who is partnered with Talib for the first time at the Grand Snake Train Station. They ride the train together to their separate destinations and make small talk. Izsak drops Talib and Jericho off at the Twin Cities with Gabrielle, before heading back on the train to Aries.
Izsak investigates the feudal lords and the Ariesian Investigations Bureau with Gabrielle but they turn up no leads. Izsak then reunites with Olive in the royal palace and takes him to the palace's newly refurnished generator conductors and reservoir where he gives the prince advice.
Izsak let out a sudden sigh. “Well, our conversation got derailed like usual.” He faced Olive and gestured to the conductor. “I wanted to bring you here to show you this.” Pushing up his glasses, he met Olive’s eyes. “Even if something is burnt to the ground, it still can be rebuilt as long as there’s at least one person willing to rebuild it.” Izsak pulled away from the railings and reached for him. “Let’s just say I recognize that look in your eye.”
- Part I | 3.1: Chance Detection
He then learns from Olive that Olive's sister was a failed saint candidate.
Death[]
Izsak went to search the royal library in New Ram City to investigate his suspicions about the saint candidates (Olive's sister and Agent Leona's disappearance). He goes through the old records of Ariesian saint candidates there, finds notes that were left by a previous agent, and cross-references it with a map of Signum. After reaching some realization, he writes a coded note to Gabrielle and sends it to her through proxy. Just as he is leaving the library, he encounters a mysterious figure whom he recognizes. The mysterious person who is a Specialist kills him for what he has learned.
Izsak gripped his bleeding shoulder and grimaced as he peeled away from the tree and glared into the darkness. “Yeah, I’m feeling pretty screwed right now. Kind of want to start praying to our Ancestors.”
A deep chuckle resounded. “Is this really the time to be joking?”
“This all feels like a joke to me, really,” Izsak remarked, as he heard the familiar hum of a conductor being activated. “To think that ELPIS of all things was right about conductors. Really, it’s bugging me. But it makes sense for me to agree with ELPIS. I’m a co-villain, after all.”
A small, but sharp light above him caught his attention. A star. Csilla.
His last thought was of her.
- Izsak's last moments before his death, Part I | 4.[]: Peacekeeper on the Verge
Personality[]
Izsak was a friendly, upbeat man who doted on his daughter and wife which contrasted Gabrielle's more concealed and crafty personality. He was goofy and got along well with children. He had many regrets about his service during the war. He enjoyed telling corny jokes and remaining positive in bad situations. Izsak was also very bright, managing to figure out the truth about conductors and of the saint candidates from Shion's notes and his own investigations.
Trivia[]
- 'Wtorek' means 'Tuesday' in Hungarian, while 'Izsak' means laughter.