Who/What Is Argan?
A few chapters ago I brought up the real substance of Kharzai, as I have gotten to know him over more than twenty years of writing him into my stories.
Today I bring to you Argan.
Full name:
Argan manu Urdom’ni manu Ur’ni manu Ha’Atem’ni do Ha’Eba’ni.
Translation:
Argan seventh son of Urdom who was the seventh son of Ur, who was the seventh son of Adam and Eve the father and mother of all mankind.
Argan took up residence in my imagination several years ago, growing in my mind since at least 2019. What you are witnessing on these substack pages in the stories I write about him is actually my own process of creating the backstory and building the world in which Argan becomes the ultimate ruler prior to the flood. Argan himself, as I am discovering, is a very complex character to be sure.
Born a few decades before the death of the first human, Ha’Atem the Father of All Men, Argan was from a small city on the eastern slopes of what are now called the Zagros mountains near the ancient lands of Elam in western Persia, or in modern terms, Iran. At the time he was born the earth was very different from our experience today. All of the various technologies I have mentioned in previous posts have at least been discovered and are being harnessed in their most rudimentary forms for benign purposes. But Argan saw potential for much more.
Argan, when he was young, was singularly focused on what he saw as right and wrong, a very black and white thinker with no subtlety. The hunger for revenge for perceived injustices always poised on a razor edge.
After the death of H’Atem, the tribes of men attempted a reconciliation with the break away rebellious tribes of Kayin the brother-slayer, father of murderers. Their father was yet alive, living in exile for the bloodguilt but the leaders of the tribes invited the children of Kayin to the funeral of H’Atem in hopes of peaceful reunion. That peaceful reunion was ready to blossom and usher in even greater achievements for mankind.
Argan though was incensed. He felt it a betrayal of humanity to invite the murderer of Avel. But he could do nothing about it for he was yet a young man. In time his position changed. Twenty years later, Kayin too died. Due to the stigma still upon him, for the mark of his crime was visible in his flesh, he was not buried with his father and mother and other siblings, including the murdered Avel, but his name was officially honoured by the priesthood and elders of the tribes and a remembrance ceremony held for him as well. This was more than Argan could stand, and he began to organize resistance against the reunification of the tribes. He had encouragement too, from both men and from a sect of The Watchers who had taken an interest in human affairs beyond their scope of authority. Those Watchers were among the fallen, who stepped down from their position of watching and into the position of guiding, for they desired to spoil the peace of mankind out of spite for the Creator.
A hundred years after the passing of H’Atem Argan put his plans into motion, at time of the centennial memorial at the tomb of the Father and Mother. As the children of Kayin rode in their caravans across the plain to return to their lands in the east, Argan struck and made a great slaughter. He killed many and ignited a struggle for power in the first kingdoms of the first age of men. As time went on Argan’s power grew. Over the centuries he went from bandit, to warlord, to king, to conqueror, to ruler of a vast empire, to Great Emperor of the entire planet, and almost, or so he thought, to god.
Men of the first age lived for lengths of time incredible to us today. Eight or nine hundred years is a long time to perfect one’s craft, to build one’s powerbase, and to condense power. And when a man rules over others for those lengths of time his mind becomes changed. Warped. Twisted. Moreso when malevolent creatures posing as wisdom and light are guiding that king. Such was Argan’s journey, and in the going he did very much evil.
After more than four hundred years upon thrones, in the second half of his reign of over eight centuries, Argan joined the nefarious works of dark minded Watchers to create a new thing. A hybrid of man and god: The Nephilim. The first were, in appearance, men. Demi-gods of power and strength who performed mighty deeds and even helped mankind in many ways. It did not take long, a very short time, for their creators to change the design of their creations until what they produced were not like men at all, but mere killing machines made for the destruction of one’s enemies. Regardless of what kind or how human they appeared, all such creatures lacked the one thing that actually made them men, made them alive. They were not imbued with the true “Breath of Life”, for that can only be given by the eternal Father, the Creator of all.
Argan’s evil, his bloodthirsty grasp to power and his murderous rebellion against the Creator brought an age of war and terror unlike anything ever seen in this world, before or since. When his wickedness reached the limit set by the Creator the Archangel himself was sent to curse him. This was his curse:
Argan, son of Ur, son of Urdom, son of Ha’Atem.
Argan Blood Drinker,
who laid waste peoples,
who destroyed nations,
who slew your brothers.
In violence you ruled,
so violence shall rule you.
You showed mercy to none,
so shall you never find mercy.
As you put the sons of Khobaraes and Pharoan to the flame,
as you tasted their flesh between your teeth,
so shall your sons be put to the flame,
their flesh torn in the teeth of your enemies before your eyes.
You Argan, son of Ur
will not see the end of death
until the Eternal One declares it.
Though you die,
your soul will not cross the sacred river to your fathers.
Your eyes will yet open that you may endure the tribulations of men.
One hundred generations will see the judgements against you.
As you laid waste your enemies in the first age of man,
so through the ages of the sons of men will you be laid waste.
Age to age you will run.
Age to age you will find no refuge,
until you repent of your pride Argan son of Ur.
In seeking ultimate human power he harnessed the earth itself and pushed everything to its limits. He laughed in the face of God.
And then everything shattered.
