Garthon Rastor is a former General of the Four Legendary Kingdoms who went rogue due to his desire to allow the Omega Event to pass.
History[]
Early History[]
As a young man, Garthon Rastor became a member of the Order of the Omega, a group of monks who primarily studied the Omega Event and the knowledge of the Super-Ancient Beings. Before long, however, Rastor found that their monastic lifestyle was not for him and left.
Rastor then went on to join the army of an unknown country, where his ruthlessness quickly helped him to ascend to the rank of General. His actions and reputation soon got him noticed by the shadow rulers of the world, the Four Legendary Kingdoms, who invited him to join their Elite Royal Guards. Rastor soon became the commander of the Elite Royal Guards, and was noted to have been their finest general.
However, Rastor's charisma led many of his men to become loyal to his rather than the Four Kingdoms, while Rastor himself experienced a "change in philosophy" from his masters, in which he began to almost worship the Omega Event itself, and soon desired to let it occur rather than be prevented in the final of the Ancients' trials. Realising that Rastor posed a threat to them because of this, the Four Kingdoms decided that the General needed to be removed before he could act.
Luring in the General under false pretenses, they had Rastor's wine drugged, and as soon as he was unconscious he was taken to the Royal Prison of Erebus, where the Four Kingdoms' enemies were imprisoned. However, due to Rastor's notoriety, he was not sealed in Liquid Stone and placed on the Wall of Misery like the other prisoners, and was instead kept in a hidden dungeon within a locked cage suspended over a pit by a single chain.
During the period of his imprisonment, Rastor maintained his desire to let the Omega Event come to pass. He was also able to hear some of the happenings for the Four Kingdoms, such as the disruption to their rule at the end of the Great Games of the Hydra due to the actions of Jack West Jr.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
When Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster and his retinue arrived at Erebus to free Yago DeSaxe from his own prison, a Serbian Father named Miroslav Cilic managed to slip away from the group unnoticed, and headed down to the dungeon containing Rastor. Upon seeing the General, Cilic declared himself a loyal disciple and tossed Rastor a key to his cage. The grateful Rastor noted that Cilic would be rewarded in the next life, and as Cilic noted that he needed to rejoin his companions before his absence was noticed, Rastor thanked Cilic and promised to follow soon after.
Indeed, Rastor soon managed to escape and leave Erebus, and during the next few weeks, Rastor reached out to those loyal to him and began preparing for his mission to get into the Supreme Labyrinth and prevent anyone from reaching the throne at its center to allow the Omega Event to pass. But, in addition to needing to first locate the Labyrinth, Rastor knew that he had to prove himself worthy of entry by earning a "burning key" at an iron mountain through successfully performing the Fall for the Trial of the Mountains. He also spent some time researching Jack in case he needed to kill him, learning about his exploits, family, and weaknesses.
Deciding to take advantage of Sphinx's use of a Siren bell to send all of Rome into a sleep-like state, Rastor and his forces headed to the Italian city in the General's V-88 Condor so that they could infiltrate the Vatican Secret Archives and retrieve the multiple needed to locate the Supreme Labyrinth. As they approached, Rastor learned that monks from the Order of the Omega had had the same idea, and, after having a missile destroy the top of St. Peter's Basilica, sent some of his men into the Archives to bring the monks to him while he sat and waited on the Bernini throne in the Basilica.
Once his captain returned with the captive monks, Brother Enoch tried to assert that they had no quarrel with the General, though Rastor pointed out that they had different goals and was not interested in working with the Order. Rastor then forced Enoch to divulge the multiple before killing the monks and then turned to the other captives, Mae Merriweather and Lynda Fadel. Introducing himself, Rastor corrected Mae's assumption that he was like their other rivals in that he wished to rule the world using the ultimate throne, revealing his nihilistic views and desire to not let anyone to succeed in the trial to allow the universe to end. As he decided to kill Lynda and take Mae hostage, Zoe Kissane attempted a rescue with Rufus in the Black Raven, however, after being distracted by Rastor's V-88, the General fired at the group, hitting Agnes and Mae. As the others reluctantly fled, Rastor executed Agnes and took Mae hostage. With the multiple acquired, Rastor informed his troops that they can locate the Supreme Labyrinth, but would next set about finding an iron mountain.
Having somehow learned that the second mountain lay within Aiguille du Midi in the French Alps, Rastor led his forces there so that he could perform the Fall. However, Rastor and his men arrived to find that Dion DeSaxe had already succeeded and destroyed the Falling Temple to prevent the present Omega monks from attempting to perform a Fall themselves. Rastor acknowledged Dion's success in the Fall and declined the young king's invitation to join Sphinx's forces as a general, encouraging Dion to hurry to the Labyrinth with the promise of meeting him there to impose his own will. Turning to the Omega monks, Rastor demanded to know if Ezekiel had been successful at the third iron mountain beneath Potala Palace before Sphinx had it destroyed, choking Esrael to prompt the Omega monk to confirm Rastor's suspicions.
After Rastor dismissed the monks' goals and killing them, he noticed one of the fallen bronzemen had been marked with paint, and realised it was Jack's ingenious idea to identify his own automatons, calling out the hiding Australian. Once again introducing himself, Rastor explained his goal to Jack before watching with little reaction as he and Easton moved to escape, ordering his men to kill them, though they still managed to flee.
Though there was less than a day to enter the Labyrinth before it was sealed, Rastor was able to figure out that the fourth mountain was located beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Rastor and his troops headed to Israel, taking advantage of the sleep-struck city caused by a Siren bell, where the General had his V-88 blast open the Dome of the Rock to expose the iron mountain within, while also having operatives head to the Zapadny Cosmodrome in Libya expose the moon pedestal needed to activate the mountain.
Once the time for the fourth mountain's alignment with the moon arrived, Rastor successfully performed the Fall himself, becoming branded with the burning key to allow him to enter the Supreme Labyrinth. Once the Falling Temple was raised back up, Rastor had his men secure it in place with heavy steel beams to keep it in place while the winching chains were destroyed, and then had Mae crucified to the bottom of the Falling Temple. Jack arrived moments after Rastor left, as the General had his people re-cover the moon pedestal, and spoke to Jack via a radio he'd intentionally left behind, revealing Mae's predicament. Taunting Jack that he couldn't save her in time and iterating that he would do whatever it took to achieve his goal, Rastor declared that he would break Jack's spirit, and then remotely set off explosives to destroy the beams holding up the Falling Temple. After it crashed into the stone base at the bottom and killed Mae, Rastor's laughter was heard through the radio as the distraught Jack left the fourth mountain in a daze.
Rastor and his forces soon arrived at the Gates of the Supreme Labyrinth in the General's V-88 Condor, where they engaged Sphinx's defences outside of the fourth gate. Eventually Rastor's heavily armed plane was able to get past the defensive line and land at the entrance, allowing Rastor and a few of his men to begin making their way into the Labyrinth.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
Shortly after making it to the bottom of the giant stalactite in the First Cavern, Rastor learned that Jack had also made it into the Supreme Labyrinth, giving him a mock salute when the two made eye contact. Once his team had made it to the exit door, Rastor began firing RPGs at the stalactite in the hope of bringing it - and Jack and his team - crashing down into the abyss below. Once he was certain the stalactite would fall, the grinning General and his men ran to exit the Cavern before the doorway sealed shut.
Over the next several hours, Rastor and his men made their way through the Endless Tunnel, eventually arriving at the entrance to the City-Maze, where they were attacked by a pair of Vandals and a sniper left by Sphinx. While the sniper managed to take down two of Rastor's men, Rastor and his team managed to kill one Vandal and capture the other. Rather than simply kill the final Vandal, Rastor had him handcuffed and tethered to a nearby obelisk with a crimson orb tapped to its back, and Rastor ordered it to get as close to Jack as possible when he arrived, leaving a sniper behind to wait until Jack was within range of the devastating blast that would be unleashed when the sniper fired on and detonated the orb.
Rastor and his men proceeded into the City-Maze and scaled a tower near the Castle of the Throne of Life, upon which Rastor fired another RPG at Sphinx's position. However, the missile was deflected, and the laughing Sphinx called out to Rastor to boast that he had electromagnetic countermeasures in place. Undeterred, Rastor called back to proclaim that Sphinx didn't understand the lengths he was prepared to go through to see the Omega Event happen, and turned to fire on the seawall around the City-Maze. What followed was absolute chaos, as Rastor's missiles caused the City-Maze to flood, with the currents sweeping the Russian naval vessels and even a nearby oil rig into the Maze. Rastor quickly added to the carnage by throwing a block of greystone powder into the rising water, creating a solid floor for him and his men to start crossing to the Castle of the Tree of Life while continuing to fire at Sphinx to try to slow him down.
Rastor and his team were still running towards the Castle as Sphinx neared the Throne of Life, only to witness the throne get blown apart by a shell fired from a destroyer that had been swept into the City-Maze. Rastor realised that Jack had been responsible for this, and while he questioned if the Australian had any idea what his action had entailed, Rastor was none-the-less pleased since it happened to further his own goal, and ordered his men to head to the entrance to the second half of the Supreme Labyrinth. Utilising zip-lines to traverse the City-Maze, Rastor's team quickly made it to the base of the Castle and headed inside, coming out ahead of the rest of their rivals to race to the Throne of Death within.
After several hours, Rastor and his four remaining men came across the Four-Sided Maze and began attempting to navigate it without any rest, and the maze's rotations caused Rastor to lose two of his troops. Despite this, Rastor's team continued on, and eventually managed to emerge from the Four-Sided Maze just ahead of Jack's team. Rather than rush on to the Tower of Judgement, Rastor decided to set up one final ambush for Jack, having one of his two remaining men tape a dozen crimson orbs to himself and have the other hide himself on top of a nearby cupola. When Jack arrived, the mad General declared that it was time to settle their differences, distracting Jack's attention by explaining how and why his men followed him in his fatal vision before having his men move in. As the crimson orb-covered soldier detonated his orbs, causing a tremendous explosion, the cackling Rastor turned and ran to climb up the Tower of Judgement.
Once at the top of the Tower, Rastor entered the cage that ascended out of the cavern and up into the Chamber of Judgement, where he came across a colossal gold statue, and had his mind probed by the consciousness of the Super-Ancients. Since the entity did not judge in terms of malevolence or benevolence, but rather the purity of one's own intentions, Rastor's desire to allow the Omega Event occur allowed him to be judged as pure in his own way, and was allowed to proceed to Stadium of the Throne of Death. With there being only one path to the Castle of the Throne of Death, Rastor positioned himself on the bridge, and when Sphinx and Jack arrived in the chapel via the cage, the General used his assault rifle to keep them pinned in place, believing that he could keep them there for the remaining minutes before the Omega Event happened.
Jack soon began charging straight at Rastor, and while he was confused, Rastor opened fire on him anyway, only to find that his rounds were being deflected by Jack's own Warbler. Furious, Rastor decided to fight Jack himself, and he quickly began beating down his rival, stomping on and damaging the fingers of Jack's prosthetic arm and punching him to near-unconsciousness. Picking up his beaten enemy, Rastor taunted Jack that his prowess and conviction were far greater than his, and prepared to thrown him off the bridge and into the quicksand below. The General was caught completely off-guard, however, when Jack launched them both off the bridge and left Rastor to fall into the quicksand.
Rastor narrowly managed to grab onto a balcony on the bridge's pylon, and, with time running out to keep Jack and Sphinx from the Throne of Death, quickly scaled his way back up and began ascending the Castle of Death. With less than a minute until Omega remaining, Rastor caught up to Jack before the pinnacle's final ledge, holding him in place and growling that he wouldn't die easy. Rather than waste more time trying to fight him, Jack agreed that Rastor would have to die hard and declared that he had a gift for the bastard who'd killed his mother, and with that, jammed a crimson orb into the General's mouth. Before Rastor could react, Jack launched an uppercut that caused him to reflexively clamp his teeth and puncture the orb, and as Jack ducked away, the subsequent blast from the orb instantly vaporised Rastor's head, killing the nihilist fanatic.
Personality[]
Rastor revels in his own madness, believing whole-heartedly in allowing the Omega Event to occur so that it can wipe out all of existence, or, as he puts it, he and his followers believe in nothing. Rastor's worship-like desire of this nothingness stems from existential nihilism, not caring an inch about endangering his own life to achieve his goal in reaching the ultimate throne in the Supreme Labyrinth to keep anyone from sitting on it and averting the Omega Event.
Even before his fall into madness, Rastor was highly charismatic, inspiring many men into becoming loyal to him rather than the Four Kingdoms, to the point that they later began sharing in his goal to let the Omega Event happen. Additionally, Rastor is very rarely fazed by anything, taking in everything unexpected in his stride and simply moving on with his mission.
Rastor is highly calculating and fiercely cunning, quickly deducing Jack's presence at the second iron mountain within moments of discovering a painted bronzeman and considering who would do such an irregular but clever thing. Rastor is also efficient in implementing schemes to derail his rivals' attempts to beat him to the thrones. These also include ruthless actions, such as killing Enoch's monks to get the multiple from them and then killing them all anyway, his quick determining that Lynda had no value to him like Mae, and Rastor's merciless execution of Agnes. He also took delight in tormenting Jack's spirit by killing Mae before him.
Skills[]
- Expert Combatant: As a former soldier employed in an unknown army, Rastor has been trained in several forms of hand-to-hand combat. He was able to easily best Jack in a one-on-one confrontation, using his superior strength and size, as well as his surprising speed, to push Jack to near-unconsciousness.
- Expert Marksman: Being a former soldier, Rastor is an accurate marksman and capable of using a variety of different firearms. He was able to accurately fire rocket-propelled grenades at several targets to cause immense structural damage throughout the Supreme Labyrinth, and was also able to act as a formidable sniper to keep Sphinx and Jack pinned down for a significant time.
- Expert Tactician: During his tenure as a General in the Four Kingdoms' Elite Royal Guard, Rastor presumably demonstrated his skills as a strategist, as he is adept at coming up with and implementing strategies to meet his goals. Rastor was able to deduce how best to torment Jack by killing his mother in a way that Jack could not prevent, and launch as successful incursion to breach Sphinx's defences at the Gates of the Supreme Labyrinth in order to make it inside.
- Ancient Knowledge: As a former member of the Order of the Omega, Rastor was able to learn much about the Omega Event and some of the truth regarding the shadow royal world. Upon becoming a high-ranking General for the Four Legendary Kingdoms, Rastor began to learn more related to the latter, such as the true history of mankind and the trials of the Super-Ancients such as the Trial of the Mountains.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
- Glock 18C Pistol: A rare type of Glock handgun, with a full-automatic-mode which enables the shooter to fire approximately 20 rounds per second. Rastor used it to shoot at Agnes and Mae to keep them from escaping on the Black Raven, critically wounding the former before executing her.
- Predator RPG Launcher: A shoulder-mounted grenade-launching weapon, which Rastor and his team carried with them into the Supreme Labyrinth. Rastor used several rocket-propelled grenades to bring down the giant stalactite in the First Cavern in an attempt to keep Jack from pursuing him through the ancient maze. He later fired an RPG at Sphinx on the Castle of the Throne of Life, only for it to be diverted by Sphinx's electromagnetic countermeasures. In response, Rastor fired more RPGs at the seawall surrounding the City-Maze instead, causing catastrophic chaos by flooding the Labyrinth.
- Assault Rifle: A high-powered rifle capable of firing single shots or automatic gunfire. After positioning himself on the bridge leading to the Castle of the Throne of Death, Rastor used this rifle to pin Sphinx and Jack down, hoping to do so long enough to let the Omega Event pass. However, Jack's Warbler enabled him to deflect Rastor's shots, resulting in a fist-fight between the two.
Vehicles[]
- V-88 Condor: A massive and heavily armed tiltrotor plane like the V-22 Osprey, which Rastor uses for brute force assaults and intimidation purposes, which the General acquired through unknown means. After first using it to travel to Rome, Rastor later flew it to Jerusalem and used it to blow open the Dome of the Rock to expose the fourth iron mountain within. Following this, the Condor was used to transport Rastor and his men to the gates of the Supreme Labyrinth, with the huge tiltrotor plane providing cover from Sphinx's defences while Rastor and his team ventured inside.
- Weaponised Mack Trucks: A pair of Mack trucks that have been heavily modified and adorned with anti-aircraft cannons, which Rastor and his men used to force their way into the second iron mountain and assail their enemy's bronzemen.
Other Equipment[]
- Crimson Orbs: Small spheres filled with a highly-volatile liquid which light the underground tunnels in the Supreme Labyrinth. After capturing one of Sphinx's Vandals, Rastor had a crimson orb taped to its back and left behind to ambush Jack, with one of Rastor's men detonating it with sniper fire when Jack's group appeared. Later, after traversing the Four-Sided Maze, Rastor had one of his men strap a dozen of the orbs to himself and run at Jack in a suicide attack in another attempt to take the Australian out.
- Greystone Cube: A fist-sized block of greystone powder, which Rastor acquired prior to arriving in the City-Maze. After he destroyed parts of the seawall around the City-Maze and caused to flood, Rastor threw the greystone cube into the water, which quickly solidified into stone and created a path for his team to use to get closer to the Castle of the Tree of Life.
Trivia[]
- The troubles in Cilic's homeland that his brother and Rastor took part in presumably refer to the Yugoslav wars, which largely took place during the 1990's.
- Rastor is the third antagonist in any of Reilly's novels to attempt to implement a nihilistic-inspired, world-ending catastrophe; the first was the terrorist group known as the Stormtroopers, and the second was Earl Bittiker, both of whom appeared in Temple and attempted to use a Supernova to destroy the Earth.
- In comparison to the Stormtroopers and Bittiker, Rastor's plan to let the Omega Event occur was far more catastrophic in nature, as it would have caused the entire universe to be wiped out rather than a single planet.