Ian Als Heim


 * "This is, also a test."
 * — To his men when he first arrived at E-Rantel.

Ian Als Heim (イアン・アルス・ハイム) is a game original character that appeared in Mass for the Dead.

Appearance
A middle-aged man with short wavy platinum blonde hair.

Personality
Ian holds a great deal of confidence from Captain of the 1st Division. In the past, he believed in the Slane Theocracy's human supremacy ideology, but the state of the world after the Catastrophe changed his world view. Since then Ian continues to seek out which missions he should fulfill. A gregarious character he is easiest to get along and holds a lot of respect from his men and allies.

Background
A Commander of the 1st Division in the Sunlight Scripture. Since the establishment of the Tripartite Alliance Ian finds that his nation now must cooperate with people who's faith and racial background go in conflict with his doctrine.

Ian was assigned a mission by Nigun Grid Luin to lead a mission of the Sunlight Scripture by transporting relief supplies from the Theocracy to the damaged city of E-Rantel. Noting the locals' apparent distrust of the priests of the Theocracy, he stated it was to be expected. While his men feel they are not given their due, Ian is more diplomatic and understanding. Upon seeing a half-elf child, Ian is more surprised than disgusted. He tried to set an example for his subordinates and tries to be friendly. The boy's elven mother soon comes and is apprehensive towards Ian and his men. Ian seeing her injured son offers to help heal him but as he reaches she scream at him to stay away, but he heals the boy nonetheless. While the boy is healed, the mother is still suspicious and quickly takes her child away from the scene. He is disappointed by the reaction but keeps up a positive face to his men, but to his surprise, the half-elf boy comes back and personally thanks him and asks to know a little more of his faith.

Later while he and his men were patrolling the outskirts of the city, sweeping away Contaminated Beasts, he was almost killed in action but is saved in the nick of time by the timely intervention of one of the Four Imperial Knights, Leinas Rockbruise. Her strength shocked Ian, causing him to realize that his countrymen underestimated the strength of the Empire's elite. After having fought in a battle alongside her, he took it upon himself to train further to seek more power to protect his men. Nigun seeing his enthusiasm also encourages his second in command by sparring with him. Later after word was received that a distant frontier village was under attack by Chaos Beasts, Ian believing it was his Scripture's duty to defend the weak volunteered himself to undertake the mission and several of his men to investigate.

Mass for the Dead Arc
Ian later goes to the Carne Village where he manages to find the survivors of a Chaos Beast attack. His team also meet the Swords of Darkness, who agree to travel with the survivors to E-Rantel, leaving him with the protagonist, Nabe and Surako. Though he is distrusting of the group, overtime he comes to trust them. When Aura Bella Fiora and Mare Bello Fiore join the group to explore the depths of the Great Forest of Tob to locate the reason why the monsters are flooding out, he was willing to work with them despite the Theocracy's creed of human superiority. As a gesture of trust, he eventually reveals his face and properly introduces himself. While traveling into the forest, he bonds with the protagonist's group, especially with the elves. After experiencing some battles with undead, he explains the Theocracy's prejudice towards non-humans. While he believes in the creed, he makes it absolutely clear he is not blinded by hate and only does so for humanity's benefit.

When a massive horde of spiders were fleeing from a wave of Chaos Beasts, he fought alongside protagonist and helped slay the leader of the monsters. He took the opportunity to express his interests in the protagonist's origin and believed that they were from a distant country sent to learn more about the Cracks. While he did not wish to be confirmed he understood the secrecy as he and his Scripture operated under certain circumstances.

When the Crack was located, the phenomena began to release miasma, that threatened to poison them. Ian ordered a complete retreat. However to add more woes more Chaos Beasts were spawned from the Crack. To buy some time for his men, he stood alone with his summon and fought the monsters. He was nearly killed until he was saved by Leinas Rockbruise, who been sent by the Baharuth Empire to investigate the area for a Crack.

After the mission, he guides the protagonist and Slimeko to the city of E-Rantel where they meet Saint Clementine. Despite knowing her truth origins, the priest refrains from any harsh action as it would look bad for the Theocracy. He then excuses himself to make his report to Nigun Grid Luin.

At the time of the summit of the three nations of the Tripartite Alliance, Ian and his forces are handling he monster subjugation around the city. Ian believes that the monsters wouldn't dare think of invading the meeting place of all three nations since it gathered the forces of the entire alliance. However, his superior not taking the chance ordered all forces to be on high alert. Nigun's intuition proved to be wise as a horde of Chaos Beasts began to invade from the north. The front line's defenses despite their readiness were broken through. To buy some time to warn E-Rantel, Ian and Leinas stayed behind to fight the beasts. He, Leinas, and their forces were defeated by the appearance of a powerful Chaos Beast that could used Martial Arts. Ian and the other would have been killed had it not been for the intervention of the protagonist.

Later after surviving his ordeal, Ian was seen at the new front line of the city's defense conducting drills. He along Nigun were met with surprise when Nimble Arc Dale Anoch brought additional forces from the Empire to supplement the city's forces. However, the way in which it was conducted meant that the Empire was subverting the three nations' military presences in the city. Realizing this could change the balance of power, Nigun ordered Ian to report it to the higher-ups.

Ian was present with Nigun on the battlefield fighting alongside the Empire and the rest of the forces of the Alliance against a horde of ten thousand Chaos Beasts heading for E-Rantel. He and the Sunlight Scripture paved a way for both Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra and Go Gin to reach the Giant Chaos Beast directing the horde. When another horde four times bigger than the one they faced was heading towards them, Ian was at a loss of how they could achieve victory while their forces were already exhausted from the previous wave.

Some time after the attack by the Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth, Ian and Nigun led the Sunlight Scripture out on a mission. When the Scripture returned back to the city, they found all the inhabitants to have collapsed on the ground and in some sort of coma. The priests quickly went to work to revive the people, with Ian finding Leinas collapsed nearby. However the incident for the event still went unexplained.

In the coming weeks an adventurer exchange tournament was organized in E-Rantel. As the protagonist and Surako were busy greeting adventurers like Blue Roses at the city square, Ian and his superior Nigun dropped by to wish the protagonist luck on the venture. Both he and Nigun would participate in the tournament after witnessing members of the Kingdom partake against the matches with the newcomers Shall and Ku. Their match ended in a draw but it was impressive enough for Nigun to ask Shall invite her to the Theocracy. In the end she declined but was not adverse to the idea to visit their nation. The two were given chocolate confections as a reward for participating in the tournament which caused Ian to be excited.

Due to the decreasing frequency of the undead near the borders of the Theocracy and the Katze Plains, Ian and his superior Nigun were called to investigate the matter. They made their request to Pluton Ainzach and informed the protagonist that they wished to hire an adventurer team to guide them into the plains. Darkness accompanied the two priests to the plains. During the journey through the fog, Ian still couldn't believe that the number of undead just dropped as the plains was notorious for being infested with undead that subjugation teams had to be deployed by the other nations to keep the numbers down. To him the Annual Wars which were the contributing factor for why undead spawn had ended and it confused him as to why the undead still return. However he learns that the area had become a substitute gravesite for the nearby city of E-Rantel as the cemetery was at overcapacity. He also expressed his confusion about the deaths of the workers involved in the defense of the city and sacrificed as part of Emperor Jircniv's plot to act as bait for the Chaos Beasts to fall into the acid containing Melting Pot.

While on the topic of the undead in the plains, the Soi inquired about the Captain of the Ghost Ship that was rumored to roam the area. Both Ian and Nigun knew very little only that it was a elder lich, and it there was a opportunity would like to speak with the undead to ask it about the undead phenomena in the plains. When the protagonist asked if they were sure if the undead was a lich but not a vampire, neither of the two heard of vampire living in the immediate area. The party had an encounter with the Ghost Ship much to their shock and as it passed, dropped skeletons and a Death Knight before them. Ian was targeted by the Death Knight and was saved by Soi who blocked its attack on the priest. The group working together fought the undead and managed to defeat them. Given that it was too dangerous to proceed any further as they were only a five person party, Nigun declared that the investigation to be over as he and Ian had confirmed that the undead in the plains had not vanished but were merely lurking deeper in the indiscernible fog.

Around the time when the Adventurer’s Guild was promoting and selling goods based on the protagonist’s “Dark Warrior” identity, Ian and Nigun approached the protagonist and Surako. The priests while finding the merchandising to be uplifting and brining joy to the populace were concerned that the hero worship of the “Dark Warrior” was slowly turning into a cult following. Having seen something similar happen before in a foreign land the priests warned the Territory Guardian that such faith could lead to insurrection and advised him to quickly amend it before it grew uncontrollably. Some days later, both priests visited the Adventurer's Guild themselves to purchase chocolates where they found that the guild was releasing a new doll series based on Blue Roses.

Ian was in attendance to the city council meeting with Nigun to discuss about the city's abundant harvest. A Harvest Festival was hosted by the protagonist and Ian volunteered the Sunlight Scripture to serve as security, once they got approval from the homeland. Both he and NIgun had the opportunity to meet with the dark Aura and Mare again, and engaged in a conversation. He and his superior expressed some concern on the integration of demi-humans and human cooperation, and while they were tolerant of it, they worried how their fellow countrymen would see it. Still they agreed to promote it for the sake of humanity in the current times. This was due to the amount of trust they possessed for the protagonist and thereby the Sorcerer Kingdom and hoped that the Theocracy could still remain friendly.

Ian and Nigun later met with the protagonist and Surako who asked them what could be done to improve the chocolate sold at the Adventurer's Guild. For Ian, he believed that the ingredients of the candy needed to be disclosed. Afterwards when Golden Chocolate In A Bottle was released Ian was seen with Nigun enjoying the new confection with gusto.

While giving out assignments at night to his juniors alongside Nigun. Ian complained about the lack of action since the reconstruction of the city. The peace was due to the harmony between the the various races thanks to the Sorcerer Kingdom. But their quiet night was interrupted when they detected a commotion and saw Clementine with a robed man. It turned out the man was a remnant of Zurrernorn left in the city, who cried out that E-Rantel was doomed before killing himself. Realizing the danger of the cultist, the priests alerted their allies, and Ian helped to coordinate with the Sunlight Scripture and the Adventurer's Guild to detain and interrogate any surviving members of Zurrernorn. They had no idea as many members committed suicide. After the plot of Zurrernorn was unraveled to be creating a Super Giant Sanitary Slime to kickstart Death Spiral, and later was defeated thanks to the combined efforts of the members of Blue Roses, Soi and Clementine using swimsuits, Ian and Nigun took an interest in the magic item and planned to inform their superiors to research the new item.

Ian and his Scripture would receive an order from Enhela Read Gahi to have all Theocracy military forces evacuate E-Rantel. Though at first confused by the order, what soon followed was a massive invasion of Chaos Beasts from within the city. Ian greatly disagreed with the orders to evacuate, not while so many innocents were being left behind at the mercies of the Chaos Beasts but was forced to comply. He was not alone as his superior Nigun did not feel right in abandoning their fellow humans to suffer. In a flexible interpretation of their orders, Nigun decided that the best way to allow the rest of the Theocracy forces to evacuate the city safely was for the Sunlight Scripture to cover the rear and remain behind. Ian and the rest of the Scripture accepted these new broad directives and began to launch a defense of the city along. The priests put up a bold front against the Chaos Beasts with their angel summons that included a Dominion Authority, however they soon faced a foe that was invisible to their eyes and began to pick them off one by one causing each to vanish. When it seemed that Nigun would become its next victim, Ian placed himself in front of his captain, giving up his life to protect Nigun.

After the attack, Ian and Nigun were believed to have died, and because the attacker did not leave any bodies, resurrection was impossible. With Nigun and Ian gone, the survivors of the Sunlight Scripture then returned to the Theocracy.

Months passed, and Enhela still thought the loss of the two were a blow to the Theocracy as they were moderates like himself. Around the time Sorcerer Kingdom launched a rescue mission into the Crack to retrieve its missing agents, Enhela conducted his own solo rescue operation to search for Ian and Nigun. Enhela managed to locate their unconscious bodies. Just as he was taking them back to a Crack to leave the "other side", he encountered the adventurer team Darkness.

Enhela was driven off by the attacks of the hiding Pleiades. Outnumbered, the priest chose to flee with his two charges. Ian and Nigun made their reappearance at the Tripartite Alliance talks in E-Rantel, shocking the representatives that the two were still alive. Ian and Nigun were assigned to lead the remaining forces of the Sunlight Scripture and join the Four Kingdoms Rescue Team to assist in saving the poor souls trapped on the "other side". In private Nigun and Ian had a conversation of how they were unable to read Enhela's intentions, with Nigun admitting that the Deputy Pontifex Maimus had a dangerous arrogance to him, like a greenhorn. While Ian, was concerned about this, Nigun tried to give Enhela the benefit of the doubt, having been once like the deputy and also the state of the world providing justification for such behavior.

During the rescue operation, Ian fought multiple Chaos Beasts while securing people to secure. Later when a horde of giant-sized variants appeared, Ian was shocked at seeing one was a Double Sword Chaos Beast.

Later the rescue team rushed back to E-Rantel after receiving word from the Sorcerer Kingdom that enormous amounts of miasma were spilling in from Cracks in every major city in the Tripartite Alliance. Since their unit was the only military force in the area, the joint international force hurried to the alliance's capital to save what they could. On the way, Ian talked to some members of the team who were starting to think E-Rantel was cursed due to the number of incidents it experienced.

Despite chaos happening supposedly in their various kingdoms, Ian expressed that it would be best for the international military force to remain together as they could spread themselves thin without making any progress. Since he had not heard anything from Enhela, he hoped the Assistant to the Chief Priest was alright.

At E-Rantel, Ian joined Nigun and the Sunlight Scripture in working to contain the contaminated and restore order to the city. His team regrouped with the protagonist's team at a local shelter where the teams addressed that they needed to implement the Sorcerer Kingdom's cure unto the affected before the contaminated regressed into cannibalism, something that the priest had no intention of seeing.

He witnessed the return of Fluder Paradyne, Sophie Noia, and Nfirea Bareare who had been previously labeled as dead. The trio of researchers had a plan to decontaminate the city which Ian and the others pledged to support.

Abilities and Powers
Ian can at least use the 3rd tier magic of the faith system.

Active

 * Iron Hammer of Righteousness
 * Light Healing: A 1st tier divine spell that heals allies of their wounds with a soothing warm green light.
 * Summon Angel 3rd Tier: Summons an Archangel Flame.

Nigun Grid Luin
Nigun is Ian's direct superior, the two appear to have a cordial relationship. While Ian respects Nigun, he understands that there things the two see differently in their faith. Nigun expressed concern for his subordinate being sent to E-Rantel amongst heathens, but while he thinks Ian has not fully embraced the faith of his Scripture, he was confident Ian would succeed and perhaps open a new frontier for their faith.

Leinas Rockbruise
Ian made an acquaintance with the knight fending off corrupted demi-humans and came to respect her skills.

Saint Clementine
Ian is aware of Clementine's past and is disgusted with her as a traitor. He finds it ironic that she had become a saint, and wonders if she has an ulterior motive. However, since she is a well known public figure in E-Rantel, there is very little he can do without making a diplomatic incident.

Trivia

 * Ian is the third new character from the game Mass for the Dead. He was added as a limited-time character on March 31, 2019.
 * It is indicated that Ian is a follower of Alah Alaf, as he mentions the god's name upon witnessing the protagonist's power in the Great Forest of Tob.

Quotes

 * (To his men): "If you have any concerns, spit it out before were arrive at our location. It's okay, don't be shy. Just talk about it here."
 * (To an elven family): "Gahaha! God is always with us! If the weak are hurt, you can never leave them alone."
 * (To his men): "Because our doctrine is known to everyone, it will be harder to gain trust if we take it in the wrong direction. It's also an opportunity to get rid of prejudice and justify us."