Kol-Han Liiyevich Zolotov, the Herald of Light, also known as Ballista Ophiuchus, was the founder of the Lightwatch in the First Era that later became the Ballista of Lunaria. In that role, he was also the patriarch of the Golden Church and the Bolt of House Zolotov.
In the First Era, he discovered the pure light hidden away at the heart of the cosmos, and was cast out of the Temporal Empire for his heresy. The Liikran was commanded by his twelve trusted hands, now associated with the zodiac ballistae. They were wiped out by Omniborn and Elves alike, and sealed away into the darkness. However, in the late second era, Kol-Han awoke to a new era where his oppressors were long dead. Founding the religion of Golden Triadism and becoming Patriarch of the fledgling lunar houses, he labelled himself as the "Herald of Light" and awakened his twelve once more.
He is the creator of the legendary dagger Liikal but was separated from it and thus unable to ascend to godhood. He almost re-aquired it during the events of The Light of Lunaria, but was defeated and destroyed for good by the Darklight Crusaders who later also destroyed the dagger.
"Do you know of Ikariyus? It was the greatest city I've ever seen. My home. It did not have the gothic towers of Sergorod, nor did it have the skyscrapers of Sombus. Instead, we had glorious arches, columns, monuments... The city was green with life. Not the lifeless stone cities of the Dwarves, nor the forests of the Elves- No, a mix of both. Beautiful marble plazas lined with trees, the architecture intricate with its carvings and beautification. We had towering amphitheaters and basilicas... Tall buildings that incorporated aqueducts creating cascading waterfalls and green terraces across the city. Many of these felt like canals and rivers above the streets, waterways more advanced than anything today. My own villa had six stories, an indoor garden, a rooftop bath... I had an atrium with a glass roof, and arcane constructs serving my every need.
Above the city hanged floating buildings and skyports, airships and starships flying above us the entire day. The largest of the floating structures were the three Red Towers, floating fortresses that housed the best military tacticians in the world. And in the center of the city, the Khazkaeni. A colossal palace, the ziggurat rose higher than all the buildings around it. It had the largest garden in the known world, nurtured by Deltos himself. It housed the grandest collection of knowledge within its halls, and it was the center of culture in Abmarah. The city's streets radiated out in a circular pattern around the palace, and the Khazkaeni's tower could be spotted from hundreds of miles away. Ikariyus was beautiful... And not a trace of its magnificence remains any more. The comet hit the city at the end of the war... And all that remains is the Cometfall Sea. I have no luxury of walking through ruins or visiting my homeland... All I have anymore is memories and paintings."
—Kol-Han about his homeland.
In the middle of 1E928, Kol-Han, then one of the generals of the Draxalite army, stumbled into an ancient ruin deep under midwest Aurial in what is now the Cinder Steppe. It's said that he was in the middle of a fight against an unnamed god (possibly Magmus) when his troops were wiped out by the god's magic. He fell through the earth and ended up in a forgotten ruin, where he discovered the Pure Light and the truth of the cosmos. Realizing that this cosmos is the second one, the light accepted him as its new herald.
Kol-Han began to preach about the Light as a replacement against the gods, something that appealed to a lot of the people fighting against the gods at the time. His first twelve followers became the Liikor (now called the The Ballista) and together they created the Liikran (Lightwatch). Some prominent heroes joined him, including Zanisa of the Golden Souls and the angel Leonak. However, Khaz Draxal began to suspect Kol-Han and the Lightwatchers of treachery. He did not speak out against him at first, as they were another weapon to use against the gods.
The Lightwatchers became a zealous division of the military that slowly separated from the Draxalites over the year. For the next three years, they put down gods and converted people to the light especially in northern and western Aurial. At their height, the Lightwatch composed of ten thousand men under the thirteen Liikorai. In 1E931, Khaz Draxal summoned Kol-Han to his court in Ikariyus just to denounce the Light as yet another form of divinity. He exiled Kol-Han and the Lightwatchers from the Empire.
In retribution, with their usage of the light, Kol-Han forged the Liikal (Lightclaw), a dagger capable of heralding in the light. With this, he would be as strong as Morghos, and rise to become a god of light. However, the Omniborn and the Elves paused the war for a brief month, in which the two sides stopped fighting to exterminate the Lightwatchers instead. The light was too strong an enemy that would end mortals and gods alike. Gods, Elves, and Omniborn took down the Lightwatchers and the Liikorai, including an especially destructive battle between Magmus and Aries that led to him defeating her and taking the Lightclaw which was being delivered to Kol-Han.
The enemies of the Lightwatchers soon discovered that they were unable to kill the Liikorai due to protections cast upon them by Kol-Han being attuned to the Lightclaw even from a distance. They opted to imprison the Liikorai across Aurial, sealing them for eternity. They then conducted an arcane-divine ritual to sever Kol-Han from the Lightclaw, before sealing the dagger away forever under the watch of Markal Zuriel. Sensing the end, Kol-Han ended up sealing himself away deep under the Cinder Steppe, ending the rule of the Lightwatchers. He and the other Liikorai would not reawaken until the Lunar Revolution a thousand years later.
He was reawakened mysteriously in the Third Era, some decades before the The Great Aurian War. Styling himself as a cleric, he began to form the new religion of Triadism as a front for his true worship of the light. Kol-Han made himself a respected advisor to the Cinderan Houses, eventually convincing them to rebel against the Crimson Empire. In 3E215, he formed the Golden Church and united the wishes of the ruling families with the sentiments of the masses, by declaring the Golden Triad to be the one and only religion in the land. Later in the war when St. Arbal died and became a martyr, Kol-Han waited no moments to proclaim Arbal as a saint. Arbal was set to be the ruler of the country, and some speculate that the Golden Church purposefully sent Arbal into a suicide mission, as they didn't appreciate how much control and sway Arbal had over the masses.
In 3E452, Kol-Han sensed the reawakening of Markal Zuriel and Lightclaw with him. He bode his time, instead focusing on his plan to use the The Dark Sceptre to destroy all enemies of Lunaria when the imminent next invasion of the Dark Hunt occured. He collected the Dark Crystal and kept it within his cathedral in Sergorod. All these plans came to a pass in 3E498 and 3E4500 during the events of the The Light of Lunaria, as his brainwashed disciple Ballista Gemini turned against him and with the help of the Darklight Crusaders stopped him during the invasion of the Dark Hunt. He was killed and destroyed inches away from reclaiming Lightclaw and potentially ascending to godhood.
1E928 - Kol-Han discovers the Pure Light and becomes its herald, forming the Lightwatch.
1E931 - As the Lightwatchers were defeated, Kol-Han sealed himself until the Third Era.
3E225 - A reawakened Kol-Han founds Triadism and the Golden Church, inciting the Lunar Revolution.
3E500 - During the The Light of Lunaria, he is destroyed for good by the Darklight Crusaders during the invasion of the Dark Hunt.