Zakariyya de la Gardie of Ochterburg

Zachariah Wythe al-Osman de la Gardie (born 1698 in Shirekeep, Shireroth) is a Shirerithian–Hurmu nobleman and Knight of the Holy Lakes. He moved to Hurmu at the age of 18 to study at the Hurmu Peace Academy. As a newly graduated Officer of the Peace, he was immediately thrown into the 1719–1720 Hurmu civil conflict, in which he fought bravely. In 1720, he was transferred to the Hurmu Fyrð with the rank Superintendent Inspector of the Fyrð (OR-3). During the same conflict, he was in charge of prisoners of war from the Green Turbans, and began studying their religion. In the end, while vehemently disagreeing with their politics and military actions, he had, while reading the holy scriptures of their religion, found God. During a trip to Kurum ash-Sharqia, he officially converted during a ceremony in the Masjid al-Huriya in Vrijplaats.

His conversion to placed him at odds with his relatives within the House of Osman who hold to the Zurvanite religion, leaving him at the slight risk of physical assault whenever they are in the vicinity. Such threats were condemned by the head of the House of Wythe as well as by the Chancellor and Commander of the Order of the Holy Lakes, who defended Zachariah's dignity and reputation. Bodyguards were assigned to Zachariah upon his return to Hurmu.