Difference between revisions of "Audmathus"

Revision as of 05:18, 21 April 2006

A destroyer of cities. A prophet of destruction. A harbinger of desolation. A messenger of his one and only Goddess.

These are what Cecinifien Audmathus Xhevus has always believed himself to be, and regardless of whether or not these things are true, there are few who would deny them.

It began oft as it always does with those of black flesh and pointed ears; starting in strife beneath the surface of the world itself, amidst cities of dark elves and deceit. Lies, untruth, and deception are quite clearly the fabric of these places, and of their tales and histories as well.

It started, in truth, with a search for a fated, rumored weapon -- a thing created at the final stand of the dark elves aeons ago, when they were driven from the surface -- whose discovery would, by history, signal a revolution. Legend foretold that when the weapon was discovered, the drow would reclaim their surface world anew under the hand of their finest leaders. Dark elven cities would fall in the face of disbelief, but the weak would be left behind to rot and the strong would rise to reclaim the hideous grasslands if only to return the favor that the surface creatures had done unto the drow so long ago.

At least, this was how the Book of the Demonweb said it, and of all dark elves that had to find this weapon, The Spider's Kiss, it was Cecinifien Audmathus Xhevus.

In his greed, Audmathus single-handedly destroyed the underground city of his birth for the weapon and its fated four pieces; Eagle's Eye, Dark's Bane, Sundancer, and Shadowdancer, each imbued with the apparitions of those high priestesses killed in the final surface battle. Driven mad by the insidious whisperings of Shadowdancer, Audmathus sought to become a general of the drow, to unite their strongest under his hand and reclaim the surface lands where his kind once existed. He proclaimed his loyalty to the cause, much to the chagrin of the goddess Lolth. She, in turn, cemented his loyalty by castrating him, damning him, and shedding insult upon him -- he was, after all, not female, and prone to the weaknesses of any dark elven male. Infused with this natural and overzealous want for undying power, convinced that he would show the goddess Lolth his ability, Audmathus sought to reap destruction upon lands on the surface, and after several years of struggle, was finally handed his death by a group of unlikely heroes in the heart of Myrken Wood. Upon calling forth the once-destroyed presence of Zayken, Audmathus fell under the blade of a one Ariane Carnath-Emory, who fought alongside Elil, Quincy, and other heroes to unravel his threats. A short reign of torture, destruction, and murder had been quickly assuaged, and a valuable lesson learned.

Little did they realize that drow always have their black tricks, and that the entire time, the Lady of Chaos found humor in the death of the foolish male. He, who had forgotten the purpose of Shadowdancer and his goddess for his own avaricious desires, would clearly not do. After a failed resurrection of the priestess Avel, whose very essence had been sacrified to create Shadowdancer, Lolth called upon one of her most willing and promising to complete the legendary task.

The Mistress Faeryl, who garnered Lolth's precious blessing and who had taken heart to the failures of Audmathus, began to work in his fallen stead, intending to do was was the decree of her goddess and reclaim surface lands for the drow. In this, she began with Myrken Wood, where Audmathus' reign of torture was still fresh in the minds of its citizens. Yet, why attempt all of this alone without a familiar face to mock in the process? Thus, Audmathus was reborn of Faeryl's will, a headless body disengaged from the depths of Silver Lake. Conscience extracted from the Demonweb Pits -- from a hell of Lolth's own making -- and body reanimated through the dark elven rituals of Zin-Carla, the beast was recreated anew, and wrestled under the control of one of Lolth's most favored priestesses.

Damned, reanimated, and ever more cynical, Audmathus shunned the grace of Lolth after his rebirth, convinced that his continued life was a blessing beyond her ability. Reunited with his precious Shadowdancer, raised in high esteem within Faeryl's coven of priestesses and warriors, the dark elf's purpose is clear -- to continue his destruction of Myrken under Mistress Faeryl's command, to aid in garnering its control from its human council, and slowly begin to retrieve what had been lost to the dark elves aeons prior. Unafraid of death, bolstered on his own pseudo-deitic arrogances, there is little that Audmathus feels can stop him.

After all, there's quite a great deal of fun to be had, and much vengeance to be sown. With this much fun at his fingertips, why die just yet?