Tristan Vaslor
Tristan Vaslor, the King Below, the Dead King, or the One Below All, was a powerful warrior who led the men of the Commonwealth as they flooded into the Central Plains of Vasloria. He led his people to war against the Gol, seeking great power to defeat his enemy and conquer vast swaths of these new lands. He fought demons and sought council with the wizard Pellum, who advised that he seek the sword Maethelgas. The sword's hunger for souls led him to great victory against the Gol, and eventually the slaughter of his own people. In desperation he fed the insatiable sword his own soul and became the Dead King. After ten years of cruel rule, he was banished to the Abyssal Waste by the brothers Adun and Cavall. He joined the Court of Decay, where he served as the right hand of the Lord of Decay, Khorsekef the Infinite.[1]
History
Conquest of the Central Plains
Three thousand years before the Council of Aberdanon, the humans of the Commonwealth began to settle and invade the Central Plains of Vasloria before it was known by that name. They had had contact with many other societies and cultures across Orden, bearing advanced technologies like the stirrups of Khoursir or the secret of steel from Kalas Mithral. The people were organized, and followed Tristan Vaslor, an unmatched warrior who led their armies. As he led the expansion of his people into new lands in search of great power, he encountered the Gol, the first humans.
The Gol fought against Tristan and his army, enlisting the help of various demons - Khuurtok the All-Seeing, Bytorr the Wolf, and Ullrok the Blighted, Consort of Flies. The demons helped in the fight against the invaders, pushing them back. Tristan negotiated an uneasy truce, but his thirst for conquest was not sated. He searched the Central Plains for more power to aid his ambitions. The region was wild and dotted with hidden temples to unknown gods, to mystic towers with hermit sages who studied knowledge man was not meant to know.
One such wizard, Pellum, saw an opportunity and seized it. He lured Tristand to the White Tower, a tower of necromancy, and offered a deal. He offered aid in the form of a powerful artifact - the sword Maethelgas. He told Tristain that the sword would aid him in his quest for domination, and that it was located in the Temple of Primordial Chaos. Among the ruins of the temple was also a book that the wizard desired, which he requested from Tristan as an exchange for the information about the sword.[2]
Temple of Primordial Chaos
Tristan and his knights set out across the Central Plains to find the temple that the wizard spoke of. Upon finding the temple, they began sacking it but found many hostile creatures warring within. He and his knights spent one year laying siege to the temple, and even built a makeshift city around it as they delved deeper and deeper. They would disappear for weeks at a time, clearing out the temple in search of the artifacts. Eventually, Tristan emerged with Pellum's desired codex and a great black iron runesword, Maethelgas, bound to him.
Tristan resumed his war against the Gol, slaying their people and leaders. With each death, the sword drank the soul of his slaughtered enemy and grew in power. Tristan defeated his enemies and conquered the vast plains, naming the region Vasloria. His life was unnaturally extended by the power of Maethelgas and he ruled over the region for 300 years. The sword could not be sated and required more souls. Tristan maintained his ceaseless conquest and brought the region's humanoid tribes under his command. He conquered neighboring elves and dwarves, though this was still not enough for his sword.[2]
Betrayal and Defeat
He turned his sights closer to home and turned against his own dukes, feeding their souls to his blade. His knights damned him and entombed him in the crypt he built for his many dead wives. He remained trapped in the crypt for three days, and his knights though the kingdom was free from his reign of terror. In his desperation, he fed his own soul to Maethelgas. The crypt surged with necrotic energy, splitting asunder with Tristan emerging from the rubble of the crypt as the Dead King.
He regained his seat of power and ruled as the King Below, the One Below All, for a decade. Vasloria descended into a nightmarish realm of cruelty and suffering under his new rule. His subjects all lived in fear and were too afraid to oppose him, until two brothers stood stood up against their cruel king.
The brothers Adun and Cavall - one a farmer, the other a soldier - began to preach a new way of life, a life out from under the iron fist of Tristan Vaslor. They spoke of resistance, fighting even in the face of death, against the Dead King. The people of Vasloria began to listen and follow the brothers, who eventually led a congregation to the Dead King's castle to confront him. In the face of certain doom, the brothers prayed, neither seriously considering that they might live, much less prevail. Their prayer worked - a righteous light banished the King Below to the Abyssal Waste. His undead howling faded from the castle walls and his rule was no more. Vasloria at last knew peace.
He served as the right hand of Khorsekef the Infinite, the Ultralich, in the Court of Decay in the Abyssal Waste.[3]
- ↑ Matthew Colville, et al. Kingdoms & Warfare. (MCDM Productions), pp. 157-158.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matthew Colville, et al. Kingdoms & Warfare. (MCDM Productions), pp. 157.
- ↑ Matthew Colville, et al. Kingdoms & Warfare. (MCDM Productions), pp. 158.