Cabdru the Chancellor of the Night, Black Inquisitor of the Charnel Forge

Timeline

Title History

Skill List

PK Statistics

PK Gank-O-Meter

Edit: Chopped comments added.

Immortal Comments

Role

Chapter 1

As predicted, the power of the Eternal Night brought Cabdru more and more
danger, even beyond what he had expected. Rogue Ccul'gra began to hunt Cabdru.
Twisted nightmares of these dread Nightwalkers haunted his sleep. The Dome of
Maethien which entrapped many of the Ccul'gra, he learned, was weakening. If
it were to break, the Ccul'gra would have their way into Thera. It would be
as the day of the Prophecy of the Eternal Night fulfilled, but with one crucial
difference. If the Ccul'gra were able to achieve their crossing without the
aid of the Scions, they would have no reason to treat them any differently than
any of the cattle of Thera. The Scions would lose their opportunity to bargain
and control the Ccul'gra invasion. Such a thing would be a disaster for every
man, woman, and child in Thera, but since it would also be one for the Fold of
the Night, it could not be permitted.

Learning that a dark artifact of the Shadow Plane could be used to repair the
faltering dome, a force of Scions struck deep into the very heart of fallen
Maethien to recover it. Only by using this artifact at the foretold time
could armageddon be prevented. Unfortunately, in their incompetence, the
artifact circlet was embarrasingly lost to a contingent of paladins of the
Fortress. The Scions desperately needed a leader to rally them in this time
of great testing for the Fold of the Night, and Cabdru rose, anointed by the
dark gods to lead as the first Chancellor in generations.

The Dome grew weaker and weaker, and disaster loomed unstoppable. At the
eleventh hour, it was Cabdru himself who struck down the leader of the
troublesome paladins with a single ferocious chop of his axe. Reclaiming
the circlet of flowing shadows, he held it safe from the Theran enemies of
the Midnight Chasm, as well as the attempts of the leader of the rogues, a
powerful greater Ccul'gra named Za'shen'ra.

Realizing his force of Scions would prove too weak to push an assault towards
the Black Dome, Cabdru recruited all of his worst enemies. He knew that they
would not benefit from the breaking of the Dome, and that they would abandon
their various ethical facades to protect it in their own self interest.

So it was that Maran and Imperial, Outland savage and Tribunal alike stood
with the Chancellor of Eternal Night at dark Maethien's gates. Their fear
and need made them Cabdru's pawns. The elves that safeguarded Maethien also
reluctantly joined him. As the Dome began to give way, wave after terrible
wave of rogue Ccul'gra surged at them, numerous as the grains of sand in
Araile herself. Cabdru himself was their target, he and the circlet. Again
and again, the Ccul'gra charged him, heedless of their own safety. Too many
aeons of entrapment had passed. Their hunger for freedom was too great.

It was not enough. Forged and folded a thousand times in the Charnel Forge
and battle, Cabdru was too strong for even Za'shen'ra. Breaking the back of
the Ccul'gra assault, he strode up to the very cracking wall of the Black
Dome and there, wielding the circlet of flowing shadows as his weapon, he
imposed his endless, burning will upon the Dome, making it whole again.

The Dome would weaken again, someday. The Ccul'gra of Maethien would have
another c

Role

Chapter 2

Time passed, and Cabdru subjected himself to greater and greater tests. He
fought greater foes and conspired against more cunning agents of the conspiracy.
At times he was bested or slain, but as the Charnel God taught, he learned from
these failings and was reborn again, harder and stronger.

As his enemies became legion, the obviousness of their parts in the conspiracy
grew more plain as well. Theoretically exclusive groups of his enemies would
fight him as one. Lawmen, Maran, and Battlerager alike abandoned their
supposed ethos to find opportunities to hinder and maul him. The giant took
all these things in stride, interpreting them as evidence that his paranoia
was justified. Needing a way to bring more strength to bear against the
plotters but trusting no one, Cabdru decided to call forth dark powers to
infest a weapon of his choosing. It would reap the souls of the conspirators
and cut them down ever more swiftly. Even with its growing power, he felt
beseiged. For all of that, he found himself entering even the pits of Hell
itself alone, seeking greater and greater adversity to forge himself stronger.

Cabdru asked his patron for help in contacting the Scions of the Eternal Night.
Although even they had occasionally tried to kill him, Cabdru reasoned that a
group with such an obviously insane goal of achieving world domination by a
untrustworthy army other than their own could not possibly be scheming against
him. Their enemies made attempts on Cabdru's life every day. An alliance
made sense.

To his surprise, the Charnel God counseled him against binding himself to the
Fold of the Night. It would make his life harder. Power he would gain, but
enemies and danger more. "And," added the Dread Sculptor, "allies cannot
trust. Bargain seems poor, but can grant it."

Longing, despite his great oppression, for even greater trial to forge him anew
and make him stronger, Cabdru made the bargain with his Lord Muuloc.

It would not be long before he learned more of the allies he could not trust.

Role

Chapter 3

Many of the conspirators came for Cabdru, no doubt wanting to silence his voice
and thoughts so that others would not know the truth. He was too cunning for
them, hacking each down like wheat. Even in defeat, many defied Cabdru and
professed ignorance of the great and hidden design. He respected that. It
was what he would have had his henchmen do if he ruled with fear from the
shadows. That respect would not spare them, however.

As the bodies of the plotters mounted, the disposal of their bodies and other
evidence became a mounting problem. Cabdru hit upon the Charnel God, Muuloc
as a solution. As it turned out, Muuloc desired the bodies of those Cabdru
had slain, and Cabdru desired to be rid of these bodies. It was a match made
in Hell.

Cabdru had long been possessed of a peculiar post-modern fire giantish
philosophy. That is to say, a philosophy grounded in the basic ideas of fire
giant society such as the One Law, but evolved and revised through the many
experiences in which Cabdru saw other fire giants horribly and painfully
butchered. Trial and suffering were the true wellsprings of strength.
Only in pain and true adversity could a person grow stronger. Great hardship
could break a person, but it also could hone their latent might into truer
strength. Sharing this philosophy with a favored priest of the Charnel God,
Cabdru found that this too pleased the Dark God. Desiring the backing of
Muuloc and his support against those of his enemies that had divine patrons
of their own, Cabdru began to preach this word.

The conspiracy was the greatest enemy Cabdru could imagine. It encompassed
thousands of people and creatures, some of which might not even realize who
truly pulled their strings. It was born of incredible cunning and design,
and would someday come to dominate all unless someone stopped it. By
pitting himself against this insurmountable deception and its soldiers,
Cabdru believed he could become the strongest of all.

Role

Chapter 4

Cabdru's speech is more sophisticated than most fire giants. His long years of
curiousity and research into matters that do not usually interest others of his
kind have drastically improved his grasp of the common tongue. That he is a
fire giant comes across in what he says rather than how he says it. He retains
the stereotypical fire giant difficulties with secrecy, and it is not uncommon
to hear him announce to someone he believes is conspiring against him that he
is on to their scheme.

Role

Chapter 5

Conspiracy and intrigue shroud the history of Thera from its origins to present
day. Secret societies hoard hidden magicks and play kings of men as puppets.
Shadowy cults and forbidden guilds rule with fear from the shadows. People
scheme and deceive each other and themselves for a thousand different ends.
With layer built upon layer of plotting and concealment for ages, no one could
possibly make sense of all of it.

Meet a man who thinks he has.

Cabdru always had a limitless curiousity for matters that others considered
settled or uninteresting. Most of the smarter fire giants were content to
learn magic and put it to use setting villages on fire and creating general
mayhem. Cabdru, however, was obsessed with the why. As a boy he had heard
in passing the legend of the Teacher who had brought magic to the fire giants.
Ever since hearing about it he was sought to understand such mysteries, such
matters of history, find out who was behind them, and learn the mystery behind
the Mystery. Because, of course, there always was a mystery behind another.
Since no one he knew had the answers to these kinds of questions, he thought
that they must be great secrets, even though the reality was that the other
fire giants just didn't care.

Leaving his volcano and being exposed to the outside world, he found many
more mysteries, things more alien that he did not understand. His imagination
ran wild and paranoia began to consume him.

Strange Khar-Zhur trees were everywhere, enveloping him in an eerie orange
light, but leaving others unilluminated. It was obvious they were marking him
for arrest and torture by some shadowy group of secret police. The Coven
whose conjuration magic was stolen during the Tailed Star affair clearly was
still out there somewhere, using even more forbidden magic and plotting
horrible things. The Blood Tribunal was on the take, allowing many citizens
of their cities to be cut down without interference. Wild men in the woods
sought to sacrifice simple fire giants such as himself to their dark and
ancient gods, then throw others off the scent of their true plan by also
butchering dwarves and starting fires. A mighty Empire only sent out two
soldiers at a time to secure territory, obviously because the puppet masters
that pulled their strings didn't really want that territory conquered.
The game was afoot, the fix was in, and everyone was in on it.

There was only one way to get to stay alive and get to the bottom of things.
Killing would solve all the problems. He would need to grab some of the
conspirators, force whatever information he could from them, and then dispose
of the bodies so as not to scare off others. He would need a place to put a
lot of bodies and perhaps a small group of conspirators of his own. Someone
would need to watch the watchers, and they would need to watch them with axes.