Archon


TBD


Soraya has no set appearance, not truly. It's not uncommon for her to drastically change her appearance on a day to day basis. No one alive knows what her original appearance is; even she herself has forgotten it over the centuries she’s been alive. Despite constantly changing how she looks, Soraya does seem to have three looks that are currently her favorite.



Soraya’s main drive is to stave off the boredom that comes after living for as long as she has. This has caused many to see her as a capricious entity, although in reality she’s rather benevolent. She has a strong sense of curiosity that can be a great source of motivation and means of influencing her actions. She has a love of playing pranks on others, especially powerful entities such as exarchs and other archons.


Soraya’s earliest memory is when her father gave her a coin and told her to buy something from the village merchant. The five year old had never liked the appearance of gold, thus she wished that the coin she had been given was silver instead. When she handed the coin to the merchant he made an odd face and said “Sorry lass, looks like this coin is mostly silver”. Those words convinced the five year old that she had somehow changed the coin. This conviction only grew in time and with it a power was born.

She used this fledgling power to help those in her village. She repaired tools and strengthened them with her mind. Seeing these feats convinced the villagers that she could do even more, thus enabling her to do so.

As she grew into a teenager a thought occurred to her: if she could change objects around her how much easier would it be to change herself? At first she tried minor things, such as shrinking her nose that she had always felt was too large or changing her hair color. Eventually she found that she could change her appearance even more, doing so to meet her own standards of beauty. As she grew older she found that she could revert her body to its previous youth with ease.

By the time she had seen a hundred summers she had become known near and far as quite the eccentric being. Simply living life had long ago lost its novelty, thus she had turned to experimenting with and expanding her powers. She learned how to change the forms of living beings and even how to heal wounds, for a time roaming from village to village to heal wounds and remove scars. When that grew dull she turned her attention to changing animals into entirely different things.

For fifty years she struggled with her new goal, rarely making any real progress. It was then that Izalith whispered into Soraya’s ear, promising her more knowledge and entertainment if she bent the knee. It took Soraya but a moment to make her decision. One hundred and fifty more summers passed and with them Soraya created the kelpies and selkies, thus bringing that chapter of her life to a close.



Soraya’s Shroud: Originally a simple and mundane silver ring, this relic has been altered by Soraya on such a level that it no longer has a true form. Instead it will automatically change into whatever type of clothing its wearer desires. It is said that, due to being in her presence for centuries, Soraya’s Shroud has gained some of her power and would allow wearers to shapeshift into other humans, even if they possess no magical abilities.

The Obsidian Dagger: Said to have been given to Soraya as a gift from the night mother, the Obsidian Dagger does not cause injuries. Instead, when someone is stabbed by the Obsidian Dagger, they are turned into stone. Only those of incredible will or magical prowess are able to revert back into flesh and only after some time has passed.


Soraya doesn’t truly have a dedicated mount, finding one to be redundant given that she can simply shapeshift into an eagle, horse, or any other creature. She is known, however, to shapeshift her servants into giant eagles or unicorns from time to time when she feels like actually riding something. She is also known to ride normal horses or use transmutation to modify other existing animals and use them as mounts.


The Art of Transmutation

Transmutation is the art of changing oneself and one’s environment to fit one’s desire. It is divided into three separate schools: shapeshifting, environmental transmutation, and creature transmutation.

The school of shapeshifting is as it sounds. It involves using magic to change one’s own shape. In its simplest form it allows an individual to change from one species to another. More adept practitioners can use it to change single features of themselves, such as their facial features, giving themselves features they didn’t have such as wings, or healing wounds they have.

Environmental transmutation is the school that revolves around changing inanimate objects in one’s vacinity. A practitioner of this school can change iron into steel, or even gold if they are skilled enough. Commonly they are asked to enhance the properties of armor and weapons, but truly skilled practitioners can create a fortress from a mountain.

Creature transmutation is the school of bending other animals to meet one’s desire. This is by far the hardest, yet most rewarding, school. The most common example of this school is healing other creatures, but truly skilled practitioners can turn humans into sheep.


Given that she created a completely new form of magic, it goes without saying that Soraya is an incredibly skilled magician. She can shapeshift herself with a mere thought and changing objects and animals in her vicinity comes with ease as well. While not nearly as skilled in other schools of magic, she has dabbled in them, giving her a very large magical repertoire.

Soraya is quite skilled in unarmed combat and fighting in a variety of animal forms. Having said that she is lackluster at best when using a weapon and is far more dangerous unarmed.

Over many years she has become an incredibly skilled actress, able to mimic others with ease. Coupled with her shapeshifting abilities her acting skills allow her to fool even the most observant of individuals. All the better for pranking them…

^{"I understand. Illyrica is your home, and Lady Izalith your queen. Your trade was good, and you were taken care of. Your Exarchs defended you, and the Archons ruled you justly. You did not need my patronage. But now, you come to me and say, 'My Archon, give me strength, give me power.' But you don't offer piety. You don't ask on your knees. You don't even think to call me Great-Father. Instead, you stand before my throne and demand my favor."}
Kuth Irkalla
Archon of Blood
Great-Father, the Dragon in the East, Lord of Sheol, the Red Worm, King of Thieves and Whores
Archon
TBD
Kuth seems to many like a man from another world, so uncanny is his appearance. A long, tapering head, his features presenting an exotic beauty. His slanting eyes are crimson red, their gaze ancient and brooding. His form is slender, yet wiry; lithe and predatory like a hungry wolf. His flesh is the color of bleached bone, and his long, flowing hair is the color of pure snow. His unnatural coloration resulted from his unholy communion of the Dark Ones, which corrupted his form and prolonged his life well beyond mortal means. His garb of choice is usually obsidian armor or ebony robes, both of which fashioned to designs no longer found in this world.



Kuth strikes many as a man out of time, his moods and actions out of place among the other Archons, Exarchs and other rulers. Most view him as little more than a vicious tyrant, ruthlessly disposing of those that oppose him, and crushing any resistance to his rule. Those that know him more personally understand that he abides by a personal code of honor, though it is alien and antiquated enough to be almost inscrutable by the standards of this era. While on the surface he appears flighty and mercurial, this masks a tenacity that would rival that of a starving hound. He delights in dark decadence and long-planned revenge in equal measures, and generously shares the pleasures of either with his confidants. A shrewd manipulator and a cunning deceiver, it is a dangerous thing to assume Kuth's intentions, as one almost assuredly only thinks what he wants them to think. Despite his evil reputation, Kuth values loyalty above all else, greatly treasuring those of his blood, and those who have spilled blood in fealty to him.

Nothing less than the complete domination of Illyrica is Kuth's goal, and he fully intends to usurp Izalith and depose the other Archons in doing so. Whether the Mother Night herself knows of his intentions is debatable, but this does not so much as give him pause. Already Kuth's influence seeps into the mainland like a poison, his unholy brood and clandestine agents positioning themselves in noble courts and positions of power.
Sheol, also known as the Black Isle, is a large island that sits across the waters of the Dragonthroat from Nachesh. Before the Disjunction, it was home to a small nation of sorcerers and warlocks who worshiped the Ancient Ones and performed dark rites and rituals in their names. As the War of the Heavens wrought destruction across the world, the small magocracy that thrived on Sheol was utterly destroyed, leaving behind nothing but the ruins of their obsidian temples and palaces, and a small colony of the Ancient Ones' vile brood. It was thought by all that the native peoples of Sheol had been made extinct, but in truth, a single man survived.

Kuth Irkalla tells little of past prior to the Disjunction, explaining vaguely that he was a lesser noble, a warlock that served in the court of one of Sheol's sorcerer-lords. In the centuries between the fall of his people and his own rise to power, he lived as a savage in the wasted ruins of his homeland. He practiced foul and forbidden magics to ward away spirits and demons, and drank the blood of the Dark Ones that remained from the War to extend his own life in absence of his people's curative elixirs. These desperate measures corrupted Kuth's very flesh, turning his form bone-white and turning him into a creature less than human. So twisted was he that food could no longer sustain him, and he was forced to subsist on the warm blood of living creatures.

In time, civilizations rebounded and people returned to Sheol. First explorers, then settlers, then merchants and traders, and finally outlaws and fugitives. Outside of the influence of the then-fledgling empires, Sheol became a haven for pirates, smugglers, and all manner of other scoundrels. Organized crime flourished like a weed in Sheol's ports and shipyards, and before long the island had become a pseudo-nation of thieves and killers. Kuth did not lament this development, as he saw it as little more than human nature in its purest form. Though he had forsaken the Ancient Ones as gods, Kuth still adhered to their malevolent ways, and sought to take back Sheol for himself.

Court politics in Old Sheol taught Kuth much of how to gain power and influence, and the self-described lords of New Sheol were ill-prepared for the level of violence and barbarity he was willing to demonstrate. Killing his rivals and taking their assets for his own was practically his first course of action. However, to curry favor one must give as well as take, and in seeing the people of Sheol as his kin and his ward, Kuth founded the reputation of the "Great-Father," the secretive crime-lord who could grant nearly any desire, but often at a terrible price. Under his watchful eye and swift hand Sheol grew into a small yet burgeoning empire in its own right; one that attracted the attention of the Mother Night, Izalith.

When the mighty armies of Illyrica came to port on Sheol, they met no resistance. Their soldiers were welcomed with women and drink, and Izalith and her Archons were invited to treat with the island's lord. The man they met was merely a puppet ruler hastily instated by Kuth, and served as a front as the Great-Father made his own demands. Wise Izalith saw through this guise with ease, but indulged Kuth by continuing to parlay with Kuth through this proxy. The "lord's" demands were easily met, as he would swear fealty to Illyrica and the Mother Night, meeting her needs for men or coin when asked, in exchange for Sheol's complete autonomy and its Archon's unquestioned authority. The puppet was granted the title of Archon for the brief months that he was alive to bear it, and after an unsurprisingly quick coup, the Great-Father ruled the Black Isle in earnest.

Though little had changed beyond a crown being placed upon his brow, Kuth now wielded the power of an Archon through the Mother Night's favor and the legend of the Great-Father. Determined to shape his home into a true nation, he founded the order known as the Coven. Equal parts crime syndicate and secret police, the Coven's innermost ranks were formed by Kuth's dozens of offspring, which he had imbued with both a portion of his unnatural power and his cursed blood. Generations of descendants formed the bulk of the order, who infiltrated every port, city, gang, business, and criminal enterprise on Sheol. Any organization that was host to the Coven was under the Great-Father's "personal" protection, but was forced to pay tribute. Thieves paid in coin, slavers in flesh, and any who refused were purged. Particularly loyal supplicants could undertake a covenant of blood, and become members of the Coven themselves.

Sheol was as much a den of sin and lawlessness as ever before, but now under the direct and utterly legal control of the Great-Father. The foulness of Sheol was hardly contained to only it, and crime often spread to coast of Nachesh like a dark stain. Similarly, Kuth's influence hardly stopped within his own borders, and both members of his Coven and other agents under his control lurked within the domains of other Archons, as well as Lesmiana. To say that this corruption was tolerated by Kuth's fellow Archons and lesser Exarchs would be a dramatic overstatement, and many have made attempts to depose Kuth or otherwise restrict his influence. He has reacted to such attempts with a swiftness and ferocity that few are prepared for, and a handful of Exarchs have "abdicated" by his order. There have even been occasions when other Archons have had their noses blooded, both figuratively and literally, after attempting to infringe upon his enterprises.

TBD
Though Kuth will most usually travel by more inconspicuous means, when riding to battle or making a show of force, he takes up the reigns of Apollyon, his undead draconic steed. While Apollyon's physical form is comprised of the bones of an ancient dragon lord, the creature is truly a chaotic spirit that has been summoned and enslaved by Kuth, and bound to the dragon's bones. A powerful magical entity in her own right, Apollyon is capable of magic-induced flight, and can conjure powerful curses and poisons to destroy the foes of her master slowly and painfully. While she is intelligent, prideful, and utterly malevolent, Apollyon has something of an obscene infatuation with Kuth, and eagerly submits to his demands.


The discipline formed by Kuth's status as an Archon is known by several names: blood magic, hemomancy, sanguimancy, and so on. These titles are largely descriptive, as the discipline focuses on the manipulation of blood, flesh, and bone. Most who wield it are born with their powers, as it is most common among Kuth's direct descendants, but it can also be granted to outsiders that join the Coven. The only other practitioners are the small priesthood that exists on Sheol, who use its powers to heal members of their congregation and to venerate their Archon. Blood Magic can be used to many ends, including raising mindless undead servants, inducing rapid decay, creating structures of biological matter, mending wounds or curing disease, and siphoning away the strength and vital energies of others. More powerful practitioners, such as those in Kuth's inner circle, can induce entropy in inorganic matter, turn flesh to ash, and take hold of living matter to turn their enemies into fleshy puppets.


Kuth has been an accomplished magician for centuries, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from his considerable lifespan. He masterfully commands such primordial forces as darkness and chaos to tear apart his enemies or imbue himself with unnatural power. Raising the dead is child's play for him, and he is no stranger to summoning and binding spiritual entities from realms unseen. Magics of the mind are also well within his domain, as he has been known to read thoughts, dominate the weak-willed, and peer through space and time to spy on his enemies and learn forgotten secrets.

Even without his mystic powers, Kuth is a master of deception and manipulation. Adept in playing the emotions and motivations of others to suit his needs like so many stringed musical instruments, he is often embroiled in several staggeringly complex plots at any given time. Lending to his skill in politicking is his considerable knowledge of history and economics, which he has brought to bear in developing Sheol as a province of the Empire.

While he has some knowledge of swordsmanship and fencing, Kuth was never much of a warrior, and his skill in arms is rudimentary at best. A common man would still have nearly no chance of overcoming him in hand-to-hand combat, however, as his body is so imbued with mystic power that his strength and speed are both inhuman.

Kabius Grim

Titles

Archon of Shadow, Old Man Grim, The Elusive Shadow, The Unseen Hand, Master of Shadows

Race

Umbreal

Rivalries & Friendships

(TBA)

Appearance: Kibius stands at a solid five feet and nine inches while weighing roughly 180 pounds. His face is bold and severe, giving him an air of noble stature with a face that rarely smiles. This serious demeanor with his uncanny appearance gives him an intimidating presence despite his short height to other Archons. His figure being lean despite not being very tall (in fact, considered "small"), has a compact and strongly built body type with defined musculature. He is also possessed of a worn face that only shows a few signs of age, with high brows, and striking pure white eyes that glow with inhuman power. His skin his nearly obsidian black, with white tattoos in a bizarre zig-zag pattern on the left side of his neck. These arcane tattoos stretch across his whole body focused on his back and left arm. These often glow very faintly, and even more strangely they sometimes fade completely from sight.

Personality and Drive: Kabius is an astute man of refined tastes, who is possessed of a ruthlessly pragmatic mind. Always calm and in control, Kabius enjoys flaunting his unique position under Mother Night and is proud of the fact that from Archons to noble houses, all come to him for aid or knowledge. Even as they wisely mistrust him due to his position of spymaster and personal assassin too Izalith. In the Empire of Illyrica, intrigue and double-dealing are a way of life, and no one plays them better than Kabius. Kabius is only alive when he is with friends, and when he is taking risks. He has an "insatiable curiosity and a desire to know — everything." This curiosity makes him antsy when he remains stuck in one place too long and drives his quest for personal exploration.

He has a very charismatic personality, surprising to some who judge him at face value, and is always willing to talk his way out of situations rather than resort to force of arms. Moreover, talking is what Kabius does best. His words easily work past the handicap of his mistresses evil reputation, able to turn potential enemies into allies. He loves irony, sarcasm, and wit. He is a shrewd manipulator and a brilliant tactician who is seemingly often prepared for any imaginable or unimaginable circumstances. Kabius's lieutenant Electra Morou notes a profound understanding of Kabius's personality. She recognizes that his feigning of weakness and sometimes foolish-seeming attitude is an elegant facade, underneath which lay a frighteningly intelligent mind.

History: As one of the first Archons to join Izalith, alongside his counterpart the current Archon of War, much of Kabius's origins is shrouded in mystery. He is a man of few words at best and never speaks of himself. The truth of his beginnings starts some three centuries prior to the birth of Illyrica as it is in present day. It was in the dark and ruined world following the disjunction and the chaotic War in the Heavens that Kabius was born to a small community that had thus far survived the devastation. His people learned well to hide and remain out of sight of the maraderuing vilespawn that traveled openly in those days. His people were the remains of a long forgotten kingdom brought to dust by the hordes of the Ancient Ones.

They were the last of the Umberan’s of the Kingdom of Umbra, known as the Shadowlands. They were masters of illusion magic and sorcery that entrapped the mind. These arts were used by a small group of surviving sorceresses to avoid following the doom of their kingdom as a whole. Through a combination of cunning architecture and more magical means, this small community of settlements began to eke out a life of survival if not thriving in the new world born by the Disjunction. Here Kabius learned first hand of the dangers that stalked the lands, personally taught the arts of illusion magic by his mother. A powerful shadowbinder and the most gifted in the art among her fellow Umberans.

Kabius proved a fast study, born of both talent and a brilliant mind that was equal only to his vast curiosity. It was one fateful day that his village’s luck had run dry, and was finally found by a band of Vilespawn. Knowing their doom his mother quickly told her then young son to hide saying, “Hide as I have taught you and they shall never see you.”

So it was with fear and heartache that the young Kabius hide beneath a hidden cellar while the town fended for themselves. All night and a day he hid, fearing being caught and dragged from his hole at last. However, he was not found and he waited a day and a night in total, long after the sounds of slaughter had ended before he dared to exit his place of hiding. What he witnessed had him lose what little food remained in his stomach at the sight of the horrors visited upon his people. He saw the desecrated corpses of his father and two sisters. The bodies of his younger brother and mother were nowhere to be found, but so distraught was he could not summon the willpower to look for them, fearing what he might find.

He wondered into the wastes without purpose, perhaps hoping to die himself. He collapsed and came to find himself in the care of another group of Umberan’s who had happened upon him. As he was neutered back to health sorrow made way to hatred. It was at that time Kabius vowed to never again allow such a disaster happen again to his people. Strength resorted Kabius threw himself into the arts of magic and learned to wield the innate magic of his people. He soon grew into a talented young mage and set about his own personal war against the vilespawn. Over the years he hunted down roving groups of vilespawn. Killing larger groups one by one, mastering the art of deception and illusions. He slowly began to make a name for himself among his own people and beyond.

Many whispered of the shadow that stalked the lands killing any vilespawn it found. Even the vilespawn themselves began to know fear and only talked of this figure in hushed whispers. Soon others began to be inspired by these tales, and soon Kabius had started a small following. He decided to train these men and women willing to defend their people against the creatures who would see them destroyed. His shadow war against the beasts was, in fact, one of the driving forces that lead to many of the vilespawn breeds being pushed into the dark places of the world or in the west that remained beyond Kabius’s reach. It was not long before ‘Old Man Grim’ was something of a legend. It would be centuries of these shadow war before the efforts of Kabius had finally almost single-handedly thinned the numbers of vilespawn in the heartlands of east Nachesh. His reputation soon led him to soon be sought out by Izalith before she had gained the name Mother Night. She confided in him that all his efforts would soon be for naught. As the day was fast approaching for the first Long Night. When the prison of Azueral would block out the face of Kammeth and shadow the world in darkness. Bringing a new age of doom with the emboldening and empowering of all vilespawn.

So with the aid of the Archon of War Kabius acquired the relics of power needed by Izalith to summon a spell that would shield the world from Azueral’s power. He succeeded in the end and thus was born Mother Night. As a reward for his services, Kabius would enjoy a position as Mother Night's most trusted agent. Freed from the worries of administration and bureaucracy Kabius has played the role as assassin and spymaster to Mother Night since the birth of the empire. Many are the would be exarch or even Archon who has been laid low by his hand, oftentimes personally.

Armaments

Claw of Shades
A weapon of potent magic power that was once wielded by a powerful vilespawn lord known as a Harbinger. Kabius bested this creature and took the weapon for himself. It is a terrifying weapon that is dangerous not only to those it is used against but also to the wielder. The weapon harbors some of the essences of its master. Making it a sentient artifact with powers that allow it to create ash and smoke at will and cut through any mundane armor; strong of will and possessed of arrogance. The sword can also intrude on the bearer's thoughts, turning them in dark and violence-inclined directions. Anyone who touches the blade or the handle of this sword unprotected would need to compete with it in a battle of wills. Failure means it will burn the flesh and skin of the wielder's head away. This ability is rarely used by Kabius, as it would require prolonged contact with the victim. Without defeating the blade in a battle of wills, the only way a person can safely use this item is by covering their hand with an enchanted gauntlet. This would keep the hostile will at bay. Kabius has long since dominated the will of the sword, firmly establishing the position of master and servant. No mean feat in its own right and reveals a will unmatched by most beings save Archons and the rare Exarch. Upon being willed by its wielder, the sword can leave trails of ash in the air, creating temporary opaque walls to give an edge in battle. It can also produce a strange black glow to act as a light in the darkness — though only its wielder can see it. It also makes its wielder invisible to magical sight oft possessed by Vilespawn. The sword is also enchanted so that even a small nick or cut can eventually prove fatal, as the wound will fester and eventually poison the victim if not healed with magic or treated.

Shadows Bite
This obsidian dagger of pure ebony black is Kabius's signature weapon as an assassin. It is among his most recognized, and in fact most feared weapons in his arsenal. A gift offered to him by Mother Night herself the dagger’s power is a truly malice one indeed. Those pierced by this weapon have their life force slowly drained by the magic contained within. Slowly empowering the wielder, healing wounds, closing cuts, and even adding the victim's years and life force to his own.

Coat of Ethereal Wind
This silvery-gray coat seems to absorb light rather than be illuminated by it. An oddity of this long coat worn by Kabius is that it comes from an era long forgotten judging from its design. None are quite sure where he obtained it, but it is among his most trademark pieces of attire. It is also a rare item among relics, in that it was never enchanted with magic itself. But long association with the master of shadow has caused it to gain infamy in its own right. Granting it a few powers on its own without the aid of magic enchanting. Kabius is able to will the coat to part and transform into a pair of bat wings that allow him to fly. On command, the coat also makes its wearer ethereal, a power that can enact itself once a day when the wearer is in danger. The effect is dismissible. The cloak works for a total of up to 10 minutes per day.

Mount

This black steed of midnight black is a creature born from a nightmare. A gift given to a very rare and select few, a shadowmare is a sure sign of great favor from Mother Night. There is little known about these rare creatures for only a handful are said to exist. It is theorized shadowmare’s are originally normal horses that had been touched from Beyond and corrupted into the present form. Others believe they are in fact created purely from Izaliths magic though none can confirm. In any case, the one owned by the Archon of Shadow, called Masquerade, is a fine specimen indeed. Though he rarely rides the beast for he rarely has need of it. However, as a partly ethereal creature of shadow and night. It is capable of running over water, riding through nonliving objects, and is said to never tire. As it is fearless beast it is the perfect beast of war, and while the Archon of Shadow has little reason to ride along with the legions of Mother Night, Kabius is quite fond of it.

Discipline

Kibius Grim is the progenitor of the Shadow Dance art of magic that allows the manipulation and obfuscation of sight, deceiving the mind of others, or making them ignore what the user doesn't want to be seen. Shadowdancers use arcane magic to harness the power of shadow that stems from the Archon of Shadow. Always existing in the place where light and darkness met, shadowdancers were enigmatic and dangerous. Despite the connotations between darkness and evil, many shadowdancers toe the gray line. Shadowdancers need to drew upon the power of the shadows runs the risk of slowly losing themselves into what is called the 'fad.' In by which one who abuses this discipline slowly starts to lose parts of themselves to a creeping darkness. Still, this cost grants them the ability to hide that is extraordinarily potent. As a shadowdancer becomes more experienced, they can learn to command the shadows to do their bidding.

Abilities

Kabius is perhaps the greatest master of illusion and shadow magic to have lived. His powers to manipulate and summon spells of shadow and darkness allows him a degree of flexibility beyond mortal men. He is a tactical master, taking every advantage offered him and seeking to create more. His brilliant mind combined with centuries of experience makes him a truly deadly opponent. As he has spent years learning as much has possible of every Archon to the lowest noble with the aid of his vast spy network of shadowdancers. It is often said there is no whispered in shadows not soon learned by the Old man himself.

If ever in a conflict he relies on the obscuring power of shadows to conceal his approach. His mastery allows him to use them to move faster than a human possibly can, all without making a sound. Furthermore, over the centuries of service, Kabius has gained considerable experience in weaponry, allowing him to wield nearly any weapon with ease and lethal efficiency. That said, Kabius specializes in a two-weapon fighting style with the use of a dagger and a sword, with few able to equal him in martial skill save the current Archon of War. He generally wields his obsidian ebony dagger as a main-gauche in his left hand with the Claw of Shades in his right. However, his true power has always been in the gaining and selling of information. Due to his contacts, there are few events that can transpire within the Empire not soon learned by the Archon of Shadow.