"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."N A M E
Kuth Irkalla
T I T L E S
Archon of BloodGreat-Father, the Dragon in the East, Lord of Sheol, the Red Worm, King of Thieves and Whores
T Y P E
Archon
R I V A L
TBD
A P P E A R A N C E
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.
P E R S O N A L I T Y // D R I V E
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.
H I S T O R Y
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.
A R M A M E N T S
TBD
M O U N T
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.
D I S C I P L I N E
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.
A B I L I T I E S
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.
Nightwing95
