Interrupting my regular posting due to special demand, a look at Dahlvier the lich who rules a patch of land on the western fringe of the Fellreeve.
Welcome back David, I hope you will like this one.
Born in -34 CY as Illart the son of Ehldard of Dahlvier, a minor lord of the lands in the far north which would become the Horned Lands. At the time it was lands rediscovered and settled after the great cold, and Illart's ancestors along with many others of the south had moved north as the world warmed up again in the centuries before the migrations.
Ehldard was like all humans around here at the time, of Flan descent. This took on a whole new meaning when the first Oeridians arrived when Illart was a child. In the beginning the new folks where greeted warmly but soon the old way of the Flan was questioned and young Illart saw his father become torn between the old ways and the new, eventually siding with the Oeridians. This caused lots of conflict with friends and family and in being a rebellious youngster Illart took the other side in this conflict. Young Illart could not have known that this would determine his existence for centuries to come.
The hardening conflict between the old elites of the Flan and the new Oeridian rulers in the south and east would soon start to spill over even up here. First by a wave of Flan fleeing the new order in the south, using the remoteness of the north as a safe haven, later the first Aerdy coming to conquer even these remote lands. The folks here, though few in numbers, but hardened by a tough life were determined to keep their freedom. Illart's rebellion against his father took a new turn when he defeated him in combat, the year was 5 CY and Illart was now Lord Dahlvier, the ruler of a sizable patch of land west of the Fellreev.
His dad had taken over an elven settlement, it is unclear how that happened, now it became abode of the new Lord Dahlvier who rose to become a capable lord in his own right. At first he had started out by becoming a force on the battlefield and already showing a talent for politics. He amassed a sizable hird of followers, and then became one of the early hierarchs of the Horned Society. A position that taught him the arcane arts and made him cling on to existence beyond his mortal years.
Already while still being a mortal man he treated his enemies with utmost cruelty while still treated his allies and followers with respect. This made him rise to power fast and soon he was one of the major rulers of the area, and for a time had a near permanent base in Molag leading the fight against the expanding Great Kingdom. His methods of treating his victims was notorious and something lord Dahlvier used for his new personal heraldry. He never used his family's old shield and no surviving copy or sketch of it exists. The new Lord who had no mercy for traitors like his father, it is strange why he choose a title used by his enemies.
Lord Dahlvier played a key part in running the Horned Society until a surprising development started. The lands of Ferrond, no longer beholden to Rauxes, begun a campaign to rid themselves of Hextorian influence. The expelled soon became another group of outcasts who sought a new home in the lands north of Oeridian control. Both the Bandit Kingdoms and Horned Society recognized talent when they saw it and welcomed a group who were both well organized and at home on the battlefield.
The new arrivals brought a previously unseen infernal bent the the Horned Lands, and Dahlvier who had delt with these folks before wanted none of it. Instead of outright confrontation he embraced the powers of his pact with Nerull, time, he was no longer a young mortal, he could wait out his enemies. So he retreated to his hold on the edge of the Fellreev, bided his time by carefully curate his following. He lashed out occasionally raiding neighbors who he felt was getting too close, or too powerful. Making sure they all feared him, and Nerull must have been pleased for his reputation increased with the horrors he inflicted.
Count Dahlvier seems to combine patients, rage and strategy which have kept him in politics for over five centuries. He has mentored such talents as Lerrek who has become rulers in their own right, just like he learned from the likes of Warduke in his rise to power. Lord Dahlvier saw the rise of a new upstart in the north Iuz became a force of the region. He never seemed to have liked him, or even met him. Maybe the inactivity has made Dahlvier soft, who knows. Is he the next player to enter the political stage again, or is he a force of the past to be added to the history books, no one seems to be sure.
I hope you like my take on Dahlvier, the lich of the Fellreev. For my games I always feel the need to give villains a backstory and a place in the world, to give me things like motivations, capabilities and quirks. Then with all that in mind I set out to develop the stats. Haven't gotten to that with Dahlvier yet, the characters haven't confronted him. In time that might happen.
