The History of Lord Vermillion

The most infamous of mages in modern times was known variously as Lord Vermillion, Red Love, Master of the Crimson Counsel, or King of the Nightlands. Many have theorized that he was some sort of powerful vampire, a cleverly illusioned Lich, or even the bastard child of Mordeck, Lord of Death, yet who or what he truly was remains unknown. It is said that during the Zatarian Rebellion a beautiful, pale skinned man clothed all in red sailed out of the Sarylis Ocean during a moonless night on a crewless ship into the port of Dorchester. Duke Antton Orsha was an ambitious man but fearful of his rivals, so when the stranger offered him promises of armies and power, they were quickly accepted. That night a great mist flowed from the palace gates, in which the dead walked. The buried clawed their way up out of the graveyards, while the drowned rose from the bay and all silently stumbled back to their one time homes to embrace those now dwelling there. When dawn came, the Duke had his armies – legions of the undead created from his own slaughtered people. Furious at what he felt to be a total betrayal, the duke attacked the pale stranger himself, but to no avail. Before that day ended, the duke joined this new army as an undead general bound to Lord Vermillion’s will.
With his new legions, Lord Vermillion struck at neighboring baronies, counties and duchies. As soldiers went, his undead were poor warriors: uncreative, inflexible and slow. But they were relentless, with no concern for casualties, food, disease or sleep. For every man, woman or child they killed, a new creature joined their ranks, as every land they conquered was harvested for more bodies to serve in his armies.
Lord Vermillion had other powers as well. In the wake of his armies, came a darkness that clung to the land and swallowed the sun. The cold eyes of the stars looked down day and night. Plants weakened and grew pallid, sprouting mold and fungi in abundance. His kingdom, which grew to swallow entirely the broad swath of land between the Forge Mountains and Sarylis Ocean, became known as the Nightlands. The most sinister of night creatures stalked the land, freed from the fear of sunlight. Depraved cults of murder and death found comfort in the darkness, swelling the ranks of his courtiers. The most cunning and powerful of these beings, he drew into his inner circle: The Crimson Counsel. Counselors could be used to carry out tasks, such as diplomacy and intrigue, which his undead minions could not.
Conquest was only a means, rather than an end to Lord Vermillion’s goals. He conquered for unlimited access to raw materials and freedom to pursue his plans, not a desire for worldly power. One such endeavor was the creation of a palace, crafted entirely from the bodies of his enemies, which would focus magic of immense power. Its exact purpose was a mystery, but deeply feared by those who knew of it. Slowly the palace rose at the heart of his black kingdom, damp and rotting, constructed by those he conquered and built with the raw materials of their own kin.
However, before his nefarious purpose could be realized, Lord Vermillion was slain by the great hero of the Empire, Gordan Verlis. Earlier in the year, Lord Vermillion had enchanted Gordan’s daughter Theresa to make her his queen (as immortalized in the epic poem Red Love’s Death). Not content with his simple death, Gordan reduced the usurper’s body to ashes which were then spread to the farthest corners of the realm and beyond. Every piece of his handiwork—his incomplete palace, his laboratories, his experiments, his notes and his legions—was destroyed.
Slowly the cursed ground regrew, but the seat of his power, the former port of Dorchester, remains twisted and barren to this day. Now known as the Veil of the lost, there are stories that the spirits of those slain by Lord Vermillion that first night still rise every sunset to reenact the slaughter. Shunned by man, the rest of his former kingdom has become overrun by miasmal swamps and pestilent jungles.
There are persistent rumors that a few bits and pieces of Lord Vermillion’s handiwork managed to escape Gordan’s wrath, mostly scraps of his notebooks. Filled with crabbed notes and strange diagrams, these sheets are more precious than life itself to some necromancers, even though the brittle parchments seem to possess no magical powers themselves. The writings are filled with mad genius that guide and direct research into undiscovered new areas. Those who use these notes almost always create spells of great power, but more than a few of these researchers have also gone mad, making these relics a dubious possession. It is whispered that some of these scraps also contain a prophesy of several signs foretelling Lord Vermillion’s return.
Every decade or so, another necromancer goes “ash-hunting” for Lord Vermillion’s remains. Most never reappear, some return broken and terrified, but a few come back triumphant—and crazed. Certain that they are destined to regain his lost glory, they normally only succeed in wild, reckless displays of power that hasten their own destruction.