Sabeth the Beast King

Sabeth Sussuri was a human/Yuan-ti hybrid, and one of the five Heralds tasked with defending the High World from the Khor Agul. His parents were a cult of lizardfolk witches known as the Sappientes Sussuri, who rapidly bred with other species in order to create a "perfect child". Sabeth was the only one that was successful, but was abandoned and mind wiped upon teenagehood for unknown reasons. For the next century, Sabeth lived alone in the High World until he met Lord Baltair and aided him in building the High World. While initially feeling alone, the Dragonborn Civil War helped bolster his reputation and send showers of praise upon him before becoming a Herald. 
When Baltair was exiled, he was given an orb by Myslevian that showed him his past and other visions of potential futures. One of these visions showed his death by the hands of the Vindicated, and so he hunted down the Vindicated to ensure not only his survival, but the stability of the natural world itself. Despite his best efforts, he was inevitably slain by the High World Guardians in town of Hamartia, laying his anxiety to rest as nature was left to fend for itself.
== History ==
=== The Sapientes Sussuri ===
After the gods left the world and what would have eventually become the High World was created, there was a period where no civilization was founded upon the land. Beings from the Feywild would visit to do their Fey things, and soon their visits would bring with them animals that then inhabited the High World. Still, the High World was a barren, fogridden wasteland that had nothing to offer. 
But with it's vacancy came opportunity for several small parties; one of which being the Sapientes Sussuri. The Sapientes Sussuri was a cult of Yuan-Ti witches that believed they could breed the perfect specimen. They believed creating a perfect child would lead to a great hero, but their reasons for doing so was unknown. Regardless, they would subject themselves to breeding with any living being with sexual organs, and would birth multiple children within months due to the fastened pregnancy state of lizardfolk. One of these beings was a stranded human traveler, and the child bore from his participation was already different from the rest. For one, the baby didn't die within it's first few hours or week of existence, and so it already showed signs of strength and healthiness. The child did have another trait that shocked the Sapientes Sussuri, which was an innate kinship with wildlife that was done so effortlessly it put most well-trained druids to shame. 
The child was named Sabeth, and for a good many years he was treated with undying love and effection. He was taught their tongue, their magic, and even had brief travels to the Feywild in order to further build the child's mind with magical knowledge and expertise. But when Sabeth turned fourteen, the Sapientes Sussuri wiped his memory and left their supposed perfect child by himself on this unknown world. Legends say that the confused, scared Sabeth wept so loud and so hard that the animals of the land embraced him in a unanimous hug to soothe his despair.
=== Meeting Lord Baltair ===
For the rest of Sabeth's time on the High World, he traveled in search of not only other animals to connect with, but any other people that'd be around. Despite not knowing his past, Sabeth felt he was missing human interaction that was once there, and so he was confused and depressed about who he was and what he used to be. Due to a ritual his mothers cast upon him, he was gifted a long life, and as such he outlived countless animal friends and companions he made throughout the years. To him death was a reoccurance that he could never understand, and he became fearful too that one day he would die out of nowhere. But this fear propelled him to keep his animal companions safe amidst whatever the world threw at them, uttering a mantra he would internalize for the many years to come. From then on he began regularly documenting all of his thoughts and feelings into journals, going through tens of thousands as he observed all and felt everything.
The only person that Sabeth talked to in the early days of a barren High World was a mysterious celestial donning a velvet red hood and cloak. She didn't talk much and avoided Sabeth out of fear and uncertainty, but from what the animals told him she was a benovelent spirit grieving after the scourge of the gods. Sabeth didn't need anyone but his animal companions however, for his greatest treasure was the basilisk Greta. Both have been together as long as either have been alive, and the many many years spent hunting and gathering deepened their bond and enriched their conversations.
When he became a century old, a lone wanderer known as Baltair entered the High World as a surveyor of the uncharted land. Sabeth reacted by attacking him, for he was used to bandit groups and mercenaries washing ashore and seeking bloodshed. But quickly Sabeth was shown that Baltair was an honest, genuine soul that sought knowledge and peace instead of violence. The two slowly became friends, with Sabeth showing Baltair all the geographical secrets of the world and what he would need to know if he wanted to create a kingdom and society here. Their friendship was based on a mutual trust and understanding, and for once in his life Sabeth felt like he truly had a friend to confide in and trust.
Sabeth aided in Baltair's mission, helping convince the native wildlife of the king's kindhearted intentions. When the elves first arrived, Sabeth requested the Yonder Woods as a plentiful settlement to build a kingdom off of, which lead to the foundation of a pre-isolationist Elnoran. When the humans arrived, he helped make sure that Merdia and the Midlands were hospitable enough to build kingdoms upon. Truth be told, he was one of Baltair's most experienced aids in creating the High World's structure.
Reputation did not bode too well for Sabeth however, for his peculiar social skills and percieved abhorrence made many judge him based off of that alone. He would discuss this with Baltair and Legish, who woule encourage him to participate in social events and try and make connections with the people. Sabeth would do so, but he didn't feel safe without his ever-growing Greta, and was unsure how to accomodate to their many customs and festivities. His social standing improved, but nonetheless he still felt like an abomination. His main friends were Baltair and Legish as they all helped plan together alongside a young scholar named Uvar Myslevian and a mysterious wizard named Eluciatare.
In spite of all of this great success, Sabeth never found comfort in the grand palaces being constructed nor the cozy nooks of the commonfolk; he much preferred a gentle bed of leaves and dirt with the kin he felt close with.
=== The Dragonborn Civil War ===
Life for Sabeth changed when Balthazar Bahlrinn declared war on Baltair's supposed utopia and believed themselves to be the rightful rulers of the High World. Things started off with a catastrophic bang, as dragonborn soldiers burnt down a small Midlands village and took many cavalry units in the process. Sabeth would watch Baltair during this process, and noticed things beginning to change within him; a thirst for retribution and doing the right thing no matter the cost. Sabeth was growing more and more worried about Bahlrinn's tyranny, managing to easily overcome his animal companions and barely suffer from any consequences. It became far more personal once Bahlrinn began prioritizing powerful draconic sorcerers and liches under his stead to raze hell and commit unspeakable magical war crimes.
Sabeth would go to the woods, seeking aid and meaning amidst this strife. There he met the Yuan-Ti lizardfolk tribe, which were nomadic people that sought refuge as contributors to pre-established and functioning societies. They saw Sabeth as a god, not only blessed with rare abilities but also a long life. So they allowed Sabeth to be their leader, their diety, and most of all the one who would ensure the wellbeing and prosperity of their people. Sabeth found a people who respected him, and decided he would use these new allies to take down Bahlrinn's rule.
The final battle against Bahlrinn was largely successful due to Sabeth's resolve found with the lizardfolk, and soon the draconic warlord was slain and the civil war ended. This led to Sabeth meeting another close friend of his, a human knight named Agrydon, who helped tremendously in boosting Sabeth's reputation and giving him the credit he deserved. It was then that Sabeth was able to find solace with the commonfolk as well, and thus began a series of new relationships the once lonely boy treasured.
Sabeth did take issue with Baltair's handling of the dragonborn however, for he believed isolating them to an island off the coast of the mainland felt cruel when thinking of the many innocent dragonborn uninvolved. But Baltair would begin taking extremes in ensuring a perfect utopia, beginning first with the exile of the dragonborn and then later on tasking Druig with eliminating potential adversaries overseas.
Six years later, Lord Baltair discovered the threat of the Khor Agul and created the Council of Heralds to defend against their eventual rise, appointing Sabeth as one of the five. When gifted the God's Dew to become a demigod, he gifted it to his old friend Greta, ensuring the two together would become demigods and never be apart from one another.
=== Revelations and Usurpation ===
Two centuries pass, and Sabeth's newfound immortality as a Godkin proved to take a heavy toll. He continued watching the animals he took care of die, and was starting to ponder existential thoughts plaguing his mind. What was his purpose? Is there anything else to godhood? Was becoming a demigod a curse? He would waste these thoughts away with Greta, and bury them alongside the animals he buried next to his home in the woods. At this point, the graveyard yielded almost millions of graves. Yet he kept burying and mourning.
He still had friends in Legish and Agrydon, though he felt that their growing relationship meant that he couldn't be of any importance to either. And to Sabeth, Baltair was becoming a far more downtrodden, irritable person following the revelation of Eschaton, burdened by the guilt of his past actions. At this point, Sabeth only had Greta and the lizardfolk.
Everything changed however when Legish arrived to Sabeth's dwelling and alerted him of a coup taking place at Elysium. Sabeth charged into Godhome and through the gates of Elysium to find Myslevian, Druig, and a regretably traitorous Rhavelis defeating Baltair and all other opposition in their way. Sabeth could have defeated them, his might and tenacity surpassing that of even Druig's or Myslevian's, but he was not able to do so. For Myslevian offered him a deal; let the coup occur, and Elucitare would gift Sabeth a mighty orb capable of restoring his memory of what happened all those eons ago. In an act of desire that forever plagued his life thereafter, he reluctantly accepted Myslevian's offer and took the orb, rushing away as Baltair faced judgment and further exile from the traitors.
Sabeth returned home and tried for many days to get the answers he wanted, until it finally attuned to him and gave him everything he wanted to know; and all he felt was immense grief and anguish when learning he was forsaken and tossed aside so callously. Soon after, Rhavelis became the new king of Arianor and by extent the High World, and all Sabeth could think about was how he could have prevented it all from happening.
=== Visions of Death and Fracture ===
For the next few decades Sabeth would lament in the woods, no longer under anybody's rule. Sabeth would spend years at a time in a deep depressive hibernation, not doing anything but sleep on his grief as the world changes around him. He would go into Elnoran, now isolating from the outside world, and seek any sort of pleasure amongst the elves. Yet it yielded no results for him.
One day, as he sat with the orb in his embrace, it gave him a cryptic image; him dead with a thousand swords in his chest, murdered by Vindicated. He was terrified, stricken with the possibility that his life was for nothing and he was to die at the hands of scummy travelers. Sabeth's depression slowly turned into paranoia, and as such he began dedicating the yearly Vindicated pilgrimmage during autumn to the preservation of his being.
Sabeth would ruthlessly hunt Vindicated down, sometimes reaching out to them in an attempt to reach them but otherwise ensuing a slaughter. The people of the High World loved this, for they believed Vindicated to be vile roaches that did nothing but cause trouble, and as such Sabeth was a noteworthy hero of the people once more. Sabeth would have reservations about this being his newfound mission, but he kept reminding himself of the consequences that would ensue when he died; nature left vulnerable, Myslevian's rule growing, Eschaton potentially ensuing without a defender. He would not let this happen no matter what.
The event that pushed him to fully indulge in this mission was meeting a young Vindicated ranger out in the wild. The two had a liking for one another that grew into a blossoming romance, even indulging in a night of passion despite the chaos of the world around them. But he awoke from his sleep in a panic, seeing the vision of his death once more. As he sat in the middle of the night, looking at the peaceful, resting body of his new love, the fear of what could happen would not leave his mind. He killed her in her sleep, deciding that he would forsake his love, his happiness, everything he once craved if it meant the natural world and his family would stay safe and secure. 
Sabeth's paranoia didn't stop there; he would even travel to the Feywild, which had existed separately yet congruently with the High World, to oversee potential Vindicated that could arise from there. In his visions, he would occassionally see tales of the Feywild, and whether they were related to his death or not didn't matter to him. If anything, taking over the Feywild would provide more allies when it came to the natural world. So one day he intruded into the Feywild, and convinced the Forest Spirit to leave the Feywild to his protection. It required much convincing, but the Forest Spirit feared what would come from the anxious Herald if she kept denying him his wish. And so she left to Elnoran, and Sabeth would begin overseeing the Feywild through the eyes of his animal servants and the authority of the great Fey dragon Nallorath.
Sabeth's new authority and mindset would lead to revelations good and bad. He would become a wild third party in the war between Myslevian and Druig, which helped Myslevian more than anything else given his nigh infinite patience. The people of the High World would unanimously adore him as a savior from the Vindicated, though very few people would see the misfortune and mental unwellness taking place. As such, the lizardfolk tribes that respected Sabeth and allied themselves with him would dissavow him, declaring themselves independent and fleeing to places such as Karalyst Swamp or dungeons near the Midlands. But Sabeth accepted these faults and perceptions, knowing it was all worth it for the end goal. 
=== The High World Guardians ===
One year, Sabeth caught wind of a group of Vindicated starting to make impressions in Merdia at the beginning of the Vindicated pilgrimmage. This made him curious yet scared, for most Vindicated couldn't even make a dent in Druig's subpar occupation of Merdia. When two druids of the Fey Lanni cult made it ashore a day or so later, he would become even more paranoid seeing those associated with the Fey appearing at the same time. Through his bird spies, he would track the High World Guardians' movements, not to offset them but to see what they could do and how they operated. When he witnessed the death of a Vindicated named Talleryion, who was One Marked by Fey, he would use this as an opportunity to get the Guardians out of his way.
He would learn that one of the Fey Lanni druids was named Dulra, and was the sister of the ill-fated Talleryion. In her grief, Sabeth talked to her through the mouth of one of his birds, and twisted truth just enough to paint the Guardians as the true perpetrators of his demise. This enraged Dulra and sent her on a brief revenge mission against the heroes, which helped in getting Sabeth's mind and attention off of them for the time being.
When they approached Elnoran, Sabeth would spy once more, and saw a kindred spirit in one of the newer members; a half-orc named Razgnak. Both plighted by the lack of a maternal figure, both yearning for family. Sabeth decided to make his move on the Guardians when they stayed at Heartsworth, for he didn't want to just eliminate the Guardians from the equation, but also wanted to bring someone new into his family. So one night, Sabeth spoke to Razgnak and gave him the closure he sought with his mother. They would share their pain, and for a brief moment Sabeth had Razgnak's empathy. But the moment he revealed he needed the Guardians to die, Razgnak revolted against the beast king. That night spelled the unfortunate ruination of Heartsworth, as Greta and a pack of displacer beasts ravaged the town and killed two of their members; a drow spy named Callimar T'sarran and a meek wizard named Todel Pedago. He managed to incapacitate the rest of the group as well, but many halflings were sadly killed in the carnage. He knew the consequences that would come to his relationship with the high elves following the attack, but he put aside his guilt for the sake of his mission. He was forced to flee once an angry Dulra and Elnoran platoon came to the town, disappearing with his ever-luminous orb.
As the Guardians ventured into the Feywild, Sabeth would stop at nothing to hunt the heroes down. Whether it be by sending countless animals on their trail, or directly attacking and separating the group with pack tactics. However, he also made efforts to connect to them due to how much time he had spent observing them. He talked with Daphne and Kurous, learning about their own burdens while discussing his own. He would even give Dulra the opportunity to learn of what happened to Talleryion, giving her the closure she needed out of empathy. But this was mixed with more manipulative tactics, such as tempting Daphne to kill Erik if she wanted the answers she wanted, or lying to Erik about him killing Todel. His kindness was never stronger than his conviction to stay alive and kill the ones prophesized to slay him.
Eventually the Guardians made it to his home, slaying Nallorath and countless beasts of his throughout their journey. He tried one last time to befriend Razgnak, but the half-orc now grew hateful and vicious. So with no other means of tempting the Guardians, he decided to attack and head towards Merdia atop Greta, for a Vindicated now ruled it. If the Guardians were hellbent to separating him from his family, he would remove any semblance of the Guardians' family.
Sabeth was chased through the Midlands until he and Greta crashed into a small town named Hamartia. A massive battle between him and the Vindicated took place, with both parties being permanently scarred and battered throughout this conflict. But at a certain point Sabeth begun to realize he was potentially at the end of his life, losing a finger and bleeding heavily as he watched Greta being beaten to near-death as well. Yet the beast king stood against the tide and fought till his last breath for the sanctity of nature and his own preservation. But alas, Razgnak's spear was lodged through his serpentine eye, being the fatal blow. In his final moments, he was told his purpose was to die for other heroes to live, and there Sabeth saw the depressing outcome of his life, his mission, everything. An emotional, grieving Greta scooped up his body and left the town swiftly.
Sabeth's life was a twisted tragedy, unloved by his family and left purposeless in his life. His desire to protect whatever family he had led to him driving away many, to him becoming absorbed in his paranoia and fear of death. Was his death a self-fulfilling prophecy? Did he manifest his own death by acting against it? Nothing was for certain. But what was for certain were the grave consequences his death would bring, not just the fracturing of the natural world but a power vaccum to be filled by someone far, far worse.