Xathamar

Xathamar was a human wizard, artificer, and later ruler who led human slaves out of Ogre territory in Acheron in order to found a homeland based on scientific and magical discovery. He was at one point the guardian of one of Acheron's leylines until he was destroyed by his own people in the destruction of Xathal.

### History of Xathamar

The mage who would one day call themselves Xathamar was born into slavery in Ferringol and selected as a child to serve the Ettin Leylord, Uluvar'Shan. In the service of the warlord, the young Xathamar was taught to read and write, as well as the basics of magic which he quickly learned. He was a skilled mage and artificer by the time he was fifteen, yet he did not lead the rebellion and eventual escape of the human slaves in ogre territory until he was well into his later years and had gotten as close as possible to his master. In the middle of the night he slew the ogre and rallied the people, moving from Ferringol through Ogr and further East to the location of a leyline well that had been abandoned for many decades (according to his former ettin master). Just as he had suspected the well was there, brimming with power and with it they were able to clear debris and make a makeshift village from the former ruins.

Xathamar created, with the help of others who had been enslaved in the ettin's spire, a university where each of the thousands of members of their new kingdom were educated in artificing, in the basics of magic, and in the teachings of Gond which had been forbidden in Ferringol. Xathal, their new home, would quickly become a proper city and beings from across Acheron would flee to the city in order to take refuge in the one place where war dare not touch. The Xathamites, as his followers came to be known, were well aware that this was not realistic, and so they used their knowledge of artificing and magic to create great and powerful vehicles and machines, from small hand-cannons to a siege engine capable of tearing down a mountain. The Xathamites felt secure until from the North, an army of half-giants and ogres arrived, easily tearing down the defenses and beginning to lay waste to their new city. Xathamar watched as his men, strangers to real battle, were torn down one by one and the ettin general of the one who was once his master sat before him, contesting the well. He placed himself upon the well and drew forth as much power as was possible, destroying the invaders and leaving his body ravaged. He lay upon the well much longer from then on, constantly draining energy to fuel his ruined form, and he began to use astral projection to communicate with his followers, who he did not wish to see him in such a condition. It was in the time following this that he created a standing army for his people greater than the mercenary militia they had formerly had, and created the position of 'ranger' in order to actively defend the city.

Unbeknownst to even his closest friends his mind had also suffered great damages from the defense.

He performed experiments on all of his followers in the paranoia that followed, augmenting them with secondary sets of arms as well as increased speed. His city became a technological marvel, mana-powered vehicles and golems performed all of the tasks necessary for the city to operate and his followers became more resentful of his leadership as they found him unnecessary in their lives of excess and leisure. In addition to rising feelings of his irrelevance his desires had grown more strange and he began abducting some of his people in secret, exposing them to greater experimentation that was increasingly grotesque. Xathamar turned them into hideous monstrosities. Once his crimes came to light, his closest followers could no longer stand idly by and allow their addled master to pursue his desires. He never physically left the chamber where he drew his power from the leyline well, and they knew it wouldn't be easy but that he must be deposed.

The former inner-circle of Xathamar used one of his monstrous creations, a mana-powered golem of flesh and machine, against him in an attempt to rip him from his throne and once again he channeled from the well at exponentially increasing rates not seen since his original defense of Xathal, this time drawing more power than his mortal body could handle. His physical form was vaporized, sending a shock wave through the city, an explosion of burning and mutating radiance (the pure essence of the Weave itself, concentrated into a single erupting force). The most valuable assets of the city were destroyed and its people were disfigured beyond recognition, most appearing skeletal or like charred husks of their former augmented human se;ves. His former followers still remain, some still loyal to his doctrines, all cursed with an unceasing longevity, and the forests of Xathal now resemble a red duned desert, with the occasional blackened tree or bush.

Xathamar was vaporized on that day and with him went many of his former people. Those who did not perish were consigned to a worse fate, either has horrifying abominations or as the disfigured Xathamites who patrol the waste today.