Cult of Nekroms

### From *"Zarvoz the Necromancer: A History"*;

*The Gravesinger, the Chillbringer, the Harvester of the Dead, the Reaper Wizard. He was no hero or champion, a man born of evil as some said. The necromancer had spent decades perfecting the art of raising, controlling, and manipulating death itself. The Cult of the Nekroms embraced death rather than fear it. And as their leader, he was dreaded by those who faced him and worshipped by those he dominated.*

*He was to be the successor of his master, the leader of his order, who went by the name Vys. He had not only been his mentor and leader, but had raised him for Zarvoz knew little of his birth or childhood. He was an orphan until found by the cult. Vys saw something in him, a certain strength he felt he would one day possess and would be able to imbue in those that followed him. He was not wrong. Zarvoz was there now, leading the armies of the dead against the Stonehewer’s Alliance. He sat in his tent, awaiting the chilling battering that would almost certainly come when the Alliance had found their fort.*

*Zarvoz was not one fond of history. He had always valued however, the gift handed down from those that have paved the history of the Cult. As he and his “family” as his soldiers and friends have treated him, lived their lives in solidarity, the mortals of the worlds above found their way down, deep into the earth. Unlike Zarvoz’s people that sought wisdom and knowledge, they sought treasures and more room to expand and build cities. These materialistic wonders led to their discovery of the abandoned city of Kleftyme, a city once inhabited by members of Zarvoz’s cult. No matter who one was in this world, sometimes curiosity burrowed in them like a worm. They looked for more cities, treasures, more chambers, more room they could call home. And then of course, they met those of the necromancer's cult of death.*

*The rumors say a group of dwarves of the Spearwood clan had stumbled into a cavern of riches. What they did not know was that they had mined their way into one of the cult’s vaults. The wealth they found was safely protected of course upon any intruders handling the riches within. As they filled their coffers, ghouls started to spawn, the air fumed with poisonous gas and the walls started to close up around them, so as to seal their fate. As the rumors go, one dwarf escaped and made it back to warn the others of what he had found. Dwarves are a race not yet encountered by Zarvoz’s people at the time and so their greedy nature had not been known or expected. They did not heed the warnings to stay away, instead bringing more men to break open the vault and steal from the cult. This transgression would lead to the wars that ensued.*

*They soon learnt however that their efforts were useless for they did not stand a chance. They existed in varied clans of selfish and greedy dwarves. The Spearwood clan, the Blackscape clan, the Gemsplinter clan, the Moltenforge clan and the Copperhelm clan. The cult had pushed any and all of them far back into their own forts and homes deep underground as they were uncoordinated, unprepared. Soon, they realized the only way they had a chance against the cult and they met to confer. The dwarven clans formed an Alliance, known simply as the Stonehewer’s Alliance. They elected a leader to command the alliance, a dwarf by the name of Gore Battlebane. The tides turned. Under his command, Zarvoz’s armies were driven back, deeper and deeper into chasms and old abandoned locations. Somehow, the magic Zarvoz and the cult possessed were not enough to hold them back.*