Thanatos Blood-Fist

### Relatives

Exadius Blood-Fist (Father, Deceased), Prime Archmage Artemisia (Mother, Deceased)

### Current Occupation

King of Kuragma, Highlord of the Silver Horn

## Physical Characteristics

### Appearance

Muscular, heavily armored Minotaur. Usually seen earing sigils of Silver Horn and Blood-Fist clan.

## Common Knowledge

The minotaur Thanatos Blood-Fist is a former Binturian, a powerful Paladin, the Highlord of the Silver Horn, and the king of Kuragma.

## Further Description

The result of a ritual to create a child of Eriene’s Prime Archmage and Kuragma’s King, Thanatos is part human and part minotaur (bull-folk) and the inheritor of both nations. His time in Binturia honed his combat prowess and righteous fury, to say nothing of Elysium’s gift of the Radiance. Thanatos took the throne of Kuragma, avenging his mother and father in so doing, and took the head of the traitor that stole his birthright and his family from him. He is the Silver Horn’s founder, and its Highlord.

## Early Life

### A Convenient Union (9,989 A.B.)

Thanatos hails from two separate nations; the Minotaur country of Kuragma and the

human nation of Eriene. Thanatos was not born naturally; created by the fusion of life essences from his mother Artemisia and father Exadius to create an independent being. A yearlong war between the two nations drained each of their resources, and the two governments convened for a peace summit. With the Brennosian High Elf Johria Greenswood’s diplomatic maneuverings, a deal was struck that a child, half bull-folk and half human, would be conceived. A minotaur and human soul bound into one body. From ancient runic slabs, the two donors would be sampled, and from their bodies, essences, and souls a newborn child would be spun by Greenswood’s careful design. Then, after twenty-five years, the child would unite Eriene and Kuragma in a powerful alliance. All that remained was finding two candidates.

Artemisia was a young woman of 25; stunningly beautiful and an intelligent philosopher, she was the pride of Erienean civilization. Even at her young age, she was invited to join the scholar’s council, unheard of for someone that young. Excelling in diplomatic philosophy and possessing an affinity for magic, she was personally responsible for negotiating a steady peace with a neighboring barbarian human tribe. Her exploits earned her the coveted spot as the mother of the new hybrid. Exadius was a descendent of the Blood-Fist clan, one of the first minotaur clans (alongside the Fire-Fist clan) to construct and settle the first Kuragman dens. As a high ranking general in the Kuragman army, he held considerable sway in governmental affairs. His strength and tenacity on the battlefield was matched only by his great wisdom off it. Many young soldiers would seek him and other elder minotaur for guidance, making him a perfect candidate to father the new hybrid prince.

### An Unusual Birth (9,990 A.B.)

Thanatos was created by way of an ancient elven ritual. Using arcane elven life magic,

an emissary sent by the elven nation Brennon named Greenswood set a stone slab covered in ancient and intricate runes before the two “donors”. Pulling a sample of their essence from their bodies, Greenswood recited an ancient incantation as he spun the essence together, culminating in a newborn child that lay upon the slab of stone; Thanatos was born.

### Childhood

As a child, Thanatos led a dual existence. As a Minotaur, he was raised to be a fierce

warrior and to uphold the moral values of honor, wisdom, combat prowess, and the building of an inner serenity. Trained in the war pits, Thanatos was able to master sword combat quickly. As a human, and the son of Artemisia, Thanatos attended prestigious academies of knowledge, arts and magic. He absorbed knowledge quickly, and became surprisingly proficient in combat magic, surpassing even some of the Erienean High Guards (Eriene’s special forces) in certain respects. Occasionally sent into combat by his father, Thanatos proved himself a dangerous opponent. During an attack on Kuragma by the great 9-headed hydra simply known as “The Destroyer”, Thanatos personally leapt upon the beast’s back and delivered the killing blow, saving countless lives. For this he was awarded his most treasured sigil and a tremendous amount of respect from his minotaur comrades.

### Capture, Greenswood’s Betrayal (10,014 A.B.)

A year before he reached maturity at the agreed 25 year mark, a massive hydra raid on a Kuragman outpost at the edge of Minotaur territory led to the complete destruction of the first joint human/minotaur military unit during a training exercise. A team consisting of Thanatos, 11 humans and 5 minotaur, including the son of the head of Kuragma’s military and one of Thanatos’s closest friends, Tellius, were sent to find the cause of this well-above-average attack. After arriving at the scene of the attack, the team was ambushed by six large hydras. Thanatos was the only survivor. He was captured after the attack by a group of humanoid creatures in black hoods. Discovering what he believed to be a conspiracy by neighboring states to destroy the new alliance, Thanatos’ team was wiped out by a massive Hydra attack. As the only survivor, he was captured by a group of man-like creatures in black hoods. The conspirators then spread rumors among the Minotaur that suggested the hydra attack was due to human machinations and that Thanatos was a co-conspirator, trained to betray the minotaur during his time in Eriene.

### Invasion of Eriene, Deaths in the Family

Believing his son was innocent and noting the suspicious nature of his disappearance, Exadius stood against the Minotaur High Council’s decision to go to war in the wake of the “betrayal” and furiously defended him. Thanatos’ father was killed for standing up to Halius, the brutal and powerful leader of the Kuragman army and chief of the Fire-Fist clan. Halius, after killing Thanatos’ father Exadius in the council room of then-King Asterion, killed the king in a blood rage and took his place on the throne. Appealing to the minotaur’s baser instincts, he drove the residents of Kuragma into a blind rage against the humans of Eriene. Halius led the minotaur into a war against the humans. Eriene was annihilated along with all inhabitants in a horrifying, relentless three month long invasion. The Erieneans fought hard, using their vast knowledge of Arcane magic to hold off the Minotaur as long as they could to allow evacuation, but it was of little use. The minotaur, having been stirred into a barbaric blood rage by Halius’ warmongering rhetoric, showed little mercy. Men, women and even children were indiscriminately killed. Evacuation caravans were intercepted and destroyed. There is a possibility that some Erieneans who lived outside of the main walls of the capital city managed to flee before the city was eventually sacked. Halius, truly believing the young Thanatos to have betrayed Kuragma, personally sought out and slew Artemisia, Thanatos’; mother, in cold blood.

### Escape, and Retreat

After a year in captivity, locked in dark cells and tortured, Thanatos managed to seize a fleeting opportunity to escape. Killing the masked men that held him captive, he stole a horse and fled as quickly as he could in a random direction. Eventually finding his way back to Eriene by pure chance, he witnessed the horrible hellscape it had become. After navigating the dead city’s streets and coming under attack by undead and necromancers, Thanatos fled to Kuragma.

Relieved to see it was still standing but wary after what he saw, he snuck into his former home and retrieved his equipment, calling out to his father to no avail. After making his way to the King’s throne room, he burst in and kneeled as is customary, addressing King Asterion. However, King Asterion was not sitting on the throne. Instead he saw Halius. Thanatos questioned what had happened. Instead of giving a response, Halius shouted back at him much to Thanatos’ surprise; he spoke of Thanatos’ treacherous acts, the destruction of Eriene and their “breach of our peace accord”, and Thanatos’; failure as the one who would bring peace. He also mentioned in his furious rant how Thanatos allowed his son Tellias to die at the hands of the hydra he and his squad was sent to stop. Taking his dead father’s sword Pathfinder, the symbol of the Blood-Fist clan chief with him, Thanatos fled Kuragma.

After fleeing for a year and a half across the wastes to avoid pursuit, encountering various bounty hunters and others determined to end him, Thanatos made his way into Binturia to escape those that King Halius had sent after him.

## Time with the Binturian Party

### Defending Elysium (10,016 A.B.)

When the Constellations fell to Temporis, the city of Jericho vowed to protect Elysium from her would-be captors. Thanatos was heavily-involved in the defense of Elysium, and was even assigned as the commander of a Battalion when the K’Vesten military attacked Jericho in hopes of capturing Elysium.

As thanks for defending her in her time of need, Elysium granted Thanatos access to the Radiance, a powerful and ancient force that requires only willpower and resolve to wield. This gift made Thanatos one of the first Paladins, and he would distribute that power throughout Orelisle when he founded the Silver Horn and began recruiting.

## Current Life

Thanatos, along with his wife Sylarra Elvadour (another former Binturian), rules Kuragma as its king, and directs the Silver Horn as needed. Though he is often busy with other affairs, he relishes any chance to join his brothers-in-arms in the field.

## Further Information

* The Binturian Party
* Brennon
* Elysium
* Eriene
* Kuragma
* Minotaurs
* Radiance
* Silver Horn