Rundwyre

## General

Rundwyre was a dream demon that passed from generation to generation of the Solan-Urg Dynasty of Guham where it was worshipped like a Higher Being.

## Origin

### Guham

Long before inhabiting the mind of Asultum-Urg and kickstarting the Solan-Urg Dynasty, Rundwyre was widely known as the most powerful Dream Demon inhabiting the Dream Realm. It would feast on essence of the people inhabiting the Underground and would try to satisfy its impossible lust for becoming a Higher Being by demanding worship - efforts of which would provide fruitless until it met Asultum-Urg.

Asultum, a muscled no-brain decided to submit worship to Rundwyre, boosting its ego immensely. Rundwyre made Asultum start a country in Guham and became its main subject of worship. Years passed and the simple minded farmer folk of the country hereinafter referred to as the Solan-Urg Dynasty believed that Rundwyre was a true Higher Being. Rundwyre started a tradition that dictated it would attach himself to the oldest member of the royal family of the Solan-Urg Dynasty (who were the children of Asultum-Urg) at all times - when they died, it would move on to the mind of the second most oldest member of the family, then the third, then the fourth, and so on. Unaware of the dangers it could bring, Rundwyre decided to seal a deal with itself to dictate that he could never leave the royal blood of the Solan-Urg Dynasty. Years passed in his perfect utopia without disturbance...

### Vengan and Kaarfrilex

Years later, Vengan-Urg, the youngest member of the Dynasty at that time, murdered his family for their cruel misdeeds - effectively disbanding the country and having the Guhamian Potatoes die without a leader. Thanks to Rundwyre's biology being dependant on worship and people knowing it, Rundwyre was probably going to die. Because Vengan was the last remaining member of the Dynasty and so technically the oldest, Rundwyre had to live within his mind. Rundwyre was proper pissed. It started tormenting Vengan psychologically and showing him the night he killed his kin constantly. It thrived off of Vengan fearing and knowing it and tortured him nonstop.

Filled with regret and hatred, Vengan decided to remove Rundwyre from his head by any means possible. During his travels he came across a rune that would grant Vengan an audience with a Higher Being, Kaarfrilex. They made a deal that dictated Rundwyre would be deleted in exchange for Kaarfrilex inhabiting the mind of Vengan's firstborn child. Rundwyre quickly thought a petty way to come back at Vengan, even if it was a final hurrah. He attached itself to every memory of Vengan it could conjure and perished alongside the memories. Vengan experienced memory loss remembered not much about his old life but Rundwyre was gone...

## Storyline

### Hallownest

A fraction of Rundwyre managed to live within Vengan as the ripe marshy lands of Guham were claimed by a new kingdom; The Theocracy of Guham. They had stumbled onto paintings made by the Solan-Urg Dynasty of **Rundwyre** and the theocracy started worshipping it - effectively reviving Rundwyre. However there was just one problem. Rundwyre hadn't been alive for years, and thanks to Kaarfrilex its very essence was corrupted. This wasn't Rundwyre but it was the closest thing to it.

First it collected everything Vengan had experienced until now - appeared as a mirror image of Vengan and taunting him of his wrongdoings but not mentioning his past life and its complicated relationship with him. Rundwyre pressured Vengan into leaving the Troupe and controlled his body occasionally and committing even more acts of violence. Then Rundwyre started to see and envy The Smiler's plan. It planned to unite the realms before he did and become God Emperor of Everything - and it wanted to use Vengan to do it as Vengan hated the Smiler's plan. Rundwyre however, did not know the specifics of the Smiler's plan and bullshitted Vengan with lies it itself believed. It made Vengan create the Conglomerate. It adopted its normal form over time, taunting and torturing Vengan more in his own mind. Eventually growing tired of Rundwyre and realizing its bullshitting, Vengan confronted it about how he has absolute power over Rundwyre instead of vice versa. Vengan threatened Rundwyre to give him powers, and Rundwyre reluctantly obliged...

### The Smiler

During Vengan's various talks with the Smiler, the Smiler learned that Vengan had a Dream Demon within his head. He learned how Rundwyre functioned with families and swiftly got his hands on a vial of Vengan's blood. Using the blood he manufactured the corpse of a vessel for Rundwyre to inhabit. Rundwyre could talk through it but it couldn't see or move. For Rundwyre to control the vessel fully, Vengan needed to die. The Smiler made Rundwyre change sides through sheer charisma and Rundwyre decided to work with him instead of against him. Rundwyre had a trick up its sleeve to deal with Vengan.

Rundwyre - up until this point - had fabricated a memory within Vengan's mind - a red eyed beast, killing his Dynasty. Rundwyre played this memory on loop within Vengan's head, constantly taunting him and torturing him with these visions. And when the time came, Rundwyre revealed the truth about the death of the Dynasty. Vengan was devastated and Rundwyre regained its control over Vengan. This small victory was replaced by another swiftly as later that day, Vengan would be killed by Andra through Riot's orders. Now free, Rundwyre, as a gaseous entity composed of essence and essence only, flew into the vessel the Smiler had made for it. Now it had true control over a subject. There was a slight problem however. Without a body and flying quickly, Rundwyre had lost a major chunk of itself, irreversibly corrupting it even further. This entity was now the closest thing to Rundwyre, however corrupted or shattered.

### Wair

Wair was the name of the vessel Rundwyre inhabited. Using it, Rundwyre "infiltrated" The Refuge. Wair was a dead vessel that died young in the Abyss. Because of this, Rundwyre had the physical strength of a child and had to act like one. It fabricated a story that it was attacked by a group of Husks and got separated from its brother, "Apolafsi". It later caught on that Apolafsi was the name of the Smiler and changed its story quickly. Rundwyre acted unnatural and strange controlling Wair. It hadn't intended this at all. It tried to infiltrate SHAW many times as well but failed miserably. Within acting like a child and its shattered mind and body, Rundwyre became pathetically weak and unpredictable. It was corrupted and dying, clearly. Thanks to this muddied mind and body, it developed unnatural bonds with Riot and Andra and somehow manifested a weird twisted love for the Smiler. It was walking its last steps no doubt.

On the day the Refuge properly attacked the Smiler and killed him for good, Apolafsi, overestimating the power and sanity of Rundwyre, called it in in his last breath. Rundwyre scared the party by blasting its own face into the minds of them but was rendered useless because of its body and was easily "defeated" by Riot. Unwilling to kill a child, the party let Wair go. Rundwyre reaped the essence of the Smiler and temporarily became a Higher Being. Having fully completed its goal from so long ago, she was obsessed with the Smiler and planned to eradicate the party using its newfound powers. This victory was cut short, however, when the Realmbreaker itself ripped open a tear in the dream realm and came to collect the body of the Smiler. Refusing to let his essence go, Rundwyre was sucked out of Wair - whose arms were ripped off - and was completely erased from existence itself for good.

## Personality

Cunning, sly, smart, and ominous in its first years but as Wair it was pathetic, miserable, and was able to be described as an angry thing with no composure whatsoever.

## Abilities

Rundwyre was able to seal deals using a sort of seal of binding, reap essence, generate hallucinations and visions, control its host to a limit, and manipulate anyone.

## Bonds

Very fluid, the only thing that can be said without question is its hatred for Vengan.

## Trivia

Runwyre is named after two parasites for potatoes; roundworms and wireworms.