Mardrom

> "You cannot escape fear,"
> – Mardrom
>
>

Mardrom, the Nightmare of the Woods, has only one purpose in life. To spread fear. However, upon entering the Oasis and learning of the vast Macrocosm, Mardrom has found that their life had just gotten a whole lot bigger. Mardrom has found that their life, ideals and goals are now not as simple as they once were as Mardrom has entered a complex major plot that they must learn to traverse, alone or otherwise.

## Appearance

Mardrom stands at nearly 8 feet tall, with a body that looks like it was made out of tree trunks and branches. Mardrom's entire figure is riddled with the terrified faces of their past victims. Their face lacks any sort of emotion, with no facial features whatsoever except for a pair of large, pure white eyes.

A prominent feature of their appearance is their horns, which are simply intertwined branches that stretch a meter to either side. They also have multiple tendrils that aren't seen when not in use. Their hands are also less hands and more large sharp claws.

## Personality

Mardrom is very quiet and doesn't mix around with others well. Mardrom doesn't appreciate social interactions and Mardrom finds being with other people insufferable. Despite this, however, Mardrom does not despise others. In fact, Mardrom has an extreme lack of emotion and thus making him indifferent towards other beings. The extent of Mardrom's emotions is anger and annoyance.

Mardrom is very calm and collected and never acts out. Even when angered, Mardrom often thinks carefully about their words and actions. Everything they do is meditated and with purpose. Mardrom's personal goal is to seed fear into all living creatures and feed off them. Because of their connection to fear, Mardrom has devoted their efforts towards succeeding the desires of The Forgotten.

Mardrom's lack of a personality has prevented them from making any friends whatsoever. Thus, it means Mardrom lives their life alone with no one to help them should tragedy strike. However, Mardrom is of the belief that they don't need anyone else. They believe that their experience, intellect and wisdom along with their power will be more than enough to strike fear in the hearts of those who dare try to go against them.

Despite their lack of a personality and interest in social interactions, Mardrom isn't against the idea of having friends. That is to say, he wouldn't mind if it happened, however impossible that may be. Mardrom has pondered on the idea of having friends before, thinking of what sort of demented weirdo would ever see them as a worthy companion.

A common misconception that people have of Mardrom--and this extends to other Nightmares as well--is that Mardrom is a creature of pure evil and hate. The truth could not be farther away from this. Mardrom's sole purpose in life is to spread fear, yes, but that does not make them evil. It is simply their nature to do so. Like rain can cause floods or winds can destroy homes. Interestingly enough, Mardrom is rather chill. In their free time, they choose to spend their time in the woods with woodland creatures who curiously enough are rather fond of Mardrom. At night, under the moonlight, Mardrom likes to look up into the night sky and at the moon, pondering about all matter of things.

## Origins

### Before the Cataclysms

Before being transported to the Oasis, Mardrom was a simple creature. Mardrom roamed his homelands, hunting for those with strong fears. Mardrom led a routinely simple life. Find a victim, haunt them for a week or two, then, once their sanity was weak, suck the souls out of their bodies. Rinse and repeat. Mardrom was very much content with this life. After all, it is the sole purpose of a Nightmare. To spread fear. The whole suck your soul thing is just how they feed themselves.

In their free time, Mardrom would roam the woods, spending leisure time with animals who saw Mardrom as just another woodland creature. In the night, Mardrom would ponder about just about anything while staring up into the night sky. Mardrom rarely rested and when he did, it would be for exactly eight hours, standing perfectly still in the woods, like a tree.

Mardrom was born from horrors of a young boy who had a fear of the dark forests that span out for miles behind the boy's home. One night, the boy had a haunting nightmare where the tree in the forest all came to life and converge, spawning a monster that was as tall as the tallest tree, with eyes that glow a pure, searing white and horns that stretch out left and right. This was how Mardrom was born.

From that night, the boy kept seeing Mardrom outside of his sleep. Seeing Mardrom's eyes staring at him from within the forest, Mardrom's silhouette in the shadows inside his home, their figure standing menacingly behind the curtain.When it came time to feast, Mardrom approached the boy in the silence of the night and grabbed the boy as he slept. Mardrom sucked the soul out of the boy and left his corpse hanging from the window outside his bedroom.

### The Oasis

Now, as an architect, Mardrom has found themself rather lost. Spreading fear was no longer the simple endeavour it once was. Before, it was easy. Hunt down victims and eventually the name of the Nightmare of the Woods became widespread. Many believed in this superstitious idea while others saw it as nothing more than a story to scare the children. But fear was still spread.

Now, things are on a much larger scale. And Mardrom wasn't just a Nightmare anymore. They were an Architect. Mardrom is still figuring things out at the moment, and thus is still unsure of what they are to do now that they're here. But what is certain is that Mardrom will be fighting on the side of the Forgotten, because fear can cause chaos. And chaos is the Forgotten's game.

### Genesis

Upon arriving at The Arc, Mardrom meets a strange creature named Myr. Together, they are attempting to find out where they are and why they're there.

## Relationships

Nightmares, by nature, are not very social creatures. Thus, Mardrom has a severe lack of any form of relationships.

### Family

All Mardrom has is their fellow Nightmares. However, Nightmares do not interact with one another as they all see themselves as singular beings untethered to one another in any way.

### Lovers

This might never happen. Never in a billion lightyears.

### Rivals

Mardrom barely has emotions and as such won't be having any sort of beefs with anyone.

## Powers & Abilities

* Nightmare: Mardrom knows the fears of all living creatures. Mardrom can use this knowledge of their fear to plant it within their minds at any moment. The effect and severity of this nightmare depend highly on the victim and how strong or weak their minds and hearts are. It could very well simply be a mild nuisance or something that can cripple one's sanity.
* Nightmare Conjuration: An extension of the previous ability, Mardrom is able to summon physical apparitions of the thing one fears. These summons also can vary in their use, as they can be something that aids directly in battle but can also be straight up useless.
* Shadow Tendrils: Because of the nature of what Mardrom is and what nightmare they were born from, Mardrom has several tendrils on his back that are as strong as the hardest wood but flows like water. They can extend up to 20 metres. These are Mardroms main physical offensive capability.
* Dark Minions: Mardrom's past victims are all on display all over their body. Their skulls can be seen on full display. These past victims are now Mardrom's mindless horde of drones which they can use as either munitions or minions that obey Mardrom's orders.

## Trivia

* The name Mardrom literally means Nightmare in Swedish.
* The art used for Mardrom is The Beast from Over the Garden Walls, done beautifully by SigneRJArts. You can find this artist over on DevianArt!