Sever

Sever, formerly known as Greggory Reznik, was a powerful lich who ruled over the area of land now known as the Scar during the time of the Infection. After his defeat by the Dawnbringers, he transcended mortality and became an evil deity on a warpath against the gods.

## Description

Sever was described as being a tall, skeletal humanoid with a hunched back. Moldy blue flesh hung in tatters from his skull, which had two large, spiraling horns growing from it. One of the horns had broken off near the base. He wore long, dark green robes that hid his entire body and feet, save for his hands.

Sever always carried the Book of Vile Darkness and the Wand of Orcus, two artifacts that he had obtained through decades of scheming and malicious efforts.

## History

In the late 1400s, rumors began floating around Waterdeep of a shopkeep who had sent adventurers into the lair of a red dragon to slay it and retrieve an artifact of power from its hoard. Later, it was revealed that the artifact was the Book of Vile Darkness. The shopkeep was in turn revealed to be Greggory Reznik, a powerful wizard and scheming political figure. Though he stayed hidden from the public eye, occasionally he would be spotted at a noble's side, whispering in their ear or massaging their shoulder.

Simultaneously, a powerful Eldritch Knight called Eric of Kell had begun leading armies against various wealthy cities to destroy all who would not worship the demon lord Dagon. Several cities fell to his might, converting to cults of Dagon.

In a show of power in early 1501, Greggory and the support of the northern armies of the kingdom of Amn defeated Eric of Kell's army in battle. Greggory was seen retrieving the body of the fallen Eric, threatening others that would come close to it. Some light infantrymen noted Greggory inspected the hand of Eric briefly before disappearing with his loot.

By the end of the year, the first vestiges of Greggory's army had appeared. Horrified commoners spoke of shadowy fiends that swam through the ranks of the new, independent military. It was mere weeks before the attacks began. Demonic power was used in combination with the support of the armies of dozens of corrupt kingdoms to occupy Waterdeep.

Greggory's demonic army flooded the streets and darkened the skies of Waterdeep, where enormous battles raged between the largest of the demons and the giant walking statue protectors that came to try to cull the invasion. Greggory was said to walk with calm steps into the council chambers, where Waterdeep's leaders had gathered. He announced his rulership of the city, with the support of all of the neighboring kingdoms and the might of their armies as well as the backing of three of the most powerful and dreadful demon lords and their ilk. The powers that had been in Waterdeep had no choice but to submit. Once they were outside the chambers, Greggory ordered them all devoured regardless.

By the early 1510s, the demonic occupation had spread further outward from Waterdeep, overcoming the immense resistance from all able-bodied fighters and the magically capable that tried to oppose it. The relentless tide of demons was simply too great for warfare to overcome. The expansion was further lubricated by "friendly" kingdoms that simply allowed the occupation to spread through them, in return for minimal loss of life and dark magical secrets gifted to their nobility by Greggory.

Despite some kingdoms working with Greggory, citizens of all areas threatened by the expansion evacuated away from the spread, to Cormyr or Amn and beyond.

Greggory had begun to build towers across the continent, secured by his demonic occupation, that would tap directly into the leylines of the weave. These towers would funnel magical energy directly to the primary tower in Waterdeep, where Greggory spent most of his time. From this primary tower was an ever-brightening beam of pink and purple energy that was always blazing from the tip of the tower straight up and through the heavens. The organization that was tasked with the maintenance of these towers was known as MageNet.

In the 1530s, with their major territories threatened, the most ancient and powerful metallic dragons attempted a targeted strike on Greggory and Waterdeep. Each were handily subdued and lost a single eye.

Shortly after this battle, there was an enormous push outward of the demonic occupation, as well as targeted strikes by black-robed wizards in black animal masks.

The Silence, as Greggory referred to them, the creatures behind the masks, enforced Greggory's will and held resisting cities in an oppressive vice grip at the tip of their bony wands. Their appearance in a civilized area meant slavery or certain death, an omen of a dystopic future of despair and anguish.

in what appeared to be the retrieval of key reagents, the Silence would capture powerful creatures and tear pieces of their bodies from them while they were still alive. It is speculated that these reagents - which included the tongue of a wizard - were used in the ritual that Greggory performed to become a lich.

When Greggory resurfaced as a lich in 1534, he demanded to be referred to by the name Sever.

In 1556, a party of powerful adventurers, who would later come to be known as the Dawnbringers, seemingly materialized out of thin air, as if dropped into place from another timeline. The Dawnbringers rallied a number of powerful armies, including the defeated metallic dragons and their kin. As soon as the reverberations of their arrival were sensed by Greggory, the primary tower in Waterdeep strengthened its energy beam in a mysterious increase of some unknown factor.

The Dawnbringers secured strategic resources and fortified the armies with magic, leading to a climactic strike against Waterdeep and Sever. In a flurry of chaotic power, they brought a tidal wave of magic resistance against Waterdeep, crushing hordes of demons and Silence alike. Bright flurries of magic and enormous fires blazed in the streets, as the Dawnbringers teleported directly to Sever's side. They used their magic to isolate Sever, where their immense magical power dwarfed his own and ended his mortal life.

For Sever, however, this was only the beginning.

After his defeat, waves upon waves of demons were slaughtered by the forces of good. Balance seemed to be restored to the Sword Coast and the continent of Faerun. This briefly cathartic moment would be counterbalanced by the emerging presence of Varis, a corrupted member of the Dawnbringers, who would later prove to be an impressive force of evil.

Through the efforts of AEGIS and MageNet, Sever's seventeen towers were converted into the MageNet Framework and would be used as a Shield against extraplanar invasion. The unintended consequence of this effort was that Sever's activity in the Outer Planes would stay unknown to the Material for several years.

In 1561, the Shield fell. By 1562, it had become common knowledge among the faithful that Sever was indeed alive, having transcended his mortal body. He was in the Outer Planes, waging war among the celestial and devouring gods. It was in 1562 that the light left the Material.