Emperor Velekh

Velekh, also known as the Forgotten Emperor, Traitor of the Elves, the Dark One and many more, was born in Zan'Lunari around 2000 years ago. Nothing is known of Velekh's family except that he was born into a powerful Dark Elven house and was quickly chosen to be emperor of Karalas at the young age -for an elf- of 100.

Velekh was a very smart and curious Elf in his youth, showing a deep interest in the darker side of magic, which was not outlawed in Karalas in Velekh's time. Unbeknownst to most, Velekh had a very strong lust for power deep inside him, which would occasionally surface through the Elf via his interests in the Dark Arts and Demons.

After he became Emperor, Velekh had a calm and steady rule over Karalas for around 200 years. However, in secret, Velekh continued to study the Dark Arts and learned of a powerful and mysterious Demon Lord named Danteleon. Danteleon is an ancient Demon Lord who
rules over the powers of plague, disease and deception from his vile, hellish realm.

Throughout the length of his dark studies, Velekh began to unearth more and more power and more and more secrets. However, this knowledge did not come without a price for the Emperor. Velekh began to become increasingly paranoid about his Sun and Snow Elven brethren, and on some nights would even have nightmarish visions of betrayal from his 'allies'. He believed that if left unchecked, his Dark Elven people would be enslaved, if not slaughtered by the rest of Karalas in a revolution against him. It was these visions that pushed Velekh to his next action. He declared war on the rest of Karalas.

The war raged on across Karalas for nearly a century. Velekh and his Dark Elf allies were vastly outnumbered by the Sun and Snow Elf forces. Velekh's enemies did show mercy upon him though, and asked him to surrender in exchange for the life of himself and his people. However, in his madness, the Dark Emperor refused, and turned to another method in an attempt to swing the tide of war in his favour.

Velekh asked his court scryers to attempt to contact someone for aid. Or rather, something... After countless rituals and bloody sacrifices, Velekh's call was answered... by the Demon Lord Danteleon. Danteleon could sense the overwhelming madness and lust for power seething from within Velekh, and used this to his advantage. The Demon Lord offered Velekh and his people unrivaled strength and ferocity to fight back against the invaders at his door. It was an offer the Mad Elf could not, and did not refuse.

Once the ritual was over and the deal was struck, the vision of Danteleon vanished, and after a short moment, Velekh watched in horror as his court scryers began to transform before his very eyes. They grew to almost twice the size they were before, both in height and strength. Their robes began to tear as bloody spikes and sharp claws began to erupt from the malformed bodies of the Elves. Their faces began to transform into a more primitive, feral appearance and jagged tusks sprouted from their jaws as their teeth began to grow sharper.

Once the shock of witnessing such a grotesque transformation had passed, Velekh looked upon his scryers, in hope that he had made the right choice for his people. He had not. One of the scryers lunged at him, fist forward with a massive claw aimed for the Emperor's chest, which Velekh only narrowly avoided. Bounding backwards, Velekh yelled at the monsters "Fools! You forget your place, I AM YOUR EMPEROR!" to which the attacker replied in a growling, deep voice "No. You are the fool, 'emperor'... we serve Danteleon now!" After that, Velekh had no choice, he unleashed a massive barrage of celestial energy towards the scryers, vaporizing them almost instantly. He lived, for now...

Velekh left the ritual chamber and walked out towards his balcony which overlooked the city of Zan'Lunari, only to see that his city was in chaos. His now malformed people and the forces of his enemies were causing a bloodbath across the entirety of the city. The Emperor had finally realized what he'd done, and that he'd lost. He lost the chance to have his people spared and damned them to slaughter, all for the sake of this disgusting, hellish 'power'. Velekh decided it was time to give up, and, in selfishness and cowardice, stabbed himself in the heart with his own ritual dagger that he had used to sacrifice his own people to contact Danteleon but hours ago...

Following the bloodshed in Zan'Lunari, the war was declared over. The body of Velekh was taken by the Sun Elves and locked away deep within a tomb underneath the Sun-Touched Sands. A massive wall named 'The Sun's Barricade' was quickly constructed following the war, barring off the Dark Elf lands from the rest of Karalas, trapping within those few Dark Elves that actually survived.