Iban the Black Hand

An outwardly mirthful fellow of towering size and titanic strength. Despite being sociable and friendly, he maintains a certain emotional distance from others, treasuring his privacy. Secretly, the man that everyone sees is actually just the twisted flesh of a corpse. The undead shell is puppeteered by a cursed gauntlet, housing the soul and mind of the real Iban. He is played by Unfamous.

## History

Iban was born to a pariah bloodline of elven bastards which had thinned from intermarriage until their formerly noble ancestry was no longer recognizable as even "half-elf". His grandfather and father would share tall tales of their dynasties former glory, but they had never been anything more than child's tales to young Iban. He had grown in a small enclave of mostly elven folk on the outskirts of Calbridge, or Venkata as it was called by the locals. Some might not have thought much of it, but it was all he had ever known. If everyone kept the thugs from the Thieves' Guild happy when they happened to pass through, it was a pleasant place to live. The village was scenic and peaceful, if a bit haunted by the gloom that hung over the country. The land provided, but it was not generous, and the elven villagers had lost touch with their druidic roots that might have once seen them through hardship.

It was in the midst of a particularly lean harvest that a gang of thugs came to collect the village's tithes and were greatly angered to find them come up short. The thugs beat the villagers in retribution, reminding them to have what they owed next they visited. A particularly opportunistic member of their crew took it on himself to settle the village's outstanding debts, by taking a handful of the village's young folk as slaves, including young Iban. He was dragged off into their caravan. The canny thug from the capital cut a deal with a local hag, an independant devotee of Orcus who happily paid a handsome sum of gold for a haul of new test subjects.

The hag kept the lot of them prisoner, taking delight in torturing Iban and the others with wicked creativity. Most of Iban's friends were already gone by the time she had fixed her gaze on him. Her goal was to sacrifice her lovely human pets to aid in the creation of a powerful magic gauntlet that would supposedly aid in her vicious plots for power, either by offering it to curry favor with a greater being, or using it herself. When the young man's life blood spilled across the sleek black metal of the blasphemous relic, it crackled into magical life at last, his soul bound inside. However, the hag's experimental magics went awry. Iban's soul, intended to be enslaved as a power source for its wielder, instead was left with its will mostly intact, with the witch none the wiser.

Whatever schemes the hag had in mind, something had happened to spoil them, or at least delay her a great many years. Instead of taking her prize and marching out on the warpath, she kept to herself monitoring the events of the world around her, and keeping the disembodied Iban in her "tender" care. It required many years of patient practice to formulate his revenge and gain control of his new powers, all the while being used as a tool for exacting the Hag's sadistic whims on everything in sight. When the White Sisters swept across the land like a scourge, Iban had found his opportunity at last. She had been watching their movements, intending to lie low and flee after they moved past her den. However, Iban took the hag by surprise, asserting his will to raise a small troop from her collection of corpses, and throwing them out into the world with orders to draw patrols straight to her den. By the time they arrived, the tiny gauntlet bound Iban had already slunk away unseen, though he could hear with great satisfaction her screams of anguish. Whoever these White Sisters were, Iban didn't want to risk meeting them himself.

After claiming the corpse of a slain soldier and molding its flesh into semblance of life, Iban was able to begin the slow process of re-acclimating to society. As a boy he had always dreamed of being special, some hero of myth and legend. After enduring his personal trials, he finally came to discover the full extent of his capabilities, both magical and physical, as well as recognizing his own status as one of "the chosen." He resolved to make the most of the gifts he had been given, and the price he had paid for them, by devoting himself to finding out the truth of Orcus, The Pale Temptress, and the fate of Calbridge.

## Appearance

To all mundane (and most magical) inspection, Iban appears to be a hulking mountain of a muscle, human in all respects save for scale. When not hidden by his large helmet he has long red hair stylistically braided into long strands with a short well trimmed beard. Bright green eyes starkly contrast the fiery hue of his mane. His skin is a warm brown color, with firmly toned physique. However, most of these features tend to be thoroughly hidden behind layers of magically summoned armor which add an extra bit of magical glowing flair to his appearance. In reality this is actually a polymorphed and modified corpse fashioned into the likeness of an ideal physical specimen, at least partly modeled as a slightly more generous remembrance of his original body.

The true Iban generally has the form of a translucent specter, looking much like a more youthful, clean shaven, and lean version of the red-headed bear that is typically portrayed via his magic. A combination of physical and emotional discomfort motivate him to avoid drawing attention to himself in his form, as well as knowledge of the typical reaction to his true undead nature. Whenever deprived of a host body, he takes refuge in the gauntlet that is the source and focus for much of his magical power. The gauntlet itself is made of sleek black plate mail, with intricate silver and red runes enscribed across its surface.

## Personality

Iban characterizes himself as the cheery big hearted brute. He is quick to make friends, welcome strangers, and command a room with his natural charisma and strong physical presence. The burly bodied man is only all too willing portray himself as being a muscle head and play into the stereotype of his outward appearance, as it makes it that much easier to take people by surprise by his cunning. Underneath the surface he has a calculating streak, taking advantage of the separation between his true spiritual self and the meat puppet he pilots to hide his emotions or manipulate which ones he shows selectively.