Firelord

The Firelord is the first and last of the Dark Lords and truest enemy of Obsidius. He commands the Armies of Infernos, including his elite Thorn knights, from the flying citadel of Helgard. Physically, the Firelord is a tall imposing warrior dressed in the armor of the Anakim Empire of the First Age. His face is a goblyn-whorled mask hovering in a skull of flame.

The Firelord does not see himself as evil. He sees himself as the only one who should rule Obsidius. Everything he has done has been a means to end end: to unite and bring peace to Obsidius under his reign.

## Origin

Rakshasa Kahn was born a human slave in the Summa dominated Anakim Empire. He managed to secure his freedom by saving a Summa captain from an assassination plot from dwarven slaves. He made his way to the subjugated human kingdom of Ravinia and quickly rose through heir ranks. Later, he became a leader of one of the Ravinian battalions. Recruited by the balrog Charnel, he betrayed an Elim envoy in a surprise attack. The survivors of the betrayed dwarven contingent assumed Rakshasa was acting in an official capacity. This led to the kingdoms of El and Ravinia to the brink of war, forcing the Summa to send Imperial forces to quell the unrest, just as Charnel planned. In return for his services, Charnel imbued the ambitious human with pyrokinetic abilities. Rakshasa then made himself indispensable in helping the Summa subdue the "dissidents."

In return for his service, King Negatar of the Summa kingdom of Gath made him a captain of his armies and inducted him into the ranks of the High Ones. Rakshasa became known as the Captain of the Burning Brigade. During the Battle of Mot Hadrall at the end of the Gnome King's War, Rakshasa Kahn was caught up in the midst of the wyldstorm blast that ended the conflict and cursed Mot Hadrall to eternal darkness. He was changed by the wyldstorm's magic into his present form as the Firelord.

## War of the Dark Lords

The Firelord is considered the first and last of the Dark Lords because his origin predates the organization of the Council of Night and because he has defeated and outlasted every other Dark Lord of note.

While he became a member of the Council of Night sometime after its organization in the early years of the Second Age, the Firelord was always a subversive asset. He saw the destruction and evil the other Dark Lords would subject Obsidius to. He conducted a secret war against them until his intentions could no longer be hidden. Even when they perceived the threat he posed to them, he managed to divide the Dark Lords, turn them against each other, vanquish his more powerful rivals and send the survivors into hiding by the end of the Second Age.

His first act of subversion was to convince the Council of Night that Chaos, who also called himself Master Chaos in the tradition of the balrogs, was a threat to them. The Council was supposed to be a meeting of equals; the Firelord convinced the other Dark Lords that Chaos meant to rule them. After a fierce series of battles, Chaos was imprisoned behind what is now aptly named the Seal of Chaos deep in the Highreach Mountains. In return for the Firelord's supposed loyalty, the Council granted him the Crown of Chaos, which he used in a bid to seize control of the Great Tarn of Damocles. During the ensuing battle, the Firelord used the Chaos Crown to freeze the Tarn solid and then nearly destroyed the armies of the Noble Alliance by unfreezing the lake in the middle of the battle. The Crown of Chaos was broken into pieces at the end of the battle, which was aptly named the Battle of Frozen Tarn.

Later, the Firelord threatened the Lord of Bones with a fragment of the Wyrdstone that was shattered during the Ophidian Conflict. The Lord of Bones promised the Firelord fealty in return for sparing his life and for raising an army of undead to invade the Five Lands of Damocles. The invasion was thwarted, but the Firelord used a wyrdstone rocket to vanquish the Lord of Bones to silence him. After discovering that the largest fragment of the Wyrdstone had been taken from the Isle of Refuge to Kigamon City in the Wylds, the Firelord schemed to steal the Wyrdstone of Kigamon, which he later placed inside a steam-powered, tower-headed juggernaut to assail Metromagus, the City of Mages. He convinced Infernos, the Pit Lord, to supply the armies for this attempted overthrow of Metromagus. At the battle's end, Infernos was slain and the Firelord became master of the Infernal Armies. He also secured the Homunculus Lathe which he uses to create batches of Thorn Knights and batches of experimental creations used for battle, the latter with varying degrees of success.

The Firelord defeated the Deep Lord by finding the Kaiju Key and opening the Leviathan's Locker. The Firelord then unleashed sea serpents, krakken and kaiju first upon the Deep Lord himself and then upon Obsidius' coastal cities. He demanded to be made Emperor or he would allow the world to be destroyed. The matter was taken out of his hands when an undersea volcano erupted, sealing the Locker away and breaking his control over them.

The Shadow Lord discovered his treachery against the Council by monitoring his dreams. Realizing that the Firelord saw no future of which they were a part, the Shadow Lord united the Council against him. By this time, the only one left with the power to match him was the Hor'Lord. The Firelord met him in open battle and poured out the wrath of Helgard upon the Lord of the Horde, establishing himself as the ultimate dark Lord. The Firelord then hunted down most of the rest, killing several, including Carrion, Phobos and Xenos the Outsider. The rest of the Dark Lords went into hiding.

## The Third Age

From Xenos the Outsider, the Firelord gained a Kronosyphon, which he used to rob several kingdoms of their coin and weapons. he then gave these kingdoms a choice to accept his rule in exchange for their guaranteed safety. The Kronosyphon was lost in time along with most of the treasure and weapons, locked away in time by the brave self-sacrifice of an Arturan knight named Sir Hans Stoneblade.

After this incident, the Firelord secreted himself away, coming out of the shadows only once to thwart Dominus with the presence of Helgard at the border of Mynos-Gaul and Devon. His intervention sent a clear message to Dominus: I am still here and I can stop you when I want to.

The Firelord was not idle during this time. Rather, he was seeking the shards of Wyrmthrall and the Cruces of the Condemned. With the former, he hoped to create a race of obedient super soldiers. With the latter, he hoped to find Godspell, an artifact with the power to alter reality itself. He managed to secure two of the cruces near the end of the Third Age: a compass crux belonging to the House of Man and an identity crux entrusted to House Draconis.

At the end of the Third Age, Jarrod Seventhborn and his comrades used the clue in the incident between the Firelord and Dominus to discover the secret location of Helgard on Stormpeak Isle off the coast of Mynos-Gaul. Jarrod discovered that the Firelord was experimenting with the magical creation of a race of super soldiers. The attempts that survived are called Gorgons, created by combining the broken Crown with the shards of Wyrmthrall into the matrix of the Homunculus Lathe.

## Godspell

At the outset of the Third Age, the Firelord came out of hiding. First he destroyed Manitoba, the Orc Nation. Then he used treachery to disable the Shields of Cabon Gabrielle, allowing him to sack the city and steal the Map of Midian from the Great Library. If he gains the crux known as the evangel, the Map will lead him to Godspell. He also intends to use Godspell to properly restore the Crown of Chaos and Wyrmthrall to create his super soldier army.