Hekram Vinex

Chaos Reigns When Law Dies

## History

Many years ago in the Kormal Mountains

a group of red dragons had made their lair within. The evil there crept into their biology and warped their spawn. The new wyrmlings came out full of acid and hate, even more so than a normal crimson dragon. Their blood burned the ground they walked on and they were very well suited for combat. These dragons were dubbed Blood Dragons, and this was not the only place they had popped up in the world. Other areas the corruption of red dragons would produce these Blood Dragons until they eventually became a species all their own. The Reds in the Kormal Mountains didn't take the corrupted spawn as their own and cast them out to survive on their own. Many died of the harsh wilderness of the Kormal Mountains, but a few survived and formed their own brood.

Generations passed and the Blood Dragons of the Kormal Mountains had grown strong enough to challenge the Red Dragons for dominance. The war between the two broods lasted for decades. Many great and old dragons fell on the side of the Red dragons, but they refused to surrender their territory. One by one, eventually the blood dragons fell to the older brood and their line was decimated.

As a last insult to the defeated brood, the surviving great wyrm red dragon used ancient dragon magics and cursed the last surviving blood dragon, embedding the magic deep in its soul. The curse changed the young blood dragon. It took on humanoid features, its tainted blood making it gain the appearance of tiefling that could pass for a human. His memories were purged and replaced with those of an amarian deserter. Dropped in the wilderness with basic equipment, the red dragon laughed as the only survivor would be forced to live the life of a mortal, bereft of all its dragonic glory and it would only know the torment it faced when it finally passed to the afterlife permanently.

Hekram went about his life only knowing his name and a vague past that the magic had him never question, he met allies, made friends, and made his way as an adventurer with the goal to never die, perhaps implanted in him by the magic to extend his suffering.

Early on in his adventuring career, Hekram met with the Lich Juuna who he went to with his aspirations to become undead to avoid actual death. She gave him extra funds as an investment to start off his career and get better armor. Using that money he eventually got a set of full plate and was very durable in the lower power adventures.

Eventually he started joining in the higher level adventurers before he was supposed to. He survived a few with no incident as he built up the required funds to make the best armor ever to be the most unkillable Graveknight including a solo run to get his mithril-adamantine armor. Until one mission. He had gone to try and sit on a dragon's throne to see if it did anything and the dragon was successfully summoned and went to sit on its throne. Fearing for his life and not having time to jump off the throne, he dove for its butt hole and manage to safely lodge himself inside the dragons intestines. Taking constant damage, he attempted to cut his way out slowly, but not before the rest of the party managed to kill it. The Cataclysm Dragon exploded in a conflagration of chaos potentially shifting everyone in the blast closer to chaotic if their wills were not strong enough to save themselves. Hekram got no such save as he was inside the dragon when it exploded. The chaos flowed inside him and empowered him as he was already chaotically aligned. He became augmented with the chaos

Once he had become augmented with the chaos, he gained a much higher vulnerability to law, but also became much harder to kill. He had gained regeneration and a new armament as well as flight. Ironically though he managed to die several times after that point, with things bypassing his regeneration through other means than doing lawful damage. Juuna was always there to bring him back though and he is eternally grateful to her, even if he couldn't keep his bargain to become a graveknight since he now had regeneration. Fighting demons, thii, and other threats in Sheng, everything seemed to start to be going well for Hekram. Until one mission.

He joined a group of others on a mission to stop a magically corrupted area. It was a massive wild magic zone that turned things to crystal. By this point Hekram was used to the pain of severing his own limbs or inflicting pain on himself for regeneration to heal him back up, so when his arm started to turn to crystal he simply cut it off and let it regrow. It may not have bothered him, but he had hoped that would be the worst thing that happened that day. It wasn't. They discovered that the temple in the center of the corrupted zone was a thii temple that transported them to some weird outer-space area. The group was the swarmed by hoards of space thii that quickly assaulted them in an attempt to gain the parties power. Hekram stayed positive through the mission, half goofing around like he usually did. In his horror, he was their objective. They captured him even due to his efforts to die before they could, and everyone was transported away.

Hekram was trapped with those thii for 2 years. 2 years of endless torture of being a Thii breeding ground because his regeneration wouldn't let him die. Eventually at the end of the 2 years, he appeared to have succumbed to the suffering and died. The Thii buried him back on Sheng, where his suspended animation that had the appearance of death ended. Clawing his way out of the ground he surfaced a monster. His body, mind, and soul were shatter from the trauma and his regeneration had gone into overdrive to compensate for the constant pain. The suffering that was his life didn't end there, his body was also corrupted by the Thii, making it more like theirs. Through his constant suffering and regeneration that prevented him from being able to kill himself, he managed to drag himself to Juuna's floating fortress. She welcomed him in where he took sanctuary from a world that he assumed would prefer the abomination that was his life dead rather than cured.

After months of hiding he eventually found himself in a Cave that was a reality TV show hosted by some trickster god. Juuna and Lilith were there and they welcomed him. With a little though they found a way to slowly cure him. The process took many weeks but he was eventually cured of the thii corruption. Upon completion of the treatment, Hekram became temporarily brain dead as the thii agitated the curse within him to purge all memories. Quickly Lilith cast psychic surgery to cure him, but rather than immediately cure him, Juuna and Lilith were sent into a representation of Hekram's mind. While within they learned of Hekram's true origins and desires, and were directed by the shades of his mind to restore his memories here. They identified the representation of the curse and captured it, dragging it to the real world after the restored his deepest most destroyed memories of his draconic childhood. With his mind no longer burned away, Hekram returned from his vegetative state, though it was only an instant after he had entered it since time did not pass while Juuna and Lilith were inside his mind. With his mind cured he began to remember his entire life and the lies that had forged it, but quickly was interrupted as Lilith crushed the curse. His body reverted back to his original Blood Dragon self, though aged up to Young Adult due to the power he had obtained through adventuring. While he was glad to be returned his pride, he was no longer the Blood Dragon he once was and now had lived almost as long as a Tiefling. The dragonic pride he had regained helped his mind recover and strengthen against the PTSD from the trauma, though he suspects it still lingers and will still need time to recover before he fights the thii again.

While he still thought of himself as his humanoid self, he accept the past that he had forgotten. While he maintained his humanoid form through magic, he still knew of his heritage and the vendetta he had against the Red Chromatics.

He has since taken up the artifact axe he forged himse, Armads, and struck out to defeat the Great Wyrm who cursed him. Finding the Great Wyrm Red Dragon Vintinex, Hekram fought through his brood and murdered them all, claiming Vintinex's head as a trophy and the volcano as a home away from home. The Artifact Axe Armads he forged to achieve this goal was des With his revenge completed, Hekram felt the tinges of depression and emptiness creeping into his soul as his purpose was ended. Life felt dull for a long time as he assisted partially in the war against Maloglash, turning to dangerous corrupted flames to try and achieve more power. With this power he fought many foes, surviving a horrendous labyrinth of Malfeon, assisting in the destruction of several of Maloglash's Sins, and eventually assisting the destruction of Maloglash himself. After Maloglash's destruction he witnessed the death of pharasma with the other heroes, and now has lost all fear of death and finds it as something that happens to everyone and an annoyance at worst. All this power came at a cost though, it was burning away wait remained of his soul, damaging it further until his mind and body could no longer handle the strain and collapsed. He was comatose for a month, recovering his soul and learning new powers and how to utilize them. The pain within his soul was converted into an energy to summon an infinite amount of weapons and he learned the new ways of magic.

After he had awoken and taken time to test his new powers he was drawn into the Tournament of Souls, a malevolent tournament hosted by an evil overlord. Standard fare for the heroes at this point, he went through with the rest, testing and pushing his strength further with each fight. During this tournament he pushed his strength so far he broke past the barrier of mortal capability and ascended to demigodhood. He is still nurturing this power to grow into a full god. While his involvement in the Thii War was hampered due to this absence, he eventually returned in the final battles though was unable to make it for the final clash as he fought on the frontlines in different areas. As the Blood war begins he continues to nurture his spark of divinity, trying to grow it into something more.

## Appearance

As a humanoid, Hekram appears to be a pink haired human with pink eyes. He has an above average physique and usually is seen wearing his mithril-adamantine armor. His physical body may be cured from the physical destruction it underwent, but deep in his eyes the haunting event can still be seen. Other than the eyes of a veteran, his face is rather handsome and pretty good looking for a human. He has gained an unnatural glow to his skin since ascending to divinity.

As a dragon he appears to be a huge dragon whose scales are such a deep crimson they appear black. Cracks of a brighter red are scattered throughout his body, especially in the areas that have less protective scales. His eyes are a piercing red that burn the world into his vision, while his maw occasionally leaks a red blood that burns the ground with each drop. His divine dragon form now also radiates a red menacing glow.

## Personality

Hekram's personality is usually that of a fun and freedom loving guy who can be a bit mischievous and is driven by his impulses. This can usually get him in trouble and one of the main sources of why he continues to maintain a chaotic evil alignment since murder is not something he is averse to and plenty willing to do.

While enraged in combat, he becomes much more focused and fights for his and his friend's lives ferociously until he can no longer stand or he gets away safely.

## Friends

Juuna - His oldest ally. He has grown very fond of her over the years he has known her and she has proven many times to be his friend and ally. She continued to assist him with his recovery even though it really did nothing to benefit her. While she has been very ambiguous on her feelings, he would still give up his life without a second thought to further her goals.

Lilith - A friend and ally who assisted him in recovery from the corruption that the thii left him with. Was a great help assisting him with his mental recovery. She has continued being a great companion, though he envies how close she is to Juuna.

Azi - A past lover and ally who has since left the adventuring scene. He remembers her fondly

Hikari - While not fully a friend per-say, he is still considered an ally and is reliable to fight against the forces of evil. Hekram has grown to respect him and hopes he does a good job as the God of Death.

Miyuki - a friend of Lilith's who assisted him in his recovery. She reminds him of himself with her depression and lack of self confidence. Sees her as something akin to a sister

Ekrex - the local alchemist who has gained his begrudging respect over the many years they have lived in sovenheim.

Rylan Schwarzejäger-Saint Claire and Kaithen - Hikari's most notable children in his eyes. He has worked with them many times to recognize this.

Ava Schwarzejäger-Saint Claire - The other Hikari-spawn he partially recognizes. She has helped keep Hikari's holdings under control while he is indisposed being a god.

## Artifacts

Diabolos (formerly Walmung): This black sword has gold etchings on it, the meaning of these are unknown. Gold is also seen on the pommel and hilt. The shape of the blade near the hilt seems impractical, but may have use that is unknown. It is a +5 speed keen unholy longsword with a special ability. Hekram received Diabolos from Juuna as an exchange of sentimental value as he sacrificed something important to him to assist her in her quest to defeat Abraxas.

## Enemies

The Thii - vengance must be exacted on them for the years of suffering he went through. Though they have left the system, he is still wary of their return

Axis - The disgustingly lawful city is something he would happily see fall to devastation.

Heaven and its realms - While not directly opposed to the upper planes, Hekram has a distaste for them and their overly good ways. He will still fight to make sure Heaven is never truly destroyed as it is needed for his good allies to find peace in the afterlife.

Malfaeon the Devourer - Hekram despises this being for putting him through the hels of that Labyrinth and taking the form of those close to him to deceive the group into freeing him. There aren't too many that Hekram will rend from this world permanently even against the wishes of his allies, but Malfaeon has made that list.

Red Dragons - They and their kind will pay for what they have done. Even if the primary aggressor to Hekram personally was killed, he still holds a grudge against all the Red Chromatics and their ilk.

## Aspirations

Get to a state where death become an impossibility and he may live forever