Cadmus

*"I am the darkness that consumes all light. The silence that consumes all sound. The void that swallows all magic."*

**―Cadmus**

Cadmus was a human priest of the Lady of Pyres, goddess of life and light. Fully devoted to his cause, Cadmus wandered and healed the sick and the injured in the name of Her Ladyship, until tragedy befell him. During the annual summoning ritual at the High Temple, a blast of fire from the ritual killed his little sister, Sonya, who had been shadowing Cadmus. He himself was horribly burned across his face and disfigured. When he had processed what happened, he fled the scene, and was eventually framed for the death of his sister - Another priest found that he was going to be replaced with Cadmus as second-in-line for the High Priest position and caused the fire on purpose.

After being painted as a murderer by the Church of the Lady of Pyres, Cadmus briefly served as a sellsword, always wearing a hood, until he lost it in a fight and was promptly captured and imprisoned. The night before his execution by flaying, he escaped with the help of a sympathetic gaoler, and was left back on the streets. Learning his lesson, he donned a black mask and a black cloak, pledging that he would never again expose his face to the sun, for he feared broad daylight greatly after the fire.

Eventually, he came to believe that the Lady of Pyres was the source of all his problems, and that she had killed his sister. Forming a cult to himself, he quickly gained the mantle of "The Dark God", a mythical villain in the faith of the Lady of Pyres and the Pale Lady, and was feared and respected in several cities, operating out of the far eastern city by the Shadow lands, where the sun never shone.

In a dusty old ruin, he learned of the three weapons of the Lady of Pyres - the Invisibility Cloak, the Helm of Justice, and the White Blade of Heroes. He sought to corrupt them to his own ends, and eventually found the trail of a mysterious woman only known in her notes as "E.", and followed it toward his goal before being unknowingly thwarted by Sir Jerviim Jorvast and "E." - Lady Erin Ro'Meave. Forging a great katana out of black steel and bone and quenching it in the blood of heretics, he swore to slay Sir Jorviim and Erin and take their items, but not before using them to find the Invisibility Cloak, with which he could weaken the Lady of Pyres.

During a vision after drinking a potion at the Darkdell Shrine of the Pale Lady, Jerviim Jorvast envisioned Cadmus killing him with a stab through the chest. It was later revealed that he didn't actually die; and was instead named champion of the Lady of Pyres.

## Personality

Cadmus, having lost his younger sister, and believing it to have been caused by his god, has pledged revenge. As such, he is currently rather bitter, ruthless, and vindictive. He cares nothing for power, or to be remembered, but to only cause as much damage to the goddess he used to serve as possible. However, before being disillusioned, he was very pious and faithful to the religion, as well as kind and somewhat honorable and just. He adored his sister, who he found much like their deceased mother. He spent several months in a deep depression after she died, but afterwards his sadness turned to madness.