Kleightus

General Kleightus the Grendel is one of the generals of the Kolshet Empire, serving Keisara the god-empress. He was the one behind the events at The Plateau.

## Biography

At some point in the past, Kleightus became one of the generals of the Kolshet Empire. While not being one of the empire's golemancers, he works closely alongside them and makes use of their creations. He is good friends with the All-Smith, the entity that leads the golemancers, amongst other things. Amongst Keisara's generals, he is known to be one of the most loyal, to the point of fanaticism.

As with all of Keisara's generals, Kleightus was granted a personal realm to use as he saw fit. His realm was The Plateau, created by Abadon. Kleightus learned that Keisara was having problems with a rogue Eternal and decided to use his time off to attempt to help her. His plan was to create an artefact capable of both granting immortality and permanently killing those endowed with it. To do this, he turned his domain into a massive magic circle based on mystic principles of dualism to harness the souls of prophesised heroes and use these souls to create his artefact. To do this he required means to kill these heroes. He convinced his fellow general Aongorm to help him with this plan. Aongorm decided to use this as a way to strengthen Keisara's forces in general. After selling Keisara on the plan to strengthen some of her already uniquely powerful subjects, they gathered a number of Kleightus' subordinates (as well as a number of other individuals who were then pressed into Kleightus' service) and took them to The Plateau. Abadon came as well, hoping to have some fun while this all took place. Kleightus assigned each of the powerful individuals to a different location in the northern half of the plateau, while Aongorm gave them general instructions for their training. During this time, Kleightus confiscated Nebschitel's alcohol supply, contributing to her descent into madness. He also gave Abadon free reign to make The Plateau more dangerous, which Abadon used as an opportunity to recruit more individuals to Keisara's side. Between setting up at The Plateau and the party arriving there, Kleightus was responsible for the deaths of dozens of heroes, including the Green Man and Aurelius Maximus Superbus, who he killed personally while they bought time for their companion Prince Jeb to escape. He made a number of prototype artefacts during this period, recycling their components into each successive version. One early prototype was a cursed mask he gave to Jahegso'n which turned him into the first Hobgoblin Warslasher, while Jahegso'n's subordinates were given weaker ones made from the souls of the archaeologists who came to excavate the plateau's ruins. By the time the party came he was ready to make the final version, requiring seven souls to do so.

#### Dealing with the Party

When the party came to the Plateau, Kleightus kept a close eye on them from his command room beneath the lake. When Serra was close to finding the entrance to his command room, he sent Jahegso'n to distract her. While it cost Jahegso'n's life, he was successful. Over the course of the next two weeks, Kleightus managed to get Zed and Taz killed, using their souls for his artefact. When the party eventually found their way to him, Kleightus engaged them in combat alongside his modified MK2 Battle Half-Golem. Kleightus was beaten to the point that he entered a bestial rage, his psionic abilities warping his form into a true monster. In this state, he was killed by Keisara herself, who then brought him back to life and had him return to her capital for later punishment. The party then gained his unfinished artefact, the Pa Doden. The Plateau was then deconstructed by Abadon until such a time Keisara deems Kleightus deserving of it again.

It has since been revealed by Aongorm that Kleightus has been imprisoned for a time for the events of the Plateau.

### Minister Kleightus

After 6 months of imprisonment, Kleightus was released. He lost his rank as General, but was instead given the position of Minister of Occult Investigations at the newly created Ministry of Occult Investigations. This ministry was created due to Kleightus' efforts at the Plateau, whilst not what Keisara had in mind for a means of defeating the rogue Eternal, still showing incredible promise. This way, Kleightus could better coordinate his efforts to increase the power of the Kolshet Empire without having to rely on deception as he had before.

## Powers and Abilities

Kleightus was more than capable with his psychic hammer. He possessed potent innate psionic powers, something very unusual for a grendel to possess. This may be tied to his intelligence, which was vastly greater than that of an average grendel. Due to his tendency to enter into a berserker rage, Keisara had him alchemically altered with a weakened version of troll regeneration which served to allow him to regain control of himself without his mother's intervention, ideally after his rampage had destroyed whatever he was against.

Kleightus also possessed great magical knowledge, using it to turn his plateau into a vast magic circle, using the principle of dualism to its upmost limit with the party, his subordinates, the archaeologists, interloping monsters, and even himself alongside his half-golem playing into strengthening the soul-stealing necromancy needed. Using this knowledge, he was able to create an artefact, albeit a weak one, a feat nigh impossible for any but the most powerful entities of the world.