Sertrous

*“Why do people serve the gods when they could gain the same power through their own will? Every person has it within themselves to be royal... to exalt equal with gods."*

-Sertrous

## Death of Sertrous

A mysterious and powerful creature, Sertrous was an ancient god who had dispersed his consciousness throughout his descnedents, the Serpentfolk. A sliver of his essence was at one point summoned and bound by the priesthood of Set, who sealed it in a statue of a golden serpent. The statue would remain in a temple in the the Final Empire, which would be abandoned in the chaos perpetrated by the Doom. Amid the ruins, the statue would find its way into the hands of the mage Silvius, then called Pix. It bound itself to his soul, awakening as it fed upon his spirit. Calling itself a shard of the god Set, it demanded that Silvius unite the two halves of the fabled Set Scrolls, one of which was held by the renegade priest of Osiris, Magnus the Immortal. Cowed into obedience for a time, Silvius would eventually triumph over Sertrous by securing his soul within a gem, and locking it and Sertrous away in a vault in Thunderdome. And so it would remain in a state of slumber for four decades, feeding upon the Twin-Emperor's soul.

Not long before the War of the Philosopher-Kings, Sertrous would succeed in utterly consuming Silvius' soul, waking from its slumber and breaking free from its bounds. He would make his way on Vitreous' ship to the north and eventually to the forest of his descendants, the Yuan-Ti. There he would encounter the explorer Axel Heiberg, who would make a pact with him to free himself of his Nadezhdan kill collar. He would vow to return to Heiberg, but he had business to attend to in the southern Final Empire, and therefore boarded Vitreous ship one more time.

## Personality

Sertrous was a parasitic, corrupting entity that urged its hosts on to do dark needs. It was a persuasive and rational, sowing doubt and discord in the minds of those it encountered. It had a menacing side, and delighted in threatening its hosts with the possibility of the deaths of their loved ones. Since consuming Silvius' soul, Sertrous has inadvertently taken on some aspects of the Twin-Emperor's humanity. it has become devoted to Nephenne, fawning over her and fanatically protecting her. Though it wishes to corrupt her and use her as a vessel to wreak ruin, it does not see her as a pawn, but as something akin to a loved one.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

Sertrous would find its way to farmland in the Final Empire, where it would feed upon the souls of the parents of a sickly village girl named Nephenee. It would go on to bind itself to Nephenee, granting her great strength and healing her illness, all at the cost of her parents' spirits. Far more powerful then before, Sertrous is able to transform into a weapon for Nephenee to wield. It can grant her spells via means of a pact, and is no longer visible and audible, being able to speak directly to her mind.

## After the War

After the destruction of the Throne of Atlantis, Sertrous would burst free from his prison, leaving Nephenee devastated and grievously ill. Now incarnated into his true form, Sertrous would slither north to the Axel Heiberg Forest to assert dominion over the serpentfolk that lived there. He would run into Axel Heiberg again, and slither his weak mortal body around his neck, forming the essence of his collar. Meanwhile as his descendants dwindled and forget him, his slumbering essence would coalesce in one particular Yuan-Ti, Venom Tilani of Utgard.

## The Long War

Sertrous would take a central role in the Long War, and face his principal opposition from the last receptacle of his soul, Axel Heiberg.

Tolumvire leads Annakiya to Valusia for the purposes of killing **Sertrous**. Tolumvire was aware that Axel Heiberg, being the receptacle for Sertrous' soul, would be unable to kill the great old one. In the great battle with the serpent, Sertrous would devour the helpless explorer as he stood, hypnotized. As Sertrous began to digest his prey, Annakiya would use the oppertunity to strike, killing the great old one with the Blade of Echoes.

This would not prove the of Axel Heiberg. In a process forseen by Tolumvire and little understood - involving Axel Heiberg's connection to Sertrous and his mastery of the Final Incantation - a new entity would arise from the slain bodies of the serpent and the devoured demon lord, calling itself Abraxas.

In a fit of wrath, the new entity would lay a curse on the leaders of mankind, that none of them would see victory.

## Souls

* Claimed
	+ Valusia the Hydra
	+ Venom Tilani of Valusia
	+ Silvius
	+ Nephenee
	+ The Ouroboros
	+ Venom Tilani of Utgard
* Unclaimed
	+ Tolumvire of Arendur