Dhuron Balcard

## Dhuron Balcard(*Demon Prince*)

Icon of the Corruptor

Dhuron Balcard at the Gates of Ashtar

Dhuron, Demon Prince of Corruption

Dhuron Balcard is the demon prince of corruption. He was a Marydian human that lived during the Third Era and, through machinations political and arcane, performed a coup d'etat on the ruling body of the Marydian Republic and on the Thrones of Sin themselves.

## Description

Dhuron is seen as a robed figure, his body made completely of metal and bone with strangely inhuman features such as longer than expected arms, six digits on each hand, and a strange head shape. He is followed by a pair of disembodied grey wings which were torn off of a Solar (a type of angel/celestial being). Above his hooded head is a crown of nine eyes, each pulled directly from the faces of different types of angels. They swirl about him like a halo.

### Worshippers

Dhuron is a popular demon prince in the nation of Marydia. The Blighters that appear outside of Marydia are usually powerless persons who seek power over aspects of their life and are willing to do anything to gain greater agency against the issues that effect them directly.

## History

### Early Life

Dhuron Balcard was born to Askia and Merie Balcard, He was raised as any other citizen of the Marydian Republic: to devoutly revere undeath and understand its importance in society. He was a gifted necromancer, but learned quickly the limitations presented by the stock available. He decided to study under the Senator of his home city of Aryenia and learn the arts of planeswalking and corruption. He was so skilled in these arts that when he first ran for a Senate seat, he had a bulezau that served him as familiar and the spine of a hound archon that he used as his spell focus.

He was pitted against his mentor as they both attempted to attain the Senate seat, but Dhuron had gathered a strong band of allies and they murdered the opposition in a very clear and open manner. His senator had been believed by all to have remained mortal, but the members of the Senate knew he was in truth a lich. As Dhuron had just killed a sentient undead, a high crime in Marydia, he was banished from Marydia until he could bring back so many outsiders to be used as servants for the nobility. It was a practice Dhuron hated, but he and his agents were very successful at.

### Coup in the Gates

The High Senator during this time was a demilich named Tak. Everyone in Marydia hated this interloper that seized power some decades ago, but no one was willing to stand in opposition to him due to his vast knowledge of the arcane. Dhuron, along with Grum'nar, Tefington, and Maerleth began to use the resources they were accumulating in the cities and towns of the nation of Ikashad to empower themselves and bolster them for the plan to come. With the aid and advisement of the demon prince of deception, Dhuron and his company were able to storm Ashtar's Gates of Corruption, Wrath, Vanity, and Envy in their Purgatories and usurp the demon princes to acquire their thrones. Maerleth was not granted Sod Daerlethoth's seat, the throne of envy. Instead, Dhuron had tricked Maerleth into a losing fight with the Prince of Envy, leading to Maerleth being consumed and seen as a gift from Dhuron to Sod Daerlethoth. The Coup in the Gates is seen as a strange event in history, as many times Demon Princes have fallen from their place of rulership and had their seats taken, even by mortals, but never had so many Thrones changed hands in such a short span of time.

### Death of a Demilich

With infernal powers at their backs, the band regrouped on Urz and directly assaulted the Senate of Marydia. In the end, Grum'nar's axe shattered the demilich's form and contingencies used by Tak were dispelled so that his soul was sealed away in his hourglass that serves as his soul's protective casing. They demanded that only those who were willing could be granted the gift of undeath, as it was not seen as a curse like others believed but as the greatest gift. Slaves were abolished in Marydia, as their purpose before was to be turned into zombies against their will to do manual labor.

And with Marydia brought to an understanding of the importance of the new princes of the Shedim, worship of these princes surged in popularity in Marydia and other nearby countries.

### Smoke and Mirrors

During the Fourth Era, a group of heroes known historically as the Heroes of the Ausir Vale began to battle with a Cult of Dhuron of some size. The head of the cult, a man named Malarel, had found old rites and ways to create a gate that lead directly to the Throne of Tuat on the Plains of Viru'nogh and allow Dhuron to circumnavigate the binding ordinances of the Covenant of the Ascended. They defeated the cultist, but Dhuron's link had been made. Due in part to quick and tactically thing on the part of the heroes, they were able to take the link into an ancient structure called the Pyramid of Souls. There they bound Dhuron to the darkest depths of the Pyramid.

### The Conglomerate's Machinations

The Pyramid of Souls was uncovered by the Magier of the Ocyrian Capital, having been found through historical documentation in the libraries of the ancient city. Dhuron's prison was reformed into a construct-developing machine they called the Artifae Forge.

### Dead of Ages Past

During the last decade of the first millennia of the Fifth Era, a group of adventurers had come to find the Pyramid of Souls buried in the earth in the city of Rastegar, capital of the kingdom of the same name. They unwittingly released Dhuron from the Artifae Forge found beneath the Pyramid of Souls. Still bound within, he corrupted the former Magier Operative and Undaunted Valette Glean due to the strange nature of her soul and its connection to past lives. The adventurers used the Artifae Forge to rebuild Valette's chassis, allowing for Dhuron to leave a shard of his essence in the new body. His spirit became manifest in the Pyramid. The adventurers retreated from the Forge, allowing Dhuron to grow in power and corrupt the Pyramid.

Ultimately, Dhuron was able to draw power from the corruption of Esperedges and was able to free himself from the Pyramid's bindings. He raised the Pyramid out of the earth and inverted it, using it as a focus to directly attack the city of Rastegar. Valette and company brandished their Esperedges against Dhuron, but were interrupted by members of the Grey Order who forced Dhuron back behind his Gate in the Purgatories and reprimanded deities that had attempted to gain a purchase in the Material Plane circumnavigating the rules of the Covenant of the Ascended.

### What Remains

Dhuron formed a connection with the midwife Malica Wildwarren and used her to defeat those that would cause many to draw their attention to his other servants in the Material Plane. It soon became apparent that Malica would allow him special access to an ancient space holding an aspect of divinity within. He secreted away within her body and soul and revealed himself when the Heroes of the Library found themselves in the presence of Alustraat, one of the Nine Bastards of the Warring Triumvirate.

## Trivia

Dhuron Balcard started as a Player Character created by Victor E "Dieter" for use in the *Dark Wind Blows* story arc, which had the premise of allowing players the ability to build Evil characters using material presented in the *Book of Vile Darkness* supplement released for the Third Edition of *Dungeons & Dragons*.