Kardiff

Kardiff Prime, Art by Quinn McSherry

The Vieillard

Kardiff in Dighgrum

Kardiff the Exile

The being known as Kardiff is a temporal anomaly that has been seen in a multitude of different ways across the history of the world of Urz. The most commonly held belief is that Kardiff was a Time Mage who experimented with the flow and ebb of time and had a dire mishap that caused them to be entwined with the very fabric of temporal nature in the Unending Spiral. The truth of the matter is that the original mortal being called Kardiff broke the Arch of Time and became Atma and echoes of their alternate selves from across infinite timelines would appear in the world of Urz seemingly at random with each believing they were the original.

## Description

Due to the fact that Kardiff is actually a countless number of beings with seemingly different origins across different points of time, Kardiff has no set description of his capabilities or appearance. The presumed original, or Kardiff Prime, appears to be an old wizened male-presenting human adorned in chronomancer robes, carries a staff with an hourglass set in its ornate headpiece, and wears a green scarf about his neck. One feature that appears on a vast majority of Kardiff incarnations is the green scarf.

## History

Due to the complex nature of time travel, Kardiff's personal history is chronologically out of order. The history featured below is aligned with the normal flow of Urz's timeline, but in the reading may appear disjointed when trying to understand Kardiff's personal timeline. This confusion is impossible to untangle, due to the twisted nature of Kardiff's journey.

### The Vieillard

A variant of Kardiff that called himself the Vieillard was twisted by the fusing of sixteen Leylines of Time attempted to secure power for himself by usurping the thrones of the Demon Princes shortly after they were bound by the Thirteen Gates of Ashtar. He was joined in his trek back through time by a group of individuals cursed by the blood of Tovesh'naernon. It was the power of the curse that allowed the Vieillard the power to usurp the thrones and he was able to take the seat of Greed and Envy before the cursed individuals allowed themselves to be sacrificed into the Wheel of Emernian to remove the curse from themselves. This action allowed for an entity named Daerlethoth from the Far Realm to seize the Vieillard and usurp the throne of Envy. In so doing, the aberrant entity became Sod Daerlethoth. The Vieillard's defeat was witnessed by the Patrons of Magic.

### The Tarrasque Caller

Variants of Kardiff known as Tarrasque Callers were met by the Patrons of Magic in a timeline that was lost into the Shattered Planes. They began a ritual to raise the creature known as a Tarrasque from its hibernation state and unleash it upon the world to destroy it. This variation and these variants are believed to have desired such destruction due to efforts to save the world from this fate in a far-flung future having failed and the belief that beginning it earlier would mean reconstruction of the world could begin sooner.

### Nim the Gnome

Nim was a gnome psion who joined the Heroes of Ausir Vale and helped defeat the necromancer that plagued the towns of Bairnhill and Bluefall. During these adventures, Nim and a fellow companion named Shadow would often argue and come to heated yelling bouts regarding what the group should do. The assembled Heroes eventually came to the Pyramid of Shadows and entered within. Their fates were left a mystery, but echoes of the Heroes encased in soul glass were found in 992 CA by the wielders of the Esperedges. Nim was among the echoes found.

### Kardiff in Dighgrum

A traveling wizard named Kardiff found himself among a group of refugees from the southern towns of the Stormloft region escaping the conquest of an ogre mage named Renka. They entered the old dwarf road beneath the Coalbeard Mountains and found themselves at the abandoned city of Dighgrum. A group of sellswords had already come together to aid the southern towns with issues that preceded Renka's attack and they decided to secure the city of Dighgrum and use it as a defensible position to allow for the armies of the Kingdom of Stormloft to move through the old dwarf road and retake the southern towns. Kardiff aided the efforts and joined groups of adventurers to explore the city within. During these adventures, Kardiff and a fellow companion named Typhon would often argue and come to heated yelling bouts regarding what the group should do. These arguments eventually came to blows and Kardiff would no longer quest with anyone other than Gruhn Stonechyld, Ritkov Oakhorn, Aramil Imsh'naleshan, and Elrith Legebrethian. These adventurers delved deep into the city's depths and were regarded as missing. The truth of the matter is these adventurers would stop Nalan Balcard from giving the core of the Anaxim to Hadrian Mercer and stopping a timeline where the demigod's power was sent out of the Unending Spiral. The means for which this took place are unknown, but it is known that these adventurers with the exception of Ritkov were all exiled from the plane of Urz into the wilds of the Shattered Planes.

### Beggar at the Bridge

A variant of Kardiff was met on a bridge in Rastegar by the wielders of the Esperedges as they entered the southwestern part of the city to ultimately enter the Pyramid of Shadows. He was never identified as a Kardiff and his guidance for the group in hindsight appeared benign. It is believed this physical Kardiff was attempting to re-enter the Pyramid so as to reunite with his lost echo, the Librarian.

### The Librarian

An echo of Kardiff that was bound by the Lich Magier within the Pyramid of Shadows.

### Kardiff the Exile

How Kardiff the Exile came to be in the Shattered Planes is a mystery, but he was joined by Gruhn Stonechyld, Elrith Legebrethian, and then later and but for a short time Aramil Imsh'naleshan. They found themselves in a weird world not unlike what they remembered as normal. The plane then strangely shunted them on to the next upon completion of a seemingly menial task. The world they found themselves in was stormy with strange gems that would keep the power of the storm within them. They traveled north and found an ancient beholder named Reynac hidden away within a tomb. They masterfully killed the beholder using the stone around it as a weapon. The beholder's spirit would latch on to a Renegade caught in the Shattered Planes who would escape the disjointed space and return to Urz, though in the process would bring along Reynac as well. Kardiff and his allies would begin involving themselves in a war effort pitting the common folk and slaves against a noble hierarchy. They joined the side of the oppressed and ultimately uncovered that a great demon was responsible for the turmoil in this planar fragment. After defeating it, Gruhn and Elrith and other heroes that joined them in the final fight left the plane through a similar means to how they had left their first plane, but Kardiff the Exile was left behind simply because he wasn't paying attention.

### Shadow of the Montulais

A group of adventurers entered into an old burial barrow of House Montulais up in the Broken Blade Coast of Eastern Ocyria. Within, they moved beyond the material plane into a demi-plane crafted by ancient Montulais mages to hold the honored dead outside of time and space only to return after an event known as The Time of Rebirth. It was believed by the Montulais that Atma would respin the strands of time to create a new and more just reality that would not have the curse of death or undeath. A Kardiff was taken, ripped out of alternate time, and sacrificed as a part of the ritual to keep Atma's eyes away from the demi-plane. One of the adventurers within was unknowingly connected to the Watcher from Beyond and this large amount of magical focus in a plane seated deep within the Spaces Between allowed for Atma to see it and reclaim the lost Kardiff.