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Everblight

Everblight, also known in the past as Ethrunbal, is the weakest but cleverest of all the dragons; while the rest of his brothers just allow their blight to infect the area like a wild fire, Everblight learned to control and refine it, resulting in different types of dragonspawns suited for many types of situations. Later he took an interest in elves; first the Iosans, until they found him under one of their cities and, after a bloody battle that took half the city, locked him away. After Thagrosh freed him, he began corrupting the Nyss, and was successful thanks to Vayl Hallyr who betrayed her own people.[1]

Legion-of-everblight.png Everblight Legion-of-everblight.png

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Race Dragon
Gender None
Weapons Rapture
Birth Unknown

History

Everblight was born when Toruk the Dragonfather divided his athanc to create a brood dragons as servants in his image, while of course keeping the largest chunk for himself. In his ignorance, Toruk cast away the purest and most sublime portion of himself, from which Everblight arose. Unfortunately for Toruk, his brood proved to be exactly like him, right down to an unwillingness to take orders, and turned on him. Everblight watched the battle to learn Toruk's strength and gauge the mettle of his siblings. Toruk eventually destroyed many lesser dragons, and the rest fled.[1] Everblight became a master of concealment: by the virtue of his flawless athanc, Everblight has the ability to pick and choose how his blight manifests, compared to the other dragons who betray their presence by the inevitable spoiling of the lands around them.

Everblight came to the Kingdom of Morrdh, which had mastered the powers of rune magic and necromancy. Through pawns, he entered an alliance of convenience with the lords of Morrdh. During this time, Everblight learned greater mastery of his blight, and since Morrdh had divorced themselves from Menoth he saw this as an opportunity for his blight to take hold. He managed to turn several Morrdhic lords to him, but in doing so became too indiscriminate with his blight and revealed himself to Toruk, who recognised a familiar energy lingering around the land. Toruk threatened the lords whom Everblight was unable to corrupt and convinced them to end their alliance.[1]

Everblight fled in time as Toruk descended. He suffered grievous wounds from his father but managed to slip free to the lair of another dragon, Nektor, who served as the distraction he needed. Everblight dove unseen into the Blindwater Lake as Nektor and Toruk fought. Momentarily sated by the consumption of Nektor, Toruk forgot Everblight and gave up the chase, while Everblight recovered from his wounds.[1]

In 1000 BR, the dragon Blighterghast organised the surviving dragons in a pact to drive Toruk from mainland Immoren. Because of his wounds, Everblight did not participate and watched from the shadows as the dragons ambushed Toruk, forcing him to retreat to the Scharde Islands. The other dragons took this for defeat, but Everblight knew his father had a scheme to build an army and use it to hunt his progeny once again.[1]

In 840 BR, Everblight made a lair among the Skybridge Mountains near Ios, whose living gods departed from it a short time before. He began to manipulate the Iosans and subtly weave his blight.[1]

In 140 BR, the Rivening happened, a time of chaos and panic across Ios as the elven priests lost contact with their gods. Burrowing below the ground of the city of Issyrah, Everblight made a new lair linked to the fane of the vanished goddess Ayisla. From this, Everblight made great progress manipulating the Iosans and took the elven name Ethrunbal.[1]

In 390 AR, a blighted servitor wandered out from Everblight's lair without permission and set upon the inhabitants of Issyrah. The Iosans reacted swiftly and plunged into Everblight's lair. He let loose his rage. Many elves sacrificed themselves to shred his wings, and his body collapsed as the Iosans carved loose his athanc. Even bodiless, his athanc could not be destroyed, so the Iosans locked it in a heavily warded vessel and placed it atop Mount Shyleth Breen. Using his mind, Everblight projected a subtle sense of doom, slowly, over decades, on the ruling counsel in Shyrr, such that they grew fearful and decided to move the athanc to a higher mountain further away, in the frozen Shard Spires.[1]

Everblight eventually became aware of the Nyss tribes who dwelled near his resting place. They were of the same blood as the Iosans and Everblight realised his earlier research and blight mastery would work well on them. Everblight spends a century studying their nature and constructing a plan.[1]

In 606 AR, Everblight finds a simple vessel - Thagrosh, an escaped ogrun slave - and sends him whispers on the wind. Thagrosh climbs the peaks to unearth the sealed container and frees Everblight's athanc.[1] He decides not to reform in flesh - he was keenly aware of the dangers he'd face if he regains his body too soon - but instead decides to operate via proxy hosts, starting with Thagrosh, who was compelled to tear apart his own rib cage and drive Everblight's athanc into his heart, transforming him into a blighted vessel of the dragon.[2] Shortly afterward, Everblight has Thagrosh reclaim the weapon made for his champion in the time of Morrdh, the blade named Rapture. Rapture has the power to divide the essence of the athanc without spawning new dragons - a power unique to Everblight, not even Toruk knows of it.[1]

Even with Rapture and his blight-magic, without a body, Everblight's strength is gravely reduced, though a tremendous gift arrives when the ambitious sorceress Vayl of Hallyr comes to Everblight of her own free will. Once she receives an athanc shard, all the Nyss intricacies are revealed.[1] With Vayl's assistance, many Nyss are converted to Everblight without swinging a single weapon. The resisting Nyss shards fall into ruin and destruction, and those who surrendered are transformed. Several thousand Nyss, including the ancient Fane of Nyssor, protected by their god from Everblight's message, were able to escape south, taking Nyssor with them.[2]

Within weeks, Everblight has possessed the core of a new legion.[2]

Soon after, the Legion of Everblight descends upon a number of outlying ogrun mountain villages to gather ancillary forces. Ogrun do not react as predictably to the blight as Nyss do, as Everblight has not spent time studying their essence, but they added much-needed brawn to the subtle and swift forces arisen of the Nyss traditions.[2]

In 608 AR, one of Toruk's subordinates, the lich Goreshade, surrenders to the Legion and wishes to parley with Thagrosh. He reveals to Everblight the lair of Pyromalfic - a petty dragon rumoured to have been destroyed by Scaefang centuries before Everblight's imprisonment - at the Castle of the Keys. Goreshade wants to exchange this information and potential future 'lore of use' for being able to speak to the god Nyssor before Everblight consumes him. Everblight first sends the warlock Lylyth to the Castle of the Keys to confirm Goreshade's information.[3]

At the Castle of the Keys, after Lylyth is ambushed and severely injured by blighted Iosans, Everblight sends the twins Saeryn and Rhyas to recover his athanc shard. After Saeryn and Rhyas return the athanc shard to Lylyth, Everblight promises her that he would reward her for completing her task, if they escaped.[3]

Soon after, Everblight's forces march south and attack the skorne defenders at the Castle of the Keys. As the skorne lines begin to collapse, the Circle Orboros signals their ambush. As the two-fronted battle, skorne on one front, Circle on the other, wages on outside, Thagrosh and a small group descend into the Castle to find Pyromalfic.[3]

When Pyromalfic is discovered, he immediately ascends from his lair and immediately gets swarmed by myriad of Everblight's spawn: angelius, seraphim and harriers. Pyromalfic's claws rip through them with ease, but there were too many, and Pyromalfic falls towards the courtyard. Rhyas climbs a rampart and leaps out with sword drawn perfectly toward Pyromalfic and carves his immortal flesh. The seriously wounded Thagrosh then climbs back to the surface, takes Pyromalfic's athanc and swallows it whole, forcing it down his jaw and throat.[3]

The Legion of Everblight then escapes from the Castle of the Keys, and Everblight withdraws his mind to focus on the battle of wills against the defeated Pyromalfic. Thagrosh, Vayl, and Saeryn undertake a hazardous journey in subterranean tunnels known only to Everblight, travelling beneath Ios toward a safer haven in southern Rhul.[4]

When Pyromalfic is being consumed, Everblight starts an experiment to provide a spawn with essence. He compels Thagrosh to carve the smallest possible piece of his athanc. As the disparate athancs fought for alignment, Thagrosh cuts loose a tiny fragment and drops it into a sizable quantity of his own spilled blood. The resulting creature, which Everblight names Typhon, is a part of Everblight and yet separate and distinct. It feels compelled by harmonic pressure to obey Everblight but is not a part of Everblight’s divided consciousness. With Pyromalfic being fully consumed, all of Everblight’s warlocks are strengthened and Thagrosh could complete his transformation into the Messiah - the avatar of Everblight.[4]

A short time after that, Everblight senses Blighterghast sending a message to the dragons directly through their athancs. Everblight himself only hears an echo, as if Blighterghast is trying to exclude him. He tells his warlocks that Blighterghast is calling the dragons not because of Toruk, but because of himself.[4]

References

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Hordes: Primal MKI
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Hordes: Evolution
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hordes: Metamorphosis