Blighterghast

Blighterghast
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Race	Dragon
Gender	None
Weapons	None
Birth	Unknown

Blighterghast, also known under the epithets Seether, Old Ravager, Boiler of Seas, Wyrmwall Serpent and Blackship Bane, is the greatest of Toruk the Dragonfather's brood of dragons. He lairs in the Wyrmwall Mountains, and is the leader of the alliance of dragons against their father. Blighterghast has an overwhelmingly deadly blighted aura and exudes an acidic miasma.

Appearance

Blighterghast is an umber beast with a maw the span of a one-masted war sloop and pearl-coloured talons as long as an Ordic destrier. His underbelly is ochre, and his wings are webbed deep orange. Blighterghast emits a pungent, toxic aura that smells like hot pepper. His breath is a smouldering, reeking naphtha referred to by many as 'hell's acid'.

History

The dragons were created by Lord Toruk when he split off pieces of his own athanc to create a brood of dragons to be his servants, and from each splinter a dragon came into being. Unfortunately for Toruk, the essence of the dragons was too pure, for they were not capable of humbling themselves, even before their creator. They considered themselves gods in turn, turned on their father and sought to consume him. Toruk eventually destroyed many lesser dragons, and the rest fled and scattered across Immoren.

In 1270 BR, the great dragon champion Nidoboros confronted Toruk to prove to the others that their father could be harmed. After a great battle he eventually fell, but he successfully proved his point to Blighterghast, and inspired him to gather the surviving dragons in an alliance for mutual protection against their father in 1000 BR. Most dragons answered his call, except for the incapacitated Everblight and the insane chimera. The fight ended in a stalemate, with Toruk being forced to retreat to the Scharde Islands west of Immoren. Blighterghast landed amid the highest peaks of the Wyrmwall Mountains there to take up a tireless vigil watching to the west against his father’s return. For countless years he keeps a watchful eye toward Cryx, and moves so little he might be mistaken for a great statue.

Blighterghast's spawn descend periodically from the peaks to hunt. Despite the proximity of the Cygnaran city of Highgate, most people there do not believe the dragon actually exists. Most are ignorant that the spawn are proof of a draconic presence. A small group of Clamorgans who live within the area affected by his blight are twisted, ferocious barbarians. They revere Blighterghast as a god and etch his countenance in scattered petroglyphs. Blighted Clamorgans attack intruders without hesitation, leaving the corpses as offerings to Blighterghast.

In 730 BR, Blighterghast destroyed Lich Lord Desiccus, Cryx's master of draconic lore, when the Cryxians attacked his lair. In 215 AR, Blighterghast flew toward the Eyewall Bay in southern Cygnar and obliterated many pirate ships and a few Cryxian blackships along the beaches, possibly representing a thwarted invasion.

In 607 AR, the blackclad Krueger the Stormlord seeks out Blighterghast, who allows him an audience for a yet-to-be revealed debt. Krueger announces to him the defeat and consumption of Pyromalfic, a member of the alliance against Toruk, by Everblight, and reveals to him the sheer threat that Everblight poses to the rest of the dragons. Blighterghast finds the tale incredulous, as Everblight was defeated and imprisoned by the Iosans three centuries earlier, but he is eventually convinced after checking on Pyromalfic's lair in the Castle of the Keys. Blighterghast issues another summons through the athancs of the dragons, this time not against Toruk, but against Everblight. He tries to exclude Toruk and Everblight, but his attempt is not perfect, as both of them still hears its echoes.

Krueger and Blighterghast devise a to insert draconic blight into the ley lines of Caen: Everblight has learnt to divide his athanc without dividing himself, and his plan will allow the dragons to locate all of the separate parts of Everblight's athanc, and then capture and consume them. The dragons heed Blighterghast's summons and gather in the Wyrmwall, and after much-needed persuasion from Krueger, set out to enact his plan near the end of 608 AR. With the plan completed, all athancs become revealed to each other - the pieces of Everblight and the dragons' own athancs, including the previously-hidden one of Nidoboros, which is currently being transported by the Cygnarans on a boat on the Banvick River.

Blighterghast's plan to move against Everblight is ruined when Charsaug decides to break away from the rest of the dragons to chase the Cygnarans for Nidoboros' athanc, which eventually attracts the attention of Lord Toruk. The dragon alliance arrives at the athanc convoy in the city of Orven to find Charsaug already devoured by Toruk and his twin Ashnephos fighting a losing battle against the Dragonfather. Blighterghast leads the dragons' charge against Toruk, who proves to be too powerful for them after having consumed Charsaug. Too weakened by the injuries inflicted by Toruk, Blighterghast calls out to the Cygnaran warcaster Victoria Haley, asking her to give him Nidoboros' athanc. Haley demands Blighterghast to keep Cygnar safe from Cryx, while Everblight's warlock Saeryn Shyvess has another condition: forget about Pyromalfic and do not make a move against her master. Having been defeated and threatened to be eaten by his father, Blighterghast is forced to give in, and once reinvigorated by the consumption of Nidoboros' athanc, Blighterghast successfully manages to drive Toruk back to Cryx, although he and the rest of the dragons are too wounded to be able to give chase.