Sarevok Anchev
Justice Sarevok Anchev
Sarevok was one of the first generation of Bhaalspawn, concieved before the Time of Troubles as a failsafe to ensure Bhaal's ressurection.
After two lifetimes in which he stood against his father, he was ressurected by the priestess Madele, who manipulated him into becoming the leader of the reformed Cult of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate. Although he was plagued by doubts and memories of his past lives, he succeeded in orchestrating the death of his last living siblings, Abdel Adrian and Viekang.
After Bhaal's ressurection, he was made Justice of the Murder Tribunal, putting paid to his hopes of being named the Chosen of Bhaal.
He was killed in 1492 DR by his half-sibling Better and their allies.
After two lifetimes in which he stood against his father, he was ressurected by the priestess Madele, who manipulated him into becoming the leader of the reformed Cult of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate. Although he was plagued by doubts and memories of his past lives, he succeeded in orchestrating the death of his last living siblings, Abdel Adrian and Viekang.
After Bhaal's ressurection, he was made Justice of the Murder Tribunal, putting paid to his hopes of being named the Chosen of Bhaal.
He was killed in 1492 DR by his half-sibling Better and their allies.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
First Life
Sarevok was born in 1341 to an unknown Sembian woman. While he was still an infant, his mother was murdered by the Cult of Bhaal, and he was brought, along with many of his 20 siblings, to a Bhaalian temple in the Forest of Wyrms.
The cult intended to sacrifice the children to begin the restoration of Bhaal, but the ritual was interupted by the Harpers, who drove off the cultists.
Sarevok grew up homeless on the streets of Baldur's Gate for several years, before he encountered Richtar of Daerlun, a travelling merchant and agent of the Iron Throne. Recognising the boy as a fellow Sembian, Richtar chose to adopt him, taking him back to his home in Daerlun.
Although Richter was a ruthless and sometimes cruel man, his wife loved Sarevok as her own. The young Sarevok blossomed under her attention, proving himself fiercely intelligent, and growing tall and strong.
It was therefor a terrible shock when, driven into a rage after discovering she had been unfaithful, Richer strangled Sarevok's foster mother to death in front of his eyes.
The event left an indelible mark on his psyche, and resulted in a deep hatred of his foster father, though he kept this hidden from everyone, biding his time until he was in a possition to take revenge.
Richter paid for the best tutors, and Sarevok was educated in languages, politics, rhetoric, history, politics, and economics, as well as learning to ride, and to fight with a variety of weapons. Sarevok excelled at all his studies, but none moreso than combat, at which he proved a prodigy. By the time he was 16, he was regularly assisting his foster-father with Iron Throne business.
In 1365, Richter was appointed to lead an expansion of the Iron Throne into the Western Heartlands, and he and Sarevok settled in Baldur's Gate, taking the surname Anchev to better blend in with the local populace.
Like all Bhaalspawn, he was plagued by dreams of blood and violence, which he came to suspect was divine in origin. Following the move to Baldur's Gate, he began researching the dead god Bhaal, and encountered the prophesies of Alaundo, which confirmed his suspicions: he was the child of a god.
Having only the imprecise and obfuscating language of Alaundo's prophesies to go on, Sarevok incorrectly interpretted the purpose of the Bhaalspawn. He came to believe that the references to Bhaal being restored through the deaths of his children meant that if a Bhaalspawn could take enough lives, they would ascend to godhood just as their father had once done, taking the dead god's portfolio, a not unreasonable assumption given this was still many years before the Second Sundering, and the erstwhile powers of the Dead Three were in the hands of another ascended mortal, Cyric, whose worship had not yet ecclipsed that of the fallen gods he had usurped.
In pursuit of what he believed to promised godhood, he began a plot to use the Iron Throne as a tool to wreak death on a scale worthy of a god, and found a Bhaalian who could teach him the unique magics that had once been the secrets of the Cult.
During this time, as he waited for the opportunity to put his plan into action, he met a woman named Tomoko, a wandering cleric and warrior, originally from the Plain of Horses. He recruited her to the Iron Throne, and they quickly fell in love and began a relationship.
In 1368, he got the chance to put his plan into action, beginning with the murder of Gorian, who he believed had identified him as a Bhaalspawn when he was at Candlekeep to research Bhaalspawn. He then orchestrated the murder of his foster father, ordering his Doppelganger allies to garotte the man, the same method by which Richter killed Sarevok's foster-mother, and frame Abdel Adrian for the murder.
With Richter dead, Sarevok took control of the Iron Throne, and began implementing his plan to plunge Torril into war. He was stopped before this plan could come to fruition by his siblings Abdel and Imoen, and their allies, and perished in battle against them.
Second Life
As punishment for his attempted usurpation, the shade of Bhaal trapped his soul in the Throne of Blood after death. There it was encountered by Abdel, who chose to give his brother a second change, restoring him to life.
After assisting Abdel and his allies in the battle against the Five, Sarevok became a wanderer and conqueror, fighting in battles across Faerun and beyond.
During his wandering, he was reunited with Tomoko. Their relationship had soured when she refused to support his quest for godhood, and he had taken another lover who was more pliant. However, the attraction between them had not faded, and seeing that he had learned from the mistakes he made, Tomoko agreed to travel with him.
In time, they reignited their romatic relationship, and eventually married.
After Tomoko fell in battle, Sarevok was consumed by despair, and led a force into the Abyss to battle the Demon Princes. He was slain in combat by Yeenoghu, Lord of Savagery.
Third Life
He was ressurected a second time by the Bhaalian priestess Madele, who used manipulation and memory alteration to turn him to the worship of Bhaal. He became the leader of the reformed Cult of Bhaal, reopening the Baldurian Temple by recruiting the Doppelgangers who had been his allies back in his Iron Throne days.
As the temple hunted the last remaining Bhaalspawn, and plotted the death of Abdel Adrien, Sarevok began a brief affair with one of the leaders of the Doppelgangers, Morai, and unbeknownst to him, she concieved his child.
When he discovered the truth he was furious, viewing it as a betrayal, made worse by the fact that he had never been entirely comfortable with the relationship, and the same day as the child was born, he killed Morai.
He had intended to kill the baby as well, but when he saw her, he found himself unexpectedly attatched to the child, and he instead vowed to raise her in the worship of Bhaal.
Madele's manipulations had grown increasingly ineffective over time, as more of his true memories began to resurface, and this process accelerated when the Cult finally tracked down Viekang, the final Bhaalspawn unaccounted for.
However, before he could free himself of her web, the Cult's plan succeeded. Viekang murdered Abdel Adrian, before dying himself, and so the final portions of Bhaal's power was returned to him and the Lord of Murder was restored.
Recognising that his nascent cult would require a strong leader if he was to recieve the worship necessary to guarentee his power, Bhaal's first act upon restoration was to 'cleanse' Sarevok, not only permentantly erasing his memories of his second life, but warping his personality until his violence and cruelty drowned out any remaining slivers of decency.
Sarevok had expected the work he had done in arranging Bhaal's return would earn him the title of Chosen. When Bhaal snubbed him twice over, first creating the Dark Urge, his 'true' son, and then naming Torlin Silvershield his Chosen, Sarevok became fixated on the power he felt he was being denied.
This obsession lead him to commit vile sins, sexually abusing his daughter Helena, eventually concieving a child with her.
He told everyone, including his new daughter Orin the Red, that her father was Bhaal, which the Lord of Murder chose not to dispute.
When Silvershield disappeared, leaving a vacancy at the top of the Cult, Sarevok convinced Helena to sacrifice her eight-year-old daughter to Bhaal, in the hope that it would earn her the title of Chosen. However, to his great shock, Orin was the victor of the struggle, stabbing her mother to death. Although he did not name her Chosen, Bhaal made it clear he approved, commending her skills and brutality. He had her brought to the temple, to be raised alongisde the Dark Urge.
Sarevok was named Bhaal's Justice, and leader of the Murder Tribunal, a possition he held until he was murdered by his half-sibling Better in 1492, in part as revenge for the way he had mistreated and manipulated his daughter/granddaughter.
Relationships
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Bhaal's Justice
Date of Death
1368 DR | 1403 DR | 1492 DR
Life
1341 DR
1492 DR
151 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Of the original Bhaalspawn
Circumstances of Death
Killed by Abdel Adrian | Killed by Yeenoghu | Killed by Better
Birthplace
Sembia (assumed)
Place of Death
Temple of Bhaal | The Death Dells, 422nd layer of the Abyss | Tribunal Hall
Siblings
Abdel Adrian
(half-brother)
Viekang
(half-brother)
Children
Pronouns
He/Him
Gender
Man
Belief/Deity
