Mishra the Purple Sage
(a.k.a. The Smiling Wanderer, Trickster, The Unmaker)
Mishra was once a half-elven Prince of a realm called Silvermoon in what is now the Free Realms.
A Life of Leisure
Mishra was born in the realm of Silvermoon, and ancient and bygone land ruled by high elves in what is now the Free Realms. He was raised to be a noble born to the purple, born to rule the lands with an even hand and a compassionate heart. Mishra was an excellent student, a curious and involved learner, and he loved music and storytelling and making people laugh. He had a stern father and a timid mother, and his life spun out of control when his father was killed in battle against one of the Motherless who had remained hidden away after the last Landfall some centuries ago. The eldest and only son, Mishra shirked his duties and made merry throughout the surrounding lands with a traveling caravan of friends, retainers, guardians and hangers-on. Mishra found himself at the center of many of the great celebrations recorded in the Age of Heroes. He wrote innumerable pieces of music, wrote poems and lyrics still sung today, and even crafted and presented the first cross-cultural pieces of dramatic theater in history. While Mishra wiled the time away, he had heard that his realm was under attack by the forces of a Usurper King called Nymarga Fanedweller. Despite taking a moment of pause, the young prince ignored his fears and continued to distract himself with his music, his plays and his celebrations.
It was during these travels that Mishra met and made great friends with the half-elf Tawnos of Mitra Sar in the human realm of Yotia. Not long afterwards, he successfully made polite acquaintance with the greatly-feared Ashnod the Grim of the Blackened Lands on the northwestern shore of the Eye of Getima. These two were heroes in an Age of Heroes themselves, and they would play central roles in the life of Mishra both as a mortal and as a deity.
Tragedy and Loss
While the Fanedweller won victory after victory over the civilized realms of the Earth, Mishra continued to ignore all save his own creations and his own circles. It had gotten to a point that his caravan of musicians, dramatic troupes and followers would be just ahead of Nymarga's scouting forces, such that several of Nymarga's lieutenants appeared at the daily salons and celebrations held at dusk with regularity. Over time, Mishra's caravan was treated as the herald of ruin, and the right-thinking folks of a given land or settlement would flee at the sight of Mishra's purple and gold banners and pennons. Those who stayed, tended toward those leaders who wished to collaborate with the forces of the Worm King or those who were so nihilistic that making merry was the only rational thing to do at the end of the world.
All the while, Mishra was aware of this, but seemed not to react in any way that made sense to historians and in witness' accounts of those times. He even came to the physical defense of Vrana Karastra, one of the Worm King's more notable lieutenants, as she had agreed to appear as an actor in one of the plays Mishra put on. For many, this was the last chance they were giving Mishra. It was at this time that Tawnos and Ashnod confronted Mishra and his dark enablers. It was at this time that those saidsame enablers attacked and managed to mortally wound both of these heroes.
The tale of Mishra's awakening to the real threat of Nymarga and his forces is a much longer one. Needless to say, by the end, Mishra would be without a family, without a realm, and had an indirect hand in the death of two of his closest friends.
A Lost Soul and A Wandering Trickster
Mishra barely escaped the Confrontation at Miranthil Heath. Injured, and afflicted by magical curses, he wandered and sought sanctuary. Everywhere he went, he was recognized and rejected. So, he traveled into the wilder lands. There, he found himself encountering the Wandering Temple -- the Earthly Shrine of Yaro the Wandering Star. There, he took refuge and took succor from the seemingly abandoned household larder deep within the halls of the temple. According to the songs and stories, Mishra spent enough time there for the Wandering Temple to reappear in the general vicinity of where he had disappeared, but due to the reality-twisting magics of the temple, nearly three centuries had transpired.
Mishra was a man out of time, and the lands surrounding his former realm had been long-subjugated and almost nothing appeared as he had remembered. As such, he wandered the land as an itinerant entertainer and learned as much as he could about what he had missed. Over time, he learned of the victory of Nymarga over much of what are now the Lakelands and nearly entirely the Shieldland core of what is now the Free Realms. For a renewed Mishra, this would not stand, and he slowly became a folk hero and wandering trickster who dispensed justice widely. Mishra would undertake a campaign that would win over previously hopeless hearts and minds, and begin what would be known then as the Alliance of the Silver Star and in history as the Great Rebellion.
Leader of the Rebellion
Very little is recorded, or rather very little remains, in regards to the rebellion against the Worm King and his empire. What is known is that Mishra led a series of desperate battles that whittled away at the power centers of Nymarga -- his libraries, his vaults, his mines and his expeditions. The first Worm King wasn't seeking earthly power for its own sake, nor was he looking to build a legacy on the Earth, rather he was using the resources afforded by empire to progress his grand design towards immortality. In this, Mishra well understood his aim, and he was able to lead bands of heroic resisters against those specific efforts. These acts forced Nymarga's hand, and made his rip his own empire apart to get at Mishra.
At every turn, Mishra and his followers were able to defeat those who would be sent to destroy him. He and his band were even able to seemingly defeat Nymarga himself and even took his head to be displayed in the last cities. The respite was brief, however, and Nymarga returned in force to topple the good realms reestablished by those that remained. It seemed that Purple and the Green would be forced to battle for the entire age... much to the desperation of the peoples of the land.
Wielder of the Unsound
Mishra needed an edge. And it was the quest for the secrets of unmaking that ended up saving Creation. Mishra quested for a year and a day, he traveled from the Eye of Getima to the Garden of Geniche. His journeys finally brought him to the halfling isle of Guelphia, where he interacted with the various peoples and creatures there until he happened across a gate to the underworld realm of Erebos, the halfling god of the dead. While there, he completed nineteen trials -- some as simple as answering a riddle, while others tested the will and guile of the Wandering Trickster like no other challenge. In the end, Mishra would exit the underworld armed with the knowledge of uncreation -- the ability to undo the will of the Goddess herself.
Mishra would come back to his homelands a changed man. No longer the magnanimous socialite, now the serious master of creation and destruction.
The Last Battle
The battles between Mishra and Nymarga would now play out on the grand stage of open warfare. Those united behind Mishra would rally against the dark allies and undead legions under the green banner of the Worm King. The Argent Host would win battle after battle, and as those battles would be tallied, more and more provinces within the empire of the Worm would themselves rebel and add to those marching under the Silver Stars.
The final battle would take place on the Circle of Lundor, an impact crater so large that it encompassed an entire subclimate of foetid swamps and forests full of gnarled, knotted timber. The Alliance of the Silver Star surrounded what remained of the Worm's Legions and retainers, with Leshrac Blackheart and his Wightlords forming the final core of hardened troops. The day seemed to be won, but it was the culmination of a ruse that saw Nymarga abandon his mortal concerns entirely just as Mishra stood ready to annihilate even the memory of what was once the timid and studious Fanedweller. The details are unclear, but by the end of the battle, Nymarga would have his prize, his black legions would be annihilated, the alliance would be in shambles, and Mishra would stand alone at the center.
Ascension
The only account of Mishra's ascension was vague. An itinerant Druid of the Grey would remark to a group of survivors that he saw a man in purple robes sitting at the center of a great circle of destruction in the wee hours of the night. He appeared to be speaking in whispers to himself in the dark, what sounded like a repeating lyric or litany. The druid watched until the first light of dawn crested the ridgeline of the grand crater of Lundor, and he saw that the man wasn't just speaking to himself, but rather to a man hidden by the darkness completely -- by the light of the sun throne, a giant of a man wearing robes the colour of the dawn knelt next to Mishra. Just as the druid crept closer, the pair moved and a searing ray of light blinded him long enough for him to find that they had disappeared by the time his sight had returned.
Legacy
Mishra is rarely discussed without mention of Nymarga, and vice-versa. The two are inextricably linked as the great enemies. Their story is one of hubris, and the dire lesson that all that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Millions of the People of the Blood are thought to have died in the War of the Silver Star, let alone the untold numbers who succumbed to the dark empire of the Worm King.
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.Holy Books & Codes
Mishra has several tomes dedicated to the history of his life: (1) as a decadent prince, (2) as a tragic victim of circumstance, (3) as a wandering trickster, and (4) as the leader of the rebellion against Nymarga. There have been no memoirs, tales or lessons written by Mishra himself, but he has written hundreds of songs and pieces of music -- many of which have survived the ages.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
The oldest symbol for Mishra is a male elf or human hanging by a rope upside-down by an ankle.
The most common symbol now is a golden signal horn, or the horn of a ram.
Mishra's favoured weapon is a mace or club. His favoured animal is a goat or ram. His favoured number is 13.
Tenets of Faith
Mishra the Purple Sage is Chaotic-Good.
The greatest lesson of Mishra's story is one of tragedy in the face of negligence. His is the tale of a latecomer, one who would win the war at too dear a cost.
The story of Mishra and Nymarga is the origin of the words: "all that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
The term "a Victory for Mishra" is when someone wins, but at too high a cost; or in merchant's circles, "Mishra's Loss" is one in which one sells an item for less than what he or she paid for it, often through negligence or ignorance.
Mishra's life and his battles are a cautionary tale. Nymarga might have been stopped had the Prince of Silvermoon taken his duties seriously, and perhaps the line of Urza would still be alive today had he done so.
Holidays
The People of the Blood take a pause and recite the tales of Mishra and Nymarga as a lesson that war is tragic, that the costs can be too high, and that sometimes there is no way out but through suffering, loss and sacrifice.
Divine Classification
Demigod of Independence, Irreverence and Rebellion
Church/Cult
Circumstances of Birth
Prince of Silvermoon
Circumstances of Death
Ascension
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Long and Straight
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned
Height
5'10"
Weight
165 lbs
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