Melkerech

Titles: The Hollow, Melkerech, The Chronolich of Cormyr, The Dreamer of Time Alignment: Neutral Evil Status: Undead Lich

Melkerech's Life

Early Life and Rise to Power

In 1370 DR, a young mage named Melkerech left his home in Tilverton, Cormyr, driven by dreams of becoming a renowned wizard. He promised his childhood sweetheart that he would return as a celebrated mage of the War Wizards in Suzail. Melkerech did earn recognition, but he quickly grew disillusioned. Forbidden from delving into necromancy and the lost art of chronomancy, he felt stifled—just another tool of the order.
Undeterred, Melkerech turned to forbidden study, discovering ancient fragments of time magic. His obsession led him to a stone seal hidden beneath the College of War Wizards, marked with the image of a black-and-white tree. Night after night, he meditated by the seal, hearing faint, mysterious whispers that slowly taught him rudimentary spells of chronomancy.
When he accidentally revealed his power in class, the archmages expelled him immediately. Shunned, Melkerech returned home to Tilverton, but his sweetheart’s family forbade their reunion. In a fit of rage, Melkerech struck down her father and fled into the wilds.

The Search for Forbidden Power

In the wilderness, Melkerech sought lost texts of chronomancy and crossed planes to find those who wielded time magic naturally. On one such venture, he encountered the Modron, beings for whom time is an innate law. Melkerech captured and interrogated a Modron, learning that its mastery of time came not from spells, but from its plane’s nature. Surprisingly, Melkerech grew fond of the creature, and it became his companion—an anomaly separated from the commands of its elder, Primus, that began to develop its own personality.
In 1372 DR, tragedy struck when Tilverton was destroyed by the Shadovar, leaving behind the Tilverton Scar. Melkerech arrived too late, witnessing the death of his beloved. In desperation, he turned to necromancy to bring her back, but his efforts were thwarted by the Shadovar forces. Defeated and broken, he heard the whispers again, guiding him to a hidden grove in the King’s Forest. There, he met a beautiful woman who offered him the deepest secrets of chronomancy in exchange for his help: breaking one of the seven seals imprisoning the Queen of Thorns.
Desperate to reverse time and save his beloved, Melkerech accepted.

The Path to Lichdom

Melkerech became a devoted student of dark time magic, but the path proved harrowing. Realizing he needed centuries to master chronomancy fully, he turned to necromantic rituals to prolong his life. Capturing criminals, Melkerech used their souls to fuel his transformation into a lich—a Chronolich—securing the time he needed to rewrite history.
His first attempt to bend time failed catastrophically, hurling him back to DR 1. Stranded in the distant past, Melkerech began amassing power and knowledge, exploiting the fall of Netherese magic to access arcane secrets now considered ancient.

The Immutable Past

Throughout history, Melkerech sought to alter key moments, believing he could reshape the world and save his lost love. Among his greatest schemes:

• In 6 DR, he manipulated early settlers at the future site of Suzail, including Suzara, the wife of Ondeth Obarskyr. Together, they plotted against Ondeth, but the scheme ended in tragedy. Suzara died, cursed to become the first Ghazneth.
• Melkerech tried to turn the local elves against humanity, but history unfolded as it always had: Minda Bleth survived an attack, and Ondeth refused a crown “born of massacre,” leading to the rise of Faerlthann Obarskyr, the first king of Cormyr.

Each attempt at changing the past ended the same way: failure. The events Melkerech sought to alter seemed to revert to their original course, as though his actions had always been part of history. His growing realization—that the timeline could not be changed—shattered him.

“Time is no ally, no tool. It is a prison. A prison I will break.” – Melkerech, before his final descent

Corruption and Despair

Driven mad by his inability to rewrite fate, Melkerech embraced his corruption. The whispers he followed, now unmistakably tied to the Queen of Thorns, had manipulated him from the beginning. Her promises of power were lies designed to further her freedom, and Melkerech had become her pawn.
Abandoning his humanity, Melkerech continued his studies not to change history, but to break it. His legacy became one of dark experiments, temporal fractures, and shattered lives. His flying citadel, built to traverse time, ultimately crashed in the Stormhorn Mountains near the village of Minroe.

The Hollow: Melkerech’s Final Form

Melkerech now exists in fractured states, reflecting his descent into madness:

• The Dreamer: A younger, ambitious Melkerech, offering glimpses into his motivations and goals.
• The Scholar: The bitter and corrupted mage, obsessed with unraveling history’s threads.
• The Hollow: The true lich—cold, detached, and cruelly amused by his own failures and the futility of mortal life.

Artifacts of Melkerech

Among Melkerech’s possessions are items of great power and dread, many linked to the Queen of Thorns:

• Thornbrand | +3 Longsword/Bastard Sword: A +3 bastard sword forged by Maeve, the Queen of Thorns, imbued with unnatural power.
• Verdant Embrace: An amulet that strengthens druids and wildshaping magic, yet carries whispers of corruption.
• Melkerech’s Time Fragments: Chronomantic relics scattered across Cormyr, each capable of warping time when activated.
• Melkerech’s First Citadel: One of Melkerech's great achievements was his flying citadel. Powered, and imbued by an artifact of great power, Melkerech ripped a castle from the ground. Rumoured to be the family home and staffed by his undead family. A 'prototype' was potentially noted in the book "Twenty Years a War Wizard" but never found.

Final Words

Melkerech’s tale is one of obsession, tragedy, and a futile war against fate. His failed attempts to change history left behind scars on the world, echoes of his ambition still felt in the present day. His existence serves as a chilling reminder: time is immutable, and those who fight it risk becoming prisoners of their own madness.

“The past cannot be rewritten, but the future... oh, the future is mine to shape.” – Melkerech’s final prophecy

A painting of Melkerech's Ascent to Lichdom, Artist Unknown - used as a memory lock to enter his lair

Owned Vehicles

• Elyza's Wake

Related Historical Events

• 434 DR
  The Hunt for Adzerak

Melkerech's Spellbook