Ysmgar the Five-Eyed

Excerpts taken from 'Gift From Ysmgar' in regards to the early chapters detailing the Exploration of Eropia & Discovery of Necromancy

Written by David_Ulph

Ysmgar the Ancient, Ysmgar the Five-Eyed, Ysmgar the Explorer, Ysmgar the Herder, Ysmgar the Thief, Ysmgar the Outcast, Ysmgar the Deathbringer, Ysmgar the Betrayed, Ysmgar the Thrice-Risen, Ysmgar the Eternal, Ysmgar the Patron of Necromancy. Long may he reign eternal.

— The opening line of 'Gift From Ysmgar', showing all known epithets he is accepted to have in the social circles of necromancers

Introduction

Ysmgar is an important figure active in the late Third Era after the fall of the Midlandian Empire but on the cusp of the Fourth Era in the discovery and expansion of common scholarly knowledge on the existence of Realmgates, as well as finding the thought-mythical grand city of the First Era known as Eropia.

For Ysmgar, there was no set path for him to walk within the Frost Giants of the Northern Limit. He was born from outcasts and could call no tribe his own under Frost King Golthorax's domain. So he decided to wander the tundra to learn more about his people so he may come to the conclusion of his malleable path to greatness. Ysmgar learned much of the troubled histories of the Giants, how the Fooar - their ancestors and first Giant Sons of Throff - were all but extinct and the majority of Giants dead or in hiding after the Great Hunt at the start of the Third Era. We can only assume Ysmgar's reaction to all of this, for what he did next.

— 'Gift From Ysmgar'

Ysmgar created a band of acolytes around his promise of greatness by his physical rarity in five eyes, which consisted of adventurers, archaeologists and researchers from all different tribes of Frost Giants. Ysmgar and his acolytes sought to strike out east past the Silver Mountains from the Northern Limit to the remnant warlord states after the collapse of the Midlandian Empire. A Demi-God awaited them on the Vallatorlan side of the One-Eyed Scar, a ravine cut through the mountain range, known then to be Prince Conall Bondsbreaker the primary lord of the Kingdom of the Hinterlands, the highlands of Vallatorlan.

Prince Conall was curious for the Frost Giants, less quick to judge like his mortal ancestors, and had already started expanding mining colonies into the Northern Limit through the Scar when he caught wind of someone born touched by the hand of Effe's destiny like he. Ysmgar and his band of acolytes were allowed into the Hinterlands with open arms, and granted a royal writ to travel north from the Scar to the region of Karthauld, where his own historians believed there to once be some form of a Frost Giant settlement before being destroyed in the Great Hunt.

It was here that Ysmgar excavated a portion of Karthauld, finding land sunken below the surface into the Underdark of the Pale Wyrm. And this discovery was not any old grave site with special trinkets of cultural importance, but the ancient lost ruins of Eropia.

Eropia

Eropia is an ancient fortress city of the undead, cursed by the Gods and Angels to be hidden away as a ruin below the dirt and rock where it lay in the now Karthauld region of Vallatorlan. It was believed to be the third centre of civilisation during the early Second Era, after the Tower of Carcosa of the Yellow King Logaan and the flying city Eldervair of the Gargoyle King. All three, by the scholars of the Empire of Midland, stated to be exaggerated myths and legends of the ancient past when the Gods and Throff both supposedly wandered the Mortal Realm at the same time.

Eropia was the capital of Throff, the Great Hag of the Garden, on the Mortal Realm, built by the Fooar as a place for her daughters - the Storm Hags - and her grandspawn the first dwarves of Fooar Verlang to reside in together. If it existed, its whereabouts would be lost, and so anywhere touched by the Great Hunt would continue on with the knowledge that somewhere beneath your feet could be a dark ancient ruin filled with ghouls and spirits.

Discoveries

While delving deeper into the overrun subterranean ruins of Eropia, and taking any Fooar or Storm Hag artefacts to the surface for transportation back into Giant possession for worship to Throff, Prince Conall and the other Vallator were informed the site was merely a burial tomb of an ancient Sea Giant lord. Of course, Conall accepted this only when informed the length of time required was for proper and meticulous excavation, as Ysmgar was extensively aware of the predecessors to Frost Giants who were the Sea Giants and of their known customs.

— 'Gift From Ysmgar'

What was left of the walls of Eropia empowered and invigorated the Frost Giant acolytes, and Ysmgar felt his extra 3 eyes burning. This was the closest he had been to the power of what the druids had called The Grey, and felt like the entire city lit up with the residual magical energy of Souls. Finally, after a month of mapping out this lost city, Ysmgar discovered the secret heart of Eropia where a statue of Throff stood above a Well. The walls of the Well had symbols carved into them, depictions of a form of unknown magic to manipulate the Bodies of the dead. While the words were in a language he could not decipher, a name was made out; Q'yann

The Well of Throff, like all other Wells found in the mythic origins of the Mortal Realm, surged with immense reality bending-powers for they were gifts by the primordial entities of pure Light and Dark, the Gardener and Winnower. Water did not sit in this Well, but a swirling mass of green spectral gas descending. This was the point where all Souls of the Mortal Realm were sucked down into Mortis Realm to face judgement by Sindla or become a Fiend of Throff. Ysmgar touched the mirror-like surface of the Well and became one with the combined Souls. Thus becoming the first mortal to traverse a Realmgate outside of designated Realmwalkers and the first to find the remaining crack into Mortis Realm the Celestial Gods had hunted for over centuries.

Well of Mortis

Ysmgar and a select few of his acolytes passed through the Well directly into the Dorchan, the deepest section of Mortis Realm and the Palace of Throff. The shocked Devils provided the explorer with an audience with the Great Hag herself as well as the Titan Souls of the passed Fooar, looking out onto the Frozen Lake which remained a time-prison for the first Storm Hag Flin and the Dragon-Mother Vair. It could only be interpreted as witnessing legends coming to life. Tapestries of this scene have been attempted by those at the University, but none can truly capture the magnificence of witnessing Throff's personal Realm under the backdrop of the mourning deathsong quite like our imagination creates.
Ysmgar pleaded to his legendary ancestors, believing his purpose in life to be gifted the five-eyes was to understand the true magic of Mortal Realm, to capture an essence of The Grey and bend it to the user's will. The Titanic Council said nothing, refusing to speak the secrets of this magic. After some contemplation, Throff turned from her scenic balcony to the Ysmgar, dwarfing him in size. "You are mortal yet, dear child-of-mine, and I would not risk your connection to the Body and Mind be corrupted by such arts until you are safe in the arms of your ancestors. Then may your Soul pass naturally and learn for yourself"
Unsatisfied with this answer, Ysmgar took his leave from the Council and sought out Archduke Q'yann; the Gluttonous Snake of Lusachin. It is not known fully what transpired between the explorers and the Fiend Lord, but Ysmgar fled with haste back to Eropia now with the art of necromancy in his vast collection of knowledge. Necromancy stolen.. Quite ironic for a magic known to steal the Bodies of the dead.

— 'Gift From Ysmgar'

After Eropia

Ysmgar and his acolytes, now referring to themselves as his tribe, reached the ears of Frost King Golthorax and was summoned to his icy citadel. On the journey, Ysmgar was visited by a High Elven stranger who unbeknownst to the Frost Giant was an aspect of the God of Knowledge Hamaskus, the brother of Throff. Hamaskus helped Ysmgar better understand and rationalise this new arcane power, assisting his tribe to become the first non-Fiend necromancers.

Golthorax and the rest of the Frost Giant tribes were displeased with Ysmgar when he displayed his prowess of wielding the power of Devils and Demons. In their eyes, this was an insult to both Throff and Gelida (Prime Elemental of Ice who left the rule of the Celestial Gods to fight alongside Throff as commander of the Fallen Angels), their prime deities. Ysmgar and his tribe were deemed traitors of their kin and branded as Dragons - no better than the beasts which culled their kin during the Great Hunt -, and subsequently exiled from Golthorax's territories in the Northern Limit.

Passing back through the One-Eyed Scar, Ysmgar is welcomed by now High King Conall Bondsbreaker, the uniter of Vallatorlan, and all are allowed to settle in Karthauld only if the High King is similarly taught the secrets of necromancy.

Prompts Advent Calendar #2

WorldEmber Article #3

'Gift From Ysmgar 2nd ed.' is the book detailing a semi-biography of Ysmgar and the origins of necromancy from the point of view of necromancers themselves and therefore contradicts the information Vallatorlan and the Holy See publish on the matters. This revisionary edition which was toned down religiously, was written by Archmage Weiss - the current Dean of the University of Necromancy.

AKA

Buachaille an Sluagh (Herder of the Restless Dead)

Circumstances of Birth

Ysmgar was born to no tribe under a night lit up by the Northern Lights. He was born with 5 eyes, which therefore destined the child to become a great figure of legend within the surviving Frost Giants. The druidic auguries present at the birth could not, however, define that this was a good omen especially when the Sluagh ravaged the Northern Limit that Samhain two weeks later in a Wild Hunt

Circumstances of Death

Hunted down by the betraying High King Conall Bondsbreaker of Vallatorlan, who sought the heightened powers of the necromantic arts himself. Ysmgar was captured and slain in One-Eyed Scar but reanimated again out of his shallow then deep graves. After his third death, Ysmgar's body was burned to ash which many believe to have revived individually, now becoming the midge insects which populate Vallatorlan in revenge

Gender

Male

Eyes

Five, blood red

Hair

Shaggy, light blue, covering the majority of his body

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Ice white

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The Sluagh

The Sluagh and the Northern Lights are one in the same. Where the Mortal Realm meets the Aether, a level of Unseelie Spirits and Souls originating from the druidic pogroms of the Second and Third Eras writhe restlessly for eternal. This is the Sluagh. If untreated, they would ravage the northern hemisphere of the Mortal Realm claiming more Minds for their screeching horde during a Wild Hunt starting on the day of Samhain. However, the Storm Hags were tasked by Throff to contain the Sluagh, who do battle with the Spirits during the month of Harvestend causing great hurricanes along the coasts of the Copper Sea. The Northern Lights are the outcome of this battle seen all the way down on the Realm surface. If a Wild Hunt is successfully staved off for the year, the Storm Hags do battle with the Sluagh over all of Winter until their rage settles.

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Note Regarding Eropia

Sister, I send this message with haste from my hideout in the Karthauld region. A troupe of flea-ridden Frost Giants have been allowed to excavate a certain site for months now and have started to seal up all known entrances before leaving back to the Northern Limit. Forgive me for not believing a giant when they claim there was nothing under that dirt other than a rushed burial site, and taking measures to enthral some bloodbags to sneak in and scout it out.
A city, dear sister, an abandoned city which you can feel the power of death itself running through the walls. The mortals seem to have no clue of its existence, especially not the new tunnel I have commenced construction of. Send word to all of our brothers and sisters you know of, and tell them to do the same. I feel we have a home now, a place to grow and be safe.

— Note found in a prominent vampire coven raid during the recent Dark Age when mortals struggled to fight back against all manners of undead horrors and the largest vampiric corruptions ever recorded for decades